CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade

Tomcat825 · 10 Apr 2021 at 20:37

Hi fella's,

I'm looking at the below to upgrade from my i5 6600k/16gb + 1080 build:
Ryzen 7 5800X - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-3cb-am.html
Corsair 3600 32GB RAM - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...zen-tuned-ddr4-memory-dual-kit-my-4ck-cs.html
Asus ROG x570-F mobo - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...4-x570-chipset-atx-motherboard-mb-6du-as.html

It comes in at £850 - which I'm more than happy with - but I'm just wondering if there's anything I can change to get a bit more bang for buck. I'll OC at some point but not whilst it performs strongly already.

I have a Corsair H110i GT 280mm AIO cooler already on my i5 and apparently I can get an AM4 bracket for it (although I'm yet to source that!) so not bothering with another AIO cooler.

Any advice greatly welcomed.

MissChief · 10 Apr 2021 at 20:39

Do you need X570? Would a B550 board suffice for your needs? it will still take a gen 4 PCI-E NVME? Might be a way to save a little bit and put that towards 1TB NVME?

Something like this would suffice: ▷ MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Moth… | OcUK (overclockers.co.uk)

Tomcat825 · 10 Apr 2021 at 20:55

Sorry, in hindsight I should have listed the rest of my build!

1TB Samsung NVME
500gb SSD (old boot drive, now just storage)
1080
EVGA 850w 80+platinum PSU
Corsair 700D case
Black & White theme

Honestly, I don't actually know the difference between the X570 & B550 so i'll look into that now. I don't mind spending extra for something that's more futureproof so long as I can justify it - that Tomahawk seems to do everything I need though tbf.

Moeks · 12 Apr 2021 at 18:27

I think B550 will be more than fine for you, the X570 isn't more future proof, neither one of them has any future beyond the now really as AMD will move to a new socket next time around. The only 'real' advantage X570 has and this is one of those situations where it's a case of if you need it, you know you need it ...it can run multiple PCI-E 4 storage devices and or other devices where as B550 is limited to the first PCI-E slot and the first M2 NVME storage slot. So essentially with a B550 and a 5000 series CPU, you can run 1 x PCI-E gen 4 graphics card and 1 PCI-E gen 4 NVME drive ...if you populate the second NVME drive or 3rd (there are some that have more than 2 but these are expensive boards) etc they will only operate at PCI-E gen 3 where as an X570 board can run them all at gen 4. There are some bits and pieces around PCI-E bifurcation and running multiple GPU's and things like number of SATA ports and USB ports awell, other than that ...not much to write home about tbh, B550 is a better buy for most people most of the time I would say.

Other than the change MissChief mentioned, I think it's fine, nothing to change really.

When looking for a motherboard, obviously read reviews, but don't get too caught up in the whole VRM power phase debate, for most people doing most things with anything that isn't a 12 or 16 core CPU it doesn't matter much in reality. I would look more at features such as number of USB ports, quality of the sound chip (i.e. is it an Realtek S1200 series or an old 892) if it has Wifi (if you want or think you might want it) and USB type-C internal headers etc, this is the stuff that really differentiates a lot of the boards, personally I like boards that also have heatshields for both M2 slots and debug LED's, but that's personal preference. I will say that on a £170 board like the Tomahawk, I would want Wifi for that price, a good Intel Wifi card will set you back about £35 on it's own if you want to add one later so bear that in mind, it's a nice value add if you think you might need it (I do, hence me mentioning it).

My picks of the B550 bunch would be
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...c-amd-am4-b550-atx-motherboard-mb-58y-gi.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...i-amd-am4-b550-atx-motherboard-mb-35b-ms.html

If you don't want or need Wifi, then you can drop down in price a bit more even, depending on any other features you may like.

The cheapest B550 I would buy would probably be this one https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...am4-b550-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-35e-ms.html

Anything less than that and they start to miss too many features in my opinion and also the quality of the components used in the VRM does take a drive. The MSI Mortar boards and the A Pro https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b550-a-pro-amd-am4-pro-series-b550-atx-motherboard-mb-357-ms.html in the full ATX line are a solid base, start there and move up ...I wouldn't go down though.