Build Advice Motherboard, CPU and RAM upgrade advice please ?

[kazzooo]

Hi everyone

I could get a 5950x, MSI b550a pro and 16gb ram for about £250 used. I've been checking around and I'm not entirely sure if I should go for it given the newer generations are out etc. and if intel can offer anything. My budget for motherboard/CPU/ram combo is about £250. I could maybe stretch to £300 if it's really going to be worth it.

What are your thoughts? I don't do much gaming so it would be more for creativity production stuff.

Thanks!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I could get a 5950x, MSI b550a pro and 16gb ram for about £250 used.
Make and model of the ram kit? The board seems to have a beefy VRM design but it's in the Pro series which is essentially an entry level series, not something I'd pair with a power hungry 5950x.
+
What are your thoughts? I don't do much gaming so it would be more for creativity production stuff.
You're advised to stylize your thread with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community will chime in with worthwhile suggestions.

On a side note, please include the specs to your current system like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

 

[kazzooo]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I could get a 5950x, MSI b550a pro and 16gb ram for about £250 used.
Make and model of the ram kit? The board seems to have a beefy VRM design but it's in the Pro series which is essentially an entry level series, not something I'd pair with a power hungry 5950x.
+
What are your thoughts? I don't do much gaming so it would be more for creativity production stuff.
You're advised to stylize your thread with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community will chime in with worthwhile suggestions.

On a side note, please include the specs to your current system like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Thanks! I'll reply with that shortly. Do you think I'm going down a good route or should I be looking at something else?

 

[helper800]

Thanks! I'll reply with that shortly. Do you think I'm going down a good route or should be looking at something else?

Personally, I think that is a great deal assuming everything works with no shenaniganry from the seller. I would look into getting more RAM later on, especially if your production work requires more than 16gb. The motherboard, in my opinion, is passable for a 5950x. Make sure to get a quality PSU for the build. You really cannot beat that performance for 250 on the new parts market right now, and seems like a good deal for the used market as well. The 5950x alone is going for around 200-250 used on ebay.

 

[logainofhades]

Not a bad deal. I would upgrade the ram to at least 32gb, and sell the 16gb that it comes with though.

 

[kazzooo]

Personally, I think that is a great deal assuming everything works with no shenaniganry from the seller. I would look into getting more RAM later on, especially if your production work requires more than 16gb. The motherboard, in my opinion, is passable for a 5950x. Make sure to get a quality PSU for the build. You really cannot beat that performance for 250 on the new parts market right now, and seems like a good deal for the used market as well. The 5950x alone is going for around 200-250 used on ebay.

Can you please help me understand nvme M2 drives and the pcie lanes? If I get the b550 it's got one pcie4 and one pcie3 slot. If I got 2 M2 drives how would this affect things and is it something that I should be concerned about enough to get an x570 board (I'd rather not though as I've read the chipset fan can get noisy)
Thanks!

 

[helper800]

Can you please help me understand nvme M2 drives and the pcie lanes? If I get the b550 it's got one pcie4 and one pcie3 slot. If I got 2 M2 drives how would this affect things and is it something that I should be concerned about enough to get an x570 board (I'd rather not though as I've read the chipset fan can get noisy)
Thanks!

I would not worry about the M.2 and PCIe configuration too much with that board. Just know that if you install a second M.2 drive the second PCIe x16 slot will be disabled. The top PCIe x16 4.0 slot will retain full bandwidth in all configurations.

 

[kazzooo]

I would not worry about the M.2 and PCIe configuration too much with that board. Just know that if you install a second M.2 drive the second PCIe x16 slot will be disabled. The top PCIe x16 4.0 slot will retain full bandwidth in all configurations.

Ok thanks.

What about a b450 board instead of a b550?

 

[dark_globe]

Ok thanks.

What about a b450 board instead of a b550?

stick with B550 , it is better tuned to accommodate newer ryzen 5xxx series processors
it also has pcie 4.0 instead of pcie 3.0 slots ...

when it comes to RAM modules :
the best price/performance memory you can get for AM4 is
2x16gb ddr4 3600MHz/cl16 kit .

 

[Why_Me]

Can you please help me understand nvme M2 drives and the pcie lanes? If I get the b550 it's got one pcie4 and one pcie3 slot. If I got 2 M2 drives how would this affect things and is it something that I should be concerned about enough to get an x570 board (I'd rather not though as I've read the chipset fan can get noisy)
Thanks!

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (£98.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Motherboard: *Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£99.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£47.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £245.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-25 11:53 BST+0100

 

[JayGau]

Ok thanks.

What about a b450 board instead of a b550?

Already the B550 is on the limit. I would personally not go below a X570 for a 5950X. B550 should work, but avoid B450.

 

[kazzooo]

Thanks for all your replies. How about a gigabyte gaming x V2 b550 Vs the MSI b550 a pro?

 

[dark_globe]

MSI B550 A PRO should have slightly better temperatures in terms of VRM .
budget gigabyte motherboards are usually not the best in this regard .