[SOLVED] Replace the motherboard or upgrade the RAM?

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
This system:
R5 2600
8GB RAM
RX570 GPU
A320M-S2H

This machine is for gaming and a little producing video/photo works.. not for heavy games I think
I wanna at first to upgrade the ram on this machine, but I heard maybe because of the mobo/cpu that is will be maybe dont working because that is zen+.
You recommend for today 16GB or 32GB anyway?

I dont know if that is worth it to right now to pay something like 400$ and replace the mobo with new B550 + new PSU (needed if I wanna to keep this machine safe I think) + RAM + Storage (needed because of low storage right now)

So that is worth to try to upgrade this machine to 32GB only and see if that is works or replace the combo? Right now I think the CPU still keep and will not be replaced until the next upgrade.. RAM is the primary issue right now with this system
But maybe in the future something from Intel will be more profitable for the money and will need to replace the mobo again if I will buy new mobo right now...
Maybe if I will replace the mobo right now the current one will be move to other old machine with some cheap AMD cpu.

So all those changes is maybe similar to buy new computer so... dont know if that is worth it

What do you think is the best to doing here?
 
Solution
Upgrading to 32GB of RAM isn't going to increase gaming performance except in MAYBE one or two games, like Star Citizen and maybe Cyberpunk, unless you are running heavy mods in the games you play or are doing a lot of additional multitasking at the same time you are gaming. For most people, the answer to that is no and especially if you're saying "not for heavy games I think". 16GB should be more than enough for the average gamer.

Replacing the motherboard isn't going to speed things up any either. It doesn't make any sense to replace the motherboard until you are ready to also replace the CPU. And replacing the CPU would be a good idea because what you have now is not especially fast and is quickly becoming outdated for modern games...
Your motherboard will handle about any Ryzen processor. No absolute need to upgrade that, unless you need other add-ons that come with newer boards.

I recommend getting 16G RAM. No need for 32G if you aren't going to be using it. This is also the cheapest upgrade.

If you find that your computer isn't performing as good as you want, then upgrade the CPU.

You never listed your PSU specs, so I do not know if you need to upgrade it.
 
Upgrading to 32GB of RAM isn't going to increase gaming performance except in MAYBE one or two games, like Star Citizen and maybe Cyberpunk, unless you are running heavy mods in the games you play or are doing a lot of additional multitasking at the same time you are gaming. For most people, the answer to that is no and especially if you're saying "not for heavy games I think". 16GB should be more than enough for the average gamer.

Replacing the motherboard isn't going to speed things up any either. It doesn't make any sense to replace the motherboard until you are ready to also replace the CPU. And replacing the CPU would be a good idea because what you have now is not especially fast and is quickly becoming outdated for modern games. Right now, upgrading to 16GB of RAM is probably your best, least expensive option, until you are ready to make a platform change with a new CPU and motherboard, and possibly by then, maybe a better graphics card as well but if what you have gives you enough eye candy and you're just looking for more FPS, then your RX 570 might be ok.
 
Solution

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
Your motherboard will handle about any Ryzen processor. No absolute need to upgrade that, unless you need other add-ons that come with newer boards.

I recommend getting 16G RAM. No need for 32G if you aren't going to be using it. This is also the cheapest upgrade.

If you find that your computer isn't performing as good as you want, then upgrade the CPU.

You never listed your PSU specs, so I do not know if you need to upgrade it.

Antec VP500P
You can help me also with new storage?
 

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
Upgrading to 32GB of RAM isn't going to increase gaming performance except in MAYBE one or two games, like Star Citizen and maybe Cyberpunk, unless you are running heavy mods in the games you play or are doing a lot of additional multitasking at the same time you are gaming. For most people, the answer to that is no and especially if you're saying "not for heavy games I think". 16GB should be more than enough for the average gamer.

Replacing the motherboard isn't going to speed things up any either. It doesn't make any sense to replace the motherboard until you are ready to also replace the CPU. And replacing the CPU would be a good idea because what you have now is not especially fast and is quickly becoming outdated for modern games. Right now, upgrading to 16GB of RAM is probably your best, least expensive option, until you are ready to make a platform change with a new CPU and motherboard, and possibly by then, maybe a better graphics card as well but if what you have gives you enough eye candy and you're just looking for more FPS, then your RX 570 might be ok.

I have the dilemma to replace the mobo because some reasons as I said.. maybe I will buy new ram that will not going to work with this mobo and this CPU on 3200MHZ.
What you think about my PSU? some people said that I need to upgrade this because this is not very basic system with IGPU and I need also new storage if you can help me decide with this...
 
