3700x on Gigabyte AB350 Gaming 3

[Fortekko]

As title says I'm looking to upgrade from the 1600x to the 3700x while staying on the same mobo. I've seen a lot of posts earlier about the 3700x having problems on this mobo, but I don't have the money to upgrade the mobo just yet. Does anyone with a Zen 2 on this mobo have any problems?

 

Other than that, what steps would I need to do other than installing the CPU to make sure there aren't any errors down the line?

[Fasauceome]

That motherboard is very limited, a 3700X is not exactly recommended. Is there a reason you need 8 cores? A 3600 or 3600X would be pretty suitable on that motherboard.

[Fortekko]

I'd consider the 3600(x) if I was only gaming, but I also do a lot of school work on my computer that would benefit from the extra cores not to mention multitasking ability.

 

I don't really plan on running this combo very long though since my next upgrade will probably be to a b450 or possible b550 board.

 

Could you also explain what on the board might limit it? 

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, Fortekko said:

I'd consider the 3600(x) if I was only gaming, but I also do a lot of school work on my computer that would benefit from the extra cores not to mention multitasking ability.

What kind of work? General multitasking and word processing are totally fine on a 3600. 3D rendering or video workloads are a different story.

 

2 minutes ago, Fortekko said:

Could you also explain what on the board might limit it

The VRMs can only push so much power, the heat sink on that board is pretty tiny too. A CPU that requires a lot of power would not be able to reach its full potential.

 

Also be sure to quote people so we see your responses

[Fortekko]

Just now, Fasauceome said:

What kind of work? General multitasking and word processing are totally fine on a 3600. 3D rendering or video workloads are a different story.

 

The VRMs can only push so much power, the heat sink on that board is pretty tiny too. A CPU that requires a lot of power would not be able to reach its full potential.

 

Also be sure to quote people so we see your responses

Gotcha sorry about that.

 

I'm currently running a lot of circuit simulations that currently generally take tens of minutes to run and doing some machine learning type stuff on the side (CPU only as I'm still learning it, but it'll drop off as I start GPU training). Some of the zip/unzipping benchmarks also seem to favor the 3700x heavily and it's something I justify paying a bit extra for.

 

On a side note, I'm planning on buying this secondhand from a friend so the cost differential between the 3700x and 3600 isn't that much.

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Fortekko said:

Gotcha sorry about that.

 

I'm currently running a lot of circuit simulations that currently generally take tens of minutes to run and doing some machine learning type stuff on the side (CPU only as I'm still learning it, but it'll drop off as I start GPU training). Some of the zip/unzipping benchmarks also seem to favor the 3700x heavily and it's something I justify paying a bit extra for.

 

On a side note, I'm planning on buying this secondhand from a friend so the cost differential between the 3700x and 3600 isn't that much.

In which case, use the 3700X on your current board, and use the stock cooler if you can so that there's airflow over the VRMs

[Fortekko]

3 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

In which case, use the 3700X on your current board, and use the stock cooler if you can so that there's airflow over the VRMs

Unfortunately, he's keeping the stock cooler so I'm stuck with the 212 EVO. I have a spare case fan so I'll see if I can rig something in the case to point it at the VRMs.

 

But after swapping, will I need to make any changes like reinstalling Windows or etc?

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Fortekko said:

Unfortunately, he's keeping the stock cooler so I'm stuck with the 212 EVO. I have a spare case fan so I'll see if I can rig something in the case to point it at the VRMs.

 

But after swapping, will I need to make any changes like reinstalling Windows or etc?

You won't need to reinstall Windows, you'll only have to have the updated BIOS. 

[Fortekko]

Yep, I had planned on doing that once I checked compatibility. Thanks for your help!