[SOLVED] Ryzen 5 2600x upgrade or not?

wogfor

Distinguished
Jun 30, 2016
224
3
18,715
Currently running on an old FX 6350 CPU on an ASUS M5A97 R 2.0 MB with 16G of Corsair Vengence PRO RAM. I see Microcenter blowing out the Ryzen 5 2600x. I am limited on funds so if I mate this up an X470 MB and 16GB of 2400 RAM, I could spend less than $300 for a bit of an upgrade. Everything else is there, including drives, CPU cooler, and an EVGA GTX 1660 XC, which I am told would be fine with the Ryzen.

Would this be worth it until someday and can build a new system entirely? The FX has been a decent performer for me but would mind a bit of a bump.

Thanks
 
Solution
Go for it for sure, it's a good upgrade from the FX cpu, you will notice it for sure. In microcenter you have discounts buying this proccesor with a motherboard (i don't know if its avaiable at todays date). Buy a MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX, and a 3200Mhz CL16 CL14 (depending on prices) kit from Corsair Gskill or another brand as @ohio_buckeye says. Ryzen and high Mhz ram kits are the perfect couple on Valentine's day ;). Try to get a 1660 super if you have the budget for it, if not the 1660 will work fine too.
Go for it. Save a little money, go for a b450 board, but get 3200mhz ram instead. The ryzen CPUs are pretty comparable to current Intel stuff now.

To put it like this, the new 3600/3600x chips trade blows with the i7 8700k. This year they should release the 4000 series and those should be even faster.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JaAntonio

JaAntonio

Honorable
BANNED
Nov 13, 2019
141
29
10,090
Go for it for sure, it's a good upgrade from the FX cpu, you will notice it for sure. In microcenter you have discounts buying this proccesor with a motherboard (i don't know if its avaiable at todays date). Buy a MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX, and a 3200Mhz CL16 CL14 (depending on prices) kit from Corsair Gskill or another brand as @ohio_buckeye says. Ryzen and high Mhz ram kits are the perfect couple on Valentine's day ;). Try to get a 1660 super if you have the budget for it, if not the 1660 will work fine too.
 
Solution

wogfor

Distinguished
Jun 30, 2016
224
3
18,715
Hello all!
Here is what I ended up with after sale prices, bundle prices and so forth and still ended up right at the $300 mark. (The 2600X went up from $79 to $99 since I started planning this!)

Along with the processor, I have the ASUS X470 Pro and a set of G.Skill TridentZ 3200. The board and memory combo were recommended to my by a friend who has a similar set up. I was going to go with the 3600 but I had exactly 300 to spend.

Kind of where I ended up with pricing.
 
Not a bad deal at all. Personally I might have considered going to a b450 chipset. But you will be happy with the 2600x I'm sure. It will still run quite well for you. The other good thing is you got it on sale, so if you later flash the bios of the 470 board you got, I think the 4000 series releases this year yet, so say next summer you might be able to pick up one of those chips and still sell your current cpu for a little bit and be able to really take a nice step up without having to swap to a new board/ram etc again and still be set for a couple of years or so.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WildCard999

wogfor

Distinguished
Jun 30, 2016
224
3
18,715
I am hoping I wasn't to hasty. I steered myself towards this board as some of the 450's only have 4 SATA ports on them and I wanted 6 like my current one. I have more drives hooked up than what I need it seems. This board does have places to put those M.2 drives although I am not up to speed on those. My operating system is on a too small SSD as it is now.

I was concerned at first as my front panel connector is the USB 3.0 Gen 1 and only saw the newer Gen 2 header on the board next to the 24 pin power connector. I do now see a header near the bottom of the board.

I would like to add a water cooler later, but for now wonder if I should use the included Wraith Spire cooler or my EVO 212, which has been very quiet. I really have not done much with overclocking, but could try it later and go with a water cooler then.. Is the Spire cooler quiet?
 

WildCard999

Titan
Moderator
Ryzen stock coolers can be a bit audible, replaced mine with a CM EVO 212 BLACK RGB.

This MB only has 4 SATA connections and 1 M.2 but for the price it's a excellent choice.

