Yay! AM4 Keeps On Giving

[MadAnt250]

Scroll down for the updated posts

I was looking to upgrade my Acer Aspire TC 780 just so I can have some stable performance in games and also be able to take advantage of a more powerful graphics card in the future. Since that my motherboard is limited as far as cpu compatibility and other stuff, that would mean I would only have two choices if I wanted to upgrade my cpu, the i7-6700($205 used) and the i7-7700($250 used)(according to my research). Yea those prices are crazy high and makes buying new look like a better option.  

 

So with prices of the Ryzen 2000 series being very cheap and with some special sales from Micro Center, I felt that it would be a good time to do this upgrade.

Prices at the time of purchase:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600x: $114.99

Gigabyte B450 Aorus M: $64.99 (when bundled with processor)

GEIL Evo Potenza (16GB 2x8) DDR4 at 3000Mhz $49.99 

 

New Parts, I did not buy the corsair ML120 fans from Micro Center.

(the camera would not focus right)Here are my old 92mm case fans, they did the job for the old setup with the Intel core i5 7400 but were not good enough for the Ryzen 2600x.

In this Acer Aspire TC case the cable management is not the best but it is good enough for me, a modular PSU would be better(maybe in the future), but for now I just have the rest of the cables stuffed in the one of the top drive bays.

Yes, that is a funnel on the cpu fan and the AMD shroud at the end of the funnel, this made the cpu run 3-4 degrees cooler because it was getting more fresh air from the vent on the side panel and also the filter grill was added a long awhile ago with the old setup.

The core i5 7400 paired with my GTX 970 worked fine, but I wanted more and the OEM Acer motherboard with the Intel 6th and 7th gen market was the limiting factor.

 

This may look like junk to some people, but I use what I got and what I can get.

 

[ddennis002]

45 minutes ago, MadAnt250 said:

I was looking to upgrade my Acer Aspire TC 780 just so I can have some stable performance in games and also be able to take advantage of a more powerful graphics card in the future. Since that my motherboard is limited as far as cpu compatibility and other stuff, that would mean I would only have two choices if I wanted to upgrade my cpu, the i7-6700($205 used) and the i7-7700($250 used)(according to my research). Yea those prices are crazy high and makes buying new look like a better option.  

 

So with prices of the Ryzen 2000 series being very cheap and with some special sales from Micro Center, I felt that it would be a good time to do this upgrade.

Prices at the time of purchase:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600x: $114.99

Gigabyte B450 Aorus M: 64.99 (when bundled with processor)

GEIL Evo Potenza (16GB 2x8) DDR4 at 3000Mhz $49.99 

 

 

New Parts, I did not buy the corsair ML120 fans from Micro Center.

 

(the camera would not focus right)Here are my old 92mm case fans, they did the job for the old setup with the Intel core i5 7400 but were not good enough for the Ryzen 2600x.

 

In this Acer Aspire TC case the cable management is not the best but it is good enough, a modular PSU would be better(maybe in the future), but for now I just have the rest of the cables stuffed in the one of the top drive bays.

 

Yes, that is a funnel on the cpu fan and the AMD shroud at the end of the funnel, this made the cpu run 3-4 degrees cooler because it was getting more fresh air from the vent on the side panel and also the filter grill was added a long awhile ago with the old setup.

The core i5 7400 paired with my GTX 970 worked fine, but I wanted more and the OEM Acer motherboard with the Intel 6th and 7th gen market was the limiting factor.

 

This my look like junk to some people but I use what I got and what I can get.

 

Hey performance before looks if you ask me.

[LIGISTX]

Nice!

[Fasauceome]

57 minutes ago, MadAnt250 said:

 

This may look like junk

She's a beaut

[MadAnt250]

15 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

She's a beaut

Lol, thanks.

[MadAnt250]

(Update) After 3 months the Ryzen 5 2600x is still working fine, and now I made some changes. I replaced the PSU with a Corsair CX650M semi modular PSU to make the wiring a little neater and prepare for the next future graphics card.

It is so nice not having to deal with a large nest of wires, especially in a case like this one.

Also I do not know why people don't rotate their fan shroud so the that AMD logo is not sideways, it is an easy fix and can easily be done during assembly. 

 

I added a fan to the side panel to get more cooler air in the case so I can run two fans at lower RPMs instead of one intake fan running at higher RPM making more noise.

 

I like the cheap home/office pc look because nobody would probably think this pos is used for gaming. Also the camera flash and lighting makes the filter look a bit cloudy, the pic in the corner is the filter in different lighting. I am having problems with the cameras, one takes blurry photos and the other has cursed buttons.

