[SOLVED] Modestly Priced Upgrade?

[Rick_S]

Hello, I am retired, with limited income. It is taking close to 2 months to get a z97 Gigabyte RMA motherboard back. In the meantime, I bought an Asus z97 Pro online, but found that my G. Skill DDR3, 1866 memory isn't compatible with it, so I am getting some Corsair Vengeance DDR3, 1600 memory today. My CPU is an I5-4570k. I want to upgrade to a CPU, MB and memory more recent, perhaps a year or two old. Any advice on combinations would be greatly appreciated. $300 to $400 is my hope.

 

[logainofhades]

This would be a nice setup. Could make it a bit cheaper, but I went with one of the best B450 boards.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($129.00 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $378.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-13 12:16 EST-0500

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 Gaming Plus ATX AM4 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $384.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-13 12:20 EST-0500

 

[Rick_S]

Would the x470 motherboard be worthwhile? Besides graphics, I use three PCI-E slots.

 

[geofelt]

What is the main use for your pc?

What do you use those 3 extra pcie slots for?
Are they X1/2/4/8/16 cards?

I do not know why the ram would not work with a Z97 motherboard.
Did you buy the motherboard new or used?

 

[Rick_S]

Yes, The RAM should have worked. The MB is used and is defective, even though it was sold as tested and working without a problem. I am returning it for a refund. I work with photo editing and light game playing. I have an AMD RX460. That is my only graphics card. The other slots would be for USB 2 and USB 3 expansion slots for my printers, game controller, etc.

 

[Rick_S]

It will be Friday, before I can make any purchases. The Ryzen 5 2600 has gone up about $16 on Amazon, and Newegg has posted that their price will go up in a few days as well. Even though the 2600x hasn't shown an increase in price yet, the reviews that I've seen tend to agree that with the 2600, over clocking in the BIOS gives basically the same performance as, the 2600x. If that is the only, real, difference, than the, non X version makes more sense for my needs. For a Motherboard, I'm impressed with the MSI B450 Tomahawk. It seems to have all of the features of the Pro, but with better heat sinks. How, do these, sound? I read the article where DDR RAM is going to drop in price, but I can't wait much longer. Thanks for your help.

 

[geofelt]

Of your photo editing build is for Photoshop, read this article:
https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...obe-Photoshop-CC-139/Hardware-Recommendations

Most new motherboards have plenty of usb2.0 and 3.0 ports.
An adapter card can come with4 or perhaps 6 external ports.

 

[Rick_S]

Thank you for the information. I gave up on Photoshop a long time ago. It was, too unwieldy for me. Too many quirks that were built in by the different teams working on the different parts. Then, they became institutionalized, like the registry did in Windows 95. Just to mention it, I use On1's Photo Raw, and am very happy with it. Or I will be again when I have a, working PC.

 

[Rick_S]

I made my order today. Thank you all, for your interest and help!

Newegg started a one week winter sale today. From them, I bought
A Ryzen 5 2600 for 149.99.
BALLISTIX Sport Lt Ddr4 3200, 16 GB for 114. 99.

From Best Buy on eBay, The Asus Rog Strix B450-f for 129.99

All with free shipping. The total is a few pennies under $400, so I did pretty well. Everywhere seemed to have the MSI B450 Tomahawk on Back order, or more expensive through third party sellers.


Does, anyone know how to give best answer to two answers? The first two people had parts of the answer for me.
Thanks again!