Question Upgrade Path Advice

[theflyingjapman]

I have relocated my AM4 setup to my living room SFF PC and now my current ATX case and fans are vacant. I plan to go AM5 platform and is undecided on which motherboard option is best for me. I play mostly esports titles, 1080p, sometimes AAA games but with manageable expectations, and my upgrade habit is usually around every 9-10 years. Having this thought of prolonging the system as much as possible plus the experience with AM4 going long too, I am thinking of whether:

1. Buy X870 board with the cheapest CPU I can get (I got a sweet deal for R5 8400F for $85) temporarily since I have a 7800XT already. My thinking is if years later I can upgrade to a 9800X3D or whatever X3D CPU that will be available by that time, I have a sufficient board.

2. Go for B650 board + 9600X. This obviously will be cheaper for me and I know the difference in performance between 8400F and 9600X.

I read and watched about difference between the chipsets. Is PCI-E 5.0 something that I should be prepared down the road (I know right now it is still not significant) since my upgrade rate is low? My brain tells me to get the latest mobo currently and adjust the parts along the way. Appreciate your advise.

 

[Lutfij]

I'd advise on option 2 but you should look at the X3D chips since they are the route to take if your build is primarily for gaming. With the B650 chipset and subsequent BIOS updates, you should be able to stave off the need to change platforms.

How about you stylize your thread with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community could pass on suggestions that may be worthwhile.

 

[theflyingjapman]

I'd advise on option 2 but you should look at the X3D chips since they are the route to take if your build is primarily for gaming. With the B650 chipset and subsequent BIOS updates, you should be able to stave off the need to change platforms.

How about you stylize your thread with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community could pass on suggestions that may be worthwhile.

Thank you for the response. So this means option 2 will be a better starting point? Is the difference between the chipsets negligible in my use case? I have edited also the template thank you.

Approximate Purchase Date: December 2024
Budget Range: around $400/JPY60,000 max for CPU/MOBO/SSD/RAM
System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming / general use
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: CPU MOBO SSD RAM
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: local store here in Japan, Amazon
Location: Japan
Parts Preferences: AMD AM5, ATX motherboard
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 @ 144Hz
Additional Comments: Need to know if X870 is suitable in my use case/upgrade timing or better save in B650
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I upgrade when something broke. In this case, my old AM4 is transferred to my living room PC so current desktop PC is vacant.

 

[Lafong]

Budget Range: around $400/JPY60,000 max for CPU/MOBO/SSD/RAM

400 dollars for those 4 pieces.

I don't know what your expectations are, but I'd hope they are quite low.

 

[Lutfij]

Location: Japan
Hmmm, this site is based in the USA but if you could mention your preferred sites for purchase and maybe other sites you have access to, that would give us an indication of the sort of brands/parts you have access to.

Additional Comments: Need to know if X870 is suitable in my use case/upgrade timing or better save in B650
X870 is moot IMHO, unless you're chasing behind the bleeding edge in technology and you need bragging rights. You're not a content creator nor are you doing anything that would put food on the table or a roof over your head(or so that's what I'm assuming here), you should be fine with a B650 chipset with a 7800X3D, I built a system with an MSI B650i Edge WiFi + 7800X3D + DDR5-6600MHz Titanium First Edition rams, for a friend back in April of this year, hasn't been breaking a sweat at all. If you can wait about a few months or less(assuming they release in Q1 2025) you can look into the B850 chipset boards from AMD.

 

[theflyingjapman]

Budget Range: around $400/JPY60,000 max for CPU/MOBO/SSD/RAM

400 dollars for those 4 pieces.

I don't know what your expectations are, but I'd hope they are quite low.

My bad it was an unrealistic pricing goal. I could remove the SSD (re-use my SATA SSD instead).

Location: Japan
Hmmm, this site is based in the USA but if you could mention your preferred sites for purchase and maybe other sites you have access to, that would give us an indication of the sort of brands/parts you have access to.

