CPU vs GPU - Upgrade sanity check

Seblirium

Seblirium

Seblirium

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123
Location
Manchester
Hi folks

With birthdays and Christmas fast approaching, I'm planning to get an upgrade for my son's PC.

Currently, he has an i5 3570, GTX 970, 16GB DDR3-1600, on a 1080p 144hz monitor (this will be the target resolution for any upgrade).

I can only afford to upgrade either the CPU (and mobo, RAM) or GPU (but even then, availability :rolleyes:).

Does it sound about right that I'm planning to get either an R5 3600/B450 mobo or a 10400F, along with 16GB 3200Mhz DDR4? To me, the CPU is long in the tooth these days and has no scope for a GPU upgrade anyway. Though I know the GTX 970 is also showing its age at times.

His main games are Flight Simulator, GTA V Online and Fortnite.
Budget is around £250-£300ish depending on deals etc.

TIA
 
i recently went from a 4790 to a 10400f and games are significantly smoother and i am still running a GTX 970, running most games on high and no issues with GTA V.

You could probably get about £75-100 for your old gear on ebay and should be able to get all the bits for than, i picked up a 2nd hand 10400 for £100 and a mobo for £85.

to get a decent GPU upgrade at the moment you would need to spend a minimum of £400+ and get lucky to find one. So im just waiting until things get back to normal~ish before getting one
 
whatalegend123 said:
i picked up a 2nd hand 10400 for £100 and a mobo for £85
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply!

What chipset mobo did you go with? B460 or B560?
One of the things holding me back from B460 is memory being 2666, and not getting the most out of the CPU.

From what I understand, 10400 with 2666mhz RAM, is overall quite equivalent of a Ryzen 3600 3200Mhz RAM; so I suppose even that case is still good performance.
 
Seblirium said:
Thanks for the reply!

What chipset mobo did you go with? B460 or B560?
One of the things holding me back from B460 is memory being 2666, and not getting the most out of the CPU.

From what I understand, 10400 with 2666mhz RAM, is overall quite equivalent of a Ryzen 3600 3200Mhz RAM; so I suppose even that case is still good performance.
Click to expand...
Another reason to buy b560 is that you get compatibility with 11th gen (and potential for PCI-E 4), but a downside is that running a comet lake CPU in a b560 board usually disables the primary m.2 slot.
 
I went for the 560 to make use of the higher ram speed, think there are some other benefits.. Details of setup are in my sig. Yeah and could also potentially stick a better rocket lake processor in future
 
Thanks to you both @whatalegend123 and @Tetras for your replies.

I've priced both up, each with 16GB 3200Mhz:
10400F w/ B560, granted a budget one (MSI B560M Pro)
3600 w/ B450 MSI Mortar Max

And they are both coming out at the same overall cost; so providing things stay the same when I come to make the purchase, I'll flip a coin...(though potentially leaning toward 3600 to keep the primary m.2 slot in case he wants to make use of that one day). But from what I gather, either would be a nice choice for him.
 
Seblirium said:
Thanks to you both @whatalegend123 and @Tetras for your replies.

I've priced both up, each with 16GB 3200Mhz:
10400F w/ B560, granted a budget one (MSI B560M Pro)
3600 w/ B450 MSI Mortar Max

And they are both coming out at the same overall cost; so providing things stay the same when I come to make the purchase, I'll flip a coin...(though potentially leaning toward 3600 to keep the primary m.2 slot in case he wants to make use of that one day). But from what I gather, either would be a nice choice for him.
Click to expand...
FYI: that's one of the b560 boards that does not disable the m.2 slot.
 
mickyflinn said:
Look into power limits of low end b560 motherboards they can lock the cpu down in the bios from boosting to full potential.
Click to expand...
Yeah I've tried to look into, and while I've found it for 11400F (thanks to the Hardware Unboxed video on B560 VRMs) I'm unsure if it relates to 10400F too.
 
Seblirium said:
I've priced both up, each with 16GB 3200Mhz:
10400F w/ B560, granted a budget one (MSI B560M Pro)
3600 w/ B450 MSI Mortar Max
Click to expand...

