Upgrade or replace?

-Paul-

-Paul-

-Paul-

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Joined
14 Jun 2017
Posts
52
Hi All, I'm ready for an upgrade but I'm crap at keeping up with the latest gear.

I'm torn between whether to buy a new gaming PC or whether there's enough of my current machine that's still worth hanging on to and going the upgrade route.

I'm aiming for a mid\high end gaming machine (Ray Tracing etc) that will last a few years before I need to upgrade. Budget Up to £2000.

My Current Machine
  • AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core Processor 3.20 GHz
  • Gigabyte AB350 Gaming 3 Motherboard
  • 32GB (2x16) Corsair Vengeance RBG DDR4 1333Mhz Memory
  • AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB
  • Storage an SSD an M2 and a couple of old Sata HDDs

I'm wondering whether it's worth salvaging anything or just buy a pre build new machine and sell the old stuff off? If we're saying a new machine, I'd love some recommendations

Appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks
 
Check the Gigabyte website for a BIOS that supports 5xxx series cpus and then get a 5600. DDR4 is so cheap at the moment you may as well get some decent 3600mhz ram and then you can think about whether to upgrade gpu.

Your PC is still good to go and your decision to buy into the AM4 platform is going to pay of big time for you. Congratz for making the right decision 5 years ago.
 
What resolution are you wanting to play at?

Is the 1600 an AF model?

I assume the memory is running at 2666 (because 1333 would be one hell of a bottleneck), but is it capable of running higher (e.g. is it 3200 rated)?

If the Ryzen 5 1600 is not an AF model, I'd go for a 5600, or 5700X and then wait until the new cards are out at the end of this year. Not much point sinking a huge amount of money right now, especially when you have a pretty good card already
 
Haz123 said:
Check the Gigabyte website for a BIOS that supports 5xxx series cpus and then get a 5600. DDR4 is so cheap at the moment you may as well get some decent 3600mhz ram and then you can think about whether to upgrade gpu.

Your PC is still good to go and your decision to buy into the AM4 platform is going to pay of big time for you. Congratz for making the right decision 5 years ago.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that's good to know. I've checked the DDR again and I messed up (I'm easily confused) It's rated 3200Mhz, running at 26.66 It's (I'm not that Savvy) Buying the AM4 I'm almost certain was on advice from this forum so it's probably thanks to you guys.

So we're saying, the board is still good if I can find new Bios and go for a new processor then a new card later in the year?
 
Tetras said:
What resolution are you wanting to play at?

Is the 1600 an AF model?

I assume the memory is running at 2666 (because 1333 would be one hell of a bottleneck), but is it capable of running higher (e.g. is it 3200 rated)?

If the Ryzen 5 1600 is not an AF model, I'd go for a 5600, or 5700X and then wait until the new cards are out at the end of this year. Not much point sinking a huge amount of money right now, especially when you have a pretty good card already
Click to expand...
Yeah, sorry I mucked up. It's 3200Mhz, the easy tune reckons it's running at 26.66, which honestly goes over my head.
 
-Paul- said:
So we're saying, the board is still good if I can find new Bios and go for a new processor then a new card later in the year?
Click to expand...
Yes. That’s a good way round of doing things. Your motherboard should be fine so do a BIOS update and get a 5600X or 5700X.

You might find the motherboard throttles with an 8 core CPU but it might be ok and some good airflow would solve that issue.
 
www.gigabyte.com

GA-AB350-Gaming 3 (rev. 1.x) Support | Motherboard - GIGABYTE U.K.

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ultimate platform for...
www.gigabyte.com www.gigabyte.com

F52g bios supports 5000 series cpus, Gigabyte site is not the clearest and you may need some incremental updates to bios before you goto the most recent but yes your mobo will work with a 5600 , which is my recommendation. Your ram is also good so when you have bios updated and new cpu you can get it to run at its proper speeds.

www.youtube.com

Ryzen 5 5600 vs. Ryzen 5 1600, 100%+ Gains in Games!

Thermal Grizzly: https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/produkte/358-kryonaut-extremeSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedJoin us on Floatp...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

Well worth a watch and should show you what to expect.
 
-Paul- said:
I also forgot to add I'm playing at 2560x1440, but the monitor can do more

Samsung LC27JG5x
Click to expand...
Then the 5600X is perfect, you put more pressure on the GPU at 1440P res and higher.

8 core CPU can end up barely sweating at 4K.

4080 or 4070 GPU would be ace for you (given historical performance of 80 and 70 series GPUs).
 
