i7-3770 upgrade advice

xy16644

xy16644

xy16644

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10 May 2009
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221
Currently I have the following setup that I use for day to day use (internet/email/Youtube/Plex) and lots of virtualisation with VMware Workstation Pro:

Intel i7-3770
32GB DDR3-1600
Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe

I'll be reusing the case, BeQuiet 850w PSU and all my Samsung SATA and M2 drives. I'll have 3 x M2 SSDs in the new system (one for boot and two for running VMs off them) and 4 x Samsung 960GB SATA SSDs for storage and backups. I'm also keeping the EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 for my 3 27" monitors.

I don't mind spending the extra as my current system lasted 7yrs!

With this in mind I am thinking of upgrading to the following:

Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail

X570 AORUS MASTER (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard

Vengeance RGB PRO Black 32GB (2x16Gb) 3200MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Kit


I won't be overclocking or playing games. I am keen on using the Wifi6 (802.11ax) in the future with my gigabit fibre boardband as my Devolo Home Plug is a bottleneck.

I've never owned an AMD system so hoping the above looks ok. I'm hoping VMware Workstation Pro virtualisation works ok with AMD? Can I reuse my CPU cooler which is a Be Quiet! BK017 Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler with the AMD CPU?

Thanks for any help. I'm a bit out of date with current hardware since my current system has done so well for 7yrs!
 
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I'd recommend taking the time to watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuyuS04lD4o&t=499s

The motherboard you've listed is excellent, but you might be spending more than you need. The rundown in the video is pretty good, and he covers the model you're interested in as well as a number of other comparable options for a good chunk less money from what I remember. It could also be worth shopping around for the memory, Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (make sure AES is in the product code) is highly recommended by many and can be easily tweaked for more performance, and might even save you some money. That said, the system you've specced looks solid in honestly, and it should easily meet your needs. I'm not knowledgeable on VMware, but I'm sure other forum members will be able to answer those questions for you.

As for your HSF, you might need to buy an AM4 bracket for it but I don't think that will be a problem if it's necessary. That sort of thing is usually pretty cheap, some companies even send them out for free if you contact them directly.
 
Gray2233 said:
I'd recommend taking the time to watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuyuS04lD4o&t=499s

The motherboard you've listed is excellent, but you might be spending more than you need. The rundown in the video is pretty good, and he covers the model you're interested in as well as a number of other comparable options for a good chunk less money from what I remember. It could also be worth shopping around for the memory, the Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (make sure AES is in the product code) is highly recommended by many and can be easily tweaked for more performance, and might even save you some money. That said, the system you've specced looks solid in honestly, and it should easily meet your needs. I'm not knowledgeable on VMware, but I'm sure other forum members will be able to answer those questions for you.
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Thanks, I'll watch the video tonight! I should have mentioned that I don't have to pay VAT so I get a 20% discount so that helps with the overall cost. When I built my previous PC I did spend more and it ended up working out really well as I "grew" into the system as time went by. In the beignning I thought I was mad buying an i7 as I would never use all that power and yet I did/do now.

For memory are you referrring to: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS2K16G4D32AESC 3200 MHz, DDR4, DRAM, Desktop Gaming Memory Kit, 32 GB (16 GB x 2), CL16 (White)

Is it better to go for 2 x 16GB or 4 x 8GB for the memrory?

Thanks for your input.
 
I believe that's the stuff.

I'd opt for the 2x16GB as it'll be less work for the memory controller. A bunch of people on here have reported being able to tighten the timings and even overclock the memory without a problem to 3600-3800mhz, although honestly even if you don't bother OC'ing it's still solid for the price.

The Ryzen platform is definitely where it's at right now for longevity and future proofing.
 
Awesome!

Any idea if I can use the BeQuiet CPU cooler I have with current i7 CPU with the AMD CPU? Or do I need to replace it?

Also, does anyone know if the chipset fans on the AMD motherboards are noisy?
 
