[SOLVED] Help me choose my new CPU and motherboard!

[MatthewJamess]

Hi! I was recently able to come up with some buy after buying old stuff I wasn’t using anymore, and I decided to start the last phase of my rig update. I already have a new GPU and a power supply. So now I need to update my CPU, motherboard, and RAM.

My current PC has an Intel Core i5 4460, an ASUS H97M-E motherboard, and 16gb of ddr3 RAM at 1600Mhz. I decided to switch to an AMD system.

TL,DR: I need help choosing a new motherboard and Ryzen CPU. Motherboard options are: AsRock B450 Pro4, ASUS B450m-a II, Gigabyte AORUS B450, and AsRock B450 Steel Legend. CPU options are: Ryzen 5 1600 AF, and Ryzen 3 3100.
Quick heads up: I live in South America. This is to explain why I talk about local stores and websites, and never mention pages like Amazon or Newegg. Also, I use my PC mainly for gaming, but I also use some architecture and digital design programs.

Motherboard: I decided to go for a B450 motherboard because they are usually good budget options and will be getting 5000 series support in the future. I’m not going for a B550 because they are way too expensive for me right now. My B450 options are between 9000 and 12000 pesos, while B550s are about 20000 pesos.

My 4 options are: AsRock B450 Pro4 (or Pro4-f), and ASUS B450m-a II on the cheaper side; and Gigabyte B450 AORUS (multiple variations, but they are mostly the same) and AsRock B450 Steel Legend.

CPU: Based on my budget and availability where I live, the 2 contenders are Ryzen 5 1600 AF, and Ryzen 3 3100. Both processors are about 11000 pesos, while going with something like a 3600 would set my back around 26000 pesos. I know most games heavily favor clock speeds over cores, so 3000 series CPUs have the advantage, but the digital design programs I use favor cores, as they process lots of entities at once. The 3100 also has some features I won’t be able to take advantage of, like PCI-E gen 4, which I guess would make it less valuable, but I’m not so sure about that.

I won’t talk about RAM on this post, since there’s not much to talk about. I’m going with a 16gb (2x8) kit at 3200Mhz. I know older gen Ryzen is a bit picky on what it likes, but I will sort this on the AMD website if needed.

I’m sorry this post is so long. I hope you can read it and help me decide what to do.

 

[Prad_Bitt]

Hi! I was recently able to come up with some buy after buying old stuff I wasn’t using anymore, and I decided to start the last phase of my rig update. I already have a new GPU and a power supply. So now I need to update my CPU, motherboard, and RAM.

My current PC has an Intel Core i5 4460, an ASUS H97M-E motherboard, and 16gb of ddr3 RAM at 1600Mhz. I decided to switch to an AMD system.

TL,DR: I need help choosing a new motherboard and Ryzen CPU. Motherboard options are: AsRock B450 Pro4, ASUS B450m-a II, Gigabyte AORUS B450, and AsRock B450 Steel Legend. CPU options are: Ryzen 5 1600 AF, and Ryzen 3 3100.
Quick heads up: I live in South America. This is to explain why I talk about local stores and websites, and never mention pages like Amazon or Newegg. Also, I use my PC mainly for gaming, but I also use some architecture and digital design programs.

Motherboard: I decided to go for a B450 motherboard because they are usually good budget options and will be getting 5000 series support in the future. I’m not going for a B550 because they are way too expensive for me right now. My B450 options are between 9000 and 12000 pesos, while B550s are about 20000 pesos.

My 4 options are: AsRock B450 Pro4 (or Pro4-f), and ASUS B450m-a II on the cheaper side; and Gigabyte B450 AORUS (multiple variations, but they are mostly the same) and AsRock B450 Steel Legend.

CPU: Based on my budget and availability where I live, the 2 contenders are Ryzen 5 1600 AF, and Ryzen 3 3100. Both processors are about 11000 pesos, while going with something like a 3600 would set my back around 26000 pesos. I know most games heavily favor clock speeds over cores, so 3000 series CPUs have the advantage, but the digital design programs I use favor cores, as they process lots of entities at once. The 3100 also has some features I won’t be able to take advantage of, like PCI-E gen 4, which I guess would make it less valuable, but I’m not so sure about that.

