[SOLVED] B350 vs B450?

[RichardLionHeart]

Hi, I am upgrading from a non-k i5-2500 with 16gb of DDR3-1333 on H61. I have found that with my 960 2GB my FPS is dipping below 40 at 1080p in games like Rising Storm 2 and Skyrim, and it's not that great in Far Cry 5 or GTA 5 either.

I got a Ryzen 3 1300x for £45 (!) used, so I am going AM4.

My question is, is it really worth going for a B450M motherboard instead of a B350M? My main concerns are memory support (OC) and future upgrades to Ryzen 7nm. B350 boards are readily available for about £50 used, while B450s go for £67+ in the UK.

I understand Ryzen is doing better with memory on 2nd gen but I wonder if that improvement is only on the CPU side with the 2xxxx series or do the mobos have something to do with it?

I'm planning to oc to 4.0 - 4.2 Ghz on the CPU and to 2666 or 2933 on RAM. (with a 2x4 2400 kit, loose timings) Got a Deepcool Gammaxx 200T and ample airflow for this.

Also Ryzen chips are going for so cheap used I'm wanting to drop in a 1600x or 2600, or 7nm in a year's time.

Any input would be appreciated.




>inb4
"Why don't you go for a 2700X with X470 and 32gigs of ram instead?"
Contrary to what some members believe, not everyone bleeds cash. This upgrade will run me about £160 in total, which is insane price/performance.

"Why don't you go for faster Ram from the get-go?"
The difference between prices are still massive, and the general consensus is that most 2400 kits will do at least 2666, with some doing 3000 and 3200 with loose timings.

"You won't see much of a performance boost."
I have a non-K 2500 with 1333 RAM. I will. I would need a new CPU and new mobo, along with new RAM to squeeze any more performance out of 1155, it would cost nearly the same with no upgrade path.

"Why don't you upgrade the GPU instead?"
I will do next year, possibly to a 1060 3gig. Unfortunately most of my games seem to be bottlenecked by the CPU.

 

[RichardLionHeart]

An update for people who might stumble upon this thread later:


I've managed to get an MSI B350M GAMING PRO used for £40. OC’d the CPU to 3.9Ghz and RAM to 2933 CL18, both at around 1.35v. (Can also do 3000mhz but haven’t done a stress test on that yet.)

With the above, Rising Storm 2 played between 57-62fps on dev maps and there are no drops to the 40s like they were on the old i5.

A while later I’ve also changed the GPU to an MSI 1060 6GB so now GPU dependant games run great too.

Now, after the controversy MSI have confirmed that this board will support Ryzen 7nm, but if you are going with a different brand DOUBLE CHECK ON THE VENDOR’S PAGE before buying. If both B350 and B450 go for the same amount, go B450. If there’s more than £10 of a difference, and you don’t need the sensemi stuff, go B350. I don’t think it will be an amazing overclocker on 7nm 8core chips, but it should do fairly well on 4c/8t or 6c/12t processors.

If you are trying to decide whether to upgrade from Sandy/Ivy bridge, just do it.

 

[ocer9999]

Doesn't even need to be M factor, you have a good ATX for the price of the smaller ones and will do more than good with that CPU.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/PCKcCJ/asrock-b450-pro4-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-pro4

Also, keep in mind the B350 does not support the latest AMD boost on the newest CPUs.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Also, keep in mind the B350 does not support the latest AMD boost on the newest CPUs.

PB2 and XFR2 are features of the CPU, not the motherboard. So yes, the newer boost features are supported by B350 boards. I'm not sure about Precision Boost Overdrive though, which I think is some sort auto-OC feature (beyond PB2/XFR) that you can manually enable (might require an X470).