A question about upgrading from AMD A-series to AMD Ryzen 3th gen (7 3700X)

[MrNaif]

Budget (including currency): Basically the price of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, but I can afford other upgrades, but ideally I don't want to change existing build, but it can go up to ~= 900 USD

Country:  Belarus

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Programming, Dual-boot (Windows & Linux Mint), browsing, compiling, gaming too (some fresh titles like Cyberpunk)

Other details:

My current build is the following:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming (rev. 1.0)

CPU: AMD A12-9800E

CPU Cooler: DeepCool GAMMAXX 300

GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 Gaming 8GB GDDR5 GV-RX580GAMING-8GD rev. 1.0
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LED 2x8GB DDR4 PC4-21300 CMU16GX4M2A2666C16B
HDD: Seagate BarraCuda 1TB [ST1000DM010]
SDD: SATA Kingston SSDNow UV400 120GB [SUV400S37/120G] + NVME Plextor M9Pe(G) 1TB PX-1TM9PeG
PSU: Zalman ZM500-LX 500W

 

When first building my PC, I temporarily bought an AMD A-12 series CPU. But now I want to upgrade to Ryzen, and I decided to buy Ryzen 7 3700X.

But first of all, my RAM is not shown in supported list either for my motherboard + Ryzen or just Ryzen support list, so I am not sure if it will work.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-AB350-Gaming-rev-1x/support#support-dl-bios

Also, in bios upgrade instructions, it shows that my current cpu is supported till version F25, and Ryzen is supported from F40, but to upgrade to F40 I first need to install F31.

So how do I install it, is it possible if F31 isn't supported by both old and new cpu?

Or should I change something else in my build?

Edited January 8, 2021 by MrNaif
Added gpu, budget

[TheJedi]

2 minutes ago, MrNaif said:

Budget (including currency): Basically the price of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, but I can afford other upgrades, but ideally I don't want to change existing build

Country:  Belarus

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Programming, Dual-boot (Windows & Linux Mint), browsing, compiling, gaming too (some fresh titles like Cyberpunk)

Other details:

My current build is the following:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming (rev. 1.0)

CPU: AMD A12-9800E

CPU Cooler: DeepCool GAMMAXX 300
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LED 2x8GB DDR4 PC4-21300 CMU16GX4M2A2666C16B
HDD: Seagate BarraCuda 1TB [ST1000DM010]
SDD: SATA Kingston SSDNow UV400 120GB [SUV400S37/120G] + NVME Plextor M9Pe(G) 1TB PX-1TM9PeG
PSU: Zalman ZM500-LX 500W

 

When first building my PC, I temporarily bought an AMD A-12 series CPU. But now I want to upgrade to Ryzen, and I decided to buy Ryzen 7 3700X.

But first of all, my RAM is not shown in supported list either for my motherboard + Ryzen or just Ryzen support list, so I am not sure if it will work.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-AB350-Gaming-rev-1x/support#support-dl-bios

Also, in bios upgrade instructions, it shows that my current cpu is supported till version F25, and Ryzen is supported from F40, but to upgrade to F40 I first need to install F31.

So how do I install it, is it possible if F31 isn't supported by both old and new cpu?

Or should I change something else in my build?

To be honest, I wouldn't use a B350 motherboard with a 3700X. Also the ram should be fine but it's a bit slow at 2666mhz you will definitely loose performance over 3200mhz or 3600mhz.

I might be worth upgrading the motherboard to something in the B550 Series or at least a B450 Tomahawk Max

[jaslion]

F31 is supported by older ryzens. Also you do know you need a gpu right? The 3700x doesn't have integrated graphics. Also the psu you have is a pc killer firehazard unit so might wanna get rid of that and get something good.

 

Ram wise if it works now it will still work.

[boggy77]

ram will be fine, not sure about the bios issue though. 