Personally I'd go with the 3600/B450 - it will have the option of dropping in a used 3700X/3800X/3900X or 5600X/5800X/5900X/5950X further down the line, whereas the Intel platform will likely have no real upgrade options (as there will likely be fewer second hand chips for that socket)
 
Armageus said:
Personally I'd go with the 3600/B450 - it will have the option of dropping in a used 3700X/3800X/3900X or 5600X/5800X/5900X/5950X further down the line, whereas the Intel platform will likely have no real upgrade options (as there will likely be fewer second hand chips for that socket)
Click to expand...

I agree with this much better option

3900 second hand can be had for around £250 and b450 tomahawk £60 I would consider doing this and as a start £75 for 16gb ram I know its a bit over your budget but well worth it.

If you sell the older parts not worth a great deal but cpu/ram/mboard should get you say £30-40 that helps cover towards the ram.
 
Seblirium said:
Yeah I've tried to look into, and while I've found it for 11400F (thanks to the Hardware Unboxed video on B560 VRMs) I'm unsure if it relates to 10400F too.
Click to expand...
It doesn't, because the 10400F rarely exceeds the power limits and is pretty much never >65 watt in games. The 11400F can exceed them in some games and will regularly exceed them in other stuff. In the hardware unboxed video they're running blender though, so it's not exactly typical usage.
 
Armageus said:
Personally I'd go with the 3600/B450 - it will have the option of dropping in a used 3700X/3800X/3900X or 5600X/5800X/5900X/5950X further down the line, whereas the Intel platform will likely have no real upgrade options (as there will likely be fewer second hand chips for that socket)
Click to expand...
True; hadn't thought of that really - while I can't see him wanting/needing anything like the 3900X or 5900X etc, he may well benefit from going 3600 -> 5800X in a few years time; who knows. So worth keeping options open. I think I'll stick to my original plan and go for the 3600.

edGfaCTor said:
3900 second hand can be had for around £250
Click to expand...
While that is a chunk of CPU for the price, it's massively overkill for a 13-year old who just wants to play his games :) But I get your point.

Tetras said:
It doesn't, because the 10400F rarely exceeds the power limits and is pretty much never >65 watt in games. The 11400F can exceed them in some games and will regularly exceed them in other stuff. In the hardware unboxed video they're running blender though, so it's not exactly typical usage.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that; I thought that may be the case.
 
Someone posted list of b450 boards that had good vrm's and bad. Most b550 boards are good. You can get a good b550 board and maybe a b grade 3600 and still be in budget I think. Bit short on time at mo, so can't look. Just want you to check that if you put a much beefier CPU/GPU in at a later date, the board can handle it
 
Just under top end of your budget...mobo top notch(is on offer), has wifi 6 built in also, will be able to handle anything you throw at it in the future and has pcie4 for future upgrade too, then b grade 3600 will see you through next couple years, but great foundation to build on I think...

b]My basket at Overclockers UK:[/b]
Total: £290.48 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​
 
Craig_d1 said:
Someone posted list of b450 boards that had good vrm's and bad. Most b550 boards are good. You can get a good b550 board and maybe a b grade 3600 and still be in budget I think. Bit short on time at mo, so can't look. Just want you to check that if you put a much beefier CPU/GPU in at a later date, the board can handle it
Click to expand...

B450M Mortar (or full ATX Tomahawk) has a decent enough VRM for most usage, and is ideal if trying to keep costs down (However the B550 boards have addressable RGB headers that are missing from the older B450 - if that is important e.g. for Kids gaming PCs)

Craig_d1 said:
Just under top end of your budget...mobo top notch(is on offer), has wifi 6 built in also, will be able to handle anything you throw at it in the future and has pcie4 for future upgrade too, then b grade 3600 will see you through next couple years, but great foundation to build on I think...
Click to expand...

The B550 Tomahawk is £20 cheaper if wifi isn't needed as is otherwise the same board, but if M-ATX is needed it would need to be the B550M Mortar

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £351.66 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

All of the boards mentioned though perform well, and are in the higher tiers of the list @Craig_d1 refers to:
https://linustechtips.com/topic/1137619-motherboard-vrm-tier-list-v2-currently-amd-only/
 
Thanks for all the replies folks.

I'm going to go with:

Ryzen 3600 - £140 from OCUK Clearance
MSI Mortar Max B450M - £55
Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz C16 - £73

All in all, a total of approx £270-£290ish depending on if the 3600 comes with a CPU cooler or not (and factoring in about £20 for either the Wraith Stealth, or another budget cooler).
 
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