Question Ryzen 5 2600 or 3600

[andypta0401]

I have a A320 mainboard+ Rx 570 4Gb, 12GB RAM+ 650W PSU.
I want to upgrade my CPU, but the budget is kinda tight so I have to choose between 2 options:

1. Ryzen 5 2600+ b450 mainboard
2. Ryzen 5 3600 + my A320 mainboard (bios updated)

Which one should I choose? Thank you

 

[CountMike]

I have a A320 mainboard+ Rx 570 4Gb, 12GB RAM+ 650W PSU.
I want to upgrade my CPU, but the budget is kinda tight so I have to choose between 2 options:

1. Ryzen 5 2600+ b450 mainboard
2. Ryzen 5 3600 + my A320 mainboard (bios updated)

Which one should I choose? Thank you

First one because a320 MBs are practically useless for anything above 2400c.

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

as stated, a second gen board paired with a second gen CPU is much better combo than a first gen board and a 3rd gen CPU.

What is your budget and what country are you in?

 

[InvalidError]

First one because a320 MBs are practically useless for anything above 2400c.

A compatible A320 board is perfectly fine for a stock Ryzen 3600. If you wrote that with VRMs in mind, most motherboard manufacturers use the same VRM for nearly everything below X370/X470 anyway.

 

[CountMike]

A compatible A320 board is perfectly fine for a stock Ryzen 3600. If you wrote that with VRMs in mind, most motherboard manufacturers use the same VRM for nearly everything below X370/X470 anyway.

Beg to disagree, most A320 boards have bare VRM. it might be enough just for minimal usage for which 2600 is enough too. There are other considerations like overclocking and generally poor RAM compliance. Not all are ZEN2 ready either and BIOS options are at best sketchy because of smaller capacity. Those are also reasons they are cheaper than others.

 

[rolli59]

Beg to disagree, most A320 boards have bare VRM. it might be enough just for minimal usage for which 2600 is enough too. There are other considerations like overclocking and generally poor RAM compliance. Not all are ZEN2 ready either and BIOS options are at best sketchy because of smaller capacity. Those are also reasons they are cheaper than others.

Not everybody overclocks and a stock 3600 beats OC 2600. If the 320 board has a supporting BIOS there is nothing wrong with running a stock 3600 on it.

 

[InvalidError]

There are other considerations like overclocking

Overclocking is not a consideration for the VRM on A-series motherboards since they don't (officially) support overclocking in the first place.

And the VRM being 'bare' (as in no heatsink) does not matter since a properly designed PCB can easily dissipate the ~4W per phase the VRM might dissipate under normal heavy load as long as there is some airflow across the board in the VRM area which the Spire HSFs do a pretty good job at.

 

[cryoburner]

Assuming the BIOS for your A320 board supports 3000-series CPUs, I would go for the 3600, as it should be around 15% faster than even an overclocked 2600 in CPU-limited scenarios, and more like 20% faster if the 2600 were left at stock clocks.

Of course, if you are upgrading for gaming performance, that RX 570 will likely be limiting performance more than anything in many newer games at 1080p resolution or higher.

What CPU do you have now? If it's something like a 1600, it might not even be worth upgrading yet. It's probably worth listing what exact motherboard you have, too.