PC-Upgrade, good to go?

[Xiauj]

Spoiler

@PCGuy_5960 Tagged as requested

Hey guys  So um, recently, I was planning to change only the CPU cooler on my current PC due to it being loud but due to how long it's been on my CPU for, some bad news occurred last night. The CPU kinda got stuck to the cooler somehow. I've tried getting it off but long story short... it's kinda pointless getting another AM3+ Socket CPU in my opinion when really I might as well get Ryzen and so, I kinda need your guys' help on a couple of things below. Budget is 450-470 GBP (I'm in the UK) depending if I need a new HDD or not.

 

 

My Hard Drive is still fine I believe, which still has Windows 7 OS and all my programs/game-saves etc.. still on it, can I reclaim the whole 2TB Capacity and install a fresh copy of Windows 10 on it when installing? Can I also make it be 64-Bit or is it that by default or..?

Does this upgrade look good to go? Is the RAM fully compatible also because I heard that there was an issue at first with RAM and Ryzen CPUs at first, though I could be wrong.

I know there's no GPU on that list but I'm gonna get that later on in the year, for now though, I'm gonna try and use my GTX 650 Ti GPU. I hope to get a RX 580 or something similar depending on prices at the time. I've got my Case/PSU/CPU-Cooler/Hard-Drive/Case-fans already in my case atm, because they were a part of my system already lol so atm I have no mobo/cpu/ram 

Also, how do I go about doing the mounting for the Shadow Rock 2 CPU cooler? Look on PCPP near the bottom, it says something about an adapter??

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/nqbfBP 

 

Could really do with the help with those questions! Didn't expect the cooler to do that to me last night.

Thanks all!

-Xiauj

[Billy_Mays]

You need to order your parts first before you get the bracket from Be Quiet, the 1500X isn't that much better than the 1400 but your paying for a little more cache and XFR (which I find to be a marketing scam) and XFR doesn't do much for performance if you plan to OC

[honor]

Better go with this: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/d2yThq

Better cpu (two additional cores), higher clocked ramsticks which is crucial since Ryzen relies heavily on memory, and a better mobo. All of this for an additional 40 bucks. Regarding your cooler, there are am4 brackets you can order at the manufacturer, but i wouldn't get any aftermarket cooler in the first place, since the wraith spire itself cools extremely well, while reamining quiet af. Hope this helps

[Cyracus]

For the cooler contact bequiet and they should be able to get you am4 mounting gear. As for the ram the issue early on was with ram speeds, you really want 3000+ mhz with ryzen and a lot of kits were having trouble getting anything over 2400 at best, corsair vengeance should work well though. The reason you want fast ram is because amd's infinity fabric, the crux of ryzens performance, runs at ram frequency @honor linked a decent build, but I've heard msi is messing up mobos pretty bad on the amd platform, just avoid that headache and stick with asus

[Xiauj]

3 minutes ago, Billy_Mays said:

You need to order your parts first before you get the bracket from Be Quiet

There is a bracket that came with the Shadow Rock 2, I dunno if it's the right one because PCPP is saying otherwise.

 

4 minutes ago, Billy_Mays said:

the 1500X isn't that much better than the 1400 but your paying for a little more cache and XFR (which I find to be a marketing scam) and XFR doesn't do much for performance if you plan to OC

XFR ..? What do you mean?

 

What about the RAM and HDD Questions?

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, honor said:

Better go with this: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/d2yThq

Better cpu (two additional cores), higher clocked ramsticks which is crucial since Ryzen relies heavily on memory, and a better mobo. All of this for an additional 40 bucks. Regarding your cooler, there are am4 brackets you can order at the manufacturer, but i wouldn't get any aftermarket cooler in the first place, since the wraith spire itself cools extremely well, while reamining quiet af. Hope this helps

So, lower speed DDR4 RAM doesn't work well with Ryzen CPUs you're saying? Ok that's good to know  Thanks for that.

In reply about the cooler, oh  I already ordered it. I need any cooler that's pretty freaking quiet because I'm getting moaned at for the noise.. lol

What about the HDD Question?

[Brooksie359]

7 minutes ago, Billy_Mays said:

You need to order your parts first before you get the bracket from Be Quiet, the 1500X isn't that much better than the 1400 but your paying for a little more cache and XFR (which I find to be a marketing scam) and XFR doesn't do much for performance if you plan to OC

Honestly the best value of the 1500x is the included cooler but they already have one so it isn't really relevant.

[Xiauj]

1 minute ago, Cyracus said:

but I've heard msi is messing up mobos pretty bad on the amd platform, just avoid that headache and stick with asus

Oh really?  Fair enough.

 

1 minute ago, Cyracus said:

For the cooler contact bequiet and they should be able to get you am4 mounting gear.