Haz123 said:
www.gigabyte.com

GA-AB350-Gaming 3 (rev. 1.x) Support | Motherboard - GIGABYTE U.K.

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ultimate platform for...
www.gigabyte.com www.gigabyte.com

F52g bios supports 5000 series cpus, Gigabyte site is not the clearest and you may need some incremental updates to bios before you goto the most recent but yes your mobo will work with a 5600 , which is my recommendation. Your ram is also good so when you have bios updated and new cpu you can get it to run at its proper speeds.

www.youtube.com

Ryzen 5 5600 vs. Ryzen 5 1600, 100%+ Gains in Games!

Thermal Grizzly: https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/produkte/358-kryonaut-extremeSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedJoin us on Floatp...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

Well worth a watch and should show you what to expect.
Click to expand...
Can't thank you enough!
 
-Paul- said:
Thanks, that's good to know. I've checked the DDR again and I messed up (I'm easily confused) It's rated 3200Mhz, running at 26.66 It's (I'm not that Savvy) Buying the AM4 I'm almost certain was on advice from this forum so it's probably thanks to you guys.
Click to expand...

Excellent, no need to upgrade/change the memory then!
 
JollyJamma said:
Yes. That’s a good way round of doing things. Your motherboard should be fine so do a BIOS update and get a 5600X or 5700X.

You might find the motherboard throttles with an 8 core CPU but it might be ok and some good airflow would solve that issue.
Click to expand...

I thought that the AM4 boards were pretty good at not throttling?
 
Tetras said:
Some of the first generation B350 boards were a bit iffy (don't know if this was one of them), but it should be fine with a 5600 class cpu either way.
Click to expand...
Learn something new every day.

I guess that for AM5 I'll probably wait for the second round of AM5 boards then.
 
A lot of the early X370 and B350 mobos were of lower quality than the equivalent Intel mobos were at the time. Years of poor AMD sales had led to the mobo makers putting less effort into that segment of the market. Once Ryzen took off and at times dominated sales the manufacturers put more effort into those mobos.

A good rule of thumb is look for a heatsink. If the VRMs have a proper well applied heatsink then it will be fine for anything below a 5900x/5950x. They can feed you BS about how their advanced power regulation leads to less heat blah blah blah but the laws of Physics cannot be ignored and a heatsink is a low tech solution that just works.
 
i recently upgraded from a AMD Ryzen 5 1600 to a Intel i5 12600k, Msi Z690 tomahawk and 32GB Corsair RAM. Its a nice jump. This PC, its so much faster, Only regret is I wish i'd gone for a Asus motherboard.
Only reason I went Intel CPU was a friend was selling the CPU really cheap so was a no brainer. otherwise I think i would've gone AMD 5600 or 5800X.
If you were to sell your items you would get £40 for the CPU, £30 for the motherboard, £20 to £30 for the RAM. I think getting a Pre build machine is a good idea. IF you want to future proof it for 5 years then 5900x is the way to its just a beast.
They at least 1TB NVME ssd as your Windows C drive and use a Big hard drive as a your storage drive. and maybe a 2nd cheaper NVME for games.
 
I've done the Motherboard updates and I'll order the Chip (5600x) this week. I've also set my Memory to 3200HZ too, no idea why it was sitting at 2600MHZ

In terms of the Graphics Card I'm not sure whether to buy a 3070 or 3080 right away, or wait to see if there's any\enough improvement from the chip alone to allow me to wait for the new cards coming out.

EDIT: In fact I think I might even go 5700x. What would be the best option?
 
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-Paul- said:
I've done the Motherboard updates and I'll order the Chip (5600x) this week. I've also set my Memory to 3200HZ too, no idea why it was sitting at 2600MHZ

In terms of the Graphics Card I'm not sure whether to buy a 3070 or 3080 right away, or wait to see if there's any\enough improvement from the chip alone to allow me to wait for the new cards coming out.
Click to expand...

It will almost always boot at 2666 unless you change it. Gaming memory is designed to use XMP and that needs to be manually enabled. You can buy memory that boots at 3200 natively, but gamers don't buy this stuff. You'll likely need a higher memory voltage to run stably at 3200, by the way, if you don't know already.

Definitely wait on the graphics card, it is too late to buy one now when the architecture is a few years old already.
 
Hi guys, sorry to revive this thread. I'm about to buy the processor 5600x, and I'm seeing a couple of options and speeds. I can see 3.7 or 4.6. The cores seem to be the difference. Can anyone bail me out? I'm likely missing something obvious.

Edit: Actually I think I'd go for the 5700x if it's worth it? Anyone got an opinion on what would be the best choice
 
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