PCPartPicker Part List

Motherboard: ASRock B450M/AC Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $84.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-15 05:54 EST-0500


It has Wifi/Bluetooth, ships with 3rd gen BIOS and a easy to navigate BIOS.
 

pstanley99

Honorable
Dec 12, 2014
5
0
10,510
I have just done exactly this (upgraded to the 5 2600X) but one thing to bear in mind, the 3600 is about 25% more expensive, but offers nearly 40% more performance, according to Passmark. I didn't need to go that far as I probably won't use the power the 2600X has to offer (I could have gone for the 2600 and OCd but the X was the same price on UK Amazon - go figure) but if you're thinking of a little further down the line I think the 3600 at the moment hits the sweet spot in bang-for-buck terms.
 

wogfor

Distinguished
Jun 30, 2016
224
3
18,715
For me the sweet spot was MC blowing out the 2600X's for $79! It is going to be such an upgrade from the FX processor, and I just wish I could find the time with work and all that! I can't wait!
 
The 2600x is going to be a nice upgrade. Even 1st gen ryzen was a great upgrade for me from fx.

Good thing is the 2600x was 80. When the 4000 series chips come out, if you use the 2600x to flash your bios to support the new chips and go for like a 4700x or something, you would get a good performance bump there and could probably still sell your 2600x for a few bucks. Or keep it as is and set it up as a spare PC for someone.
 

wogfor

Distinguished
Jun 30, 2016
224
3
18,715
Hello guys!

Well, it's finally installed with only a few setbacks, the main one being that my plan of re-using my Coolermaster EVO 212 could not be done as I had forgot about the whole AM3+ socket vs. AM4. I ended up back at Microcenter and was ready to pick up another EVO but decided to up grade to an AOI. I opted for the Cooler Master Masterliquid ML120L RGB.

I have run a couple of benchmarks, though I know they do not tell the whole story, but running Cinebench, I went from a CPU score of 419 with the old FX 6350 to a new score 1327! 67.71 FPS to 104.6 and also ran single core and went from a score of 91 CB to 170 CB.

I still need to check what BIOS version the board has to see if it needs to be updated, and also a few wiring issues as I can not power up my optical drive to install any software off the included disc.
 

wogfor

Distinguished
Jun 30, 2016
224
3
18,715
Wished I could have kept it under $300, but the need for a new CPU cooler and having to replace a couple of noisy fans bumped it up.

Let me ask you guys this: There is a new BIOS available for the motherboard, but the manual cautions against updating unless there are obvious issues. There have been no problems so far, should I update it or not? The 2600X has been out since April of 2018
 

gerardfraser

Distinguished
Aug 21, 2008
32
0
18,540
NO do not update your BIOS to the latest version because the newest version support Ryzen 3XXX CPU's.(May introduce unforeseen problems)
Now you can up date the BIOS to the latest BIOS revision before Ryzrn 3XXX CPU's were supported for best performance and most supported features for your 2600X.Just check out the Motherboard site they will clearly show you which BIOS to use.
 

wogfor

Distinguished
Jun 30, 2016
224
3
18,715
I think I am fine with the BIOS version I got, so I am going to stick with it for now.

Now that all is up and running, can I ask you guys about what settings I need to change to get my memory up to the speed I paid for? Right now I am at 2130 MHz instead of the 3000. Performance is great now compared to what I had, but wouldn't mind being a bit better.
 

WildCard999

Titan
Moderator
I think I am fine with the BIOS version I got, so I am going to stick with it for now.

Now that all is up and running, can I ask you guys about what settings I need to change to get my memory up to the speed I paid for? Right now I am at 2130 MHz instead of the 3000. Performance is great now compared to what I had, but wouldn't mind being a bit better.
You need to enable XMP in the BIOS to get it to run at the correct speed which will improve your gaming. If it crashes then make sure the memory is in the correct slots which is usually the A2/B2 slots and try XMP again.
 

King_V

Illustrious
Ambassador
A quick question - what exact brand and model of power supply are you currently using?

For me the sweet spot was MC blowing out the 2600X's for $79!

And dang, that's an insane price! Handily beats out the 1600 AF's $85 deal, which is usually the go-to for best Ryzen bang-for-your-buck. A shame it was only temporary, but $79 for the 2600X was too good to last.