Upgrade - Bundle or same components + better motherboard?

Mel_P · 10 Oct 2020 at 12:42

Hello - another upgrade question - which motherboard please?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Recon A36 - AMD Ryzen 5 3600 - Six Core Value ATX Gaming Bundle = £467.99
- CPU:AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - MPK
- Memory:Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey
- Motherboard:ASUS TUF B450-Plus Gaming (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
- Cooler (Stock AMD cooler if not selected):Cryorig H7 Single Tower Heatsink with 120mm Fan
OR
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £229.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £98.99
1 x Cryorig H7 Single Tower Heatsink with 120mm Fan= £34.99
1 x ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £119.99

Total: £951.95 (includes shipping: £0.00)

Hello OCKers - I am looking to do an upgrade and I have a case / power supply etc. Opinion seems to be that a Ryzen 3600 is the way to go for a "good" PC in terms of normal, not super gaming performance and I have looked at the OCUK Bundle (Recon A36) above but was thinking of a slightly better motherboard. So the Bundle is £467 - which include ~£25 build fee.

Would I get a better system with the improved motherboard for £483.96? Thanks, Mel

Plec · 10 Oct 2020 at 17:38

MSI B550 Tomohawk ~£160 (£45 cash back via MSI cashback offer. Offset close to B450)
3600 ~£180 (the 3600X is not worth the extra)
Tower Cooler - ~£25
32GB of TForce ~£99 (or 32GB 3600MHz of Crucial Ballistix for ~£140 - if considering Zen 3 in the future but not needed)
Total with cash back ~£520 - B550 has PCIe 4.0 for latest GPUs and 1x Gen 4.0 M.2 slot (not needed) and built around Zen 3 if you ever upgrade.

*Note: I wouldn't get the ASUS, way over priced - and not comparable to the quality of the MSI B450 Tomahawk.

Or

MSI B450 Tomahawk ~£99 (guaranteed Zen 3 support)
3600 ~180
Tower Cooler ~£25]
32GB TForce ~ £99
Total: ~£405

lee32uk · 10 Oct 2020 at 17:42

Hi

Both of those Asus boards are meh. If you want cheap B450 then MSI boards are better. You should also get Ryzen 5000 support as well if you ever upgrade the cpu.

The B450 Mortar is a Micro ATX board, but it will still fit into an ATX case. Basically the mATX version of the B450 Tomahawk.

Also the Arctic Freezer 34 esports is good enough for a 3600.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £199.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £98.99
1 x Arctic Freezer 34 eSports White CPU Cooler - 120mm= £29.99
1 x MSI B450M Mortar MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £84.98

Total: £424.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)

Mel_P · 10 Oct 2020 at 18:32

Thanks Gentlemen for your advice.

I am upgrading as I won £500 on the premium bonds a few weeks ago. I have a case, a m/b and newish modular power supply I put together for my daughter a few years ago - an ASUS A68HM Plus with an AMD A6 6400K Black. This is now pretty pathetic and for an experiment I tried the fastest Athlon 4x quad core the board would take - (second hand £25) - but still pathetic. So its all coming out - leaving a hole!

I will take your combined advice:

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 4.2MHz (as above, both) - not the X
Team Group Vulcan 32GB (as above, both)
I'll stick to the Alpenfoln cooler
Motherboard - as I can get it under £500 I will go for the MSI B550 Tomohawk - I cannot see the £45 cashback but perhaps this will pop up when I register the board? Or perhaps the offer has expired?

£488 (post free as forum member), less £45 possibly.

Thanks very much, Mel

Plec · 10 Oct 2020 at 18:34

Mel_P said:
I cannot see the £45 cashback but perhaps this will pop up when I register the board? Or perhaps the offer has expired?l

Here you go:

https://uk.msi.com/Promotion/back-to-school-2020#AMD-Motherboard

Scroll down.