[GoodEnough]

36 minutes ago, MrNaif said:

I temporarily bought an AMD A-12 series CPU. But now I want to upgrade to Ryzen

get a b450 board, the chipset supports anthlon, zen, zen+, zen 2, and zen 3 processors
i recommend it more than the b550 chipset for two reasons, b450 is a hell of a lot cheaper, and its always nice to be able to use your older anthlon cpu just in case

 

25 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Also the psu you have is a pc killer firehazard unit so might wanna get rid of that and get something good.

no more than mine is, im the guy with that tier e psu thats 750w and only costs $50 lol

 

36 minutes ago, MrNaif said:

Corsair Vengeance LED 2x8GB DDR4 PC4-21300 CMU16GX4M2A2666C16B

the entire corsair vengence line up should be supported on 99.99% of all modern motherboards lol

 

36 minutes ago, MrNaif said:

Ryzen 7 3700X

one last thing, this cpu doesnt have an igpu, so if you dont have one already your going to need one

gpu prices are pretty outrageous right now so just get something like a used r9 290 card until prices go back down, you used to be able to get a used rx 580 for 130 us dollars but i dont think thats gonna happen anymore lol

Edited January 8, 2021 by GoodEnough
cant spell apprently

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, GoodEnough said:

no more than mine is, im the guy with that tier e psu thats 750w and only costs $50 lol

Sure but that is really just running on luck. I have a larger sample size of hundreds of systems that broke due to bad psu's (ranging from "1000w" psu's to the 400's). So don't risk it if you don't have to.

 

That psu is gonna crash and burn the moment a 290 is put in there not much better with a rx580 either.

[GoodEnough]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

That psu is gonna crash and burn the moment a 290

only recommended it because its so cheap when bought used, completely forgot it pulls about as much wattage as my overclocked rx 580 lol

[MrNaif]

Oh, sorry!

How could I forget to include that I have an GPU, lol!

My GPU is AMD RX 580 8 GB

So basically, as far as I know, my build is fine in terms of performance, and the only limiting thing is the CPU.

About PSU though, not sure-is it really that bad? I've been using it for 2 years (my build is from 2018), and no issues.

My build was changing through the time but basically there were more and more parts added, but still no issues.

So, I should change both the motherboard and the cpu? If so, is gigabyte still good at motherboards, or should I try something else?

Maybe I don't need such performance, but basically as I said, my build lacks a good cpu, because back then I bought this A-series one because I didn't have enough money for ryzen.

My budget can go up to ~= 900 USD (varies, depends on bitcoin price lol)

The thing is, I could have done the upgrade later, but all the prices are going to rise indefinitely as far as I know, and some already did (like in the past 5 days RAM has increased more than 100$ in price).

So I am not sure. Maybe some older ryzen is better, or should I go for a full replacement?

[MrNaif]

5 hours ago, jaslion said:

F31 is supported by older ryzens. Also you do know you need a gpu right? The 3700x doesn't have integrated graphics. Also the psu you have is a pc killer firehazard unit so might wanna get rid of that and get something good.

 

Ram wise if it works now it will still work.

But AMD A12-9800E isn't an older ryzen, right? Will it still work?

As I said above, I have a GPU.

And my PSU can handle even my rx 580 without any problems.

Edited January 8, 2021 by MrNaif

[jaslion]

Just now, MrNaif said:

But AMD A12-9800E isn't an older ryzen, right? Will it still work?

As I said above, I have a GPU.

But it can handle even my rx 580 without any problems.

It sorta is. It's a gen 0 product as it's the only non zen architecture that is on the platform and basically that has been replaced in bios updates with the new cpu's as the bios was small on early boards creating this issue.

 

You basically got lucky up till now really. Your board can run a 3000 series cpu but due to the a12 you can't update to it and keep it functional through the process sadly. Limiting you to second gen at most if you want to keep the board (it;s a low end board too). I would just sell it with the a12 as a bundle (otherwise that a12 will never be gone) I would also just say wait for the upgrade till ryzen 5000 is actually available for a normal price and get that then with a decent b550 board if you can wait of course. That and a new psu.

[MrNaif]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

It sorta is. It's a gen 0 product as it's the only non zen architecture that is on the platform and basically that has been replaced in bios updates with the new cpu's as the bios was small on early boards creating this issue.

 

You basically got lucky up till now really. Your board can run a 3000 series cpu but due to the a12 you can't update to it and keep it functional through the process sadly. Limiting you to second gen at most if you want to keep the board (it;s a low end board too). I would just sell it with the a12 as a bundle (otherwise that a12 will never be gone) I would also just say wait for the upgrade till ryzen 5000 is actually available for a normal price and get that then with a decent b550 board if you can wait of course. That and a new psu.