I would try the RAM with the motherboard you have now, first, and THEN if it doesn't want to play nice you can worry about a motherboard from a newer chipset that has better memory support, but you should be aware that the majority of problems supporting faster memory or more than two DIMMs on early Ryzen platforms was due to memory controller problems with the CPUs, not the motherboard so much. Both might have an effect though especially if both are early designs. For a lot of those problems, newer BIOS updates have resolved many of those early problems, but not necessarily all of them so trial and error might be a foregone conclusion.
 

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
A better PSU wouldn't be a terrible idea. All of the VP series units since the original VP450 have been budget units that aren't particularly terrific.

What kind of storage do you have now and what are you looking to upgrade to in general?

Right now some very old 840 EVO 120GB
Wanna to buy new drive, I think about Gen4 because that is more future-proof maybe and in the same price so.. something with 1TB of storage... the dilemma is between PNY CS3040 and Samsung 980 PRO but they both must needed heatsink?
 

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
I would try the RAM with the motherboard you have now, first, and THEN if it doesn't want to play nice you can worry about a motherboard from a newer chipset that has better memory support, but you should be aware that the majority of problems supporting faster memory or more than two DIMMs on early Ryzen platforms was due to memory controller problems with the CPUs, not the motherboard so much. Both might have an effect though especially if both are early designs. For a lot of those problems, newer BIOS updates have resolved many of those early problems, but not necessarily all of them so trial and error might be a foregone conclusion.

Okay so new mobo and keep the CPU is not a very good idea until the upgrade to something like 5800X in the future?
About the PSU, that is another dilemma because dont know if buy something very good with 800W+ for this system for futureproof (Have a rumor that the next-gen GPU will take a lot more power) or purchase something decent but also good quality.. maybe 600-700W
 
There are no M.2 drives on the market that "NEED" a heatsink. The only time these drives get hot is during extended sequential operations like copying or writing very large single files, for the most part. For general use, like gaming, where it is going to be loading a bunch of smaller files but only every now and then, and then occasionally loading a new level and maps, it would be very unlikely to have any problems with throttling from heat and even if you did it would simply slow down a bit but would still be far faster than any SATA SSD or HDD. Plus, a lot of the heatsinks out there not only don't fix the heat issues some drives have, they make them worse.

So I wouldn't worry too much about that either. Get a drive, install it, download one of the SSD monitoring utilities that monitors drive temperature and then just keep an eye on it for the first few days. If you don't see any temperature issues then forget about it. If you do, then at some point you can look around to see which aftermarket heatsinks are worth using. A lot of motherboards these days are coming with built in M.2 heatsinks anyhow, so if you get a decent board it might be already taken care of.

Unless you plan to get a very top model, then any really decent 650 to 750w power supply should be plenty for most graphics cards even if you're overclocking a bit. If you don't plan to get a 3080 or higher, which are very expensive, then I would say you're fine with a good 650-750w unit.

What country are you in?
 

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
There are no M.2 drives on the market that "NEED" a heatsink. The only time these drives get hot is during extended sequential operations like copying or writing very large single files, for the most part. For general use, like gaming, where it is going to be loading a bunch of smaller files but only every now and then, and then occasionally loading a new level and maps, it would be very unlikely to have any problems with throttling from heat and even if you did it would simply slow down a bit but would still be far faster than any SATA SSD or HDD. Plus, a lot of the heatsinks out there not only don't fix the heat issues some drives have, they make them worse.

So I wouldn't worry too much about that either. Get a drive, install it, download one of the SSD monitoring utilities that monitors drive temperature and then just keep an eye on it for the first few days. If you don't see any temperature issues then forget about it. If you do, then at some point you can look around to see which aftermarket heatsinks are worth using. A lot of motherboards these days are coming with built in M.2 heatsinks anyhow, so if you get a decent board it might be already taken care of.

Unless you plan to get a very top model, then any really decent 650 to 750w power supply should be plenty for most graphics cards even if you're overclocking a bit. If you don't plan to get a 3080 or higher, which are very expensive, then I would say you're fine with a good 650-750w unit.

What country are you in?

Israel.
The current mobo doesnt have any heatsink on the m.2 connector... that is worth to add some 30$ for heatsink version? what you think about those drives and which better? also I think sometimes the user will do some photo/video productions works so maybe heatsink is a good idea here?
I dont know about new GPU but maybe will upgrade in 1-2 years from now so.. some people said that this PSU is not safety for this current system.
And I thought to buy new mobo also for this system because the current one will be moved to other old machine in my home and only will be needed to buy some cheap AMD CPU.
 