EsaT · 10 Oct 2020 at 20:10

Mel_P said:
I'll stick to the Alpenfoln cooler

£21 Arctic Freezer 34 is the way best for the price.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-077-ar.html

lee32uk said:
Both of those Asus boards are meh.

Understatement of the year.
Asus pulled scam in their B450 boards and VRMs can't cope with fully loaded upper CPUs at stock without overheating.
So only good for light use low end PC with no updates intended.

Mel_P · 11 Oct 2020 at 21:35

Plec said:
Here you go:https://uk.msi.com/Promotion/back-to-school-2020#AMD-MotherboardScroll down.

Thanks for link. All ordered from OCUK, hopefully arriving Tuesday.

I have my Windows 10 "activated with a digital licence linked to my Microsoft email address" - so I am hoping that when I swop motherboards and CPU that Windows 10 will activate with no problems. It's not an OEM version but one based on Win 7 Pro I bought "standalone".

Mel

mickyflinn · 11 Oct 2020 at 21:56

Mel_P said:
Thanks for link. All ordered from OCUK, hopefully arriving Tuesday.

I have my Windows 10 "activated with a digital licence linked to my Microsoft email address" - so I am hoping that when I swop motherboards and CPU that Windows 10 will activate with no problems. It's not an OEM version but one based on Win 7 Pro I bought "standalone".

Mel

If not you have to select change of hardware to reactivate windows.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....activate-windows-10-after-hardware-change?amp

Plec · 11 Oct 2020 at 21:58

Mel_P said:
Thanks for link. All ordered from OCUK, hopefully arriving Tuesday.

No worries - hope upgrade goes smoothly.

Mel_P said:
I have my Windows 10 "activated with a digital licence linked to my Microsoft email address" - so I am hoping that when I swop motherboards and CPU that Windows 10 will activate with no problems. It's not an OEM version but one based on Win 7 Pro I bought "standalone".

You shouldn't have any issues - but if you do they will resolve it during a quick MS chat.

Mel_P · 12 Oct 2020 at 10:27

Thanks both, will advise you of progress!

Mel_P · 13 Oct 2020 at 17:27

Well with the update of the PC to a Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 base / 4.2GHz max boost on a B5500 Tomahawk 55 motherboard. £488 + money back.

Cinebench score = 3625 (no overclocking). Compared to around 800 on the Athlon and my ageing i7 920.

Some increase! Windows wouldn't load though but did a repair / reinstall - which lost a lot of the software!!! BUT it has reactivated using the "changed by hardware" option

Plec · 13 Oct 2020 at 17:39

Mel_P said:
Well with the update of the PC to a Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 base / 4.2GHz max boost on a B5500 Tomahawk 55 motherboard. £488 + money back.

Solid upgrade for the money.

Mel_P said:
Cinebench score = 3625 (no overclocking). Compared to around 800 on the Athlon and my ageing i7 920.

That's a healthy boost - it's great how a benchmark can make you feel comforted about your hardware choices. And yours were great bang for buck.

Mel_P said:
Windows wouldn't load though but did a repair / reinstall - which lost a lot of the software!!! BUT it has reactivated using the "changed by hardware" option

Yeah, Windows 10 has the ability (a lot better) at doing a straight swap - but it's still wise to do back ups and if you can do a clean install where possible. Had i known - i would have advised this - but i've had success with the quick plug and and pray method, but have always backed up users data before. I hope yours wasn't too important/irreplaceable? :/

At least the licence swapped without issues.

Mel_P · 13 Oct 2020 at 18:26

Plec said:
Solid upgrade for the money.That's a healthy boost - it's great how a benchmark can make you feel comforted about your hardware choices. And yours were great bang for buck.

Yeah, Windows 10 has the ability (a lot better) at doing a straight swap - but it's still wise to do back ups and if you can do a clean install where possible. Had i known - . I hope yours wasn't too important/irreplaceable?, At least the licence swapped without issues.

