Planning to buy my BF components for Christmas to Upgrade his PC, Looking for Recommendations!

[jennay4399]

Budget (including currency): ~$700

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Rocket League, Valorant, Apex, Watch Dogs, Finale, Ableton

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X 3600 Mhz

Ram: 8GB x 2 Geil RGB 3200 Mhz DDR4

GPU: Either the Asrock RX 570 4GB or the MSI RX 570 8GB (based on the website of the place he bought his PC from, it's one of these 2)

 

My boyfriend paid about $900 for his PC last year, prebuilt from a local PC builder, and he's been wanting to upgrade. I just finished a build of my own and feel as though I know enough that I could get him some components for Christmas that would really upgrade his PC. I was able to find out the above info about his PC (without him noticing that I'm looking at his system info lol), but I'm trying to decide what parts would be best to upgrade without spending too much or causing a bottleneck. I think upgrading the RAM and GPU would be the best route, since I want to avoid him needing a new Windows license. The MB can take up to 32 GB of RAM, so I'm thinking on getting him the CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4, but I'm torn on what GPU to get him that won't be too much for his CPU to keep up with. Any recommendations on a decent GPU? My budget is flexible, and if I find a really well suited GPU for his PC that's almost all of my budget, I'll either get cheaper RAM or not get him the RAM altogether. If I can't seem to find a nice GPU, I may only get him the RAM and wait on a GPU. Thoughts?

[Jimkirk363]

$900 for a first edition Ryzen, blimey that's a bit of a rip off.

[2plash6]

12 minutes ago, Jimkirk363 said:

$900 for a first edition Ryzen, blimey that's a bit of a rip off.

This whole PC is a rip-off. So are most prebuilts.

Edited October 29, 2021 by 2plash6
Spelling mistake in the word "Prebuilt".

[2plash6]

You can update BIOS and get a newer Ryzen CPU, and maybe keep the rest of the components.

[Jurrunio]

What monitor is he using? The CPU and RAM are fine if 60fps is sufficient, if he has a high refresh display then an R5 3600 or 5600X (after BIOS update for the motherboard) will be a good idea (1st gen and 2nd gen are significantly weaker for higher fps than 3rd and 5th gen).

 

Also because the board is pretty garbage (but probably not worth replacing) it doesnt really meet the need for even the 1800X in terms of power delivery. Not sure how much the 1800X is holding back due to this but 3600 and 5600X draws so much less that downdraft coolers (the fan blows towards the motherboard) will cool the board enough to run the CPUs in full power.

 

No need for extra RAM, he wont saturate 16GB in the named ones and extra capacity will be useless.

 

GPUs are the kind of thing that you should get the best you can afford. In the broken market of today though, it's between the 6600XT and RTX 3060 (around 400 to 500 pounds ideally) if you dont want to get ripped off as much. It's still hard to find sites with it them in stock though, you have to look and probably wait.

 

The power supply's model is also something you have to check

 

16 minutes ago, Jimkirk363 said:

$900 for a first edition Ryzen, blimey that's a bit of a rip off.

last year is 2020, most of the budget goes to the graphics card even if it's just an RX 470/570..

[jennay4399]

15 minutes ago, Jimkirk363 said:

$900 for a first edition Ryzen, blimey that's a bit of a rip off.

yeahh... his friend told him it was kind of steep for what he got but he didn't wanna go through the trouble of building it himself.

[jennay4399]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

What monitor is he using? The CPU and RAM are fine if 60fps is sufficient, if he has a high refresh display then an R5 3600 or 5600X (after BIOS update for the motherboard) will be a good idea (1st gen and 2nd gen are significantly weaker for higher fps than 3rd and 5th gen).

 

Also because the board is pretty garbage (but probably not worth replacing) it doesnt really meet the need for even the 1800X in terms of power delivery. Not sure how much the 1800X is holding back due to this but 3600 and 5600X draws so much less that downdraft coolers (the fan blows towards the motherboard) will cool the board enough to run the CPUs in full power.

 

No need for extra RAM, he wont saturate 16GB in the named ones and extra capacity will be useless.

 

GPUs are the kind of thing that you should get the best you can afford. In the broken market of today though, it's between the 6600XT and RTX 3060 (around 400 to 500 pounds ideally) if you dont want to get ripped off as much. It's still hard to find sites with it them in stock though, you have to look and probably wait.

 

The power supply's model is also something you have to check

 

last year is 2020, most of the budget goes to the graphics card even if it's just an RX 470/570..

He' using a dual monitor setup with an ASUS gaming monitor (not sure which one but I can check, I know it has a high refresh rate for gaming) and a Samsung curved monitor. For the power supply the builder's website says it either a "550 or 650 watt EVGA."

 

These comments are making me reconsider getting him upgrade parts 

[jennay4399]

14 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

What monitor is he using? The CPU and RAM are fine if 60fps is sufficient, if he has a high refresh display then an R5 3600 or 5600X (after BIOS update for the motherboard) will be a good idea (1st gen and 2nd gen are significantly weaker for higher fps than 3rd and 5th gen).

