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CPU/MOBO upgrade

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Subj3ctZer0

Subj3ctZer0

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Joined
Sep 21, 2009
Location
Washington
I am in the middle of updating a 3 year old build. I have noticed prices still out of whack so i was wondering if it was worth the money for the parts.

I have currently:

Ryzen 1500x

MSI tomahawk B350

Is it worth it to jump to a B450 board? Are the next gen AMD chips worth it? I dont play high end games at 4k or anything. Mostly looking for 1080 and decent fps. I dont mind waiting if my current combination is still viable.

oh , and I also have a 1050ti that i want to upgrade but not sure where or what to look for. Dont need next gen stuff, somewhere in the ~$300 range.
 
Due to supply issue this is more of a thought experiment, the new parts offer pretty good performance for the MSRP but you can't get them for that or at all for the most part. If the total budget is $300 go for a R5 3600, I think that is the max your motherboard will support. Then see if you can snag a used GPU. Since supplies are limited might want to wait until those issue go away and have a larger budget for a more complete upgrade.
 
You would want to jump to B550 board, and absolutely the jump is worth it. While Ryzen 1000 series was a significant jump, 3000 and 5000 series are where it's at. But yeah, the B350 chipset is long in the tooth.

For GPU, that will be tough, look at the used market there. For $300 you should be able to get something decent for sure. :)
 
Your current motherboard will support the 3xxx series Ryzen CPUs. No point in upgrading the motherboard unless you intend to go with the newest Ryzen CPU series, the 5xxx. You are in kind of a quandary in that you need to upgrade both the CPU and the GPU if you want to improve your gaming performance, yet you can't do both for $300.

If you want to upgrade the CPU, I would recommend going with the Ryzen 5 3600 for $319 USD on NewEgg.

If you want to upgrade the GPU, I would recommend the Radeon 5600XT which goes for around $300.

What PSU do you have? It needs to put out enough juice to cover the video card power draw.


Note: If you go with a Ryzen 2xxx or 3xxx CPU then you will likely need to update your motherboard bios before the newer CPU would be recognized. So leave the old 1500 Ryzen in place until you do that.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/B350-TOMAHAWK#support-cpu
 
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the $300 was just a starting point for the GPU. ideally id like to be around $600 for the GPU, CPU, and MOBO but the more i research and look, that seems like a reach.

I dont intend on using the 5k Ryzen series. I dont do enough to warrant the spending.

I just upgraded to a 750w psu
 
Then go B550 and 3000 series. This way, in a few years, you'll be able to upgrade to the 5000 series on a proper board. :)

But I'd seriously consider the 5000 series CPU...especially when their lower end SKUs come out. ;)
 
The R5 2600 would certainly be an upgrade to your current CPU. More cores and a little higher turbo boost. The 3600 has a considerably higher turbo speed which would be important in games. The 3600 would give you more longevity in the sense of being technologically adequate over time for what you want to do.
 
Get the best you can/want to afford is my take. The 3000 series is a more incremental update over 2000, but still worth the price of admission IMO. I wouldn't go 1000->2000 at this point. :)
 
i think I'm going to wait till January to get an updated CPU/MOBO. it wont stretch my budget then so i can get something thats not just another hold over.

One last question for this, On the current CPU/MOBO, will i be bottlenecking at all with a 2060 super? i found one used but dont want to hamstring anything.
 
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I know the idea is that a CPU bound situation can lead to less consistent frame rates and a worse experience, but that said I wouldn't worry so much about "bottlenecking" a certain GPU when you're already planning a CPU upgrade.

It really depends on the game and resolution as well as desired frame rate. For 1080p, CPU has a bigger role to play. Using some sort of monitoring software, you can determine if the GPU is being loaded heavily 95%-100% in the games you're playing or if the CPU is holding it back currently (keep in mind, if the game is dependent upon a single thread to do most of the work, the CPU could be limiting performance while only reporting 12%-25% CPU usage, so you'll need to look to individual core/thread usage). You can also always turn up the graphics settings with an upgraded GPU, to get more out of it. It all depends on what you desire, it's hard to give more specific advice without knowing what games you want to play and what refresh rate your monitor runs.
 
trents said:
If you want to upgrade the CPU, I would recommend going with the Ryzen 5 3600 for $319 USD on NewEgg.

If you want to upgrade the GPU, I would recommend the Radeon 5600XT which goes for around $300.
Click to expand...


I can absolutely not believe that the Ryzen 3600 is now $320 on Newegg... but it is. I paid $174.99 for mine in July. Absolutely insane. 6 months later and the price near doubles... wtf. I'd maybe pay $200 for one if I had to, but $300 is way too much IMO. 3700x is $329, 100% no question worth the extra ten bucks for two more cores and four more threads. But for gaming I'd go with a GPU upgrade, especially if you only want to spend $300. Not that this is a good time for buying a video card, or a cpu... :rain:
 
If the OP knows someone that lives near a Microcenter, he can get a R5 3600 for $200 in store only.
 
Ben333 said:
I can absolutely not believe that the Ryzen 3600 is now $320 on Newegg... but it is. I paid $174.99 for mine in July. Absolutely insane. 6 months later and the price near doubles... wtf. I'd maybe pay $200 for one if I had to, but $300 is way too much IMO. 3700x is $329, 100% no question worth the extra ten bucks for two more cores and four more threads. But for gaming I'd go with a GPU upgrade, especially if you only want to spend $300. Not that this is a good time for buying a video card, or a cpu... :rain:
Click to expand...

Yep when 5000 series launched I felt a bit of regret for going with the 3700x last Spring, but after seeing what's happened since launch, I'm pretty happy that I wasn't trying to wait 6 months and get a 5000 CPU.
 
Just so everybody knows, I got an email today and the 3600 is back in stock @ newegg for $220. $320 is a totally B$ price.
 
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