Build Advice Finally got around to upgrading

[ChadEO]

Was finally forced to upgrade my i7 4770 rig since the cooler died and I had to quickly buy something since I had some things I had to finish that night. No coolers available at the mall I chose to go to (it was around 8pm when I got there so no chance of going somewhere else for parts) that would fit in my case so I had to upgrade my entire platform. Ended up getting an i5 12400f with an Asus Prime H610M-K D4 and 2x8GB T-Force Vulcan Z 3200mhz to pair with a 750 watt MSI power supply and 3060ti I already had. Is there anything I should upgrade while the parts are still basically brand new and can resell for almost full price? Was thinking of upgrading the ram to 32GB though I've never maxed out 16GB.

 

[logainofhades]

I would start with that terrible motherboard. Rule of thumb, avoid motherboards that lack VRM heatsinks. 32gb ram is a good idea.

 

[ChadEO]

I would start with that terrible motherboard. Rule of thumb, avoid motherboards that lack VRM heatsinks. 32gb ram is a good idea.

Would buying aftermarket heatsinks be a good enough solution or should I just swap out the whole thing?

 

[ohio_buckeye]

If you can return the h610 you either want a b660 or 760 with good heatsinks or you might find a z690 chipset board isn’t a lot more. Since it sounds like you got ddr4 ram which is dirt cheap at the moment. Go for 32gb. 64gb may not be out of the question if you’re keeping this pc long term.

On the aftermarket heatsinks, a lot of times on cheap boards their power phases aren’t good which may limit your cpu or the board could fail early in life leaving you to possibly buy another anyway.

 

[ChadEO]

If you can return the h610 you either want a b660 or 760 with good heatsinks or you might find a z690 chipset board isn’t a lot more. Since it sounds like you got ddr4 ram which is dirt cheap at the moment. Go for 32gb. 64gb may not be out of the question if you’re keeping this pc long term.

On the aftermarket heatsinks, a lot of times on cheap boards their power phases aren’t good which may limit your cpu or the board could fail early in life leaving you to possibly buy another anyway.

I usually never go for the lowest tier chipset but every other board available was 3x the price and it's the only reason I went with this one lol. Guess motherboard is the first thing I'm changing. And yes you're right it is DDR4.

 

[vMax]

Have to agree with the comments as that motherboard needs to be swapped out. I would go and try to find a used, refurbished Z690 as you might be able to pick up a bargain D4 motherboard and this will help for the long term as you can upgrade to a K CPU from 13th and 14th gen in the future. There is a fairly big difference between the chipsets so it is worth checking out the differences but I would stretch to at least a H760:

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-h670-b660-h610-motherboard-roundup

 

[ohio_buckeye]

If you look over on Newegg there are AsRock z690 boards for about 125-130. If your paying 90-100 for a budget b660 or b760 board that may not be a lot better than the h610 you have now, might as well get the z690 imo.

 

[logainofhades]

Asrock Z690 extreme is a nice budget Z690, ddr4 board.

 

[ChadEO]

From what I've seen Z690 boards where I am cost 200+ (not exact conversion). Tech prices are really high where I live so I think I'm gonna have to look for an H770 at most. Unfortunately Newegg shipping prices to where I live (Philippines) cost as much as a new board so that isn't an option

 

[ChadEO]

Will be going to shops around the city looking for Asrock boards. Particularly looking at the Asrock B660M Pro RS since it seems to have everything I'm looking for including M.2 SATA support.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Is this the board you are shopping for?

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B660M Pro RS/index.asp

 

[helper800]

From what I've seen Z690 boards where I am cost 200+ (not exact conversion). Tech prices are really high where I live so I think I'm gonna have to look for an H770 at most. Unfortunately Newegg shipping prices to where I live (Philippines) cost as much as a new board so that isn't an option

What country do you live in? It will help with our recommendations if we knew how to price parts from where you live.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I might be wrong, but I thought I saw a mention of the Philippines somewhere above.

 

[ChadEO]

What country do you live in? It will help with our recommendations if we knew how to price parts from where you live.

Yep ohio is right, I'm from the Philippines. Newegg prices look great but shipping costs are just way too much

 

[ChadEO]

Is this the board you are shopping for?

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B660M Pro RS/index.asp

Yep. Looks to have decent power, 4 RAM slots, M.2 Sata support, and enough rear USB for my needs

 

[ChadEO]

No luck finding a board that had everything I wanted. Got an MSI Pro B760-P Wifi since it was the only reasonably priced board that offered DDR4 so I wouldn't have to change out my memory as well

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Googled it. Still a little new to Intel(long time amd builder/user) but it at least looks to have decent heatsinks on the vrms etc. I don’t think I would be afraid of that board.

 

[ChadEO]

Googled it. Still a little new to Intel(long time amd builder/user) but it at least looks to have decent heatsinks on the vrms etc. I don’t think I would be afraid of that board.

Would have liked to get a TUF board that was also around the same price but it needed DDR5 so it just seemed like too much of a hassle. I've just gotten so used to the Asus bios that I'm struggling with the MSI one now lol

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I get it. Check youtube. Good thing is once it’s dialed in you probably will rarely touch the bios.