[SOLVED] Can I update the BIOS of the A320m-s2h to work for a Ryzen 5 2600x using a Ryzen 3 chip

Oct 9, 2020
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I currently have a Ryzen 3 3200g and I am looking to upgrade to the Ryzen 5 2600x. I was wondering if I could upgrade to the F20 BIOS version using my current Ryzen chip.
 
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Currently being a student saving money is possible but difficult, I always try where I can however. I literally just the other day bought a 1070, so looking forward I would want a CPU to make the most out of it as I find that the 3200g can limit it quite significantly. The 3600x is still £200 here in the UK so it would be really pushing a budget, but it might be worth it. I am not really looking to overclock that much however.

Considering that, I think it would be good for someone in the forum that knows more about this to say whether you really need to worry about a 3200G throttling a GTX 1070. I'm not so confident, personally, that you'd need to worry much about that. The 2600x's major upgrade over the 3200G is a notably...

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I'm somewhat confused. If you have the 3200G, that means you already have at least BIOS F40, which is newer than F20.
So the 2600X will work anyway.

On top of that the 2600X is a generation BACKWARDS so the BIOS update only applies if you're going UP in generations.
 
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Oct 9, 2020
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I'm somewhat confused. If you have the 3200G, that means you already have at least BIOS F40, which is newer than F20.
So the 2600X will work anyway.

On top of that the 2600X is a generation BACKWARDS so the BIOS update only applies if you're going UP in generations.

Oh right, thank you. I assume the Ryzen 5 even though it is a generation backwards, it is still faster?
 
Oh right, thank you. I assume the Ryzen 5 even though it is a generation backwards, it is still faster?
AMD made a dumb marketing decision when naming Zen based APUs as a "generation" higher than the rest of the product stack. The Ryzen 3 3200G uses the processor microarchitecture as the 2600X. That is, they're effectively the same generation of processor.
 
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Oh right, thank you. I assume the Ryzen 5 even though it is a generation backwards, it is still faster?
As above stated, "generation" doesn't mean worse or better, just released at different times really. It's why your 3200G is a newer BIOS, because firmware had to be updated again to be able to take it.

The 2600X has a slightly higher boost clock speed, base clock speed is the same, the main advantage is that it has more cores and threads.
 
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tsibiski

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Oh right, thank you. I assume the Ryzen 5 even though it is a generation backwards, it is still faster?

It's a very slight upgrade in terms of raw power, but a few things to note:
  1. It does not have onboard graphics. If you do not have a GPU, your PC will not boot when you put it in.
  2. It has a higher power draw than your current CPU. Make sure that you use the Wraith Spire fan that comes with the new one (not the old Wraith Stealth for the 3200G). And if you have an aftermarket fan, even better. But this will run hotter, so the Wraith Spire will be slightly bigger if you have a really tiny form-factor PC case.
 
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Oct 9, 2020
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It's a very slight upgrade in terms of raw power, but a few things to note:
  1. It does not have onboard graphics. If you do not have a GPU, your PC will not boot when you put it in.
  2. It has a higher power draw than your current CPU. Make sure that you use the Wraith Spire fan that comes with the new one (not the old Wraith Stealth for the 3200G). And if you have an aftermarket fan, even better. But this will run hotter, so the Wraith Spire will be slightly bigger if you have a really tiny form-factor PC case.

Okay, ill make sure to keep that in mind. In terms of price to performance is it worth the upgrade then? Or are there better upgrades to be had when it comes to the ryzen 5 lineup within the same budget? I dont want to be spending £140 on a processor that isnt really worth the money
 

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Okay, ill make sure to keep that in mind. In terms of price to performance is it worth the upgrade then? Or are there better upgrades to be had when it comes to the ryzen 5 lineup within the same budget? I dont want to be spending £140 on a processor that isnt really worth the money
Unfortunately, that is not a lot of money in the CPU market, so you are very limited. However, the good news is that once you add just 30 Euros to that amount, you can upgrade pretty massively. So if the product prices are ultimately the same in Europe as it is in the US (where I am), then 170 Euros, or 200 dollars can net you a Ryzen 3600x which is often agreed to be the best gaming CPU for performance to dollar ratios currently available on the market (which does not consider the new Ryzen 5000 getting released on November 5th).

I recently ordered a Ryzen 3600x for 209 dollars, so that would be like 174 Euros for you. It's a significant boost.

HOWEVER, you cannot overclock on an A320m motherboard, so what really would the point be, ultimately? Unless you upgrade your motherboard (might make sense to just build a new PC at that point), then I'd just stick with the Ryzen 2600x.

Although, I would personally do things differently altogether. I'd just use what I have now given those specs, and start a "swear jar", so to speak, and start dumping some amount - maybe 100 dollars a month - into that "fund", and then build an all new system altogether. But that is such an enormous assumption on my part, and I may have a completely different financial situation than other people... not to mention, how much importance I put into gaming might be radically different than you.

But the reason I even bother mentioning that is because your system, as currently described, is not majorly upgradable. And with the stuff happening between AMD, Nvidia, Intel (CPUs and GPUs) now and in the near future, I don't feel like such an incremental upgrade would really give you as much value as you hope when upgrading/sidegrading from a 3200G to a 2600X.

And in other words, were someone to ask me, "What should I buy, a 3200G OR a 2600x?", the answer would be a lot easier. If the difference in money wasn't a big deal, the answer is 2600x easily.

