Hey guys, please review my upgrade considerations.

Goal: good bang for the buck upgrade. No need for high end. Just a cheap but good step forward. Does my choice make sense or do you think this little step is not worth it? I am a little flexible on the budget. Is there something more valuable in that range?

Duties:

  • mostly workstation / office / many browser tabs / hobby programming (small projects) / a couple apps incl. electron apps running at the same time
  • little gaming (grand strategy). So far the GPU and RAM are …fine, i guess. I will upgrade them some time in the future, to play KCD2
  • no video editing, almost no 3d modeling, little virtualization, no Image processing

Current system:

  • i5-7600K CPU
  • MS-7A71 mainboard
  • 16 GiB of RAM (slow 2133 MT/s)
  • Radeon RX 480 Graphics

Low cost upgrade idea:

  • AMD Ryzen 5 5600 6x 3.50GHz So.AM4 90€
    • there is a 5600X for 100€ but just 1% faster in benchmarks
  • Gigabyte B550 Gaming X V2 AMD B550 So.AM4 Dual Channel DDR4 ATX Retail € 106
    • There are B550s for 10€ cheaper but this one supports my old DDR4-2133 RAMs and up to DDR4-3200

196€ for a good upgrade doesn’t sound too bad. I probably need a new cooler too because of the new socket. I could get faster RAMs but figured that i would probably not feel the difference. These give me upgrade options in the future but don’t cost much right now, since i hope to keep all other parts (PSU, midi tower, etc.). Is it correct, that i don’t need a new PSU since the power consumption does not increase (for now)? And does the old PSU cable fit the new mainboard?

What else do i need to consider?

Thank you :-)

  • Danitos@reddthat.com
    4·
    21 hours ago

    For the PSU question, this calculator says you are safe on power consumption Newegg PSU calculator

    I think your upgrade makes sense, just some notes:

    • If you are comfortable, check the second-hand market. CPU, boards and RAM sticks barely degrade over time, just make sure to personally test the hardware.

    • The 5600 comes with a stock cooler. No need for a new one, unless you want less noise and lower temps.

    • The 5600x is not worth it, save the $10.

    • If possible, look the 5700x. It’s almost the same CPU, but with 2 extra cores. Also includes stock cooler.

    • Note that the AM4 platform won’t get new CPU launches. That means that, if in a future you want to upgrade you CPU again, you’ll have to buy a new board, again. The AM5 platform is brand new, so you’ll be able to get a better CPU in a future without having to buy a new board. This comes with two caveats:

    1. AM5 boards and CPUs are more expensive, plus your current RAM won’t work, as AM5 does not support DDR4 sticks.

    2. You would be buying in AMD’s promise to launch new CPUs in AM5. While AMD has a good records keeping these promises (and I would personally trust them here), keep in mind they are a mega corporation after all.

    I have no idea about the PSU cables.

    Hope this helps :)

    • klay@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1·
      9 hours ago

      CPU, boards and RAM sticks barely degrade over time thank you! I actually buy used things often, just with CPUs i didn’t, assuming i never know if people did overclocking or abuse them… Do you think it is safe enough? Then i would totally do it.

      The 5600 comes with a stock cooler I was going to buy it ‘tray’, as they cost more boxed (15- 30€). And i heard that boxed coolers are often bad. I would try to get a better cooler for a budget close to that difference.

  • themoonisacheese@sh.itjust.works
    21·
    18 hours ago

    All existing PSU cables should fit the new main board (unless you’re using a psu from a dell pc, in which case it will fit with nothing), however depending on the age of it may not have a CPU power cable, which are now pretty much always required. Refer to this link to learn about PSU cables.

    In a similar vein (and I have had precisely this exact issue), your PSU may not have the cables for a new GPU down the line, because GPUs now consume ungodly amounts of power. If that’s the case, you’ll need to replace it then, don’t try to use adapters beyond the ones in the GPU box.

    Overall i’m not sure this is a great upgrade. You’d be upgrading from a admittedly pretty tired CPU to an ok-to-good one, but you’d be buying into a platform that is already EOL. The advantage, of course, is that you’re not spending the money on RAM and older hardware is less expensive. Then, once you’re done with this upgrade, you’d still be limited by the now ancient rx480, so your CPU will be running laps around it while it struggles to ouput 30 fps in modern games. The speed of the ram isn’t great, but since the GPU is so slow, I don’t think it’ll really matter.

    I’d recommend the following upgrade path:

    • first, upgrade th GPU to a 6000-series AMD card. They’re about the best bang for buck right now and you will be able to keep it for a while. You’ll probably need to upgrade your PSU when you do this.
    • then, upgrade the rest of the system to an AM5 CPU, with basic ddr5 RAM (no need to splurge on faster), which also includes a motherboard upgrade.
    • finally, upgrade your storage to an nvme drive and take the opportunity to reinstall your os cleanly, because I don’t think your install is much less ancient than your gear ;)

    This is, unfortunately more expensive, and in the time between the GPU and CPU upgrade, you’ll really feel the CPU bottleneck (you’ll feel the reverse with your plan anyway). The advantages are that you’re buying into a platform that already offers great upgrade paths now, and promises greater ones in the future, as opposed to spending money just to get to the top end on your current platform.

  • anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz
    12·
    21 hours ago

    If you want to play kcd2 on that system in the future without upgrading cpu then I would look for a 5700x3d or 5800x3d rather than a 5600.