[SOLVED] B450 to B550 worth it?

h3r3t1k

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I'm happy with my B450M Pro 4 from ASRock. I'm not missing any features. Yes it started out as a mATX build in the Fractal Mini C TG and was then moved to a BQ Pure Base 500DX for better airflow and looks a little skinny in there, but my 5700 XT likely won't tell the difference between it and a B550 board. I also run a Crucial P1 1TB NVMe SSD (and a BX500 1TB SATA 2.5") which afaik doesn't benefit vom PCIe 4.0. Am I missing something here or is it worth upgrading only when I change the CPU? Because my 3600 overclocks like a champ and won't need replacing for at least 2 years.
 
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DDR5 ram is around the corner, if you happy with current board I would stay on it rather than mess with all new hardware just cause its new. Save money and buy a DDR5 motherboard when it comes out with a new CPU.

Colif

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DDR5 ram is around the corner, if you happy with current board I would stay on it rather than mess with all new hardware just cause its new. Save money and buy a DDR5 motherboard when it comes out with a new CPU.
 
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... Am I missing something here or is it worth upgrading only when I change the CPU? Because my 3600 overclocks like a champ and won't need replacing for at least 2 years.

All the reviews and experiences suggest your 3600 is going to be more than enough even for 4K gaming with any GPU on the planet; not even a 5900X could improve on it in any big way. A B550 can't make it any better than it already is - not even an X570 will.

A 5600X might help things a little bit at 1080p gaming, or higher resolution for ultra-high refresh e-sports gaming but your current board will work like a charm with it after a BIOS update.

The one area it might help is with newer GPU's that get a 10% uplift with SAM. AMD's opening it up for Ryzen 3000 CPU's but I've not read where they are for 400 series boards. But the thing is, you'll need a supporting GPU so you have to clear that hurdle first anyway.

Otherwise I'd say only move up to 500 series board if you also need to go to higher core-count Zen3 processor for creativity/productivity type computing tasks that need the cores to get done faster.
 
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Colif

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i get that, I did it last year and bought a new PC before it got impossible to get some parts. Most years I would be sad as all these new parts make mine slow but when you can't actually get them, it paints a different picture and you might as well enjoy what you have while you wait. I would much prefer it was easy to get new parts as I can't guarantee mine won't break.
 

h3r3t1k

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I was lucky because I built this PC last summer and paid 340€ for my 5700 XT which now sells for much more than twice that on ebay. Also the 3600 I picked up for about 150€. It costs much more atm. I built this PC to last me a few years. I won't be upgrading the GPU for at least 2 years.