[Fast_N_Curious]

I like the sleeper look, well done. 

[NotABigGamer]

Great job!

[MadAnt250]

A little update, I have upgraded the CPU cooler to a Noctua NH-U9S that it fits perfectly in my case and keeps the temps much cooler by almost 20°C under load, so no more thermal throttling when video rendering. I overclocked the ram to 3200mhz and made a slight timings adjustment and I removed the fan on the side panel to make clearance for the CPU cooler.

 

I am still rocking the GTX 970 blower card because the upgrade plan was derailed by corona shutting everything down, not a problem for now because the GTX 970 can still keep up for what I do and the GPU upgrade will have to be sometime later when the price is right.

 

I don't have a photo of the upgrade yet, so here's a link to see the CPU cooler https://noctua.at/en/nh-u9s

[MadAnt250]

Okay, time for an update.

 

The whole upgrade has taken me almost a year, but I think the upgrades will never end, lol. With that in mind, I figured I should go over the total amount spent in USD.

 

Parts and prices: (does not include taxes and shipping)

January/ 2020/ From Micro Center:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X: $114.99

Gigabyte B450 Aorus M: $84.99 ($64.99 when bundled with processor)

GEIL Evo Potenza (16GB 2x8) DDR4 at 3000Mhz: $49.99 

Misc from January/ 2020:

Corsair ML120 fans (2 pack): $30.99

July/ 2020/ From New Egg:

Noctua NH-U9S tower cooler: $59.99

March/ 2020/ From Best Buy:

Corsair CX650M PSU: $94.99 ($84.99 with discount)(I forgot the reason for the discount)

Late October/ Early November/ 2020/ From a seller on Ebay:

Used EVGA GTX 980 ti Superclocked: $187 

 

Total spent: (not including taxes and shipping)

$592.94

 

Looking at the prices of everything on the market right now, I do not think I can buy half of these parts for the price of what I paid then.

Anyway, here's some new-ish photos.

35% more FPS if you own an RC car from the 80's.

 

The height of the Noctua NH-U9S was perfect, and it works so well.

 

For now I'm happy with my cheap system that I use for gaming, video editing and everything else. For what I do, it handles everything like a champ.  

 

 

[ddennis002]

On 1/4/2021 at 6:20 PM, MadAnt250 said:

Okay, time for an update.

 

Nice to see the updates of this system, looking really good and for what you have invested bet its a great little machine to use.

[MadAnt250]

On 1/9/2021 at 8:13 PM, ddennis002 said:

Nice to see the updates of this system, looking really good and for what you have invested bet its a great little machine to use.

Thanks. Yea it works great.  

[MadAnt250]

Updates:

Upgrades never stop and after upgrading my boot drive to an NVME SSD in December, I upgraded the case after as well.

I really did like the look of my sleeper case, but working on anything inside it was a pain, a major pain. I had been thinking of upgrading my case for sometime and looked at both the NZXT H510 Flow and the Corsair 4000D Airflow at Micro Center. I really liked the look and quality of the 4000D Airflow, it looks way better in person, but it had no 5.25" bays, which meant having to use an external optical drive for me (yes I still use an optical drive). I was not a fan of using an external optical drive for my setup. Then, one day, someone had suggested the Fractal Design Pop Air, and wow, it's not bad, or ugly and it has 2x 5.25" drive bays in the front. So, after cramping my hands and dealing with cables that I cannot hide in my acer tc-780-whatever case for the last time, I pulled the trigger and bought the Fractal Pop Air.

Installed two Corsair ML120 fans in the front to help with the air intake and used the factory fans for exhaust only.

I hope this triggers the people who don't like mATX boards in ATX cases lol.
Also, it's so nice to be able to properly cable manage.

Here below is one of my new SSDs, the Samsung 970 EVO Plus

 

The other upgrades are:

Samsung 870 Evo SSD

32GB(8x4) of Corsair Vengence RAM

 

Well... after a few months now, I love how cool my PC runs now and how it's so much easier to work inside of than before with the old case.
The upgrades never stop and the next one might be a new CPU.(2600X is still doing just fine, so it may be awhile, IDK)

[MadAnt250]

Another update!

The Ryzen 7 5700X was on sale, so I bought it. It was a really simple upgrade, updated the BIOS to version F64 from F52 first and it was ready for the new 8 core CPU. The performance is very noticeable compared to the R5 2600X as far video editing and multitasking goes, even in BeamNG, which is the most CPU taxing game I have. Loading times in almost everything are noticeably faster as well and with my other intensive applications running in the background doing rendering and stuff.

 

I'm loving it.