Questions from First Time Builder/Upgrader

Xemas12 · January 12, 2023

Hi all, I'm getting ready to upgrade my PC for the first time but have a few questions that I'm hoping you can help me answer. I'm a bit nervous since the only other build I've done was my initial one with a lot of help from a build.

My original/current build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jjQm2V

What I'm upgrading to(changing case, motherboard, and boot drive to the new NMVE SSD): https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4TZRtn

My first question is about the Bios and Flashback. I have a Ryzen 5 2600 does anyone know if, or a place i can go to find out if the new board will support my CPU out of the box or not? I've looked on MSI's website and it has a bios version listed that I guess I might have to update/downgrade the bios to but how does that work? The version listed next to my CPU seems to be an older version so does this mean I will need to flash it and then never update the BIOS? And are BIOS' usually set up in a way where the most recent update will support the most CPUs, or will they get rid of support along the way so I might need an older version to initialize?

Secondly, I'm changing my boot drive from the Seagate HDD to the WD NVME. I want to do just a clean install and back up my game saves some where because the HDD has given me issues such as frequently being at 100% usage. So i want to wipe the seagate one completely. Do I just connect the WD drive to my new motherboard first and let that be the boot drive and then go in and erase the seagate one? What happens if I have two different drives with Windows 10?

Thanks in advance!

Zando_ · January 12, 2023

22 hours ago, Xemas12 said:

My first question is about the Bios and Flashback. I have a Ryzen 5 2600 does anyone know if, or a place i can go to find out if the new board will support my CPU out of the box or not? I've looked on MSI's website and it has a bios version listed that I guess I might have to update/downgrade the bios to but how does that work? The version listed next to my CPU seems to be an older version so does this mean I will need to flash it and then never update the BIOS?

Any 400 or 500 series motherboard should support it out of the box. 300 series might not, but they wouldn't be worth buying anyways (they were mostly pretty meh, 400 and 500 series are better quality overall. You can confirm the the QVL list on the OEM's page for whatever motherboard you choose, they'll list supported CPUs and the earliest BIOS to support them.

22 hours ago, Xemas12 said:

And are BIOS' usually set up in a way where the most recent update will support the most CPUs, or will they get rid of support along the way so I might need an older version to initialize?

Both. Usually they just support every CPU for the platform. With the long support cycle of AM4 some boards that started with smaller ROMs (the chip that stores the BIOS) didn't have the space, so they had to drop support, usually for the weirder and more uncommon APUs, not the mainline CPUs like the 2600. As with the BIOS version question, can confirm with the support list on the motherboard page.

For that specific board:

All versions of the 2600 are supported as of BIOS 7D54v10, which looks to be the launch BIOS for that board, so you should be good to go out of the box. Seems to support all the AM4 CPUs from my quick scroll-through, IIRC the point of the "Max" label was that they have a ROM large enough to support all CPUs, so that's pretty sweet.

22 hours ago, Xemas12 said:

Secondly, I'm changing my boot drive from the Seagate HDD to the WD NVME. I want to do just a clean install and back up my game saves some where because the HDD has given me issues such as frequently being at 100% usage. So i want to wipe the seagate one completely. Do I just connect the WD drive to my new motherboard first and let that be the boot drive and then go in and erase the seagate one? What happens if I have two different drives with Windows 10?

I'd make a USB installer on the old rig before rebuilding and then do a clean install on the new one right off the bat, just make sure to wipe all the partitions off the old drive during the install process so Windows doesn't try to put the bootloader on the wrong drive (of course make sure you've got all the data you want to keep off it first).

Xemas12 · January 13, 2023

20 hours ago, Zando_ said:

Any 400 or 500 series motherboard should support it out of the box. 300 series might not, but they wouldn't be worth buying anyways (they were mostly pretty meh, 400 and 500 series are better quality overall. You can confirm the the QVL list on the OEM's page for whatever motherboard you choose, they'll list supported CPUs and the earliest BIOS to support them.

Both. Usually they just support every CPU for the platform. With the long support cycle of AM4 some boards that started with smaller ROMs (the chip that stores the BIOS) didn't have the space, so they had to drop support, usually for the weirder and more uncommon APUs, not the mainline CPUs like the 2600. As with the BIOS version question, can confirm with the support list on the motherboard page.

For that specific board:

All versions of the 2600 are supported as of BIOS 7D54v10, which looks to be the launch BIOS for that board, so you should be good to go out of the box. Seems to support all the AM4 CPUs from my quick scroll-through, IIRC the point of the "Max" label was that they have a ROM large enough to support all CPUs, so that's pretty sweet.

I'd make a USB installer on the old rig before redbuilding and then do a clean install on the new one right off the bat, just make sure to wipe all the partitions off the old drive during the install process so Windows doesn't try to put the bootloader on the wrong drive (of course make sure you've got all the data you want to keep off it first).

Awesome, thanks for the help!!