But if someone says, "I already have a 3200G and thus have sunk some money into it, and now want to spend 166 USD/140 Euros to get the 2600x, is the upgraded performance worth that value?" The answer to the second question, for me, is a definite no.
 
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Oct 9, 2020
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Unfortunately, that is not a lot of money in the CPU market, so you are very limited. However, the good news is that once you add just 30 Euros to that amount, you can upgrade pretty massively. So if the product prices are ultimately the same in Europe as it is in the US (where I am), then 170 Euros, or 200 dollars can net you a Ryzen 3600x which is often agreed to be the best gaming CPU for performance to dollar ratios currently available on the market (which does not consider the new Ryzen 5000 getting released on November 5th).

I recently ordered a Ryzen 3600x for 209 dollars, so that would be like 174 Euros for you. It's a significant boost.

HOWEVER, you cannot overclock on an A320m motherboard, so what really would the point be, ultimately? Unless you upgrade your motherboard (might make sense to just build a new PC at that point), then I'd just stick with the Ryzen 2600x.

Although, I would personally do things differently altogether. I'd just use what I have now given those specs, and start a "swear jar", so to speak, and start dumping some amount - maybe 100 dollars a month - into that "fund", and then build an all new system altogether. But that is such an enormous assumption on my part, and I have a completely different financial situation that others... not to mention, how much importance I put into gaming might be radically different than you.

But the reason I even bother mentioning that is because your system, as currently described, is not majorly upgradable. And with the stuff happening between AMD, Nvidia, Intel (CPUs and GPUs) now and in the near fute, I don't feel like such an incremental upgrade would really give you as much value as you hope when upgrading/sidegrading from a 3200G to a 2600X.

Currently being a student saving money is possible but difficult, I always try where I can however. I literally just the other day bought a 1070, so looking forward I would want a CPU to make the most out of it as I find that the 3200g can limit it quite significantly. The 3600x is still £200 here in the UK so it would be really pushing a budget, but it might be worth it. I am not really looking to overclock that much however.
 

tsibiski

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Currently being a student saving money is possible but difficult, I always try where I can however. I literally just the other day bought a 1070, so looking forward I would want a CPU to make the most out of it as I find that the 3200g can limit it quite significantly. The 3600x is still £200 here in the UK so it would be really pushing a budget, but it might be worth it. I am not really looking to overclock that much however.

Considering that, I think it would be good for someone in the forum that knows more about this to say whether you really need to worry about a 3200G throttling a GTX 1070. I'm not so confident, personally, that you'd need to worry much about that. The 2600x's major upgrade over the 3200G is a notably bigger L3 Cache, which definitely affects gaming.

But I can't really say for sure if the difference you'd find in performance would be worth this price of the upgrade. If you have the money to go with the 2700x, and you are comfortable with the price, you will DEFINITELY see some degree of better performance in most situations - even if it's not a huge FPS boost. But I can't guarantee that better performance is worth the price, vs saving up for later. I'll let someone else chime in on that.

Also keep in mind that, if you were to be playing in 4k, the difference you see by upgrading your CPU will be significantly lower than if you were playing in lower resolutions than 4k. CPU's are much more important for 1080p and lower resolutions. If you got the GTX 1070, and are playing in 4k, and finding the performance to be not-up-to-snuff, you won't notice much of an upgrade with your new CPU. If you are playing 1080p and hoping for more FPS, you will get a bigger boost from this upgrade.
 
Solution
Oct 9, 2020
5
1
15
Considering that, I think it would be good for someone in the forum that knows more about this to say whether you really need to worry about a 3200G throttling a GTX 1070. I'm not so confident, personally, that you'd need to worry much about that. The 2600x's major upgrade over the 3200G is a notably bigger L3 Cache, which definitely affects gaming.

But I can't really say for sure if the difference you'd find in performance would be worth this price of the upgrade. If you have the money to go with the 2700x, and you are comfortable with the price, you will DEFINITELY see some degree of better performance in most situations - even if it's not a huge FPS boost. But I can't guarantee that better performance is worth the price, vs saving up for later. I'll let someone else chime in on that.

Also keep in mind that, if you were to be playing in 4k, the difference you see by upgrading your CPU will be significantly lower than if you were playing in lower resolutions than 4k. CPU's are much more important for 1080p and lower resolutions. If you got the GTX 1070, and are playing in 4k, and finding the performance to be not-up-to-snuff, you won't notice much of an upgrade with your new CPU. If you are playing 1080p and hoping for more FPS, you will get a bigger boost from this upgrade.

Yeah its mostly just 1080p stuff, not too fussed about anything higher personally. Thanks for the input though. I will probably save up for the 3600x it does make the most sense anyway, and I don't mind waiting a bit. Besides I'm perfectly happy with what I've got. Just the typical wanting more and more upgrades
 
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tsibiski

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Why not the 3600 (no X) which is cheaper and still a better performer?
It is now a mere 10 USD less than the 3600x, or about 6 Euros. The performance boost between the 3600 and 3600x at a mere 10 USD is so dramatic that I cannot possibly fathom a reason to get the 3600 over a 3600x - unless your region does not allow you to get the 3600x at a mere 10 dollars more. If it is at least 50 dollars more in your region, then it is not worth the upgrade.