Fine-tune this upgrade

[Lyesainer]

Hello all, i've been looking around sites and forums for info and tips on finishing an upgrade for my wife's PC. 

I've pretty much made my mind on most parts, but more input and tips are always welcome. I'll copy the original post here and also the current/latest selection we've settled on. 

Oh and as for the local guideline:

 

Location - France

Budget - ~500 euros

the rest is in the following post:

 

Quote

Hello all,

I am planning a well overdue upgrade for my wife's PC, probably to be done around xmas / early January. I've been watching the market for a while and reading reviews and guides, but i am still not entirely sure about the choices. I'll try to give some info in a structured manner so that it's clear and fast to read.

Goal:
Upgrade an oldish PC used for generic gaming (no VR, no 4k, no pro-play, all types of games played) and video editing/encoding. We aim to "future proof" the build so that it can last a couple of years (current MB/CPU setup is +5 years old). The main decision factor is the price/quality ratio, we are not looking for top-end, bleeding edge insane gear or crazy OC capabilities.

Current build:

• MB: Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
• CPU: Don't have the exact model, but it's an i5 circa 2013. (will check when back at home)
• RAM: 16gb DDR3 (1600?)
• GPU: GeForce GTX 1060 Windforce 6G
• PSU: Enermax Naxn - 600W (not sure if it's still that one)
• HDD: 1 disk based Baracuda something and 1 Samsung SSD
• Case: Fractal Design Core 1000

What we are looking to change:

 

• MB
• CPU
• Case
• RAM

What i have selected so far:

 

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700x
• MB: MSI X470 GAMING PLUS
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8Gb DDR4 3000MHz
• Case: Corsair Carbide SPEC-05

Questions:

 

• General - Is it a good moment to invest or are there big prices changes expected soon that warrant waiting?
• CPU - I've never had good experiences with AMD products, but according to all reviews i've read their new CPUs are actually damn good. Considering the PC is used not only for gaming (that doesn't benefit that much from 8 cores, if at all) but for video work, i decided to go AMD instead of Intel to gain on productivity there. Is that a good choice?
• MB - I am not sure about X470 vs X570. Are the 570 "only" better because of their PCIe4 and USB slots or is there something i am missing? If that's the case, i suppose in the very long run X570 will be better to allow future GPUs to work, but then again the price difference is quite significant... Not sure if it's worth it getting one NOW rather than waiting and upgrading the MB when a new gen GPUs is imposed by games.
• Case - We've practically picked a cheapish, decent looking case from a decent manufacturer. No idea if there are better options for sub 100 euros.
• Anything else i am missing?

After quite a bit of research (well ok, probably not ALL that much compared to what you guys know), consulting on the ArsTechnica and Tom's Hardware forums and comparing benchmarks etc and keeping the budget in consideration, this is the latest shopping list:

 

• ASRock B450M Steel Legend
• Ryzen 5 3600
• DEEPCOOL GAMMAXX 400 CPU Fan
• Enermax MAKASHI case
• Corsair Vengeance LPX 16Gb (2x8Gb) DDR4 3200MHz C16

To clarify a bit why we've changed a bit from the original plan:

- Apparently the "real" difference between the 3 AMD MB options, B450, X470 and X570 is the amount of expansion (SATA, m.2, etc slots) and the eventual future-proofing of the X570 concerning PCIe slots. The ASRock Steel Legend seems to be a very solid build, good quality card with no bells and whistles and it should support all current and not-far-future hardware (eventual m.2 drive and a 2060 card) we might add to the this rig.

- The Ryzen 5 3600 ended up looking like the best price/quality choice. At first i was set on 3700x because of it's theoretical superiority in things that require a lot of threads/cores, but after comparing quite a few benchmarks the difference in performance doesn't validate 100+ euros difference in price. And in real-life desktop use, at least for now, having 16 threads probably doesn't matter THAT much.

Not entirely sure on the cooler and case selection, they are both semi-budget choices that look good on paper and some reviews. 

 

 

Comments, tips etc are appreciated

 

 

 

[Meganter]

Bonjour !

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	€215.99 @ Amazon France
Motherboard	MSI B450-A PRO MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	€86.39 @ Amazon France
Memory	Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	€79.98 @ Amazon France
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox MB511 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	€62.40 @ Amazon France
Power Supply	be quiet! System Power 9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	€55.45 @ Amazon France
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€500.21
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-07 11:12 CET+0100

 

I also added a PSU because yours is a fire hazard.

No need for a CPU cooler if you don't overclock too  

Better motherboard overall for less also if you don't OC yours is fine but expensive for what you get.

A case with good airflow and RGB + tempered glass side panel.

[Meganter]

Oh and also Black Friday is in 3 weeks so wait until then.