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
Your motherboard will handle about any Ryzen processor. No absolute need to upgrade that, unless you need other add-ons that come with newer boards.

I recommend getting 16G RAM. No need for 32G if you aren't going to be using it. This is also the cheapest upgrade.

If you find that your computer isn't performing as good as you want, then upgrade the CPU.

You never listed your PSU specs, so I do not know if you need to upgrade it.

?
 
So, couple of things/questions here in addition.

First, is this system for you or are you working on it for somebody else?

Second, on PC Partpicker there are literally only TWO power supplies listed for any of the online Israel retailers and both of them are junk. Is there seriously no PSU availability at all or is it just that you have to purchase through local vendors?

For the storage, are you needing additional space because there is a LOT of programs that need to be installed, or because there is a need for more storage of things like backups, movies, music, pictures and personal files? The reason I ask is because it's pretty unlikely for 99% of people to NEED a 1TB drive the OS. A 500GB NVME drive offers PLENTY of space for installing a whole bunch of high end programs, and then getting a standard SATA SSD or a mechanical hard drive for the remainder of the storage space you need is probably a lot cheap and makes a lot more sense anyhow. Trying to store important documents on the same drive that your operating system is running on is just a bad idea all the way around. In fact, since we're on the subject, it is also a very good idea to also have another drive to back up any important files onto so that WHEN, not IF, something happens to the drive, you don't lose all those files. That can be another internal drive, an external drive, large thumb drive or online cloud storage, but you absolutely should have something if you don't already.

Going with a 500GB NVME drive and a standard SSD for storage is probably much less expensive in the long run, but sometimes we just want what we want so that is up to you really.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
980 Pro is a Gen4 NVMe. Absolutely useless over priced m.2 on anything less than a B550 or X570 as those are the only boards with Gen4 pcie storage capability. All the rest are Gen2/3.

A 970 Evo/Plus would be far cheaper and just as fast, the only real advantage to Gen4 being Very Large file transfers, so if you were downloading games constantly or transferring big legal documents, then that would be a bonus. For game purposes, no real difference other than price.

For gaming, 16Gb (2x8Gb) is your friend. Don't try and use 4x sticks, you'll be stuck at 2133MHz - 2400MHz on your motherboard with a Zen+ cpu. Only the 5000 series can handle higher than 3200MHz with 4x sticks.

Before buying a psu, you need to know what gpu is planned. It's pointless to get a good psu and then be limited in power or way overspend, wasted money and you'll be unhappy.

So first plan your upgrades around a proposed budget, then start upgrading as necessary, watching for sales on equipment or equivalent/better deals.
 
980 Pro is a Gen4 NVMe. Absolutely useless over priced m.2 on anything less than a B550 or X570 as those are the only boards with Gen4 pcie storage capability.
For AMD anyhow.

The 970 EVO Plus is what I was going to recommend and looking at online retailers in Israel seems to be both available and considerably cheaper than the 980 Pro, but again, it matters whether purchases will be planned to happen through an online retailer or local shops because what's available will likely be significantly different between the two and the prices definitely will be.
 

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
So, couple of things/questions here in addition.

First, is this system for you or are you working on it for somebody else?

Second, on PC Partpicker there are literally only TWO power supplies listed for any of the online Israel retailers and both of them are junk. Is there seriously no PSU availability at all or is it just that you have to purchase through local vendors?

For the storage, are you needing additional space because there is a LOT of programs that need to be installed, or because there is a need for more storage of things like backups, movies, music, pictures and personal files? The reason I ask is because it's pretty unlikely for 99% of people to NEED a 1TB drive the OS. A 500GB NVME drive offers PLENTY of space for installing a whole bunch of high end programs, and then getting a standard SATA SSD or a mechanical hard drive for the remainder of the storage space you need is probably a lot cheap and makes a lot more sense anyhow. Trying to store important documents on the same drive that your operating system is running on is just a bad idea all the way around. In fact, since we're on the subject, it is also a very good idea to also have another drive to back up any important files onto so that WHEN, not IF, something happens to the drive, you don't lose all those files. That can be another internal drive, an external drive, large thumb drive or online cloud storage, but you absolutely should have something if you don't already.

Going with a 500GB NVME drive and a standard SSD for storage is probably much less expensive in the long run, but sometimes we just want what we want so that is up to you really.
980 Pro is a Gen4 NVMe. Absolutely useless over priced m.2 on anything less than a B550 or X570 as those are the only boards with Gen4 pcie storage capability. All the rest are Gen2/3.

