What's the best motherboard/CPU/RAM upgrade for me??

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

Soldato
Joined
2 Jan 2004
Posts
7,782
Location
Chesterfield
I'm currently running the specs in my sig but am considering getting a HTC Vive and while the Steam VR spec test says I'm good to go (as well as a few people on here saying my i5 2500K should be fine) it's got me thinking about my next "big" upgrade.

I know i can overclock my 2500K but I've never been very confident with overclocking and so I'd prefer to just get a system that will give me a couple of years trouble-free gaming!

So in essence I know absolutely nothing about the current "best bang for buck" mobo/CPU/Ram combinations if anyone can point me in the right direction?

I'm happy with my other components but will probably look to upgrade the GPU not too long after!

Thanks for any pointers....
 
StevieP said:
"best bang for buck" mobo/CPU/Ram combinations if anyone can point me in the right direction?

I'm happy with my other components but will probably look to upgrade the GPU not too long after!
Click to expand...

I'll list a couple of builds but it will just be the CPU that changes and perhaps the memory with an explanation as to why - to give you an idea:


This is the Ryzen 1600 - 6 Cores 12 threads, coupled with a quality Gigabyte B350 and cheap but great memory. This is offers the best bang for buck and will cover all your intended and future needs re: Vive:

My basket at Overclockers UK:


Total: £435.47
(includes shipping: £10.50)






Ryzen 1700 - 8 cores and 16 threads but i've coupled it with more expensive 3200MHz memory. Be aware that the memory isn't guaranteed to run at 3200MHz - but i've got a couple of people running this memory in Ryzen rigs (same boards) at 3000MHz with minimum fuss. Hopeful with May and future updates they'll hit 3200MHz. But it's still a lottery - so keep in mind. But you could swap out for 3000MHz if you wanted this CPU and reduce cost:


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £574.47
(includes shipping: £10.50)






As mentioned before - the Ryzen 1600 build is the best bang for buck - and will run your monitor with no problems coupled with the right gfx card. And will power its way through Vive if you get one.
​
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the info (and effort!) - I've heard about the Ryzen chips but had no idea where they stood in terms of quality/speed etc!

Just out of interest, what is the equivalent Intel chip to these two these days? (I've not had an AMD chip for a serious amount of time!!)

*edit*

Will my 600W PSU suffice for the above components??
 
Last edited:
StevieP said:
Thanks for the info (and effort!) - I've heard about the Ryzen chips but had no idea where they stood in terms of quality/speed etc!
Click to expand...
No worries - they're fast becoming the enthusiast CPU as the entire range is unlocked and there appears to be loads of leg room for performance improvement - with BIOS/firmware updates and software optimisation etc... It really is an exciting release.

Be sure to look at recent or revisited reviews - especially when comparing gaming.

But note: Ryzen or INTEL - they're both great CPUs for quad core gaming.
StevieP said:
TJust out of interest, what is the equivalent Intel chip to these two these days? (I've not had an AMD chip for a serious amount of time!!)
Click to expand...

Doing it by speed, cores/threads (intel only have 4 so picked higher thread count) and representative costs:
  • Ryzen 1600 3.6 GHz @ £200 would be paired with the INTEL i5-7600K 3.8 GHZ @ £229
  • The Ryzen 1600 having 6 cores and 12 threads where as the i5-7600K has 4 cores and 4 threads.
  • Ryzen 1700 3.7 GHz @ £299 would be paired with the INTEL i7-7700K 4.2 GHZ @ £349
  • The Ryzen 1700 having 8 cores and 12 theads with the INTEL i7-7000K having 4 cores and 6 threads but higher clock speeds.
You should note that the INTELS clock better and their single thread performance is superior to that of the Ryzens - but this isn't much of consideration when looking at future games and Vive.

TBH, either flavour CPU will do the job in 4 core gaming (both have their advantages in different games) - but the Ryzen really has the bang for buck, if and when more games start utilising more cores/threads.

Personally, the above, combined with the longevity of the AM4 socket - future proofing is actually a possibility as the socket should be around for a few years - gives Ryzen a significant edge overall.


StevieP said:
Will my 600W PSU suffice for the above components??
Click to expand...

Wattage wise no problem if it's in good working order.
 
Last edited:
I would advise you forget changing your cpu/ram/mobo for now. Get that cpu to 4.3/4 for a nice boost off the bat, get a nicer gpu IE gtx 1070/80 and you will be set! no need to re build everything else. And maybe add another 8gb of ram.
 
harry5522 said:
I would advise you forget changing your cpu/ram/mobo for now. Get that cpu to 4.3/4 for a nice boost off the bat, get a nicer gpu IE gtx 1070/80 and you will be set! no need to re build everything else. And maybe add another 8gb of ram.
Click to expand...
I agree - but he expressed his reluctance to overclock in his original post. (i did the above to my 2500K but still have the itch :))

However you may want to consider this Stevie, but totally understand if you want a new setup after 5/6 years and the elimination of stability issues 'sometimes' associated with dodgy clocks. Different strokes etc...
 