I won’t talk about RAM on this post, since there’s not much to talk about. I’m going with a 16gb (2x8) kit at 3200Mhz. I know older gen Ryzen is a bit picky on what it likes, but I will sort this on the AMD website if needed.

I’m sorry this post is so long. I hope you can read it and help me decide what to do.

What are the prices like for 10100F i3 and 10400F i5? B460 boards are sometimes cheaper than B450 boards, and Intel can't run over 2666mhz RAM.

About your choices now, I'd say 1600 AF (make sure it's the AF, 12nm = AF, 14nm = not AF)
And the Aorus board would be my choice. If you wanna save money see if you can get B450M DS3H. It's good enough. 8 pin cpu, 4 ram slots.

 

[LeiHeJun]

@MatthewJamess

ASUS B450m : m is for microATX, so it's smaller. like 5 cm shorter. I prefer smalls, but they're more expensive.
not many micro motherboards have 4 ram slots which your model has. So it's double thumbs up.
idk about prices you found, but if you wonder why this mobo is more expensive, it's because it's smaller than the other ones.

microATX can fit into a smaller case. I intuitively think this design makes the mobo hotter, because things are more packed, but that's not true. distance of RAM from CPU is the same in both ATX and microATX. it just has less expansion slots. to sum up, smaller is more beautiful, but there's less room for air to cool it down.

Components of a Computer: Motherboard - PC Choice Computers

pc-choice.com.au

1600AF multitasks better, 3100 is better for games.

 

[MatthewJamess]

What are the prices like for 10100F i3 and 10400F i5? B460 boards are sometimes cheaper than B450 boards, and Intel can't run over 2666mhz RAM.

About your choices now, I'd say 1600 AF (make sure it's the AF, 12nm = AF, 14nm = not AF)
And the Aorus board would be my choice. If you wanna save money see if you can get B450M DS3H. It's good enough. 8 pin cpu, 4 ram slots.

Thanks for your responce! Answering your question, the I3 costs about the same as both Ryzen options, while the 10400F almost doubles them in price.

 

[Prad_Bitt]

Thanks for your responce! Answering your question, the I3 costs about the same as both Ryzen options, while the 10400F almost doubles them in price.

Okay so here's the thing
10100F>3100>1600AF for gaming

1600 AF >3100>10100F in multitasking.

Now what I'd suggest is, do some more research :

Find out prices for B460 boards, any size. I don't think you need to look for 4 ram slots or 8 pin cpu. But you might wanna loo Kat stuff like fan headers, USB port compatibility etc.

I would also suggest researching H470 boards, if you can find any good ones for good prices. Compare and see what your stores have.

See what's the cheapest you can get.
Also check what the cheapest 2666mhz or above ram you can get (2 8GB sticks, 16 in total, it doesn't have to be 2×8, sometimes two separate units cost less than a dual pack)

BTW, 3100 requires bios update on most B450 boards except some which come factory updated like MSI "Max" labelled boards. So make sure your seller updates your bios if you get the 3100.


Now, 10100F + B460 + whatever RAM you can find
1600 AF + B450 + 3200mhz RAM (I'd suggest, don't go below 3000 though)
3100 + B450 (care bios) + same ram as 1600 AF

Check what price you can get total for these three combos.

If this is purely for gaming, and you're trying to squeeze out the most gaming performance, then if the 10100F combo is cheapest, get that instead of Ryzen.

But keep in mind, B450 will most likely support Ryzen 5000 on all boards, so you have an available upgrade pattern there. But leaks suggest 11th gen Intel will work on 10th gen boards too, but that isn't for sure yet afaik.

PS: when selecting motherboards, I usually avoid Asrock because their bios is much worse compared to the other brands. And when going for cheaper boards, I usually pick Gigabyte first, MSI second. Asus is usually slightly higher priced. The Gigabyte DS3H series is a great budget option in all chipset. And MSI's PRO VDH is as well. Especially the Max version, supports ryzen 3000 out of the box