Additional Comments: Need to know if X870 is suitable in my use case/upgrade timing or better save in B650
X870 is moot IMHO, unless you're chasing behind the bleeding edge in technology and you need bragging rights. You're not a content creator nor are you doing anything that would put food on the table or a roof over your head(or so that's what I'm assuming here), you should be fine with a B650 chipset with a 7800X3D, I built a system with an MSI B650i Edge WiFi + 7800X3D + DDR5-6600MHz Titanium First Edition rams, for a friend back in April of this year, hasn't been breaking a sweat at all. If you can wait about a few months or less(assuming they release in Q1 2025) you can look into the B850 chipset boards from AMD.

Dospara (www.dospara.co.jp) and PC Koubou (www.pc-koubou.jp) are my main go to for PC parts here in my area. Amazon Japan sometimes is hit or miss.

That is what I read most of the time. I do not mind going for B-chipsets since I used one in my AM4 iso X570 and very satisfied. If B850 is coming out then maybe waiting will be better. I just thought X870 will be the new B-level for AM5.

So perhaps B650 is the wiser choice then. Thank you so much guys for the help!

 

[helper800]

My bad it was an unrealistic pricing goal. I could remove the SSD (re-use my SATA SSD instead).


Dospara (www.dospara.co.jp) and PC Koubou (www.pc-koubou.jp) are my main go to for PC parts here in my area. Amazon Japan sometimes is hit or miss.

That is what I read most of the time. I do not mind going for B-chipsets since I used one in my AM4 iso X570 and very satisfied. If B850 is coming out then maybe waiting will be better. I just thought X870 will be the new B-level for AM5.

So perhaps B650 is the wiser choice then. Thank you so much guys for the help!

Personally, I would get that 8500f CPU for 12,711 Yen and then grab this motherboard (18480 Yen), RAM (17800 Yen), and either this NVMe SSD (11280 Yen) or this one (9580 Yen). The crucial T500 is a very fast SSD with a DRAM cache and is much prefered but puts the build a little over budget at: 60,271 Yen. The other SSD puts the build at: 58,571 Yen

 

[theflyingjapman]

Personally, I would get that 8500f CPU for 12,711 Yen and then grab this motherboard (18480 Yen), RAM (17800 Yen), and either this NVMe SSD (11280 Yen) or this one (9580 Yen). The crucial T500 is a very fast SSD with a DRAM cache and is much prefered but puts the build a little over budget at: 60,271 Yen. The other SSD puts the build at: 58,571 Yen

This suits well in my target budget. If I understand correctly, B650E is the Extreme? Enhanced? . I was too focused on the X870 that I overlook this one entirely.

Yes I read about that T500 and DRAM cache which I think will fit well with Flight Simulator, and it is already waiting in my cart actually. Was thinking of putting it off initially to fit the budget I posted.

What are your opinion for the same motherboard chipset with MSI? I have never owned Asus before and got experience with Gigabyte and MSI (lga 1155), and AsRock (AM4).

 

[helper800]

This suits well in my target budget. If I understand correctly, B650E is the Extreme? Enhanced? . I was too focused on the X870 that I overlook this one entirely.

Yes I read about that T500 and DRAM cache which I think will fit well with Flight Simulator, and it is already waiting in my cart actually. Was thinking of putting it off initially to fit the budget I posted.

What are your opinion for the same motherboard chipset with MSI? I have never owned Asus before and got experience with Gigabyte and MSI (lga 1155), and AsRock (AM4).

ASUS motherboards are fine if you can find one at the right price. Usually they are a bit more expensive. I went through all the motherboards within your budget on both sites and that was the best one as far as features. The different chipsets all have different amounts of PCIe Lanes at different speeds, USB specs, et cetera. Here is a useful chart to see the differences between them all. The B650E comes with a X16 PCIe 5.0 slot for the graphics card.