AM5 upgrade time.

Grimley · 8 Jul 2025 at 19:45

Purchase Timeframe: This week?

Budget: £500-£600?

Usage: surf web, office tasks, media. Hardest thing it will do is the odd handbrake encode. Possibly may be used as part of a future gaming rig.

Preferences: Dual GFX output on the board, Spdif, decent onboard audio if poss. Must work out of the box with Linux mint.

Current Hardware: 5600g/MSI b450 mortar, 16gb of ddr4 RGB ram, original sabrent rocket for Linux, W11 on a Samsung 850 Evo. Keeping a evga 550 G2, Silverstone lc17 case with a Pioneer Blu-ray reader and a noctua 90 mm CPU Cooler that's got an am4 bracket.

Peripherals:

Special Needs/Requirements (inc Wi-Fi):
Ok Folks
I'm in the process of upgrading my everyday rig. I'm now in the possession of a 9600x which I thought was a good price until I saw the price of ocuk's 9600x even though it's on pre-order.

I dual boot my everyday rig, Linux mint is the OS of choice, W11 is there in case I need it though i hardly use it.

Probably wandering why I wish to upgrade mine, Dad is getting the board RAM and CPU. His current rig will not run W11, after 3 years I thought it was time i got a bit more up-to-date spec.

I know I posted a thread about CMOS batteries being unremovable in MSI boards, but I've built msi-based motherboard rigs for six years for myself and family and all of them have been pretty good. B650 tomahawk seems to fit my needs. Latest Linux kernels may have fixed the problem of audio compatibility with this board, that's what I'm hoping anyway.

RAM I want low profile RAM, because of where the RAM slots are on the motherboard it's a bit tight with the current setup. I'm quite aware that 32gb 6000 cl30 Is the sweet spot for AM5, though I think 100 notes for that is a tad expensive seeing as it's a 9600x based rig, though I'm always looking at the future, buy it now and forget rather than buy less and upgrade at Greater cost then.

SSD only want 500 gig, I would want an SSD with dram on board and something quicker than the original sabrent rocket.

Graphics I'm using on board.

I might at some point in the future take this board out and put it into my hardly used gaming rig is another reason for this choice.

So here's the proposed spec. I put the 9600X & the Noctua cooler in as I already have both (The cooler is this models predecessor, which I've owned for donkeys years and is the best cooler I could get for the LC17 at the time) Critique away!

My basket at OcUK:

1 x MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-375-MS) = £154.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £179.99
1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £89.99
1 x Noctua NH-U9S PU Cooler - 92mm (SKU: HS-027-NC) = £61.99
1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 500GB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/500G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01328) = £49.99

Total: £544.94 (includes delivery: £7.99)

deviation · 8 Jul 2025 at 20:07

You could just patch the W11 image using Rufus, and then your dads rig would support whatever hardware he has, just a thought?

Tetras · 8 Jul 2025 at 20:48

Grimley said:
I'm quite aware that 32gb 6000 cl30 Is the sweet spot for AM5, though I think 100 notes for that is a tad expensive seeing as it's a 9600x based rig, though I'm always looking at the future, buy it now and forget rather than buy less and upgrade at Greater cost then.

Crucial do a 48GB kit for only £10 extra.

Grimley said:
SSD only want 500 gig, I would want an SSD with dram on board and something quicker than the original sabrent rocket.

I understand, but be aware that 500GB is usually poor value per GB.

Grimley said:
B650 tomahawk seems to fit my needs. Latest Linux kernels may have fixed the problem of audio compatibility with this board, that's what I'm hoping anyway.

Fair enough, but be aware (if you boot into a stuck black screen, for longer than 5-10 minutes) it might need a BIOS flash.

Grimley said:
Silverstone lc17 case with a Pioneer Blu-ray reader and a noctua 90 mm CPU Cooler that's got an am4 bracket.

I assume switching from MATX to ATX won't cause any compatibility problems inside that case?

Grimley · 9 Jul 2025 at 15:30

Tetras said:
Crucial do a 48GB kit for only £10 extra.

I understand, but be aware that 500GB is usually poor value per GB.

Fair enough, but be aware (if you boot into a stuck black screen, for longer than 5-10 minutes) it might need a BIOS flash.

I assume switching from MATX to ATX won't cause any compatibility problems inside that case?

@Tetras I'll have a look at that 48GB kit. SSD poor value per GB = Its for the OS only, I dont really trust SSD for my files, I have a HDD for that and I backup onto a spare HDD fairly regularly. Bios flashback I don't think that will be an Issue even though I've never done that before. I've had the LC17 for the best part of 15 years, I had TWO at one time, I've had at least one ATX board in it at some point.

deviation said:
You could just patch the W11 image using Rufus, and then your dads rig would support whatever hardware he has, just a thought?

Too late, I've pinky promised him the 5600g board and RAM. W10 takes ages to boot on his rig and that's with an SSD. The thing is, he's seen my 9 year old laptop boot into W10 in seconds, he want's that kind of boot time.

