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How should I upgrade this

Started by Cuellar, July 01, 2021, 04:42:54 PM

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Cuellar

Right this is the scenario. I've got the following:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Case: Fractal Design Focus G Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case
Power Supply: *Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

And a 2080ti that I recently (in about Feb) put in to replace a 1660 Super. I'm thinking I might have slightly cheaped out on the processor and the motherboard when I built this thing a year and a bit ago. Probably ram too. So I'm thinking these three things (processor, mobo, ram) need upgrading. I say 'need', I want higher framerates in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. It runs pretty well but does stutter a bit and the fan on the 2080ti goes absolutely gangbusters at times and sounds like it's about to take off.

So that's the scenario.

aunt mildred

#1
The obvious thing to do is plop a 5600x/5800x straight in to that motherboard but upgrade the bios/uefi to the latest version before you do else it might not boot with the new cpu. You don't need anything else really.

I would try and overclock the memory too, there's a good tool for this called Ryzen DRAM calculator that will tell you what to change in the bios for a particular overclock. I wouldn't buy new memory as what you have is good enough, if you can get it up to 3600 CL17 (there's a good chance) you will be laughing.

No point in upgrading the motherboard unless you're looking to overclock the cpu but you shouldn't need to as you'll get a nice boost going from a 2600 to a 5600, B450 motherboards run 5600x just about exactly the same as a top of the range B550/X570 at stock speeds, you can always upgrade this later if need be. I've checked your motherboard and it will run Ryzen 5xxxx, you want bios F61c if it's rev 1 (I hate how gigabyte do so many revisions to the same motherboard, later revisions are usually inferior and the ones customers get as opposed to reviewers).

Cuellar

Excellent advice, thank you. I'd been worried that my motherboard wouldn't take more recent/powerful cpus and I'd read things about upgrading the bios etc. but didn't really understand it and got nervous so I had thought about just buying a new motherboard to get around the problem. But I'll give the bios upgrading a go.

aunt mildred

Bios upgrades are easy and barring a power cut fail safe nowadays, it's normally just putting a file on a fat32 memory stick, going into the bios and flashing. You should set the bios to default settings before and after the flash, then you're good to go.

It's not going to stop the 2080ti being loud though, that's probably due to the weather and airflow inside your case. There's various things like repasting the GPU or putting a better cooler on it you could do but it's not for the faint hearted and it's not something I would recommend given the scarcity of GPUs. Leave the side off and see if that's any better, it should lower the GPU temperature at least.

Have you added an exhaust fan to your case at the back? If not that's something you definitely need.


mobias

I upgraded to a 5600X earlier this year and its a sound investment. Great bang for your buck. It'll match and even out perform some CPU's twice its price for some games. You'll need fast RAM to get the most out of it though. 3600mhz or faster is what it likes. The 5600X is relatively easy to get hold of now. It was impossible to find one a while back but things have got better. I got mine in a motherboard combo deal together with 16GB of 3600mhz RAM. It ended up being a pretty good deal. Was about 500 quid I think.

Another worthwhile upgrade I did recently was getting an 1TB NVMe M.2 drive for storing my games on. 3.5GB a second transfer speed. Games load super fast and games that do a lot of data streaming like flight simulator really benefit from it. 


Cuellar

Excellent advice, thank you also. Just looking at these bundles, a lot of them come with liquid coolers! That seems excessive surely - don't want to have to deal with all that.

Cuellar

Quote from: aunt mildred on July 02, 2021, 08:33:20 PM
Have you added an exhaust fan to your case at the back? If not that's something you definitely need.

Ah, I have not.

aunt mildred

Quote from: Cuellar on July 03, 2021, 04:48:18 PM
Ah, I have not.

That's probably why the GPU is taking off then, you have no airflow inside the case without one. Get a decent one like Noctua, they're not that expensive and it's not worth cheaping out on.

Cuellar

Ah ok, I'm hesitating over the 'order' button on the cpu and ram but it's a lot of money so I'm chickening out. Might start with the fan. Ease myself in.

aunt mildred

Seriously, you don't need RAM, your current RAM is good enough. It will make little difference even if you don't overclock what you currently have (I would). CPU and case fan is all you need and maybe a CPU cooler too (don't know what you're currently using).

mobias

Quote from: Cuellar on July 03, 2021, 02:46:25 PM
Excellent advice, thank you also. Just looking at these bundles, a lot of them come with liquid coolers! That seems excessive surely - don't want to have to deal with all that.

This is a pretty good deal. Its a 5800X. 8 core. https://www.awd-it.co.uk/amd-ryzen-7-5800x-eight-core-4.7ghz-asus-rog-strix-b550-f-gaming-motherboard-cpu-bundle.html?gclid=CjwKCAiAr6-ABhAfEiwADO4sfUejuhgfSbkJfw6ZISikBHt4yFzo7GsQRTn7UJfXRpXXsLhqgxWKGRoCt5wQAvD_BwE

You could use your current RAM and upgrade to faster RAM later on.

aunt mildred

Quote from: Cuellar on July 03, 2021, 09:03:18 PM
Ah ok, I'm hesitating over the 'order' button on the cpu and ram but it's a lot of money so I'm chickening out. Might start with the fan. Ease myself in.

Just getting the fan first is not a bad idea actually, the stuttering you're getting could well be due to the GPU/CPU getting too hot and throttling itself down. You might not need to upgrade at all if you get the temperatures under control. I would recommend a 5xxxx with a 2080ti though, that's a very decent GPU.

Cuellar

I have installed the exhaust fan. I didn't have enough fa connectors for my two front ones AND the rear one so I've got one front one back now. I'll have to buy a better fan connecting cable with more heads.

I've been dithering about the new CPU because of BIOS updating, but I've taken the plunge and am updating the BIOS NOW.

aunt mildred

Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

I thought you could daisy chain the two fronts? They don't need to be independent, two case fan headers on the mobo is a bit stingey but it is a mATX. Anyway 1 front, 1 rear is still better than just 2 fronts.

Cuellar

It was stingier even than that - just the one header, I had a splitter going to get two fans working. I've bought a 10-head hub thing though so now I've got three whole fans running, two at the front one at the back.

I also just put the new CPU in, and given that I'm typing this now it seems to have gone fine.

Thanks for all your help everyone - I'd send you all virtual pints if I could.