Looking to Upgrade. Suggestions?

[Graveboot]

MSi 970a G43 Mobo
AMDFX 8350
Nvidia Geforce 970 GTX
8GB DDR3 RAM
CX 600 PSU

I'm looking to upgrade mainly my motherboard and cpu and maybe my psu if someone thinks I should. How are the Ryzen cpus going? Are they the best bang for buck right now?

 

[richiestang_78]

If you do a CPU and Mobo upgrade youll have to also buy DDR4 RAM. For strickyl gaming the i5 8400 is hard to beat but if you are going to game/stream or do alot of productivity work then maybe a Ryzen 2600.

 

[why_wolf]

Depends on what exactly you do with your computer and how much you want to spend.

Please note that any new CPU be it AMD or Intel will also require you get DDR4 RAM.

 

[Graveboot]

I suppose I'm looking to be able to stream and play games mostly. $400-$500

 

[why_wolf]

Look to AMD then. They extra cores will help stabilize your FPS if you are live streaming. Something like this. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($185.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - X370 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $424.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-04 10:07 EDT-0400

 

[Graveboot]

Look to AMD then. They extra cores will help stabilize your FPS if you are live streaming. Something like this. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($185.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - X370 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $424.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-04 10:07 EDT-0400

All of that should work with what I have currently though right? As far as my psu and gpu? Still dont understand how to decide what power supply is needed.

 

[why_wolf]

Yeah current GPU is fine. PSU is fine too wattage wise. You might consider replacing it depending on how old it is just to protect against end of life failure.

 

[Graveboot]

Yeah current GPU is fine. PSU is fine too wattage wise. You might consider replacing it depending on how old it is just to protect against end of life failure.

Are you able to briefly educate me on how people decide what psu is needed?

 

[why_wolf]

Yeah current GPU is fine. PSU is fine too wattage wise. You might consider replacing it depending on how old it is just to protect against end of life failure.

Are you able to briefly educate me on how people decide what psu is needed?

You can use PCpartpicker and assemble your build in it. It will give you an estimated wattage and another 100 watts to whatever number it gives you for safety and that's the amount you should aim for.

That all said unless you are doing SLI or using threadripper it would be amazing for you to ever need more that 600w.

As for my age point you really don't want to keep using a PSU if its 10 years old. At five years you might start to think about a replacement. But most people just wait till they make a new build and simply get a new PSU then, which usually averages out to about 5 years anyways.

 

[Graveboot]

Yeah current GPU is fine. PSU is fine too wattage wise. You might consider replacing it depending on how old it is just to protect against end of life failure.

Are you able to briefly educate me on how people decide what psu is needed?

You can use PCpartpicker and assemble your build in it. It will give you an estimated wattage and another 100 watts to whatever number it gives you for safety and that's the amount you should aim for.

That all said unless you are doing SLI or using threadripper it would be amazing for you to ever need more that 600w.

As for my age point you really don't want to keep using a PSU if its 10 years old. At five years you might start to think about a replacement. But most people just wait till they make a new build and simply get a new PSU then, which usually averages out to about 5 years anyways.

On your link do you see where it says this? "Warning: These parts have potential issues/incompatibilities"

 

[why_wolf]

Yes its talking about the motherboard BIOS. That board needs the newer BIOS update to run 2xxx series AMD chips. It should ship with it but if it doesn't you just contact AMD to get an update kit to fix it. Scroll down to bottom for the boot kit. https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/2Gen-Ryzen-AM4-System-Bootup.aspx

You can opt for a 4xx series board instead but unfortunately only the X variants are available right now, which are the most expensive ones.

 

[Graveboot]

Yes its talking about the motherboard BIOS. That board needs the newer BIOS update to run 2xxx series AMD chips. It should ship with it but if it doesn't you just contact AMD to get an update kit to fix it. Scroll down to bottom for the boot kit. https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/2Gen-Ryzen-AM4-System-Bootup.aspx

You can opt for a 4xx series board instead but unfortunately only the X variants are available right now, which are the most expensive ones.

What mobo would you recommend to where I didnt have to worry about that?