Question New Build suggestions required AMD

[nindisp]

Hi - hoping to get some suggestions.

I need to upgrade / new build this system, looking to keep GPU and if possible PSU for now.
Budget is roughly £500 GBP.
I use for games and work (spreadsheets mostly), and run 2 monitors off it with a lot of multitasking.

Mobo: ex58-ud5
CPU: x5680
GPU: gtx 1080 6gb
RAM: 24gb
PSU: Antec SG-650
Case: ATX
HDD: SSD 500gb; standard 1tb

From my research a Ryzen 3600 would hit a sweet spot of a significant upgrade for good value.
I want to get one of the mobo's that could use a future Ryzen 3rd gen.
RAM i would like 32gb.

So questions:
1. What mobo/cpu would you suggest? I would like a mobo which allows me to upgrade cpu in future.
2. Do i require a new PSU? my one is about 10yrs old but never given me any trouble.
3. I really don't understand the value of higher RAM speeds... could someone enlighten me as to what is the best value bang for your buck RAM, and what the CPU/Mobo supports?
4. linked to (3), is it better to have 32gb ram at slower speed or 16gb higher speed RAM?

Many Thanks All!

 

[fralexandr]

PCPartPicker Part List: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/7MT4V7

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£180.00 @ Currys PC World)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4S ATX AM4 Motherboard (£137.98 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£83.11 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £401.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-05 14:00 GMT+0000

2) Your psu is getting pretty old so it might be a good idea to get a new one.

3) as cpus get faster, ram needs to keep up otherwise it can become a bottleneck in cases where you are not gpu limited. During intels core era cpu improvements were negligible and the common ddr3 speeds were enough. the bump from ddr3 to ddr4 meant ram was more than fast enough until the 8 core cpus came around. Fallout 4 was the first major game that actually ran into ram speed limitations in a long time and that was related to how the program handles a bunch of draw calls and draw distance.

4) if you need more ram, more ram is better. If you don't need more ram, faster ram is better. That said the difference between ddr4 5000 and ddr4 3000 might be something like 20% in cpu limited cases

DDR4 Memory at 4000 MT/s, Does It Make a Difference?

Benchmarks: Gaming. For the most part we test using DDR4-3000, as it occasionally shows some benefits over the more typical 2400 and 2666 MHz speeds. Going to 4000 MHz...

www.techspot.com

So its typically better to spend the money elsewhere unless you make money on ram speed or have an essentially unlimited budget.

 

[nindisp]

Super, that is very informative. Thank you.

On Mobo, is there much difference in a x570 and b550?
And would a NVME HDD give me much gain on a SSD?

 

[fralexandr]

Super, that is very informative. Thank you.

On Mobo, is there much difference in a x570 and b550?
And would a NVME HDD give me much gain on a SSD?

NVMe drives are much faster, and with the Xbox series X and PS5 using them I'd expect they'll be useful for gaming in the future. Sata SSDs max out at ~500MB/s read/write whereas typical NVMe drives are capable of ~2000MB/s and high end drives are 4000MB/s and more. Currently, this difference won't be that noticeable outside of benchmarks. I'm guessing we'll see some tangible benefits when we get some games actually developed for the new consoles.

the x570 is more future proof as it has more bandwidth to support NVMe drives.
One downside of the x570 is that most of them have fans as a result of PCIe 4.0, so it introduces a moving part that may eventually fail.

The weird thing is that B550 boards aren't that much cheaper than x570 boards unless you go with the mATX version which has less expansion slots.
If you don't plan on using more than 1 NVMe drive and don't need that many PCIe expansion cards the b550 platform is fine.

 

[nindisp]

A few follow up questions for y'all:

1. Does the memory make much difference? The T-Force one you recommended is much cheaper than others e.g. Corsair. I assume that one will suffice.
2. I will go for a x570 board, is there any added benefit for the slightly more expensive boards? Say one of the below:

MSI Max x570 Tomahawk Wifi

Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus WiF

ASRock AM4/X570 Steel Legend

GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Elite Wi-Fi

3. I will go ahead and get a new PSU, how much power do i need?
4. Would my current Nvidia GTX 1080 be compatible with the x570 boards?

Thank you!

 

[fralexandr]

1) It doesn't matter much. Most ram is made by micron/crucial, samsung, and hynix. Some of them might overclock better.

2) more expensive boards typically have better integrated sound, 2.5gbps LAN, and overclock better.

3) 650w-750w is a good range. With your planned upgrade you should still be using under 400w. 650w-750w would allow for future upgrades to a 3080/6xxx +5900x/5950x with some headroom.

It can be hard to find good quality ones at a decent price though. They haven't been going on sale much and are more expensive than they were a several years ago.

4) yes

 

[nindisp]

Got the show started by getting hold of 32gb RAM, and have put my old pc up for sale so might just repace all of it (so add PSU + Case + Nvme drive to above list).

Now i am thinking about whether it is worth getting one of the new Ryzen 5600x cpus? Original plan was to get a cheaper cpu and upgrade in future as what i do is not too intensive.
If i can get hold of stock, it is going for about £120 extra on top of the planned ryzen 5 3600.
Would it work fine on a x570 board [probably get the x570 tomahawk] right now or do i need to wait for bios updates? and is it worth it (dont want to expand budget by much more).

Also, what is a good graphics card under £300?
Keeping a look out for any black friday deals.

Thanks.

 

[fralexandr]

The 5600x is ~25% faster than the 3600.

Your 1080 would be about as fast as anything ~£300 at the moment.
Prices might improve when the lower end 3060/6700 are announced, but given the pricing on the 3070/6800 I'm not too optimistic.

 

[nindisp]

Added the x570 tomahawk, corsair 276r airflow case, samsung 970 evo m.2 drive and a corsair tx650m (650W) psu to the 32gb 3200mhz crucial ballastix ram i got the other day on sale.
Will use my 1060 (not 1080-typo) for now, unless i see a good card on sale for up for £300.
Going to sell my old system as is if i get a new card.

A few questions:

1. Although I don't plan on doing any OC. Would a AIO cooler be needed at all, or is the stock AMD cooler good enough. Is there a good AIO cooler worth grabbing in the sales that will be usable in future on a stronger cpu and do any good now?
have seen a corsair h75 on sale, but also read that the AIOs are only useful once you get double fan size and not single.
2. What is the best way to setup the case fans? (intake at front and output on top and back)?

Thanks.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Added the x570 tomahawk, corsair 276r airflow case, samsung 970 evo m.2 drive and a corsair tx650m (650W) psu to the 32gb 3200mhz crucial ballastix ram i got the other day on sale.
Will use my 1060 (not 1080-typo) for now, unless i see a good card on sale for up for £300.
Going to sell my old system as is if i get a new card.

A few questions:

1. Although I don't plan on doing any OC. Would a AIO cooler be needed at all, or is the stock AMD cooler good enough. Is there a good AIO cooler worth grabbing in the sales that will be usable in future on a stronger cpu and do any good now?
have seen a corsair h75 on sale, but also read that the AIOs are only useful once you get double fan size and not single.
2. What is the best way to setup the case fans? (intake at front and output on top and back)?

Thanks.

If cost is an issue the stock cooler works good enough with some noise. Regarding AIO cooling you are right the smaller less than 240mm radiators don’t cool all that well. Even the mid to high end AIO coolers work similar to a decent tower style air cooler.