Nothing valuable. I actually have a "clone" of the SSD So I can pull things of there but it was basically a "loan" pc for my grandson to play games and my daughter to do work stuff, mainly as a virtual machine. I downloaded all of their files when the returned the PC a few months ago.

When I went from the AMD A6 6400K to the Athlon on the Asus A68HM-plus windows survived the change - but going from the Athlon / A68HM-plus to the Ryzen / Tomahawk was just a step too far! Windows loaded then crashed saying some driver was missing.

Windows did a "reset, allegedly keeping the files" but seems to have failed to retain most of the software. The only tredious thing is it did not retain Office 2010 Plus. I still have the DVDs so it will be a case of reinstalling and hoping that will reactivate.

Mel_P · 14 Oct 2020 at 23:01

Bummer! Found that in the reinstall which Windows "took over" it reinstalled in Legacy mode and not UEFI !! Looks like I will have to reinstall it. + Office etc !

Mel_P · 15 Oct 2020 at 10:05

All installed. Windows and office 2010 self reactivated so it was a few hours yesterday evening and a late night and I now have a uefi based install. I am now going to have a free month of Photoshop elements to give it a try with that. Only get a week with creative cloud. Tight!!

Plec · 15 Oct 2020 at 12:41

Mel_P said:
All installed. Windows and office 2010 self reactivated so it was a few hours yesterday evening and a late night and I now have a uefi based install.

At least the initial install is lightning fast (Assuming you have SSD/NVMe) - it's all the updates...

All running OK, otherwise (enabled DOCP/XMP)?

Mel_P · 15 Oct 2020 at 14:24

Plec said:
At least the initial install is lightning fast (Assuming you have SSD/NVMe) - it's all the updates...

SS windows was fast from the MS tool - not many updates - Office 2010 - lots of updates and a service pack - but went in several batches.

Plec said:
All running OK, otherwise (enabled DOCP/XMP)?

Forgot about XMP (not used to it as not relevant to my "ageing" systems!). Booted to BIOS and memory was at 2400MHz. Clicked XMP Profile 1 and rebooted - now at 3200MHz.

Thanks, Mel

Mel_P · 15 Oct 2020 at 14:29

EsaT said:
£21 Arctic Freezer 34 is the way best for the price.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-077-ar.html

PS the Alpenfoln cooler was easier to fit than the Arctic Cooler (well at least the Arctic 7). It had an easier mounting process (didn't have to "hook" it on).

Mel_P · 27 Oct 2020 at 23:14

Ok wise guys (wiser than me!). As you can see above this system gives me a "Cinebench R20" score of around 3614 - or 3640 if I overclock a bit with Ryzen Master.

This is with a quite old graphics card - a Radeon RX570. I have an RX580 on another PC which I could swap - would that increase the Cinebench score?

Alternatively, if i was thinking of updating the graphics card what would be the suggestion for a "not silly money" (£250? or less) upgrade? Would like zero rpm fans at low load like RX570 and RX580.

Any ideas please?

PS - MSI B550 Tomahawk - I can claim the £40 cashback after 30 days - so, soon!!

mickyflinn · 27 Oct 2020 at 23:25

Mel_P said:
Ok wise guys (wiser than me!). As you can see above this system gives me a "Cinebench R20" score of around 3614 - or 3640 if I overclock a bit with Ryzen Master.

This is with a quite old graphics card - a Radeon RX570. I have an RX580 on another PC which I could swap - would that increase the Cinebench score?

Alternatively, if i was thinking of updating the graphics card what would be the suggestion for a "not silly money" (£250? or less) upgrade? Would like zero rpm fans at low load like RX570 and RX580.

Any ideas please?

PS - MSI B550 Tomahawk - I can claim the £40 cashback after 30 days - so, soon!!

Drop in your 580 will be good for 1080p and keep saving, then upgrade to maybe a 3060 or 3070 .