Starfield CPU upgrade

[darkzip]

Budget (including currency): 300 or less USD. Open to reputable Used Parts

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Photoshop, ClipStudio,Blender, Cyberpunk 2077

Other details (existing parts: Phanteks P300 Case, 2070Super, 16gb DDR4, HTC Vive)

 

I've got a Ryzen 1600x/B350 combo I've been using for several years now. It's served me well, but with Starfield's min specs pointing at a 2600x I'm thinking I'll probably be forced to upgrade (even though spec wise the 1600x and 2600x don't look that different on paper)   

 

Anyone have budget suggestions to upgrade to? I'm planning on continuing to play at 1080p for the near future with a potential upgrade to 1440p when budget allows)

 

Edit: Motherboard is MSI PRO B350 PC MATE AM4 AMD   

 

I want to thank everyone and will be looking into flashing the latest bios. Should allow an upgrade to Ryzen 5600G, 5700G or 5750g per the supported list

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by darkzip

[Budget DIY]

Wait. Confirm your current CPU is lacking too much, to get good-enuf performance. Once you've confirmed you're getting rekked by your CPU, check your current motherboard compatible CPU's. (maybe with an BIOS update) Then look for the best CPU your motherboard would support, after an BIOS update. Then see if you can find one of those CPU's used. (or new) This way, you only need to upgrade one single part.

[Why_Me]

22 minutes ago, darkzip said:

Budget (including currency): 300 or less USD. Open to reputable Used Parts

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Photoshop, ClipStudio,Blender, Cyberpunk 2077

Other details (existing parts: Phanteks P300 Case, 2070Super, 16gb DDR4, HTC Vive)

 

I've got a Ryzen 1600x/B350 combo I've been using for several years now. It's served me well, but with Starfield's min specs pointing at a 2600x I'm thinking I'll probably be forced to upgrade (even though spec wise the 1600x and 2600x don't look that different on paper)   

 

Anyone have budget suggestions to upgrade to? I'm planning on continuing to play at 1080p for the near future with a potential upgrade to 1440p when budget allows)

 

Find out if your board supports Ryzen 5000 series cpu's and if it does look at the AMD Ryzen 5 5600.

[darkzip]

20 hours ago, Why_Me said:

Find out if your board supports Ryzen 5000 series cpu's and if it does look at the AMD Ryzen 5 5600.

Looks like I'd be able to put one of the 5000 series in it. Seems like I could get either a 5700x or 5700g to benefit from an upgrade to the number of cores. I don't need integrated graphics, but the 5700x is slightly more expensive so I might go with a 5700g

[Why_Me]

15 minutes ago, darkzip said:

Looks like I'd be able to put one of the 5000 series in it. Seems like I could get either a 5700x or 5700g to benefit from an upgrade to the number of cores. I don't need integrated graphics, but the 5700x is slightly more expensive so I might go with a 5700g

Check the benchmarks  ... 5700X > 5600 > 5700G

[DeerDK]

have you considered a 5800x3d?

Its may be a bit too much pedal to the metal, but it would be the maximum utilization of the AM4 platform, so if the costs are acceptable, it would probably be the best shot at longlivity?

[HAL90000]

On 6/26/2023 at 8:03 PM, darkzip said:

Budget (including currency): 300 or less USD. Open to reputable Used Parts

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Photoshop, ClipStudio,Blender, Cyberpunk 2077

Other details (existing parts: Phanteks P300 Case, 2070Super, 16gb DDR4, HTC Vive)

 

I've got a Ryzen 1600x/B350 combo I've been using for several years now. It's served me well, but with Starfield's min specs pointing at a 2600x I'm thinking I'll probably be forced to upgrade (even though spec wise the 1600x and 2600x don't look that different on paper)   

 

Anyone have budget suggestions to upgrade to? I'm planning on continuing to play at 1080p for the near future with a potential upgrade to 1440p when budget allows)

 

Edit: Motherboard is MSI PRO B350 PC MATE AM4 AMD   

 

I want to thank everyone and will be looking into flashing the latest bios. Should allow an upgrade to Ryzen 5600G, 5700G or 5750g per the supported list

 

If you're looking at the 5600G just get the 5500 instead which is identical and has no iGPU. I got a Ryzen 5500 for like $110 at Canada Computers a couple of months ago. It does have less cache than the 5600 (non G) and you are limited to PCIE 3.0 but that won't affect your 2070 or any drives you have connected as everything you have now would logically be PCIE 3.0. Having said that, B350 doesn't work with PCIE 4.0 anyways and neither does B450. The AM4 boards that support PCIE 4.0 are only B550/X570 as far as I know, so it's a moot point.

The 5600 is better than the 5500/5600G because of the higher levels of cache as well as PCIE 4.0 functionality (again not relevant) but it does cost about 60% more. You will get higher performance. 5500 is decent though. Remember that the 5500 and the G chips all have less cache than the 5600/5700/5800/X/non X chips. I believe all the G chips are limited to PCIE 3.0 as well just like the 5500.

One last thing is that the Ryzen chips really like faster RAM and with Ryzen 5000 you really want 3600Mhz (or at least 3200Mhz) but what I'm not sure about is how well that'll match up with a B350 board. I'm not sure whether or not you'll be limited to 3000Mhz stability wise on that board.

Whatever you do, remember to update the motherboard to the latest BIOS before you swap any parts. B350 doesn't support 5000 series CPU unless you get the correct BIOS.