Tetras · 9 Jul 2025 at 20:07

Grimley said:
Bios flashback I don't think that will be an Issue even though I've never done that before.

It hopefully wouldn't be an issue anyway, they have had quite awhile to update these.

deviation · 9 Jul 2025 at 21:12

Grimley said:
Too late, I've pinky promised him the 5600g board and RAM. W10 takes ages to boot on his rig and that's with an SSD. The thing is, he's seen my 9 year old laptop boot into W10 in seconds, he want's that kind of boot time.

Ah fair enough, I thought I'd just mention it just incase

Grimley · 10 Jul 2025 at 16:40

I've ordered it now. I did change one thing. I think I'll have room for it in my LC17, with an eye to the future as in it may end up in my 2nd PC, sitting in an 011D case with all the RGB goodness.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-01124) = £109.99

Total: £109.99 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Now what to do with the old hardware. I've got a 2600x, my old MSI B450 mortar, a 250GB SSD & some teamgroup RGB DDR4 lying around, Dad wont need my old GTX950 & I want to upgrade one of my 550 Watter PSU's.

So the question is:
Do I buy a cheap case with RGB, cobble a rig together and sell it at the boot sale just down the road, or do I go down my usual route of the MM?

deviation · 10 Jul 2025 at 16:53

Grimley said:
I've ordered it now. I did change one thing. I think I'll have room for it in my LC17, with an eye to the future as in it may end up in my 2nd PC, sitting in an 011D case with all the RGB goodness.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-01124) = £109.99

Total: £109.99 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Now what to do with the old hardware. I've got a 2600x, my old MSI B450 mortar, a 250GB SSD & some teamgroup RGB DDR4 lying around, Dad wont need my old GTX950 & I want to upgrade one of my 550 Watter PSU's.

So the question is:
Do I buy a cheap case with RGB, cobble a rig together and sell it at the boot sale just down the road, or do I go down my usual route of the MM?

If you try and sell it at a boot sale, wont you just get bombarded by time wasters claiming "how do we know it works" etc?

Grimley · 10 Jul 2025 at 17:00

You have a point there. They'll try to haggle with you as well. The worst time is 1st thing, all the traders/dealers if you've got this and that & looking in your car, they're like Vultures. See the same people first thing, they're gone after 2 hours to other boot sales close by.

deviation · 10 Jul 2025 at 21:15

Grimley said:
You have a point there. They'll try to haggle with you as well. The worst time is 1st thing, all the traders/dealers if you've got this and that & looking in your car, they're like Vultures. See the same people first thing, they're gone after 2 hours to other boot sales close by.

Yep! Not worth the faf!

Craig_d1 · 11 Jul 2025 at 11:07

Grimley said:
@Tetras I'll have a look at that 48GB kit. SSD poor value per GB = Its for the OS only, I dont really trust SSD for my files, I have a HDD for that and I backup onto a spare HDD fairly regularly. Bios flashback I don't think that will be a

I trust a m.2 nvme more than a hhd......every hhd I've had has failed... sill put a 1tb in..as a ssd fills near full it slows down plus the larger capacity drives have better endurance
below the same price, but the mobo is pcie5 for gpu/m.2 slot and has wifi 7 etc...you can save a bit going the msi b850-p wifi for £175, which is more than enough but if you change your mind about m.2, any more you get you'll have to buy the version with a heatsink, so the gigabyte just dropped £30, so for £15 more, get a clean look and will have heatsink for all slots
team group g70 is faster than the fury renegade..read similar, but write better (7400/5500 read write for g70 vs 7300/3900 for renegade, endurance is 740tbw vs 500tbw on the renegade also)
you can drop to the mp44l as an alternative with 600tbw endurance and read write of 5000/4000 for £49.99, saving £20, or pay £6 more for the crucial T500 (7300/6800 read write600tbw endurance)

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite WIFI7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03856) = £190.00
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £179.98
1 x PNY XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-51200C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-PNY-04564) = £77.99
1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 Digital Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-04205) = £29.99
1 x Team Group G70 PRO 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02617) = £69.95

Total: £547.91 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Grimley · 11 Jul 2025 at 19:52

/\/\ Bit late now, the order arrived today.

I went for the B650 Tomahawk Wifi as I've had MSI Boards for 6 years, all have been good. I cant believe how heavy it is for a Motherboard.
A lot of the B850 boards had only 1 onboard GFX output, that choice is with a view to the future as I tend to handmedown my hardware, if not it goes on the MM. Dad's requirements is to be able to use 2 monitors.
Some B850 boards have USB-C GFX ports as well as HDMI, I did think about that but I can always buy the right display cable should I go down the route of a USB-C monitor, That's probably going to be my next upgrade as my old Dell Monitor cant go on forever.
The Ram I bought was in my previous post,again the choice was a view to the future.
I didnt want a 1tb SSD, its only for Linux.
Cooler I didn't need, I have a Donkeys years old Noctua & that thermalright cooler wont fit in my LC17, I know Thermalright make a 'Gazillion' amount of different coolers, They're bound to make a cooler that will fit.

Thanks for the spec anyway.