A 970 Evo/Plus would be far cheaper and just as fast, the only real advantage to Gen4 being Very Large file transfers, so if you were downloading games constantly or transferring big legal documents, then that would be a bonus. For game purposes, no real difference other than price.

For gaming, 16Gb (2x8Gb) is your friend. Don't try and use 4x sticks, you'll be stuck at 2133MHz - 2400MHz on your motherboard with a Zen+ cpu. Only the 5000 series can handle higher than 3200MHz with 4x sticks.

Before buying a psu, you need to know what gpu is planned. It's pointless to get a good psu and then be limited in power or way overspend, wasted money and you'll be unhappy.

So first plan your upgrades around a proposed budget, then start upgrading as necessary, watching for sales on equipment or equivalent/better deals.

But as I said, the Gen4 is for future proof and in the future I will replace the mobo for the next upgrade so I think right now that is okay to buy Gen4 drive.. anyway the price is similar to Gen3 nearly and not far expensive.
I think the 1TB option is more profitable for the long run also.
We prefer right now for doing upgrades up to 300-400$ so.. and we can buy the hardware from Amazon but the question if that is worth it right now because that is 4+ years old machine.
Upgrade the RAM + Mobo + CPU + GPU + PSU + Storage is like a whole new computer so.. even that right now the RAM and the Storage is the main issues for the user.
 
We will, both, I'm sure, get back to you with hopefully what will be some good advice, in the morning. Obviously, we are all in different time zones, and I just finished putting together, installing the OS and testing my third system today. So I'm rather tired, and I don't usually do that anyhow, so time for bed. LOL.
 

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
We will, both, I'm sure, get back to you with hopefully what will be some good advice, in the morning. Obviously, we are all in different time zones, and I just finished putting together, installing the OS and testing my third system today. So I'm rather tired, and I don't usually do that anyhow, so time for bed. LOL.

-_-
Why you are spamming? Reply when you can.
 
I have the dilemma to replace the mobo because some reasons as I said.. maybe I will buy new ram that will not going to work with this mobo and this CPU on 3200MHZ.
What you think about my PSU? some people said that I need to upgrade this because this is not very basic system with IGPU and I need also new storage if you can help me decide with this...
mainboard has minimum impact on ram frequencies...tho there are some, but most of limitiations comming from CPU...
im on x370 mobo, 3200MHz sticks with R5 1600X were max 2933 on XMP (dual sided did top out there on gen1), manual tweak up to 3400MHz, once switched to R7 3800X, XMP 3200 no issues, with manual tweak it went up to 3733MHz

consider replacing mainboard only if it dies or you need some fancy new features your mainboard lacks and new mobo offers
 

AzowiX

Prominent
Feb 7, 2021
24
0
510
mainboard has minimum impact on ram frequencies...tho there are some, but most of limitiations comming from CPU...
im on x370 mobo, 3200MHz sticks with R5 1600X were max 2933 on XMP (dual sided did top out there on gen1), manual tweak up to 3400MHz, once switched to R7 3800X, XMP 3200 no issues, with manual tweak it went up to 3733MHz

consider replacing mainboard only if it dies or you need some fancy new features your mainboard lacks and new mobo offers

It will be okay if thats works only on 2933Mhz with XMP on the current CPU?
 
It will be okay if thats works only on 2933Mhz with XMP on the current CPU?
You have an A320 motherboard. If I recall, all they will allow you to do is to set XMP and not tweak with anything beyond voltage. So you may not able to change timings or manually set memory clocks to something lower than the memory's rated XMP clocks.

The safest thing is to get 2933 memory as that's what a 2600 is rated for. You might try higher, but it should set that speed when you set XMP. Hopefully your processor's good for 3000 or 3200 (many are).

If I'm wrong about tweaking of timings on A320 then you could tweak some of the timings but as others have said: 2933 performance is very close to even 3200. So close you'll not likely notice it except in benchmarks.
 
You have an A320 motherboard. If I recall, all they will allow you to do is to set XMP and not tweak with anything beyond voltage. So you may not able to change timings or manually set memory clocks to something lower than the memory's rated XMP clocks.

The safest thing is to get 2933 memory as that's what a 2600 is rated for. You might try higher, but it should set that speed when you set XMP. Hopefully your processor's good for 3000 or 3200 (many are).

If I'm wrong about tweaking of timings on A320 then you could tweak some of the timings but as others have said: 2933 performance is very close to even 3200. So close you'll not likely notice it except in benchmarks.
that board supports memory multiplier change, so you can downclock it if needed
timings change is also available
View: https://youtu.be/T-0hq4HEp_s?t=393