 

Also because the board is pretty garbage (but probably not worth replacing) it doesnt really meet the need for even the 1800X in terms of power delivery. Not sure how much the 1800X is holding back due to this but 3600 and 5600X draws so much less that downdraft coolers (the fan blows towards the motherboard) will cool the board enough to run the CPUs in full power.

 

No need for extra RAM, he wont saturate 16GB in the named ones and extra capacity will be useless.

 

GPUs are the kind of thing that you should get the best you can afford. In the broken market of today though, it's between the 6600XT and RTX 3060 (around 400 to 500 pounds ideally) if you dont want to get ripped off as much. It's still hard to find sites with it them in stock though, you have to look and probably wait.

 

The power supply's model is also something you have to check

 

last year is 2020, most of the budget goes to the graphics card even if it's just an RX 470/570..

Do you think it could be more worth it for me to get him a new motherboard and keep the other components? He was also thinking about getting a different case so that's something else I could get him. 

[2plash6]

You can get him a new motherboard, doesn't need to be expensive. And you can keep, or upgrade the CPU. 

 

[2plash6]

His GPU is good enough, but I believe that it will end up being the most reasonable to upgrade in terms off better performance. Good luck finding one though.

[2plash6]

21 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

No need for extra RAM, he wont saturate 16GB in the named ones and extra capacity will be useless.

Agreed, don't get him 32gb unless you know he needs it.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

47 minutes ago, jennay4399 said:

Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X 3600 Mhz

Ram: 8GB x 2 Geil RGB 3200 Mhz DDR4

GPU: Either the Asrock RX 570 4GB or the MSI RX 570 8GB (based on the website of the place he bought his PC from, it's one of these 2)

Upgrade mb to b550 ds3h, gaming x, or pro vdh. Asrock hdvs are the bottom of the barrel in terms of mbs

 

Upgrade the cpu to a 5600x

 

Otherwise it seems fine, maybe tell him to overclock the gpu abit too

 

 

48 minutes ago, jennay4399 said:

CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (2 x 16GB)

For gods sake why the hell do people keep flocking to this overpriced garbage, even worse is that corsair ram hates ryzen so rip any sort of ram overclocking

 

And im pretty sure 16gb ram is all your bf needs

[2plash6]

3 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Upgrade mb to b550 ds3h, gaming x, or pro vdh. Asrock hdvs are the bottom of the barrel in terms of mbs

 

Upgrade the cpu to a 5600x

 

Otherwise it seems fine, maybe tell him to overclock the gpu abit too

 

 

For gods sake why the hell do people keep flocking to this overpriced garbage, even worse is that corsair ram hates ryzen so rip any sort of ram overclocking

 

And im pretty sure 16gb ram is all your bf needs

You're saying to upgrade the whole PC, except for the GPU?

 

 

[2plash6]

I am not sure if using a 5600x with a 570 would be the best idea. Whether it is or not, overclocking would help much with this kind of stuff.

Edited October 29, 2021 by 2plash6
Changed "wouldn't" to "would".

[Heliian]

46 minutes ago, jennay4399 said:

yeahh... his friend told him it was kind of steep for what he got but he didn't wanna go through the trouble of building it himself.

 

1 hour ago, Jimkirk363 said:

$900 for a first edition Ryzen, blimey that's a bit of a rip off

$900 or 900 quid?  Big difference

 

Also, try to build that same system right now and let us know your price.  

 

I just had a quick look on pcpartpicker and even without a GPU it's tickling the limit. 

 

Edit: cpu upgrade is what I'd go for, maybe some nice peripherals? 

[2plash6]

 

2 minutes ago, Heliian said:

 

$900 or 900 quid?  Big difference

 

Also, try to build that same system right now and let us know your price.  

 

I just had a quick look on pcpartpicker and even without a GPU it's tickling the limit. 

The price would definitely be more expensive now due to the shortage.

 

 Depending on where you get it from, the Rx 570 can cost more than the prebuilt itself, depending on where you get it from.

[Quackers101]

16 GB ram is fine for just gaming, for other workloads and maybe future games 32 can be nice or if one can add another of the same 16GB RAM. (not needed could be done later if so).

 

a more modern GPU for all those frames (FPS), but prices and all that ;/

the CPU however, is kinda old by now and the newer gens should offer a lot more, but its better to pick 2 gen above that one so like 3000 or 5000 ryzen CPU or if going intel. Sadly you have to stress about BIOS versions and such (which can be a bit messy and dangerous for the parts), if thats fine?

 

 

if the prices was low or around MSRP, then for 700 you could get both a GPU and CPU. but eh

[jennay4399]

Just now, Quackers101 said:

16 GB ram is fine for just gaming, for other workloads and maybe future games 32 can be nice or if one can add another of the same 16GB RAM. (not needed could be done later if so).

 

a more modern GPU, but prices and all that ;/

the CPU however, is kinda old by now and the newer gens should offer a lot more, but its better to pick 2 gen above that one so like 3000 or 5000 ryzen CPU or if going intel.

