Build Advice Help with choosing parts for my upgrade ?

Jan 1, 2025
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Heya!

I'm trying to decide on new parts but it's really overwhelming me and I feel so lost. I have a solid GPU, 2060 Super, and good SSD storage and power supply, but the my CPU, i5 8400B, is starting to get up there with age and my pc has started blue screening and games started crashing recently. I've reapplied thermal paste, cleaned my pc and made sure my CPU fan is working, while playing games my CPU can reach 90C or even 100C.

My CPU cannot be upgraded without a new motherboard, my current motherboard only supports up to 8th gen intel CPUs so I need a new motherboard as well, my RAM is also a bit behind at 2666MHz(I think that's behind?). My current case is a custom built one from about 8 years ago, I probably don't need to change it to be honest but I thought about switching to the Talos E3 Mesh.

So I was thinking of getting an "upgrade kit", which included a Ryzen 5 5500 CPU, B550 Gaming GEN3 motherboard and 16GB 3200MHz RAM, but with me trying to figure out ARGB vs RGB Headers, I'm starting to second guess this choice of kit, I would greatly appreciate help on what parts to pick, Thank you! <3

I can ask and see if I'm able to change the motherboard to the MSI Pro B650-S, which does have the ARGB Header, but I don't know if it's worth getting a different motherboard just to have controllable lights on my fans, and those fans would cost more anyway... is ARGB worth it??
 
Heya!

I'm trying to decide on new parts but it's really overwhelming me and I feel so lost. I have a solid GPU, 2060 Super, and good SSD storage and power supply, but the my CPU, i5 8400B, is starting to get up there with age and my pc has started blue screening and games started crashing recently. I've reapplied thermal paste, cleaned my pc and made sure my CPU fan is working, while playing games my CPU can reach 90C or even 100C.

My CPU cannot be upgraded without a new motherboard, my current motherboard only supports up to 8th gen intel CPUs so I need a new motherboard as well, my RAM is also a bit behind at 2666MHz(I think that's behind?). My current case is a custom built one from about 8 years ago, I probably don't need to change it to be honest but I thought about switching to the Talos E3 Mesh.

So I was thinking of getting an "upgrade kit", which included a Ryzen 5 5500 CPU, B550 Gaming GEN3 motherboard and 16GB 3200MHz RAM, but with me trying to figure out ARGB vs RGB Headers, I'm starting to second guess this choice of kit, I would greatly appreciate help on what parts to pick, Thank you! <3

I can ask and see if I'm able to change the motherboard to the MSI Pro B650-S, which does have the ARGB Header, but I don't know if it's worth getting a different motherboard just to have controllable lights on my fans, and those fans would cost more anyway... is ARGB worth it??
What is your budget, primary use case, and country? Also what is your SSD and PSU?
 
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Heya!

I'm trying to decide on new parts but it's really overwhelming me and I feel so lost. I have a solid GPU, 2060 Super, and good SSD storage and power supply, but the my CPU, i5 8400B, is starting to get up there with age and my pc has started blue screening and games started crashing recently. I've reapplied thermal paste, cleaned my pc and made sure my CPU fan is working, while playing games my CPU can reach 90C or even 100C.

My CPU cannot be upgraded without a new motherboard, my current motherboard only supports up to 8th gen intel CPUs so I need a new motherboard as well, my RAM is also a bit behind at 2666MHz(I think that's behind?). My current case is a custom built one from about 8 years ago, I probably don't need to change it to be honest but I thought about switching to the Talos E3 Mesh.

So I was thinking of getting an "upgrade kit", which included a Ryzen 5 5500 CPU, B550 Gaming GEN3 motherboard and 16GB 3200MHz RAM, but with me trying to figure out ARGB vs RGB Headers, I'm starting to second guess this choice of kit, I would greatly appreciate help on what parts to pick, Thank you! <3

I can ask and see if I'm able to change the motherboard to the MSI Pro B650-S, which does have the ARGB Header, but I don't know if it's worth getting a different motherboard just to have controllable lights on my fans, and those fans would cost more anyway... is ARGB worth it??
You might want to remove the cpu hsf and take a close look at the fins.
You might find they are packed with crud.

If you have made up your mind to upgrade parts go for it.
 
