Question Ryzen 5 4500 a bad choice?

[SteveB84]

Help deciding on what cpu to choose.

Looking to see if any of you have experience with, or which would you suggest I go with for my budget gaming PC. I’ll be honest up front, it’s not that I struggle running any of the games that I play, rather I enjoy the tinkering and building and really I’d just like to have a bit of a refresh/update of my rig.
Current set up:
Cpu:I7-3770
Motherboard: ASUS P8H61-Pro
Ram: 16gb ddr3
GPU: RTX2060
Storage: Currently 3xSATA SSD’s & 1TB HDD
PSU: Corsair TXM550 80+ gold (18mth old)
Chassis: mATX
Monitor: 1080p 60hz
I’m mostly confident in my choices. I’m going AM4 platform, DDR4 and an m.2 SSD. (Only reusing the 1TB HDD). My budget for all of this wants to be around £200. Really I suppose the main question I have is “Is the Ryzen 5 4500 a bad CPU to go with?” Budget wise I’m really looking to get the most bang for my buck. The cost of a new R5 4500 fits my budget nicely, but then I saw Gamer nexus’s review of the CPU and he TRASHED it 🤦‍♂️
So my other option with my budget then really is second hand. Flea bay has cheap prices on R5 2600x, or I could possibly stretch my budget to the R5 3600 which has a much larger L3 cache. But both of these are of course secondhand, and opening new shiny boxes is part of the fun right 😉
Anyone have any experience with the 4500? Or indeed the other chips? What’s your 2 cents on this?

Link to screenshot of planned upgrades

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Image IMG-9323 hosted in ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[Aeacus]

but then I saw Gamer nexus’s review of the CPU and he TRASHED it 🤦‍♂️

This is actually true.

Why?
Well, the "new" R5 4500 is equal to old R5 2600. So, 4 years later, there is 0 improvement?
Comparison: https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-4500-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-2600/m1828229vs3955

On Intel side, and for example: i5-6400 (2015) vs i5-9600 (2019) 4 years later,
comparison: https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-6500-vs-Intel-Core-i5-9600/3513vsm853186
See the diff?

With that, R5 4500 has terrible "value". And value is price-to-performance ratio.
Also, it doesn't help that the contender, i3-12100F at same price point, far outperforms the "new" R5 4500.

Budget wise I’m really looking to get the most bang for my buck.

If you want the value king, get i3-12100F.

For other options,
link: https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/
And arrange the list by Value, to see what CPUs are best at value wise.

I’m going AM4 platform

Any particular reason why to go with AMD? Since CPU value wise, best AMD value CPU would be R7 7600X. But it will be far out of your budget.

So, up to you. If you want to go with team red, you will not get "the most bang for your buck".
But if you do want to get "the most bang for your buck", then team blue is the one.

Link to screenshot of planned upgrades

Oh, one more thing; do not buy two individual sticks of RAM.

Reason why explained here (mixed memory chapter): https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...y-ram-and-xmp-profile-configurations.3398926/

 

[Misgar]

I upgraded an old mobo with a second hand 2600X recently, but if I was building a new system I'd fit a 4500. Not much difference in performance but it uses less power and the 4500 was release in 2022, not 2018 like the 2600X.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-4500-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-2600X/4816vs3235

Of course Gamers' Nexus slagged the 4500. If you've got enough of money, it's not fast enough for optimum performance in modern games at the highest settings.

If you're prepared to run games at reduced resolution/settings and accept less than ideal frame rates, you can use a lower spec CPU like the 4500.

Since your budget is "only" 200 quid, it won't be the end of world if you're not 100% happy with the results. People have spent 10x that amount and still been dissatisfied.

 

[thestryker]

If that's all the price you can afford for CPU then you should just get a 3600 instead (pcpartpicker uk showing less than £4 separate the two). The 5500 is a poor CPU, but that would also be a significant improvement over the 4500. Ideally you'd be able to afford moving up to something in the 5600 range just to give you the best longevity and overall performance for the platform.

something like this is close to your budget but much better than what you've selected: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/VXNs6r

 

[SteveB84]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all of your time and input here. Think I’ll follow thestryker’s list for AM4, (although I will have a hunt around first and see if I can find the i3-12100f to fit the budget).
You guys are legends, thanks again 🙏

 

[thestryker]

A 5600 or 12100 would be fantastic lower end options if you can swing it because they'll have more performance longevity. If you can't though I don't think you'll be disappointed by the 5500.