Upgrade to AM5

Adam-r · 3 Feb 2025 at 13:40

Hi all,

Just wondering if this is about right in terms of balance between MOBO, CPU & RAM? I'll be putting a 3070 into it -

My basket at OcUK:

1 x MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-375-MS) = £190.00
1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DF-AM) = £299.98
1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £98.99

Rob_B · 3 Feb 2025 at 14:11

Depends on usage but yup, pretty balanced parts.
The 7700 is almost as fast and a few quid cheaper (comes with HSF too I think?) but isn't massively cheaper. The 9700X is £15 more and has mixed performance compared to the 7700X but might be worth it.
The memory you could go with the Corsair C30 stuff for a tenner less.
The motherboard is out of stock though and can be had for a few quid less

Tetras · 3 Feb 2025 at 15:22

Personally, I'd get the 9700X and a cheaper motherboard (£190 is near X870 or B650E price), but the Tomahawk is a well equipped board.

There's better RAM than that too, as suggested.

Adam-r · 3 Feb 2025 at 15:59

Tetras said:
Personally, I'd get the 9700X and a cheaper motherboard (£190 is near X870 or B650E price), but the Tomahawk is a well equipped board.

There's better RAM than that too, as suggested.

Do you have a mobo suggestion?

Tetras · 3 Feb 2025 at 16:05

Adam-r said:
Do you have a mobo suggestion?

If you want USB4, ASRock's Pro RS did well in HUB's X870 roundup thermally, but Gigabyte's Eagle is currently the cheapest in stock.

If you don't care about USB4, but do want PCI-E 5.0 graphics, you could look at B850 (note that not all of these have PCI-E 5.0 graphics).

If you don't care about either of those, then you could even look at B840 or A620.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Asus TUF Gaming A620-Pro WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-01162) = £139.99
1 x MSI PRO B840-P WIFI (AMD AM5) B840 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03997) = £149.99
1 x Asrock B850 Pro RS WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04002) = £190.00
1 x Gigabyte X870 EAGLE WIFI7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03322) = £219.98

Total: £707.95 (includes delivery: £7.99)

Adam-r · 3 Feb 2025 at 16:12

Tetras said:
If you want USB4, ASRock's Pro RS did well in HUB's X870 roundup thermally, but Gigabyte's Eagle is currently the cheapest in stock.

If you don't care about USB4, but do want PCI-E 5.0 graphics, you could look at B850 (note that not all of these have PCI-E 5.0 graphics).

If you don't care about either of those, then you could even look at B840 or A620.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Asus TUF Gaming A620-Pro WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-01162) = £139.99

1 x MSI PRO B840-P WIFI (AMD AM5) B840 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03997) = £149.99

1 x Asrock B850 Pro RS WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04002) = £190.00

1 x Gigabyte X870 EAGLE WIFI7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03322) = £219.98

Total: £707.95 (includes delivery: £7.99)

Thanks, its mainly for gaming, but we do the odd bit of photo editing and also like optical audio out for my DAC, so I'd need to try and find a board that supports.

Tetras · 3 Feb 2025 at 16:14

Adam-r said:
Thanks, its mainly for gaming, but we do the odd bit of photo editing and also like optical audio out for my DAC, so I'd need to try and find a board that supports.

This may help:

AM5 Motherboards Sheet (X870/X670/B850/B650/B840/A620)

docs.google.com

jonnymc4 · 4 Feb 2025 at 12:39

Adam-r said:
Hi all,

Just wondering if this is about right in terms of balance between MOBO, CPU & RAM? I'll be putting a 3070 into it -

My basket at OcUK:

1 x MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-375-MS) = £190.00

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DF-AM) = £299.98

1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £98.99

I have both the B650 Tomahawk MB and 7700X, paired with a 6900XT to game and web browse. I've had it since the AM5 launch back in November 2022 and have had no problems with it. I only use a single NVMe slot and limited use with any of the other functions. My internet is 900/100 so don't make full use of the 2.5Gbe either. It's perfectly good for my needs but the choice of MB and CPUs was much more limited back then on the AM5 platform.