After some AM5 upgrade advice (from an Intel Xeon 5650)

Putty · 12 Nov 2022 at 18:12

Evening All!

My computer is on its last legs so I can't really wait much longer to upgrade. It's a tad out of date, an old Xeon 5650 (LGA1366), so I'm going to need a new CPU, motherboard, RAM, PSU & cooler. Case is a Fractal Design Define R5 so hopefully still fine for new stuff.

I'm leaning towards the AMD 7600X which I'll probably replace with an X3D when they come out. I currently have a 1080ti graphics card which I will probably replace with one of the new AMD cards further down the line. I also have an Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard that I would probably carry on using (if possible) - unless onboard sound is just as good these days.

So, what I would like a hand with is choosing the new motherboard (don't need wifi), RAM (thinking of 32GB or 64GB), PSU & cooler (maybe a new boot drive as well, I have several SSDs - current boot drive is a Samsung 870 EVO 500GB). For now the budget is going to be £1200 absolute maximum and my main use will be gaming with some light photograph work.

Journey · 13 Nov 2022 at 12:44

I'd buy some super cheap discounted AM4 stuff, and swap out for AM5 in a year or maybe less when it is cheaper

5800x/B550/32GB DDR4 is under £400, and even if you lost half that on resale you'll be saving at least that much on AM5 kit in 6-12 months.

You can still buy a fancy new cooler and PSU if you want, and a nice fast NVMe SSD, they'll all carry over.

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Example.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 GAMING X V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Dark Za 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Power Supply: Fractal Design Ion+ 2 Platinum 760 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Total: ~£770.00

Or you could buy used/b-grade which would be an even better option. Check for a good bundle deal on the MM.

Putty · 14 Nov 2022 at 13:12

Thanks very much for that - I'll add that as another option to look into

Darujhistan · 14 Nov 2022 at 14:03

Tbh, the gaming benefits of AM5 (even if ther are any right now )are not going be worth the insane investment required. Get yourself a good AM4 steup, something like the one above. Your money is much better spent on a faster GPU these days, CPU's have outpaced them so to speak for gaming.

Recent upgrade I've done like for like, was nearly a grand on AM5, or £350 on AM4. I went with the AM4.

I think you could probably even skip AM5, and wait for AM6 or whatever Intel has with a good AM4 setup.

turbot1984 · 14 Nov 2022 at 14:51

What a faff having to ditch cpu, mobo, ram by going last gen AM4? Then again a 5800X rig is a huge improvement over the @Putty 12 yr old pc so could be a keeper and not bottleneck even a top-end RDNA 3 card.

Tetras · 15 Nov 2022 at 05:22

Putty said:
So, what I would like a hand with is choosing the new motherboard (don't need wifi), RAM (thinking of 32GB or 64GB), PSU & cooler (maybe a new boot drive as well, I have several SSDs - current boot drive is a Samsung 870 EVO 500GB). For now the budget is going to be £1200 absolute maximum and my main use will be gaming with some light photograph work.

Phanteks AMP 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - £129.95
be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX 280 ARGB High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 280mm - £119.99

AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail - £419.99
Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard - £229.99
Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5600Z36) - £169.99

WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) - £139.99

GRAND TOTAL £1,221.00

Drop the SSD to 1TB and you're under budget, but it was a good price for 2TB so I kept it.

I think the board has a x1 slot right at the bottom that you can use for your sound card, the top one is too close to the graphics card.

FYI: when the third M.2 slot is used the second full length PCI-E is disabled.

I went with the guidance on the Fractal website about the AIO, it said the front and top both support 280mm and it should have a thickness less than 55mm (for a top mount). As far as I can gather, the be quiet! is fine (52mm).

Putty · 15 Nov 2022 at 15:00

Thank for the advice everyone. I've actually picked up a 7600X along with an MSI MPG B650 Carbon motherboard for just under £530 as I thought it was a reasonable deal (and saves me having to go through the rigmarole of swapping out again next year if I went AM4). I think I'll go for the RAM and PSU suggested by Tetras.

For the AIO cooler I can get a Lian Li Galahad 240mm SL UNI for about £110 - would that be a better option than the be quiet! Pure Loop? I've actually got an old Corsair AIO in there at the moment which I think is an H100i however no doubt it won't be compatible.

turbot1984 · 15 Nov 2022 at 17:07

Putty said:
Thank for the advice everyone. I've actually picked up a 7600X along with an MSI MPG B650 Carbon motherboard for just under £530 as I thought it was a reasonable deal (and saves me having to go through the rigmarole of swapping out again next year if I went AM4). I think I'll go for the RAM and PSU suggested by Tetras.

For the AIO cooler I can get a Lian Li Galahad 240mm SL UNI for about £110 - would that be a better option than the be quiet! Pure Loop? I've actually got an old Corsair AIO in there at the moment which I think is an H100i however no doubt it won't be compatible.

Glad you are sorted. I thought H100i was AM5 compatible, but maybe thats the latest model? I use a cheap H100X which is really good for the cash and fine with AM5.
If you are considering high end AMD card when they arrive don't skimp on the psu as I believe they are 350W+ ... not an issue if you are planning lower tier - 7800XT and down .... I would still go for the 860W version though, particularly as gpu power requirements could be even higher in the next few years.

Putty · 15 Nov 2022 at 21:34

Cheers! Yup, for PSU I'm thinking 850W and over - my old PSU is an ancient 1200W Silverstone and has lasted me well however for a new build there's no way that I'm carrying it over. I've been considering one of these two:

My basket at OcUK:

1 x be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W 80 Plus Gold Power supply (SKU: CA-14K-BQ) = £149.99
1 x Phanteks AMP 1000W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-0AS-PT) = £149.99

Total: £299.98 (includes delivery: £0.00)

mickyflinn · 15 Nov 2022 at 21:57

Putty said:
Cheers! Yup, for PSU I'm thinking 850W and over - my old PSU is an ancient 1200W Silverstone and has lasted me well however for a new build there's no way that I'm carrying it over. I've been considering one of these two:

My basket at OcUK:

1 x be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 1000W 80 Plus Gold Power supply (SKU: CA-14K-BQ) = £149.99

1 x Phanteks AMP 1000W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-0AS-PT) = £149.99

Total: £299.98 (includes delivery: £0.00)

5 year warranty on the be quiet, 10 years on the Phanteks, no brainer.