I'm really not sure if it'll support AM4 out of the box, it's an older HSF I believe so I'm guessing not. Your best bet would be to contact be Quiet! and ask them if they could possibly sell you a bracket, if they can it shouldn't cost more than a few bucks. Failing that, I'd recommend getting the following:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £46.99 (includes shipping: £0.00)


My go-to recommendation for air cooling used to be the Alpenfohn Brocken 2 PCGH (+am4 bracket kit) as you could get them for around £20, but they're no longer sold on OCUK. The Mugen 5 is more expensive but it's an excellent piece of kit, and while the 3700X does come with a heatsink, given you're planning on cpu intensive tasks that will run for long periods, I'd lean more toward a good aftermarket cooler.​
 
xy16644 said:
X570 AORUS MASTER (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard
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waste of money if it's "just" for the 3700x
might as well get the msi b450 tomahawk max for ~£100 and save yourself a wad of cash.
then a more budget friendly choice is the asus x570 tuf gaming wifi if you want inbuilt wifi
but if you definitely want wifi-ax, then consider a mini itx (in the form of aorus x570i)?
 
I personally wouldn't go for higher end than the Gigabyte Aorus Elite for around the £200 mark for a 3700-3800, but honestly I'd lean toward one of the MSI "Max" boards. Probably worth noting that the B550's should be out soon, depends on how quickly the system needs to be built.
 
Had a look at the b450 tomahawk max and it just didn't "grab" me. With the VAT off the Gigabyte motherboard it costs about £331. I'm ok with spending the extra considering I'll be using this for 5 to 7 yrs. I thought my Asus Deluxe was a crazy purchase 7yrs ago and yet, here I am fully utilising it ;-)

I'v emailed BeQuiet and asked if there is a bracket for my current cooler. I'd like to reuse it if possible as it has been excellent.

How about the noise on X570 motherbaords? Does the chipset fan make much/any noise? I'm quite fussy when it comes to fan noise which is why I always buy good fans from BeQuiet.

I'll be going with 2 x 16GB memory as that will then leave two free memory slots for the future!

Will I have enought PCIe lanes for 3 x M2 drives, a video card and 4 x SATA SSD drives?

Thanks for everyones help/input, this is really helping!
 
There actually is a Gigabyte board which comes without a chipset fan, I forget which exactly but it essentially has a huge heatsink on it coupled with the efficiency of its VRM's which is very well received/reviewed. It is mentioned in the Gamer Nexus youtube video I linked, beyond that I'm not sure how bad (or good) the noise levels are. I believe the video also covers things such as pci-lanes and the like, so while it is a 30 minute video it's well worth the time.
 
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xy16644 said:
Had a look at the b450 tomahawk max and it just didn't "grab" me. With the VAT off the Gigabyte motherboard it costs about £331. I'm ok with spending the extra considering I'll be using this for 5 to 7 yrs. I thought my Asus Deluxe was a crazy purchase 7yrs ago and yet, here I am fully utilising it ;-)
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You don't need expensive X570 to get good CPU VRM.
Low end Asrocks and MSIs have weak hot running garbage VRMs in X570 terms.
But even the cheapest Asus, Prime X570-P, has good enough VRM for 16 core 3950X.
Also Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite has good modern VRM.

Asus and Gigabyte learned and improved after having some basically scam level VRMs in B450/X470 boards.
MSI again tried to ride on old reputation and copypasted VRM from B450 boards.
While Asrock is Asrock and uses dirt cheap crap parts in three lowest boards, getting them called as Asroska in Finnish PC forum. (roska=garbage, trash)


For third M.2 slot you could use adapter:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akasa-m.2-ssd-to-pcie-adapter-card-cc-008-ak.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akasa-m.2-x4-pci-e-3.0-adapter-card-black-cc-00a-ak.html


As for chipset fans Asrock doesn't seem to be doing that hot in them.
Taichi with those lame buzzaw drawings on it has also genuine sound effects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S5n_dq1DRU

And just today another user reported fan of X570m Pro4 making such grinding noise at all speeds.
Not that "heatsink" itself would be much better being just surface area lacking metal block for storing heat...
https://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_x570m_pro4_review,5.html

Also any obstructions above fan need higher than necessary fan speed (and noise) for airflow besides that extra load being risk of faster wearing of the fan.
So would myself want chipset cooler which doesn't obstruct fan with those marketing garbages.

It's like motherboard makers are competing in who can make the worst chipset HSF for space used.
 
