[SOLVED] Motherboard advice for Ryzen 5 3400g & beyond

[wharfedale38]

Hi,

I'm putting together a cheap starter gaming PC for my young son. I already have a good barebones base to start from for him (my old gaming pc)
Corsair Obsidian 350D case, Evga 500W power supply, 128gb SSD, 2tb hard drive, Corsair h100i liquid cooler & 16gb (2x8) ddr4 ram.

I was simply going to buy the Ryzen 3400g with a motherboard, as this would be ok for my kids gaming needs at this point. However later next year Im planning to add a dedicated gpu & probably sell the 3400g CPU & opt for a non APU (maybe a 2600x or the equivalent in the new Ryzen gen) to run alongside the dedicated gpu as I understand Apu apu 's aren't great alongside a dedicated gpu.

But I'm looking for advice as to which Motherboard to opt for which will offer the ability to do so later but won't hold back the more powerful CPU? I'm happy to pay up to around £120 for a decent enough motherboard. And the motherboard would need to be micro ATX to fit the case. (although changing case isn't so much an issue, just seems shame as the Corsair one I have is great)

I realise you maybe thinking why not just buy a ryzen 2600x & dedicated graphic card now, but cash is tight until after Christmas, so I thought the 3400g would be fine for my son until then.

Any advice on which Motherboard would be best to buy ? Thanks in advance

 

[WildCard999]

A B450 board with updated BIOS would work well with the 3400G or one that allows you to update without a CPU is another choice. There's also the 2400G, it uses the same iGPU as the 3400G so the performance difference shouldn't be drastic (I think it was 5-7 FPS difference in most games) and would work on all B450 boards.

 

[wharfedale38]

A B450 board with updated BIOS would work well with the 3400G or one that allows you to update without a CPU is another choice. There's also the 2400G, it uses the same iGPU as the 3400G so the performance difference shouldn't be drastic (I think it was 5-7 FPS difference in most games) and would work on all B450 boards.

Thanks for your reply. Yeah im aware of the 2400g, just thought the newer generation would return more as used when I come to sell.
The two boards I was thinking about are the msi B450M Mortar or ASRock B450M Steel Legend.
But I have no idea about motherboards & there are so many B450s out there.
And yeah I'm not sure what it's called but some motherboards allow updating bios without a CPU (in cases where the bios would need updating to accommodate a new gen Ryzen)
Wondering what a more knowledgeable person about motherboards would recommend as a solid good micro atx board.

 

[WildCard999]

Thanks for your reply. Yeah im aware of the 2400g, just thought the newer generation would return more as used when I come to sell.
The two boards I was thinking about are the msi B450M Mortar or ASRock B450M Steel Legend.
But I have no idea about motherboards & there are so many B450s out there.
And yeah I'm not sure what it's called but some motherboards allow updating bios without a CPU (in cases where the bios would need updating to accommodate a new gen Ryzen)
Wondering what a more knowledgeable person about motherboards would recommend as a solid good micro atx board.

The 2400G/3400G while excellent on there own are no slouch when paired with a GPU. Honestly, when you get a dedicated GPU I'd hold onto it as AMD is sticking with the AM4 socket until 2020 so there should be one more CPU release for that socket. When it does come out then make the change to a 6-8 core if the performance bump is worth it.

As for the motherboard I prefer Asrock but since you want to use the 3400G you'd be better off with the MSI as they have a feature called Flashback which allows you to update the BIOS version (required for the newer CPU's) without using a CPU.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTkXunUAriE

If the price difference between the 2400G & 3400G is significant though then I'd snag the 2400G & B450 Steel Legend board.

 

[TechyInAZ]

I agree with the others, unfortunately the 3400G still uses the same Vega IGPU as the 2000 series APUs, so graphically you have the exact same specs. But CPU wise, you are going from original Zen to the Zen+ architecture, so if you plan on going the discrete GPU route, then get the 3400G unless prices for it are bad.

However if you plan on upgrading both CPU and GPU next year, just get the 2400G.

For boards, I just built in the B450 Bazokah micro atx board and it's really sweet. I would recommend it.

Also, if possible grab a 3200mhz kit of RAM. As iGPUs especially love as much memory speed as they can. If you go with the 3400G, I would recommend 3466mhz, but I cannot guarantee it'll work at 3466mhz but there is a high chance it will.

 

[wharfedale38]

The 2400G/3400G while excellent on there own are no slouch when paired with a GPU. Honestly, when you get a dedicated GPU I'd hold onto it as AMD is sticking with the AM4 socket until 2020 so there should be one more CPU release for that socket. When it does come out then make the change to a 6-8 core if the performance bump is worth it.

As for the motherboard I prefer Asrock but since you want to use the 3400G you'd be better off with the MSI as they have a feature called Flashback which allows you to update the BIOS version (required for the newer CPU's) without using a CPU.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTkXunUAriE

If the price difference between the 2400G & 3400G is significant though then I'd snag the 2400G & B450 Steel Legend board.

Thanks so much for this. Yeah I did my own minding digging and for sheer convenience a msi board is gonna be easier for the bios . I think if I go for the steel legend I'll have to grab a cheap CPU off eBay to get the bios updated. (Or use the amd free service where they send you one in order to update)
Also that tip regarding keeping hold of the 3400g is probably the best plan & holding out. I've checked some vids on YT regarding dedicated GPU with the 3400g....I honestly thought APUs were terrible coupled with a dedicated graphics card. But it seems they ain't as bad I as realised.
Thanks for that MSI bios update link too..very helpful

 

[wharfedale38]

I agree with the others, unfortunately the 3400G still uses the same Vega IGPU as the 2000 series APUs, so graphically you have the exact same specs. But CPU wise, you are going from original Zen to the Zen+ architecture, so if you plan on going the discrete GPU route, then get the 3400G unless prices for it are bad.

However if you plan on upgrading both CPU and GPU next year, just get the 2400G.

For boards, I just built in the B450 Bazokah micro atx board and it's really sweet. I would recommend it.

Also, if possible grab a 3200mhz kit of RAM. As iGPUs especially love as much memory speed as they can. If you go with the 3400G, I would recommend 3466mhz, but I cannot guarantee it'll work at 3466mhz but there is a high chance it will.

Cheers man, yeah I was aware of the 3200mhz RAM, the RAM I have is 3000mhz..guess it'll have to do for now.
I was actually looking at the Bazooka motherboard tbh, seems to have good feedback from users from reviews I've read. Good price & more convenient with it being MSI for the bios.
As for the 3400g over the 2400g ..I saw on a YT video that the CPU side of things was better as you say. I think I'm gonna stick with 3400g & add a dedicated card early next year. It seems the 3400g ain't as bad as I thought it would be alongside a GPU.
I'll have to decide whether to go for mortar or Bazooka . Thanks a lot

 

[TechyInAZ]

Ah I didn't realize you only have 3000mhz, that's fine you don't have to change it.

Sounds good. Yeah quad cores with SMT these days can still hold their own in games.