Looking for a new build, but keeping my Radeon R9 390
- Thread starter ReiceMcK
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A system to match an R9 390
So what I would do is to find a PC Part Picker tool or the like and put in the R9 390 to see what CPUs would be a good match.
I think something like a budget 450 board and a Ryzen 1300x and 8GB of DDR4 RAM should be an okay match, but it won't offer much headroom for future upgrades on the GPU.
With the lineup from AMD being so close at different price points and some of the better value CPUs having such a range of selling price week-to-week and vendor-to-vendor it is difficult to recommend anything unconditionally. If you can find a Ryzen 1600AF (not the standard 1600, must be the AF version) for less than £90 this is still an amazing CPU for the price. Alternatives at the budget end of the market include the new 3100 and 3300 CPUs. If you can find the 3300 at £130, this is not a bad option. These are faster single-threaded (most games right now) than the 1600AF, but have less cores (maybe most games in the future). 16GB of DDR4 at 3000Mhz or faster will also avoid bottlenecking the CPU and is recommended now for some games.
Monitor upgrade
Unless you are exclusively playing games from 5+ years ago I would not consider upgrading the monitor resolution or refresh rate whilst keeping the R9 390. With this said I'm personally astounded by how monitor prices have decreased and resolution/refresh rate has improved over the last 24 months or so, and am very excited about one day being able to afford something like this:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
So what I would do is to find a PC Part Picker tool or the like and put in the R9 390 to see what CPUs would be a good match.
I think something like a budget 450 board and a Ryzen 1300x and 8GB of DDR4 RAM should be an okay match, but it won't offer much headroom for future upgrades on the GPU.
With the lineup from AMD being so close at different price points and some of the better value CPUs having such a range of selling price week-to-week and vendor-to-vendor it is difficult to recommend anything unconditionally. If you can find a Ryzen 1600AF (not the standard 1600, must be the AF version) for less than £90 this is still an amazing CPU for the price. Alternatives at the budget end of the market include the new 3100 and 3300 CPUs. If you can find the 3300 at £130, this is not a bad option. These are faster single-threaded (most games right now) than the 1600AF, but have less cores (maybe most games in the future). 16GB of DDR4 at 3000Mhz or faster will also avoid bottlenecking the CPU and is recommended now for some games.
Monitor upgrade
Unless you are exclusively playing games from 5+ years ago I would not consider upgrading the monitor resolution or refresh rate whilst keeping the R9 390. With this said I'm personally astounded by how monitor prices have decreased and resolution/refresh rate has improved over the last 24 months or so, and am very excited about one day being able to afford something like this:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
- 1 x Iiyama G-Master GB3461WQSU-B1 34" 3440x1440 IPS 144hz 1ms HDR Freesync Ultrawide Gaming Monitor= £398.99
Total: £398.99 (includes shipping: £0.00)
I think I will give the 144Hz a miss for now then. I'm not too fussed about what I spend, I just want to spend enough so that my components complement each other without bottlenecking.
It's for gaming. I'm just looking for recommendations for a CPU and motherboard using the R9 390; I want to know what would be good and why.
A system to match an R9 390
So what I would do is to find a PC Part Picker tool or the like and put in the R9 390 to see what CPUs would be a good match.
I think something like a budget 450 board and a Ryzen 1300x and 8GB of DDR4 RAM should be an okay match, but it won't offer much headroom for future upgrades on the GPU.
With the lineup from AMD being so close at different price points and some of the better value CPUs having such a range of selling price week-to-week and vendor-to-vendor it is difficult to recommend anything unconditionally. If you can find a Ryzen 1600AF (not the standard 1600, must be the AF version) for less than £90 this is still an amazing CPU for the price. Alternatives at the budget end of the market include the new 3100 and 3300 CPUs. If you can find the 3300 at £130, this is not a bad option. These are faster single-threaded (most games right now) than the 1600AF, but have less cores (maybe most games in the future). 16GB of DDR4 at 3000Mhz or faster will also avoid bottlenecking the CPU and is recommended now for some games.
Monitor upgrade
Unless you are exclusively playing games from 5+ years ago I would not consider upgrading the monitor resolution or refresh rate whilst keeping the R9 390. With this said I'm personally astounded by how monitor prices have decreased and resolution/refresh rate has improved over the last 24 months or so, and am very excited about one day being able to afford something like this:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
- 1 x Iiyama G-Master GB3461WQSU-B1 34" 3440x1440 IPS 144hz 1ms HDR Freesync Ultrawide Gaming Monitor= £398.99
Total: £398.99 (includes shipping: £0.00)
Al good to know. I will make another thread once I have done some proper research.
Soldato
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- Billericay, UK
Since your keeping the RX 390 it suggests your not expecting to spend £700+ on a new CPU and motherboard.
The most popular choice is the Ryzen 3600 at £180 as it offers the best balance between performance, if your looking to future proof yourself and keep you PC spec'd similar to the next gen consoles a 3700X is a good pick but if I were you I would seriously consider the Ryzen 3300X. 4 cores/8 threads, Zen 2 based it really is a fantastic little CPU for gaming (don't get the 3100 the cores are split between the two CCX's which decreases performance but they don't tell you this on the box) and can be overclocked to keep up with it's more expensive rivals but you might wan to wait until mid June when the B550 motherboards are expected to launch.
The most popular choice is the Ryzen 3600 at £180 as it offers the best balance between performance, if your looking to future proof yourself and keep you PC spec'd similar to the next gen consoles a 3700X is a good pick but if I were you I would seriously consider the Ryzen 3300X. 4 cores/8 threads, Zen 2 based it really is a fantastic little CPU for gaming (don't get the 3100 the cores are split between the two CCX's which decreases performance but they don't tell you this on the box) and can be overclocked to keep up with it's more expensive rivals but you might wan to wait until mid June when the B550 motherboards are expected to launch.
It depends what kind of games you are playing but 144hz could still be worth it, you would manage 144fps easily on less demanding games such as CSGO or rocket league.
I think with any semi decent CPU from the last couple of years that GPU is always going to be the bottleneck. Ryzen 1600AF is a good budget choice (literally a renamed 2600) although the 3300X as mentioned above is probably better for a little more.
Other than that you definitely want a SSD for your boot drive and ideally 16GB RAM (>=3000MHz)
I think with any semi decent CPU from the last couple of years that GPU is always going to be the bottleneck. Ryzen 1600AF is a good budget choice (literally a renamed 2600) although the 3300X as mentioned above is probably better for a little more.
Other than that you definitely want a SSD for your boot drive and ideally 16GB RAM (>=3000MHz)