Gray2233 said:
There actually is a Gigabyte board which comes without a chipset fan, I forget which exactly but it essentially has a huge heatsink on it coupled with the efficiency of its VRM's which is very well received/reviewed. It is mentioned in the Gamer Nexus youtube video I linked, beyond that I'm not sure how bad (or good) the noise levels are. I believe the video also covers things such as pci-lanes and the like, so while it is a 30 minute video it's well worth the time.
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That would be the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme. It costs £769.99 though :D
 
I think I have made up my mind and am going to go with the following items:

Ryzen 7 3700X
X570 AORUS MASTER
Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS2K16G4D32AESC 3200 MHz (2 x 16GB = 32GB in total)
BE QUIET Dark Rock Pro 4 (BeQuiet said they don't make a bracket for my current cooler)

Total cost ex VATabout £850

There's just couple things holding me back:

1) Fan noise on the motherboard. I did some research on it and it looks like you can control the fan noise/speed. Generally my machine isn't under load so I'm assuming the fan noise won't be an issue? Does anyone have any experience with X570 boards and these fans?

2) I always battle with the PCIe lanes. Will I have enough PCIe lanes for 3 x M2 SSD drives, 4 x SATA SSDs and my GTX 1050 video card?

3) I'm assuming I can reuse my ATX case with this board and my existing BeQuiet PSU

4) Any virtualisation experts here? Have you used VMware Workstation on an AMD platform like this? Any issues? I don't really want to use HyperV if I can avoid it.

Thanks again for all the help.Hoping this build will also last 7yrs!!!
 
xy16644 said:
2) I always battle with the PCIe lanes. Will I have enough PCIe lanes for 3 x M2 SSD drives, 4 x SATA SSDs and my GTX 1050 video card?
Click to expand...

If you're really concerned about PCIe lanes you might want to look at a low-end Epyc Rome setup or wait for the new Threadripper CPUs. OF course, both would break your budget.
 
Quartz said:
If you're really concerned about PCIe lanes you might want to look at a low-end Epyc Rome setup or wait for the new Threadripper CPUs. OF course, both would break your budget.
Click to expand...

If they include 3 M2 slots on the motherboard and you need to have a video card in one of the PCIe slots then I'm assuming it must work otherwise they wouldn't include these slots in the first place if they were problematic or didn't work. I think the first M2 slot feeds directly into the CPU so doesn't use those lanes.
 
xy16644 said:
I think I have made up my mind and am going to go with the following items:

Ryzen 7 3700X
X570 AORUS MASTER
Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS2K16G4D32AESC 3200 MHz (2 x 16GB = 32GB in total)
BE QUIET Dark Rock Pro 4 (BeQuiet said they don't make a bracket for my current cooler)

Total cost ex VATabout £850

There's just couple things holding me back:

1) Fan noise on the motherboard. I did some research on it and it looks like you can control the fan noise/speed. Generally my machine isn't under load so I'm assuming the fan noise won't be an issue? Does anyone have any experience with X570 boards and these fans?

2) I always battle with the PCIe lanes. Will I have enough PCIe lanes for 3 x M2 SSD drives, 4 x SATA SSDs and my GTX 1050 video card?

3) I'm assuming I can reuse my ATX case with this board and my existing BeQuiet PSU

4) Any virtualisation experts here? Have you used VMware Workstation on an AMD platform like this? Any issues? I don't really want to use HyperV if I can avoid it.

Thanks again for all the help.Hoping this build will also last 7yrs!!!
Click to expand...


1) You can control the chipset fan on Gigabyte boards.

2) If you fill up all 3 M.2 Slots with NVMe SSD's then you will lose a couple of SATA ports. According to the manual on Gigabyte website SATA3 4 and SATA3 5 are disabled. If you just use the top two M.2 slots then you won't lose any.

3) The Master is a standard ATX size board so should be fine.

I don't know about the last question as I am not familiar with VM's.



Re the M.2 Slots:

a86300924edb4de6f4279d7743c6c2df-full.jpg
 
Thanks lee32uk. I did see this in the motherboard manual and am aware that you lose 2 SATA ports if you use 3 x M2 SSD drives but I'm still unsure if the 3700X/X570 platform has enough PCIe lanes for what I want to do?

This 3700X CPU has 24 PCIe lanes. If I use 3 x M2 PCIe NVMe SSDs then thats 12 lanes (3 drives x 4 lanes each). My graphics card is a GTX 1050 which used 8 or 16 lanes I think. Am I on the right track here?
 
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