Should I get pc upgrades?

Chronology · March 27, 2022

I’m looking to spend a maximum of around £300, and I was wondering if there was any new parts that I should get. I’m in the UK and here is my current build which I got for around £650. I currently mainly use it for gaming and get around 120fps running around and 80fps in fights on lowest settings in apex, and 120fps on lowest settings in valorant. Here are my current parts: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/G8kN3b Thank you!

An0maly_76 · March 27, 2022

Short answer: 120fps is not bad at all for what you have IMO, and short of RAM / PSU / board upgrade, I'm not sure what you'll be able to do for 300 pounds, as that is about $395 USD. It couldn't hurt to get a board that will more reliably pave the way for a future processor upgrade though. Personally, I would wait until you have a bit more to spend, say around 1000-1200 pounds, you'll be able to do a lot more and actually feel like you've accomplished something.

Some things to consider:

B450 chipset boards generally require a BIOS update for Zen3 Ryzen, if they even support it at all. MSI's website said my previous MSI B450 Bazooka supported the 5900X I had in mind, but required a BIOS update, then backpedaled and said the update could fry the board after I'd purchased the processor. Six months later their site no longer shows Zen3 support for their B450 Bazooka. Not a fan of MSI at this point, but I digress. Point is, Zen3 support is not guaranteed or even likely with the B450, so if you are thinking about Zen3 now or possibly in the future, it would behoove you to upgrade the board.

And as to what I'd recommend, that depends on what you're interested in. Your current board's VMR cooling appears weak, thus I would not recommend over a 65W TDP processor, which limits your options considerably. If you're thinking about a 95W or 105W TDP chip, I would recommend a B550 at the minimum, with sizeable VRM heatsinks. Also consider whether USB 3.1/3.2 C front panel is important to you, this requires a special motherboard header and not many boards have it. While this can be solved with adapters, it will run at standard 3.0 speed and you may not get the full effect.

Lots of newer boards offer integrated slots for M.2 SSDs, which offer a performance increase over your standard 2.5" or 3.5" SSD. Some boards have one slot, others have two, some can use both for M.2 SSDs, others can only use one, the other slot keyed for M.2 wifi / bluetooth (M-Key vs E-key, pay close attention to this). For M.2 SSDs, IMO the Western Digital Blue SN570 offers the best bang for the buck.

Faster chip = more heat, and more heat needs more cooling. AIO is not necessary for any Ryzen that I'm aware of, I am running a Scythe Mugen 5 on a 5900X and it is doing just fine. I have seen 85C during stress tests, but it's within limits, as AMD says the 5800X / 5900X and 5950X are safe to 90C under full load. The 5600X is safe to 95C under full load. A Noctua NH-D15 might cool even better, but they are pricey. Any CPU / board / GPU upgrades are going to need more cooling, but be aware that 95W-105W, you are going to to need all the higher-flow fans you can stuff into the case.

3000 Mhz memory is getting long in the tooth, but DDR4 faster than 3200 generally won't feel that much faster to you.

If you want to step up to a high-tier GPU, a better PSU is a must, a 550W isn't going to cut it. You might be able to get away with running the likes of the RTX3060 on a 650W, but I really would recommend at least a 750W-850W, and at least 80+ Gold. I believe the 80+ Bronze PSUs may contribute to coil whine and such.

That wifi card is okay for very basic tasks, but I have a USB version that does 1200mbps. So might be time for an upgrade in that department also. I've heard the M.2 versions are overkill for anything other than a world-class router, so I think a higher-speed USB model would serve you well.

All this said, I'm not in the UK so I can't say for sure what any one of these parts will cost in British pounds, but I did this build for about $2600 USD (about 1972 pounds sterling or 2366 euros) , and the parts are around $2300ish USD last I checked...

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/An0maly1976/saved/#view=QtHWcf

Edited March 27, 2022 by An0maly_76
Revised, more info

DftPunk · March 27, 2022

An idea for a thing to upgrade may be your power supply even though you might not need a high-wattage PSU, having a future-proof PSU is always a good choice. In addition putting in a nvme SSD will bring fast boot times for windows and games. I hope that this helps you!

Jeppes · March 27, 2022

Maybe wait for the Ryzen 5 5600. Should be a bit better value than the 5600x. And most b450 boards support 5000-series with a bios update and I think theyre pushing support out for b350 and x370 too when the new cpu:s come out.