Help me choose a motherboard and cooler!

[Smugface]

 

TL;DR - I need help choosing a motherboard and cooler for a Ryzen 5 5600X, but would appreciate feedback on the other parts also!

 

 

I am located in Norway, where parts are up to 25% more expensive due to customs. This effectively puts my budget around the $1000 USD mark, even though my true budget is $1200 USD or 10.000 NOK. :( 

My current computer was top-of-the-line when I built it in 2012/2013, sporting a GTX 780 and 16Gb of BLAZING FAST ~1000MHz DDR3. What pushed me to upgrade is my 100GB boot SSD. This disk has been fluctuating between 10Gb and 0 bytes of remaining storage for the past few months... And yes, this drive only contains windows and the small files that are automatically saved to appdata etc. All the games I play are from the GTA 5 era, meaning my 780 can handle them well enough, I am really just looking for an upgrade for everyday use and work/uni.

 

Here is my list so far. All links are to product pages on the biggest Scandinavian electronics store, Komplett, as it's a good baseline for prices here. (Keep in mind my budget is $1200/10000NOK when browsing this site!) I doubt you'll need google translate to understand anything relevant on there.

 

I've started doing projects that take up as much RAM as they possibly can, which is why I am opting for 32Gb: HyperX Fury DDR4
A small, slow primary drive has been the bane of my existence for the past months so I want overkill: WD Black SN850 500GB/1TB (1TB if there is any money left over. I have more than enough HDD space.)
My current CPU is an AMD FX-8350, so I might as well drop $400 on a better CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X
I'll keep my trusty old GTX 780 for now, but hope to have financially recovered by the time I can get a 3060 at MSRP.

I have an old 750W PSU, the wattage is sufficient as far as I can tell, is there then any point in buying a new one?

 

Which leaves the motherboard and cooler. 

 

I've heard great things about Noctua, is something like the NH-U9S good enough? I want quiet rather than performant, but I expect the Ryzen 5 will be running at max capacity when gaming and in short bursts when working.

For the motherboard I've found that I should get a B550 chipset, but I don't fully understand the difference between the subsets of for example the TUF B550-Pro and the PRIME B550-Plus. Can I update their BIOS using the Ryzen 5 5600X, if they are not shipped with a Zen 3 compatible BIOS? I also need WiFi because running an ethernet cable across my whole apartment is not sustainable, and I assume the cheapest option is to get a WiFi capable board. My router is capable of supplying my laptop with the full 125mpbs speed anywhere in my small apartment so I think any WiFi solution would suffice.

 

Thank you, I really appreciate any help or feedback, I've not been keeping up with PC components for the past decade and I know it's easy to get something wrong.

 

[aDoomGuy]

Hey. First of all the stock cooler is good enough. So no need to spend rubles on a cooler really. Try it out for a while and if you don't like it upgrade.

 

Second. SOME motherboards let you update BIOS without CPU and RAM installed. A board like this feature both Wifi and the ability to update BIOS without CPU installed. https://www.komplett.no/product/1159993/datautstyr/pc-komponenter/hovedkort/amd-socket/asus-tuf-gaming-b550m-plus-wi-fi-hovedkort

 

No need for PSU if it works fine.

 

If you want to save a little bit on NVMe drive. I got two of the below ones and I'm satisfied with them. I had the RMA the first one after 3 months but Komplett was helpfull and replaced it ASAP with no expense for me. The replacement and a second drive I got later have been working great. 

https://www.komplett.no/product/1135886/datautstyr/lagring/harddiskerssd/ssd-m2/kingston-a2000-1tb-nvme-m2-ssd?q=kingston a200

[CryingWimp]

I think all 500 series gigabyte boards support bios flashback, other brands it varies board by board. Just pick a board and lookup the official website, if it doesn't list bios flashback on the front page it likely doesn't support it.

 

The u9s looks really expensive there, its more than the u12s? If the u12s is back in stock for cheaper, get that. Otherwise I'd use the included cooler.

 

I'd choose this for a motherboard with wifi

https://www.komplett.no/product/1159993/datautstyr/pc-komponenter/hovedkort/amd-socket/asus-tuf-gaming-b550m-plus-wi-fi-hovedkort

 

Enjoy your build, going to be an amazing upgrade.

[Smugface]

Thanks guys, this has helped alot! I'm going with the B550M WiFi you guys linked.

 

I don't think paying twice as much for 7Gbps vs 2Gbps is worth it, even if it could save me a massive 13 seconds a year, so the one you linked is a much better deal. I COULD even get a second one, but I don't think so.

 

And yes, I see now the U12S is actually cheaper, 600kr, I was comparing the black version which was more expensive, 829kr. Not going to lie, I never actually considered the stock cooler might be good enough, but the price of the whole upgrade is now 1000kr below my initial budget even with the U12S so might as well save the $2 shipping.

 

Wow, so excited for this upgrade