Ohh I see, ok I'll try and have a look later on tonight or tomorrow.

 

2 minutes ago, Cyracus said:

As for the ram the issue early on was with ram speeds, you really want 3000+ mhz with ryzen and a lot of kits were having trouble getting anything over 2400 at best, corsair vengeance should work well though. The reason you want fast ram is because amd's infinity fabric, the crux of ryzens performance, runs at ram frequency @honor linked a decent build

Ohhh I see, that makes sense.

So like I said earlier, high speed is way more better then? Like 3000mhz or whatever? Ok cool, I'll bear that in mind  Thanks for that btw.

 

What about the HDD Question?

[Brooksie359]

6 minutes ago, Cyracus said:

For the cooler contact bequiet and they should be able to get you am4 mounting gear. As for the ram the issue early on was with ram speeds, you really want 3000+ mhz with ryzen and a lot of kits were having trouble getting anything over 2400 at best, corsair vengeance should work well though. The reason you want fast ram is because amd's infinity fabric, the crux of ryzens performance, runs at ram frequency @honor linked a decent build, but I've heard msi is messing up mobos pretty bad on the amd platform, just avoid that headache and stick with asus

Yeah they took forever to get new bios updates but it's better now. As much as I like msi and my motherboard I would still recommend something else like a gigabyte or asus board. 

[Colin Donoghue]

You need faster clocked ram 3000 or 3200 mhz

[Brooksie359]

2 minutes ago, Xiauj said:

Oh really?  Fair enough.

 

Ohh I see, ok I'll try and have a look later on tonight or tomorrow.

 

Ohhh I see, that makes sense.

So like I said earlier, high speed is way more better then? Like 3000mhz or whatever? Ok cool, I'll bear that in mind  Thanks for that btw.

 

What about the HDD Question?

You should be fine to just reformat and install Windows 10 onto the hdd. You should get the full 2tb too or nearly the full 2tb because no drive gets its full advertised storage because of formatting. As for the 32 vs 64 but it will depend on what you decide to install. Just make sure you choose to install a 64 bit version. I'm not actually sure if there is a 32 bit version of Windows 10 though.

[Cyracus]

32 minutes ago, Xiauj said:

My Hard Drive is still fine I believe, which still has Windows 7 OS and all my programs/game-saves etc.. still on it, can I reclaim the whole 2TB Capacity and install a fresh copy of Windows 10 on it when installing? Can I also make it be 64-Bit or is it that by default or..?

when installing win10 you can wipe the drive and do a clean install or do an upgrade where it doesn't destroy all your data, best to store anything you want to keep elsewhere and do a clean install. If you create a usb install usb with the current tool MS provides you can choose 32 or 64 bit.  

1 minute ago, Brooksie359 said:

I'm not actually sure if there is a 32 bit version of Windows 10 though.

There is

[PCGuy_5960]

@Xiauj Alright:

1. Get a Ryzen 5 1600, costs only a bit more than the 1500X and it has 2 more cores and 4 more threads
2. Avoid MSI for Ryzen, get an AsRock or ASUS board
3. Get 3000MHz DDR4, because it really improves Ryzen's gaming performance

[Xiauj]

4 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

You should be fine to just reformat and install Windows 10 onto the hdd. You should get the full 2tb too or nearly the full 2tb because no drive gets its full advertised storage because of formatting. As for the 32 vs 64 but it will depend on what you decide to install. Just make sure you choose to install a 64 bit version. I'm not actually sure if there is a 32 bit version of Windows 10 though.

4 hours ago, Cyracus said:

when installing win10 you can wipe the drive and do a clean install or do an upgrade where it doesn't destroy all your data, best to store anything you want to keep elsewhere and do a clean install. If you create a usb install usb with the current tool MS provides you can choose 32 or 64 bit.

 

So, when I plug in the USB with Windows 10 on it onto the motherboard USB-Slot and boot up the PC for the first time, will it still go straight to the Windows installation screen? Because the HDD still has Windows 7 and my programs / game saves on it..?

Or will it get confused because Windows 7 is still on the HDD?

I would prefer to keep my data but if I can't then that's too bad .

 

And for the specs, does this look good?:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/DvPDHN

Was hoping to find a better motherboard and that Amazon UK themselves would sell the 1600 but they don't sell it.

Have just seen some of GIGABYTE's AORUS Boards, man they look beautiful but expensive.

And why is RAM so expensive atm

[Xiauj]

3 hours ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

@Xiauj Alright:

1. Get a Ryzen 5 1600, costs only a bit more than the 1500X and it has 2 more cores and 4 more threads
2. Avoid MSI for Ryzen, get an AsRock or ASUS board
3. Get 3000MHz DDR4, because it really improves Ryzen's gaming performance

See above comment -^, couldn't quote your comment for some reason .