I see, thanks for your advice. Maybe later I will ask which motherboard is better, but only when prices will decrease.

I just thought that, when buying the new cpu at the store, I might be able to ask for a service for them to upgrade my bios via a special device (programmator, or how is it called).

But probably yeah, it is more risky and isn't worth it. I will wait.

[jaslion]

9 minutes ago, MrNaif said:

I see, thanks for your advice. Maybe later I will ask which motherboard is better, but only when prices will decrease.

I just thought that, when buying the new cpu at the store, I might be able to ask for a service for them to upgrade my bios via a special device (programmator, or how is it called).

But probably yeah, it is more risky and isn't worth it. I will wait.

Oh no they won't have that most likely. I mean the bios update is as simple as have a actual first gen ryzen in there and let it rip. It's why your gen 0 cpu is an issue as those were only planned as placeholders for ryzen apu's that were in development I mean amd even handed out a6's for bios updates :p.

[whm1974]

Good thing you asked here. I keep forgetting that AMD did create a Socket AM4 version of their Older Bulldozer APU. Well it did include a L3 Cache and used DDR4... Maybe it was better then the previous APUs given all that.

 

I would replaced the whole system. Including the PSU. Which I would replaced with a 80+ Gold Rated one from a Company such as SeaSonic. Especially with a R7 3700X. And with a nice dGPU.

[MrNaif]

12 hours ago, whm1974 said:

Good thing you asked here. I keep forgetting that AMD did create a Socket AM4 version of their Older Bulldozer APU. Well it did include a L3 Cache and used DDR4... Maybe it was better then the previous APUs given all that.

 

I would replaced the whole system. Including the PSU. Which I would replaced with a 80+ Gold Rated one from a Company such as SeaSonic. Especially with a R7 3700X. And with a nice dGPU.

Thanks for your suggestion. But I will definitely not replace the whole system. The GPU is nice, and in general I am satisfied with my build. The only thing left to make it perfect for me me is the CPU, that's why I wanted to upgrade it.

[whm1974]

5 hours ago, MrNaif said:

Thanks for your suggestion. But I will definitely not replace the whole system. The GPU is nice, and in general I am satisfied with my build. The only thing left to make it perfect for me me is the CPU, that's why I wanted to upgrade it.

I wouldn't know if it will be possible to replace the PSU or not.

[MrNaif]

9 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

I wouldn't know if it will be possible to replace the PSU or not.

I still don't get what's wrong with my PSU if it was working for 2 years without any issues at all. I've calculated the watt usage, it won't ever exceed 500 watt, not even close to it.

[whm1974]

6 minutes ago, MrNaif said:

I still don't get what's wrong with my PSU if it was working for 2 years without any issues at all. I've calculated the watt usage, it won't ever exceed 500 watt, not even close to it.

Sorry. I never heard of Zalman before. I how long did have your system? Yes I know you are you another Country now. So you may not have access to computer components as We over in the Canada and the US do. 

[MrNaif]

11 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Sorry. I never heard of Zalman before. I how long did have your system? Yes I know you are you another Country now. So you may not have access to computer components as We over in the Canada and the US do. 

I use my PC build from January 2018 with that PSU, and since then I've been adding more components to it, like NVME SSD or RX 580 GPU.

When choosing components for the build I was getting advice from people I know, one of them helps people building PC for 10 years at least, so I trust him.

We have computer components there, but I see no need in changing the PSU if it works perfectly.

[whm1974]

14 minutes ago, MrNaif said:

I use my PC build from January 2018 with that PSU, and since then I've been adding more components to it, like NVME SSD or RX 580 GPU.

When choosing components for the build I was getting advice from people I know, one of them helps people building PC for 10 years at least, so I trust him.

We have computer components there, but I see no need in changing the PSU if it works perfectly.

If I may ask where are you from?

[MrNaif]

44 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

If I may ask where are you from?

Check the first post; Belarus

[whm1974]

8 minutes ago, MrNaif said:

Check the first post; Belarus

Sorry I didn't see it mentioned. I've reading faster then usual.