You might want to remove the cpu hsf and take a close look at the fins.
You might find they are packed with crud.

If you have made up your mind to upgrade parts go for it.
I've done that, sadly I can't find a cause for the high temps, I've gone quite in depth with the cleaning and still no luck sadly.
What is your budget, primary use case, and country? Also what is your SSD and PSU?
R10,000, gaming, South Africa, Samsung SSD 850 EVO M.2 500GB and a 1TB external SSD Drive, Gamdias Kratos M1-750B RGB 750W. Sorry I responded so late! <3
 
You might want to remove the cpu hsf and take a close look at the fins.
I agree with Bob.B remove it check the thermal paste and be extra extra anal about doing the criss cross screw tightening pattern and make sure to give the same little turn to each screw as you criss cross.

Eye ball to make sure it's centered and not hung up on something.

Also is the fan running properly meaning when she is getting toasty is the CPU fan just loafing at slow speed.

I'm all for upgrading but a simple fix is a simple fix.

A picture or two is worth a thousand words if you want to post so we can see the heatsink. :)
 
R10,000, gaming, South Africa, Samsung SSD 850 EVO M.2 500GB and a 1TB external SSD Drive, Gamdias Kratos M1-750B RGB 750W.
For that budget you can get a very nice gaming rig. Here is an idea that can be changed easily.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor (1540.99SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (657.63SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard (1544.44SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (532.17SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (699.69SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card (3378.69SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case (860.55SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (702.48SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Total: 9916.64SR
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-04 22:30 +03+0300


The PSU you have is not a good PSU so I added a good PSU.

You can use your current M.2 as an OS/App drive. The 2TB drive will store games quite well.

The 7900XT is a major step up in GPU performance over your 2060 Super. It will last you for quite a while.
 
I agree with Bob.B remove it check the thermal paste and be extra extra anal about doing the criss cross screw tightening pattern and make sure to give the same little turn to each screw as you criss cross.

Eye ball to make sure it's centered and not hung up on something.

Also is the fan running properly meaning when she is getting toasty is the CPU fan just loafing at slow speed.

I'm all for upgrading but a simple fix is a simple fix.

A picture or two is worth a thousand words if you want to post so we can see the heatsink. :)
The fan is running perfectly fine, I didn't want to upgrade but my family is pooling money and forcing me to upgrade :sweatsmile:

For that budget you can get a very nice gaming rig. Here is an idea that can be changed easily.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor (1540.99SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (657.63SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard (1544.44SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (532.17SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (699.69SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card (3378.69SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case (860.55SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (702.48SR @ Newegg Saudi Arabia)
Total: 9916.64SR
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-04 22:30 +03+0300


The PSU you have is not a good PSU so I added a good PSU.

You can use your current M.2 as an OS/App drive. The 2TB drive will store games quite well.

The 7900XT is a major step up in GPU performance over your 2060 Super. It will last you for quite a while.

Thanks so much for the effort put in, but this is for Saudi Arabia, I'm looking for parts available in South Africa and in South African Rands not Saudi Riyal, which is roughly a fifth of the amount sadly, it probably won't be able to show prices for South Africa too, but something around 550$ US would be greatly appreciated, no pressure though! <3
 
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The fan is running perfectly fine, I didn't want to upgrade but my family is pooling money and forcing me to upgrade :sweatsmile:



Thanks so much for the effort put in, but this is for Saudi Arabia, I'm looking for parts available in South Africa and in South African Rands not Saudi Riyal, which is roughly a fifth of the amount sadly, it probably won't be able to show prices for South Africa too, but something around 550$ US would be greatly appreciated, no pressure though! <3
Sorry about that. When I did a search for South Africa pcpartpicker, it came up with the Saudi Arabia site. Sadly I did this on my phone so I didn't notice it was incorrect. I will attempt to find something else.
 
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN580 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec AX90 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $550.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-04 17:41 EST-0500
 
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN580 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec AX90 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $550.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-04 17:41 EST-0500

Thank you so so much! I was able to get the motherboard, CPU and Memory, however the storage and power supply were a bit out of my budget and I was able to get a similar case! I will upgrade at a later point if needed but this should at least let me play my games again and with a nice boost 😀 Thank you!! <3 <3 <3
 
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