Sadly you have to stress about BIOS versions and such (which can be a bit messy and dangerous for the parts), if thats fine?

What would I need to worry about with the BIOS? Sorry, I'm relatively new to PC builds and built it with all new parts, I've never had to upgrade.

[Quackers101]

8 minutes ago, jennay4399 said:

What would I need to worry about with the BIOS? Sorry, I'm relatively new to PC builds and built it with all new parts, I've never had to upgrade.

BIOS could brick your motherboard (it shouldn't affect anything else).

It's like the controls for your motherboard, as firmware ("software for hardware" if you could say that).

So if the new firmware is bad or done incorrectly when installed or power goes out when doing it, you will have a bad time. Sometimes it's just fine, but troubleshooting can become a mess as shown here:

 

(long video BIOS updating were some could be fixed on their BIOS versions, with Adamant IT)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOPQAaLlOWA

 

[2plash6]

Just now, jennay4399 said:

What would I need to worry about with the BIOS? Sorry, I'm relatively new to PC builds and built it with all new parts, I've never had to upgrade.

There is not much of a problem, just instruct him or you can download the latest drivers for the MB, and flash them on to it, only if you are keeping it. If you aren't, then it's still good to do this either way.

 

If you are keeping the MB, then it won't be compatible with a newer Ryzen, because it is older than the 5000 and 3000 series, but they update their BIOS on their website, and so does every manufacturer. https://asrock.com/mb/AMD/B450M-HDV R4.0/B450M-HDV R4.0 Rev 4.02.asp#Download

 

This is the only way to upgrade the CPU properly. You're gonna have to keep the 1800x just to upgrade it and run it in the BIOS, and download what's on the link, put it onto a USB stick or CD, and flash it.

 

Just make sure not to turn off or unplug the PC, or terminate it in any way during this update, or it can corrupt it forever.

[2plash6]

2 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

BIOS could brick your motherboard (it shouldn't affect anything else).

It's like the controls for your motherboard, as firmware ("software for hardware" if you could say that).

So if the new firmware is bad or done incorrectly when installed or power goes out when doing it, you will have a bad time. Sometimes it's just fine, but troubleshooting can become a mess as shown here:

 

(long video BIOS updating were some could be fixed on their BIOS versions, with Adamant IT)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOPQAaLlOWA

 

BIOS is basically Firmware, or "Software for your hardware" like you said, and it is one of the first things that every computer loads up before loading into the OS.

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, jennay4399 said:

Do you think it could be more worth it for me to get him a new motherboard and keep the other components? He was also thinking about getting a different case so that's something else I could get him. 

New motherboard doesn't help much. Yes the current one is bad, but the cost of a good one isn't justified unless he can make use of the high core count CPUs, i.e. the Ryzen 9, today. Not so much for games in the coming few years though, especially since a new socket is coming for next generation of both Intel and AMD CPUs which means the new motherboard will only be good for currently available CPUs. If the motherboard is going, at least get a new CPU if not that from a different socket.

 

A new case isnt a bad idea, especially if the current one has bad cooling.

[Bombastinator]

56 minutes ago, jennay4399 said:

What would I need to worry about with the BIOS? Sorry, I'm relatively new to PC builds and built it with all new parts, I've never had to upgrade.

Ryzen stuff likes to have newer bioses quite often because companies don’t test their stuff with AMD parts, so AMD has to make adjustments and they do it with bioses.  It’s gotten better lately, but the older the chip the bigger a problem it is, and ryzen1 is the oldest ryzen.  One thing that might want to be considered is will this thing need to run win11? There are some pretty specific requirement for that.  I don’t know if the motherboard has the guns or not, but Microsoft shut down even most ryzen+ stuff. That cpu will never run win11 unless someone hacks something together or Microsoft changes their minds (both are uncontrollable and not super likely)

Edited October 29, 2021 by Bombastinator

[2plash6]

4 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Ryzen stuff likes to have newer bioses quite often because companies don’t test their stuff with AMD parts, so AMD has to make adjustments and they do it with bioses.  It’s gotten better lately, but the older the chip the bigger a problem it is, and ryzen1 is the oldest ryzen.  One thing that might want to be considered is will this thing need to run win11? There are some pretty specific requirement for that.  I don’t know if the motherboard has the guns or not, but Microsoft shut down even most ryzen+ stuff. That cpu will never run win11 unless someone hacks something together or Microsoft changes their minds (both are uncontrollable and not super likely)

You can easily run Win11 on any unsupported processor with a few Registry tweaks.

[Dedayog]

2 hours ago, jennay4399 said:

He' using a dual monitor setup with an ASUS gaming monitor (not sure which one but I can check, I know it has a high refresh rate for gaming) and a Samsung curved monitor. For the power supply the builder's website says it either a "550 or 650 watt EVGA."

 

These comments are making me reconsider getting him upgrade parts 

Honestly, there are better presents for him than a PC upgrade.