[SupaKomputa]

- X570 supports higher TDP processors for the 8+ cores, the X variant has better power management than the B, but for most usecases the B is good enough. The 4th gen Ryzen is rumored to support current socket, so i think a 400 chipset can still work. Maybe the 5th gen will have new socket since it may support DDR5 and Quad Threads per core so it require a whole new chipset. So even the X570 will end it's future compatibility if AMD decided to use DDR5.

- For the cooler, just stick to the stock cooler, it is good enough, try it first, and if you're not satisfied then buy an after market.

- There's a lot of good case sub $100.

[191x7]

Also, the price difference between a Ryzen 5 2600 and the 3600 does isn't worth it since the performance difference isn't that great.

[flashiling]

i think newegg has a sale on ryzen 5 2600 rn for about 100€

[Meganter]

8 minutes ago, flashiling said:

i think newegg has a sale on ryzen 5 2600 rn for about 100€

Newegg in France is ultra expensive because of taxes+transportation so it's not an option for us unfortunately  

[flashiling]

1 minute ago, Plouffe said:

Newegg in France is ultra expensive because of taxes+transportation so it's not an option for us unfortunately  

ah.

i have no idea how it works since it used to be us only so i've just ignored it untill i started checking the forum more often and with most people here being from NA it gets mentioned alot

 

[Lyesainer]

2 hours ago, Plouffe said:

Bonjour !

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	€215.99 @ Amazon France
Motherboard	MSI B450-A PRO MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	€86.39 @ Amazon France
Memory	Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	€79.98 @ Amazon France
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox MB511 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	€62.40 @ Amazon France
Power Supply	be quiet! System Power 9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	€55.45 @ Amazon France
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€500.21
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-07 11:12 CET+0100

 

I also added a PSU because yours is a fire hazard.

No need for a CPU cooler if you don't overclock too  

Better motherboard overall for less also if you don't OC yours is fine but expensive for what you get.

A case with good airflow and RGB + tempered glass side panel.

Nice build optimisation mate, thanks!

 

Is that MB Ryzen 5 3600 compatible out of the box tho? 

The price you have is without shipping, so in the end you only "gain" ~8 euros compared to the ASRock. *ponder*

[Meganter]

1 minute ago, Lyesainer said:

Nice build optimisation mate, thanks!

 

Is that MB Ryzen 5 3600 compatible out of the box tho? 

The price you have is without shipping, so in the end you only "gain" ~8 euros compared to the ASRock. *ponder*

Yes the MSI B450 xxxxx MAX are Zen 2 ready.

 

Yeah but you also gain better feature !

 

 

 

But as I said it's enough for a 3600, it's just more expensive for less imo.

[Lyesainer]

Anyone know if the Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite support Zen 2 without bios update?

[Meganter]

6 minutes ago, Lyesainer said:

Anyone know if the Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite support Zen 2 without bios update?

It does but it's not the best around either, same level as the Steel Legend.

[Lyesainer]

1 minute ago, Plouffe said:

It does but it's not the best around either, same level as the Steel Legend.

I was checking the official sites of all 3 cards (SMI, ASR and Gygabite) and i can't really see why one is better than the other. I read some other threads and people say they are technically the same, other than the size of ASR being mATX and the others being full sized. 

Why do you consider the MSI superior? 

[Meganter]

Fair warning that the accent is thick and he speaks really quickly. Starts at 8:01 :

 

He speaks about the Tomahawk but the A-Pro is comparable to it  

 

 

Same, the Tomahawk is a good motherboard even though it's with a 2700.

 

[Lyesainer]

4 hours ago, 191x7 said:

Also, the price difference between a Ryzen 5 2600 and the 3600 does isn't worth it since the performance difference isn't that great.

I also thought the same thing for the Ryzen 7 3700x vs Ryzen 5 3600... If i keep going that way, i might as well not upgrade since the old Intel still works

[Lyesainer]

I was pondering between mATX and full-body... 

On one side, micro towers are cheaper than full-body ones and also the MSI B450m is cheaper than the regular version. However, the B450m seems to lack the good heatsinks and only has 2 ram slots, which is ok for now since we are getteing 2x8gb but in the future it'll require a more complicated upgrade if we are to add more ram.

The ASRock Steel Legend is already micro sized and has 4 ram slots and proper heatsinks, but it's actually more expensive than the full-body MSI. 

And then there's the whole airflow/cooling issue. Considering there won't be much OC going on, nothing extreme at least, is that really a problem or not if we get a mATX tower and proper fans? *ponder*

[Lyesainer]

Sorry to bump that again, but prices have changed quite a bit and currently the B450 cards are the same price as X470 ones.

 

I found an MSI X470 GAMING PLUS for 95 euros however i am not sure if it natively supports the Ryzen 5 2600 or it needs a bios upgrade. 

In fact, are ALL X470 MBs native for Ryzen 5 or do some need updates, like the B450 ones do?