£650 for Board/RAM and CPU advice

[Shampoo]

Relative needs a system upgrade. Will be keeping their 3060Ti, SSD, PSU etc. Games at 1440p and watches movies. Best bang for buck at the budget for the 3 parts. No issues with AMD as they seem to be on good form these days with CPUs. Budget is iron-clad. No room for creep. Took them ages to get to this.

 

[Tetras]

What do they have now? Just so that we know what a good upgrade looks like.

I assume there's no unusual stuff like SPDIF required?

 

[Shampoo]

It's ancient. Intel 4690 and an old Asus board. Anything would be an upgrade! The 3060ti is probably being strangled by that CPU. Nothing unusual in the reqs. Just best for the cash.

 

[RamboFB]

Just gaming?

 

[Tetras]

It's ancient. Intel 4690 and an old Asus board. Anything would be an upgrade! The 3060ti is probably being strangled by that CPU. Nothing unusual in the reqs. Just best for the cash.

Cheapo upgrade, note the memory is stock/JEDEC, but you can go higher if wanted:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-69X-IN) = £149.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B760 DS3H AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03572) = £129.99
• 1 x Crucial Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01083) = £80.00
• 1 x Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 Evo Dark CPU Cooler - 120 mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02667) = £19.99

Total: £379.97 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

AM5 alternative:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Eight Core 5.50GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02676) = £314.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04648) = £0.00
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £139.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03705) = £99.95
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £22.99

Total: £585.91 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

Note that a B650 board might require a BIOS flash for a 9000 series CPU (Eagle AX has USB flashback). You could go B850 instead, which usually has PCI-E 5.0 graphics and should not need a flash.

 

[Shampoo]

Just gaming?

Yes. movies is the only other use alongside general browsing.

 

[Jupiter]

Those savings on the CPU and RAM are very decent...

 

[Shampoo]

B850 would be preferred. I have a new in box Peerless Assassin 120 cooler I can donate to shave costs if it's compatible? Maybe go towards a better CPU if possible? Just want to squeeze his budget for max gains as it'll probably be a while before they go again for an upgrade.

 

[Tetras]

B850 would be preferred. I have a new in box Peerless Assassin 120 cooler I can donate to shave costs if it's compatible? Maybe go towards a better CPU if possible? Just want to squeeze his budget for max gains as it'll probably be a while before they go again for an upgrade.

On the AMD side, the only CPU that's consistently better for gaming and possibly within reach is the 7800X3D.

It would still be out of budget "as is", even with the free cooler, but if you went with slower memory and/or cheaper motherboard then it is doable.

 

[Shampoo]

Can you spec a B850 board. He's happy to go with the CPU and RAM you already listed.

 

[Tetras]

Can you spec a B850 board. He's happy to go with the CPU and RAM you already listed.

For the record, the BIOS flash should be simple enough on B650.

These are both PCI-E 5.0 (graphics) boards, the cheapest OCUK sell and in stock, from what I can see. I've avoided ASRock for the time being, until it is 100% confirmed they don't damage X3D CPUs.

First one is Micro-ATX, second is full size ATX.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B850M DS3H (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03862) = £139.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B850 EAGLE WIFI6E (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03859) = £179.99

Total: £327.97 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

 

[Shampoo]

Thanks for all your help on this one. System should be a smart upgrade for them! Go with the full ATX.

 

[hamza_tm]

This may be a bit late, but the Ryzen 7 9700X seems like a bad choice here given the 1440p gaming requirement and the 3060Ti pairing for the foreseeable. I think a 9600X or even 7700X would suit the needs better for the 200 quid mark and give you a lot of room on the board/RAM and he can keep the change. He's just not going to see any meaningful difference with the 9700X.

 

[Firegod]

I've avoided ASRock for the time being, until it is 100% confirmed they don't damage X3D CPUs.

TBH it isn't just ASRock. MSI, Asus, etc all involved. There's an update here by looks of things from ASRock - https://wccftech.com/asrock-says-am5-socket-wasnt-damaged-and-cleaning-it-solved-the-problem/

Still hard to say if some are just user error.

ASRock did release an updated BIOS if it helps.

Sorry to go OT.

 

[Tetras]

This may be a bit late, but the Ryzen 7 9700X seems like a bad choice here given the 1440p gaming requirement and the 3060Ti pairing for the foreseeable. I think a 9600X or even 7700X would suit the needs better for the 200 quid mark and give you a lot of room on the board/RAM and he can keep the change. He's just not going to see any meaningful difference with the 9700X.

What board/RAM would you spend the money on instead?

I do agree that the 6 core CPUs are fine for gaming (though not sure on the 7700X for £200, they're usually more like £260?), but a better board/RAM than my spec won't offer more performance, whereas the 2 extra cores will in some games/might more so in the future.

 

[hamza_tm]

What board/RAM would you spend the money on instead?

I do agree that the 6 core CPUs are fine for gaming (though not sure on the 7700X for £200, they're usually more like £260?), but a better board/RAM than my spec won't offer more performance, whereas the 2 extra cores will in some games/might more so in the future.

I think your suggestion works for maxing out the budget, but given the information available to us (3060ti user, using an older intel CPU, iron-clad budget with no room for creep, not exactly into upgrading given a friend seems to be driving it) I think not maxing out the budget is the smarter move here. Imo the chance the extra cores will give a noticeable performance impact for the life of this machine is too low to bother, and not worth the extra £100+ now.

I could be wrong though, all imo.

(Also point taken on 7700X, I was way off on the price there)

 

[Shampoo]

He hasn't bought yet If anyone thinks there is worthwhile emergency alterations to make, go for it. Friday is when they're buying.

 

[Subliminal Aura]

He hasn't bought yet If anyone thinks there is worthwhile emergency alterations to make, go for it. Friday is when they're buying.

Nail biting stuff !
I've subscribed, can you post progress ?

 

[Dontrocktheboat]

Stay away from gigabyte motherboards. BIOS updates are/were attrocious.

Your Order​

Asrock B850M-X (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard
SKU MOT-ASR-04011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

£115.00
fiber_manual_recordIn stock
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Thermalright Aqua Elite 240 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler
SKU COO-TLR-03254
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

£39.95
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AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
SKU CP-3DT-AM
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

£499.99 £419.99
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TeamGroup Vulcan EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLABD532G5600HC40BDC01)
SKU MY-0B3-TG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

£89.99 £74.99
fiber_manual_recordIn stock




Memory is not the best but with X3D chip, it doesnt need to be.
£658...if they can stretch 8 quid. I give up.

 

[Rob_B]

The B850M-X doesnt have the best VRM, 6+1+1.
It's probably not a BAD board but just a trade off because if the decent price.