Is that list good to go?

 

Also wrote a question about the HDD

[PCGuy_5960]

Just now, Xiauj said:

And for the specs, does this look good?:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/DvPDHN

Yep, get this build, it's much better than the original

1 minute ago, Xiauj said:

And why is RAM so expensive atm

http://www.gamersnexus.net/industry/2789-ram-prices-rising-again

3 minutes ago, Xiauj said:

So, when I plug in the USB with Windows 10 on it onto the motherboard USB-Slot and boot up the PC for the first time, will it still go straight to the Windows installation screen? Because the HDD still has Windows 7 and my programs / game saves on it..?

Or will it get confused because Windows 7 is still on the HDD?

I would prefer to keep my data but if I can't then that's too bad .

If you don't want to clean install Windows, you can upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7. AFAIK, if you plug the USB after booting into Windows 7, you can keep all of your files and programs

[Xiauj]

Just now, PCGuy_5960 said:

Yep, get this build, it's much better than the original

 

Yay!

Why do Amazon UK not sell the Ryzen-1600 CPU though, that's my only complaint

There are others fulfilled by Amazon though

 

Just now, PCGuy_5960 said:

http://www.gamersnexus.net/industry/2789-ram-prices-rising-again

Oh cool, I'll give that a read later, thanks

 

1 minute ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

If you don't want to clean install Windows, you can upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7. AFAIK, if you plug the USB after booting into Windows 7, you can keep all of your files and programs

So, if I'm understanding that right, it will still boot into Windows 7 despite the fact it's not the same Mobo/CPU/RAM ....??  Really? Interesting.

I suppose I better go for a clean Windows 10 install  That would probably be better and a bit more optimized I assume(?).

[PCGuy_5960]

Just now, Xiauj said:

Why do Amazon UK not sell the Ryzen-1600 CPU though, that's my only complaint

I really don't know

1 minute ago, Xiauj said:

So, if I'm understanding that right, it will still boot into Windows 7 despite the fact it's not the same Mobo/CPU/RAM ....??  Really? Interesting.

Yeah, it will boot into Windows, but Windows will probably not be activated. 

1 minute ago, Xiauj said:

I suppose I better go for a clean Windows 10 install  That would probably be better and a bit more optimized I assume(?).

Yep. If you want to clean install, you will have to boot from the USB drive (you select this in the BIOS AFAIK)

[Xiauj]

Just now, PCGuy_5960 said:

Yeah, it will boot into Windows, but Windows will probably not be activated. 

Ohh I see, because of the changed motherboard probably. That's understandable.

Yeah I might do a fresh install then.

 

4 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Yep. If you want to clean install, you will have to boot from the USB drive (you select this in the BIOS AFAIK)

Alright cool, I'll check out a few vids

Been forever since I last installed Windows lol

 

5 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

I really don't know

I don't know either  They sell the 1500x Brand New from Amazon UK but not the 1600

[Marinatall_Ironside]

12 minutes ago, Xiauj said:

Ohh I see, because of the changed motherboard probably. That's understandable.

Yeah I might do a fresh install then.

 

Alright cool, I'll check out a few vids

Been forever since I last installed Windows lol

 

I don't know either  They sell the 1500x Brand New from Amazon UK but not the 1600

If you have your licence key attached you your Microsoft account, all you have to do is log into your Microsoft account (assuming you have this set up prior to assembling and booting the PC).

 

If you wish to opt for the 1600X, Amazon UK is selling it new for GBP 221.99.

 

You should get an Asus board like the PRIME B350-PLUS. They're pretty good. And faster RAM shouldn't cost that much more, and it's worth it.

[Xiauj]

4 minutes ago, JurunceNK said:

If you have your licence key attached you your Microsoft account, all you have to do is log into your Microsoft account (assuming you have this set up prior to assembling and booting the PC).

I don't think I have a Microsoft Account

 

5 minutes ago, JurunceNK said:

If you wish to opt for the 1600X, Amazon UK is selling it new for GBP 221.99.

Nah I can't get that, that's half of the budget gone already lol

It's a bit much in terms of pricing. And I won't be overclocking which I think the X Versions are for(?).

 

7 minutes ago, JurunceNK said:

You should get an Asus board like the PRIME B350-PLUS. They're pretty good. And faster RAM shouldn't cost that much more, and it's worth it.

I would kill for something like a B350-F Gaming Asus board because it looks too damn good lol but it's a bit expensive .