Plec said:
I agree - but he expressed his reluctance to overclock in his original post. (i did the above to my 2500K but still have the itch :))

However you may want to consider this Stevie, but totally understand if you want a new setup after 5/6 years and the elimination of stability issues 'sometimes' associated with dodgy clocks. Different strokes etc...
Click to expand...

Ah my bad, my fault for always skim reading OPS. Has landed me in worse bother in the past though :D.

To be fair however, being after a new system it probably will be worth overclocking this one now to learn how to do it a little bit, maybe you will like the performance increase and decided to hold off upgrading for a while, or when you do upgrade you would be able overclock with more confidence. :) ( it really is easy my man just a little daunting at first kind of like when you build your first pc ) Either way im sure you will be happy.
 
StevieP said:
but am considering getting a HTC Vive and while the Steam VR spec test says I'm good to go
Click to expand...

No, you're not good to go. But it's your GPU that's the issue. With the 970 you will see significant reprojection in games. You should get a GTX 1070 minimum and preferably a GTX 1080. Of course, AMD's Vega GPUs are being launched at the end of the month so it may be worth waiting to see how they perform.
 
I would consider overclocking in the short term but with limired experience I'm always more comfortable running at stock for fear of damaging the chip or running it too hot causing other issues!

Is there a viable upgrade to another 1155 socket chip that would still give me a decent boost?

Also, are there games/applications that benefit greatly from 16GB of RAM?
 
You should be able to overclock that cpu by just changing the multiplier to 40 in the bios and have no worries as your not changing any voltage. Adding another 8 gb of ram is a wise move as things are moving on i have just done this myself and while playing latest games stopped getting windows reporting lack of ram.
 
StevieP said:
>clocking 2500K - 16GB memory - GPU - or complete upgrade?<
Click to expand...
You have to choose the upgrade path that suits you - both wallet and peace of mind.

But as an example i was in exactly the same position as you 3 months ago. I upgraded my 24" Dell Ultrasharps for 2 x 27" Dell US 1440p and had a 2500K clocked @ ~4.8GHz 8Gb memory and an R9 280x and thought i had the perfect reason to finally upgrade and play with Ryzen.

But i decided to experiment with a new GPU and an extra 8Gb to see what the boost would be like - purely as an experiment (the enthusiast in me wishes i hadn't!).

As i play games at 1440p i plugged in a GTX 1070 and knew ideally i needed to retain as much of my clock as possible to reduce any bottlenecking my CPU may cause the GTX 1070 (don't worry about this - it's a none issue as you'll be none the wiser of lost FPS). So i swapped out my 2 sticks of 4Gb for 2 sticks of 8GB - to try and retain my clock but i still found the memory controller was p*ssed and had to drop to 4.5GHz (no loss).

But if you go for a moderate clock of 4/4.2GHz - having all 4 slots filled 'shouldn't' be an issue (no guarantees of course - but i experimented with mine and it clocked to 4.5GHz even with 4 slots filled - but was only a brief period so not conclusive).

Oddly, the only potential pitfall i see is the BIOS upgrade on the MSI P67 MoBo as you will probably need to flash it to the latest release to get the GTX 1070 to work. The latest BIOS adds better PCIE compatibility which you need - trouble is is the Ivybridge and ME 8 update is also included within the update and a lot of users have bricked their boards updating to this BIOS

I put this down to user error (not flashing within the BIOS) as i've flashed 2 motherboards and not had any issues using the BIOS and USB stick. And to save me typing it out again i did a similar post in another thread that reads as below:

Unfortunately, this particular BIOS update has been known to cause issues - but, again, i was fine with the two MSI p67 board I updated. And suspect a majority of failures was user error or not using the optimum environment/interface for flashing the BIOS.

Interestingly, the MSI warning is different to what i encountered months ago. When i flashed the motherboard, it really stressed to only flash the board if you needed to and only advised using the USB pen - now they state to ONLY use a USB pen. See below:

*Please download and execute the file in USB pen drive only.
System will restart several times to update ME firmware after updated system BIOS. Please DO NOT remove the USB pen drive until ME update sucessfully.

This leads me to believe that users were flashing via windows utilities and was probably a direct cause of so many bricks.

If flashing through the BIOS environment was a known problem too they would have it splashed all over their page - and would either pull the BIOS or just state avoid unless updating to ivybridge.

If you do decide to flash - format a USB pen drive using FAT 32 and install just the BIOS to the drive. Then use the BIOS utility to flash the drive using a USB 2 port (NOT USB 3) and follow on screen prompts.

