Upgrading tips please!

[alphawhisky]

Hey all,

 

I'm contemplating an upgrade of my system and could really do with a bit of advice. Currently, I have an Intel Core i7 6700 (3.4Ghz base) on an MSI H110M Pro-VH motherboard with 16GB of DDR4-2133. This system is now 3 years old and I had been intending on replacing the entire system within the next couple of months. Fate had another idea and both my graphics card and PSU failed within a month or so of each other :(  So, with a new PSU (Thermaltake Smart RGB 80+ 700W) and graphics card (Radeon RX590), I'm now thinking of upgrading some other components but wanted some expert advice before I undertake anything.

 

I'm looking at a new motherboard (MSI X570-A Pro) along with the Ryzen 5 3600X. Couple of quick questions though:

• To save some cash, I'd probably keep the DDR4-2133 RAM. However, it's not a massive cost to include 16GB of DDR4-3000 - would this be a worthwhile upgrade? Conscious that, if memory costs do come down, I could look at 32GB in due course rather than upgrading right away... In other words, how much would performance be a drag with DDR4-2133.
• Along the same lines, I'd probably keep my internal boot SSD (standard SATA 2.5", can't quite remember which type!) I know the suggested new mainboard does support PCIe gen4 so I could look at a gen4 M.2 drive, but this is super expensive (in the UK, around £200 for a 1TB drive). I know the speed benefit would be considerable... Any thoughts?
• Have heard that the Ryzen 5 3600x runs quite hot - I'll not be overclocking, but is it worth upgrading the stock cooler? 

Other than that, I'd keep my internal 8TB drive, along with the optical drive (though not sure when I last used it!) and the Radeon RX590, etc.   

 

For reference, my machine is mainly productivity - some video/photo editing (I will hopefully be moving to 4K video editing but may do this by proxies if speed is poor).   And some very casual gaming (I suck at most everything).   Dual screen set-up, both at 4k so I obviously don't run native resolution when I do game :D 

 

One option is to save the hassle of upgrading myself and just look at a new system anyway (with current box being relegated to my Plex media server).  Obviously much more expensive, but this system was purchased on quite a tight budget at the time and some corners were cut by the PC builder (crap PSU obviously, not great air-flow internally, lacking in case fans, etc.)   Some of these could be resolved but that's perhaps for another day.  

 

Any thoughts would be really appreciated, thanks for reading.

 

 

Cheers,

Andy 

 

[Crunken]

The 6700 is still a really good cpu, if you don't really need an upgrade get a better graphics card and ram instead, it'll help with video/photo editing and be a lot easier and cheaper to upgrade than switching motherboard and cpu

[5x5]

Few things.

 

First, I'd buying X570, get the Asus TuF X570. It's by far the best value mid range board.

 

Second, DDR4 3000 or higher with lower timings is highly recommended. If you spend some time manually adjusting them, you can get a sizable jump in performance.

 

Third, who told you the 3600(X) runs hot? It's probably the most efficient CPU on the market. The Wraith Spire that comes with the 3600X is more than capable of cooling it.

[5x5]

Fourth, can you return the Thermaltake? It's a mediocre power supply and heavily overpriced. Safe to say you got ripped off on it unless it was 40$

 

Edit: just realized you said Smart, not Grand. Yeah, the Smart RGB is utter garbage. Replace it before it damages something

[alphawhisky]

8 minutes ago, Crunken said:

The 6700 is still a really good cpu, if you don't really need an upgrade get a better graphics card and ram instead, it'll help with video/photo editing and be a lot easier and cheaper to upgrade than switching motherboard and cpu

I just find it has slowed quite a bit recently, though may entirely be in my head - I tend to find that any time I see new hardware launches, my mind tells me my existing system is really slow!  Unfortunately, I can't get faster RAM than I have as the motherboard doesn't support it (I think).

 

9 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Few things.

 

First, I'd buying X570, get the Asus TuF X570. It's by far the best value mid range board.

 

Second, DDR4 3000 or higher with lower timings is highly recommended. If you spend some time manually adjusting them, you can get a sizable jump in performance.

 

Third, who told you the 3600(X) runs hot? It's probably the most efficient CPU on the market. The Wraith Spire that comes with the 3600X is more than capable of cooling it.

Thanks for recommendation on the board. It's about $65 USD (£50/€60) more but assume that's worthwhile. Cheers also for suggestion on RAM. 

 

In terms of the CPU, if stock cooler is fine, I'm happy to go with that.  Think I'd seen comments on it running hot on Reddit but appreciate that everything is subjective (and lot of idiots online too!)

 

As to PSU, yes, it was really cheap but at the time, it was all I could afford!  I did get it at a good price.  Don't care about RGB as PC isn't exactly visible in my set-up but it does run really quiet - though that's comparative to my old PSU that, as it began to fail, ended up sounding like an aeroplane taking off... 

[5x5]

Just now, alphawhisky said:

I just find it has slowed quite a bit recently, though may entirely be in my head - I tend to find that any time I see new hardware launches, my mind tells me my existing system is really slow!  Unfortunately, I can't get faster RAM than I have as the motherboard doesn't support it (I think).

 

Thanks for recommendation on the board. It's about $65 USD (£50/€60) more but assume that's worthwhile. Cheers also for suggestion on RAM. 

 

In terms of the CPU, if stock cooler is fine, I'm happy to go with that.  Think I'd seen comments on it running hot on Reddit but appreciate that everything is subjective (and lot of idiots online too!)

 

As to PSU, yes, it was really cheap but at the time, it was all I could afford!  I did get it at a good price.  Don't care about RGB as PC isn't exactly visible in my set-up but it does run really quiet - though that's comparative to my old PSU that, as it began to fail, ended up sounding like an aeroplane taking off... 

Well, the 3600 non X comes with the smaller stealth so it may be just dumb people trying to overcloxk on the smallest cooler. 3600X should be fine. If you're worried, a cheap solution is the Arctic Freezer eSports 34. It's about 30$ and will keep the CPU very chilly.

 

As for the board, you do get a better VRM for future upgrades to 12/16 cores and a better BIOS. Imo it's a worthwhile investment but make sure to look at the motherboard tier list on the forum here. You could end up finding a cheaper ASRock X570 board that also fits the budget and offers superb quality.

 

Now, the PSU. I'd strongly suggest upgrading to a Corsair CX550 or Be Quiet System Power 9 at the minimum. The Thermaltake Smart series is notoriously bad and unstable under load. You likely don't want to end up with a dead board or GPU again cause the PSU shit itself for no reason. Sell the Smart and get a good reliable power supply

[Crunken]

1 hour ago, alphawhisky said:

I can't get faster RAM than I have as the motherboard doesn't support it (I think).

 

Yeah i didn't check the motherboard, but it only supports 2133. If you think you need an upgrade the Ryzen 5 is really good, but from what i've heard the X version isn't really worth the extra, basically the same performance as the non version for more money (not 100% on that though)