And also, the B350-Plus is out of stock on Amazon UK atm according to PCPP 

[Cyracus]

13 minutes ago, JurunceNK said:

If you have your licence key attached you your Microsoft account, all you have to do is log into your Microsoft account (assuming you have this set up prior to assembling and booting the PC).

microsoft won't automatically transfer a license over when you replace the mobo, if you have a non-oem license you can get it activated, if you have oem you better pray you get a nice customer service rep.

1 hour ago, Xiauj said:

I would prefer to keep my data but if I can't then that's too bad .

when you're changing OS's upgrades often have issues, when changing platforms and upgrading OS you're just asking for a s**t storm, so if you can upload it to storage somewhere online or preferably on another drive if you have one available

1 minute ago, Xiauj said:

And I won't be overclocking which I think the X Versions are for(?)

all ryzen chips can overclock as long as they're paired with a b350/x370 mobo. You should at least OC the 1600 to 3.7, should be easy to do and it will then perform like the 1600x does out of the box (they're really the same chip, the 1600x just has a factory oc)

[Marinatall_Ironside]

Just now, Xiauj said:

I don't think I have a Microsoft Account

 

Nah I can't get that, that's half of the budget gone already lol

It's a bit much in terms of pricing. And I won't be overclocking which I think the X Versions are for(?).

 

I would kill for something like a B350-F Gaming Asus board because it looks too damn good lol but it's a bit expensive .

And also, the B350-Plus is out of stock on Amazon UK atm according to PCPP 

You should create one.

 

Well damn. What's your budget for the CPU itself then? If anything wherever you're living, is there any electronics store that sells computer hardware (BTW ignore the employees there trying to help, they're typically ill-informed or incompetent in computer stuff). A Ryzen 5 1600 is a pretty sweet CPU if you could squeeze it into your budget.

 

The X in the naming of the AMD CPUs means that it has Extended Frequency Range, a technology made by AMD to push the CPU further provided there is sufficient cooling by anywhere from 50 MHz to 100 MHz past its official turbo frequency.

 

Yeah the ROG Strix B350-F Gaming boards are really damn nice, but they're pricey.

If the B350-PLUS is out of stock, try the B350M-A.

 

1 minute ago, Cyracus said:

microsoft won't automatically transfer a license over when you replace the mobo, if you have a non-oem license you can get it activated, if you have oem you better pray you get a nice customer service rep.

Quote

If you made a significant hardware change to your device (such as replacing the motherboard), Windows 10 might no longer be activated and you might see the activation error codes 0x803f7001 or 0xC004C008. If you're running Windows 10, version 1607 or later, and added your Microsoft account and linked it to the digital license on your device, you can use the Activation troubleshooter to reactivate Windows. For more info, see Using the Activation troubleshooter.

I'm referring to if you have a retail key by the way. I know an OEM key will tie the licence to the hardware it was activated on, and can only be used once thereafter, unlike a retail key which you can use if you change anything out, as long as you're not trying to run multiple Windows 10 computers off of one retail key (you'll need a special volume licence direct from Microsoft, which is not easy to acquire).

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12440/windows-10-activation

[Xiauj]

Just now, JurunceNK said:

What's your budget

Budget is 450-470 GBP for the Mobo/CPU/RAM/OS altogether.

Haven't got a set budget for each part lol

 

So far, I've got this: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/DvPDHN - I wanna stay under 500 but was hoping for a better aesthetic mobo lol and maaaybe an ATX one but I'm not bothered if it's mATX or ATX, as long as it fits and works.

It's more or less the RAM that's taking up most of the budget  Think I'll stick with a 1600, seems like a good choice

[Marinatall_Ironside]

Just now, Xiauj said:

Budget is 450-470 GBP for the Mobo/CPU/RAM/OS altogether.

Haven't got a set budget for each part lol

 

So far, I've got this: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/DvPDHN - I wanna stay under 500 but was hoping for a better aesthetic mobo lol and maaaybe an ATX one but I'm not bothered if it's mATX or ATX, as long as it fits and works.

It's more or less the RAM that's taking up most of the budget  Think I'll stick with a 1600, seems like a good choice

Dude a Ryzen 5 1600 is amazeballs!

 

If you plan on overclocking the CPU, I wouldn't try it on the mobo anyways unless you're blasting a fan directly over the VRM area to cool the VRMs though.

[Xiauj]

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/dN6gWX

 

Decided to change the motherboard @PCGuy_5960 @JurunceNK 

Alright, thanks for the help guys and to the guys above  I really appreciate the help.

Hopefully this new Mobo/CPU/RAM/OS works out well.

 

And for the OS, I might just build the PC then put in the USB-Stick into the motherboard port when I boot it up for the first time and try to freshly install Windows 10 and reclaim the 2TB Capacity on my HDD, it's a pain but it will probably be better.