And follow the MSI instructions to the letter.


I mention the above not to put you off - but to make you aware that you will need to take care to flash your motherboard in the BIOS - no Window flashing utilities.

Again - clocking is easy, and the upgrade path is cheap - but do what's right for you. A new build is fun just for the hell of it too! :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply - just a few queries though if I may?

Plec said:
As i play games at 1440p i plugged in a GTX 1070 and knew ideally i needed to retain as much of my clock as possible to reduce any bottlenecking my CPU may cause the GTX 1070 (don't worry about this - it's a none issue as you'll be none the wiser of lost FPS). So i swapped out my 2 sticks of 4Gb for 2 sticks of 8GB - to try and retain my clock but i still found the memory controller was p*ssed and had to drop to 4.5GHz (no loss).

But if you go for a moderate clock of 4/4.2GHz - having all 4 slots filled 'shouldn't' be an issue (no guarantees of course - but i experimented with mine and it clocked to 4.5GHz even with 4 slots filled - but was only a brief period so not conclusive).
Click to expand...

Sorry if I'm being think but are you talking about OC'ing the 2500K here or the RAM too?? (or does one affect the other?)

Plec said:
Oddly, the only potential pitfall i see is the BIOS upgrade on the MSI P67 MoBo as you will probably need to flash it to the latest release to get the GTX 1070 to work. The latest BIOS adds better PCIE compatibility which you need - trouble is is the Ivybridge and ME 8 update is also included within the update and a lot of users have bricked their boards updating to this BIOS
Click to expand...

I seem to remember having to flash my motherboard BIOS when I upgraded to the GTX970 - would a jump to a 1070 (or other) require another update??

Plec said:
Again - clocking is easy, and the upgrade path is cheap - but do what's right for you. A new build is fun just for the hell of it too! :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, overclocking can be fun (and is certainly the cheaper option) I'll grant you but if history tells me anything it's that when I get the upgrade bug, I tend to go the whole hog! (although in this instance I guess I really should reign it in a bit because the Vive is going to be a big chunk of change on it's own!)
 
StevieP said:
Sorry if I'm being thick but are you talking about OC'ing the 2500K here or the RAM too?? (or does one affect the other?)
Click to expand...
Just the CPU - but the addition of memory can affect the clock as it puts extra strain on the memory controller - which can destabilise an otherwise stable clock.

Two sticks of 8Gbs rather than 4 sticks of 4Gbs can help reduce this - but as mentioned it's not guaranteed. But as you're only looking for a slight/moderate clock this shouldn't be a factor - but again no guarantees.

As mentioned, i had 4 sticks running OK for testing/curiosity purposes with no issues - but it wasn't for long (couple of days, so not a reliable conclusion. But i've read that others have had success with 4 sticks with relatively high clocks.)

StevieP said:
I seem to remember having to flash my motherboard BIOS when I upgraded to the GTX970 - would a jump to a 1070 (or other) require another update??
Click to expand...

What is your BIOS version?

cpu-z will quickly tell you.

StevieP said:
Yeah, overclocking can be fun (and is certainly the cheaper option) I'll grant you but if history tells me anything it's that when I get the upgrade bug, I tend to go the whole hog! (although in this instance I guess I really should reign it in a bit because the Vive is going to be a big chunk of change on it's own!)
Click to expand...

I know the feeling - i really, REAlly, want a Ryzen build but can't justify it. Plus, i want to wait until the builders have stopped filling my house with dust!

And, agreed, the Vive is pricey, my son is asking for one so when you eventually get yours i may be picking your brains.
 
StevieP said:
My BIOS is "E7681IMS V4.4B3" - I definitely remember having to update it to accommodate my 970!
Click to expand...
I think that's the latest one - when did you update?

The site only states version 4.3 - but the .exe file is named E7681v43 - both look very similar.
 
I updated when I bought my 970 which was March 2015 according to my OCUK account history!

As an aside I've just been poking around in the BIOS to see exactly how easy overclocking is and followed the advice of @mickyflinn and just changed the CPU multiplier from "Auto" to 40 and CPU-Z is now showing the following:

n2kihi.jpg


I assume this has worked OK but I guess I need to check stability - what are the best stress tests to use on a CPU overclock these days? (and how long, what setting etc?)

Ideally too I'd like an idea of the kind of % performance increase this is actually giving me so what is the best benchmark test I can run with and without the overclock to see how the two stack up??
 
If you updated to the latest BIOS on that date - you have the latest BIOS.

Yes, you're clocked to 4GHz.

You could run prime95 blend test for an hour - while checking temps, or cinebench. With such a minor clock, if it remains stable under synthetic stress, the true test will be if it remains stable when you're browsing/gaming and cold boots.

Could you give me a pic of the memory tab.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom