Best Micro-ATX for FUTURE Upgrades???

[Arvensus]

I'm looking to buy a micro-ATX that would support a more powerful CPU, GPU or more ram in the future but I'm not quite sure how to research for something like this.  For reference, I'm using this build for my daily everything, including gaming (CSGO, PUBG, COD, Battlefield, etc), all my school work (programming and editing software in the future) and all the normal stuff like web browsing, Netflix, Discord, YouTube and watching Twitch.  Any input on this build would be greatly appreciated because I am still uncertain about some components!

 

$80 MBD              Micro-ATX MSI B450 PRO-VDH MAX (AM4 Socket, 64GB)  -----> (worried this board won't support future upgrades)

$170 CPU             Ryzen 5 3600

$230 GPU             Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super ---> (thought about 5600XT but reviews about random crashes scared me away)

$75 RAM              Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB 3600Mhz -----> (RipJaws is sometimes cheaper but why?)

$50 HDD               Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM

$65 SSD                ADATA SU800 512GB 560MB/s ----> (Is 512 even necessary?)

$60 Case               darkFlash DLM21 MESH (bought a 3-pack of 120mm fans $30)

$760 Total

[Demonic Donut]

Your best bet is a x570 chipset, or the new B550 stuff coming out. That way you have a more up to date board with AM4. It's fairly likely that a B450 will support 4th gen ryzen after a bios update, so you might be fine with what you plan to get now. I doubt even next gen GPUs will need PCI gen 4 but it's might help if you want to drop serious money on the latest and greatest GPU in a year or 2. And you can buy gen 4 drives now if you want to spend the money.

 

iirc AMD only said they'd keep am4 for sure until ryzen 4000. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. So you've only got one more generation there.

 

IMO, look at the x570 boards in the motherboard tier list and go for a B or better board that has the features you want. If you want to spend more now to attempt to future proof.

 

[Arvensus]

1 minute ago, Demonic Donut said:

Your best bet is a x570 chipset, or the new B550 stuff coming out. That way you have a more up to date board with AM4. It's fairly likely that a B450 will support 4th gen ryzen after a bios update, so you might be fine with what you plan to get now. I doubt even next gen GPUs will need PCI gen 4 but it's might help if you want to drop serious money on the latest and greatest GPU in a year or 2. And you can buy gen 4 drives now if you want to spend the money.

 

iirc AMD only said they'd keep am4 for sure until ryzen 4000. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. So you've only got one more generation there.

 

IMO, look at the x570 boards in the motherboard tier list and go for a B or better board that has the features you want. If you want to spend more now to attempt to future proof.

 

Alright, I'll look into these.  Thanks for the input; that's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for! 

[Demonic Donut]

51 minutes ago, Arvensus said:

Alright, I'll look into these.  Thanks for the input; that's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for! 

No problem.

 

What do you mean about the SSD? 512 being necessary? I ran a 128gb boot drive for a long time, just windows and one game on it. Now I've got a 500gb boot and just ordered a 1tb. You'll get spoiled with load times in games. And you'll definitely notice a difference loading large files if that's part of your work. I want to phase out hard drives in my gaming rig.

 

I'm not familiar with your case choice. But maybe get 6 fans and populate all the mounting points? Better temps and less noise is always nice.

 

I have ripjaws ram, not sure why it's cheaper, but it works great for me!

 

*Edit* what about a PSU? I'd recommend a good namebrand. Also modular or at least semi is nice to have, but you can hide a mess of cables easily in that case so it's not a huge deal.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Demonic Donut
add more info

[Arvensus]

1 minute ago, Demonic Donut said:

No problem.

 

What do you mean about the SSD? 512 being necessary? I ran a 128gb boot drive for a long time, just windows and one game on it. Now I've got a 500gb boot and just ordered a 1tb. You'll get spoiled with load times in games. And you'll definitely notice a difference loading large files if that's part of your work. I want to phase out hard drives in my gaming rig.

 

I'm not familiar with your case choice. But maybe get 6 fans and populate all the mounting points? Better temps and less noise is always nice.

 

I have ripjaws ram, not sure why it's cheaper, but it works great for me!

I was under the impression that you ONLY want an SSD for your OS and frequently used programs, then purchase a large HDD for all homework files, etc.  Also, I haven't found a case that looks as appealing to me as that one yet with a swinging glass door, mesh front and buttons on top for a reasonable price so lol.  

[Demonic Donut]

2 hours ago, Arvensus said:

I was under the impression that you ONLY want an SSD for your OS and frequently used programs, then purchase a large HDD for all homework files, etc.  Also, I haven't found a case that looks as appealing to me as that one yet with a swinging glass door, mesh front and buttons on top for a reasonable price so lol.  

Depends on cash available. If you can afford it, keeping all games on an SSD is nice to have. But it's definitely not necessary. SSDs are getting cheap and good enough to make a big difference for a little bit more money. You don't need m.2s, some decent 2.5" SATA SSDs can be had for cheap.

 

The case looks good. I just recommend getting as many case fans as possible to aid in ventilation for any build.