[SOLVED] Which component should I upgrade?

[60frames]

My current setup is this-
MOTHERBOARD-AB350M GAMING 3
GPU-RX 460
CPU-Ryzen 3 1200
PSU-CX 450
RAM-16GB (Unmatched Corsair memory sticks)
Here are the games I will be playing- Fallout 4, Crysis 3, Wolfenstein 2 and the old blood at ultra @ 30fps.
Before you say that I should upgrade the GPU I want to tell you that I am having compatibility issues with my configuration. For some reason I get PCIe error 0x15 on this build. I get crash dump errors for Wolfenstein 2 really frequently. Also I get really unstable fps with this configuration. I mean that I get really bad frame times. So here is the question-
Should I upgrade my RAM or my motherboard to resolve these compatibility issues? After these issues are solved then I will think about upgrading the GPU. Note that I have already tried clean installing GPU drivers and my BIOS and windows. My chipset drivers are also up to date. I cannot upgrade everything at once. So according to you which component should I upgrade?
EDIT: I forgot to tell I tried single stick RAM but I still get bad frametimes with high fps.

 

[Mrgr74]

My current setup is this-
MOTHERBOARD-AB350M GAMING 3
GPU-RX 460
CPU-Ryzen 3 1200
PSU-CX 450
RAM-16GB (Unmatched Corsair memory sticks)
Here are the games I will be playing- Fallout 4, Crysis 3, Wolfenstein 2 and the old blood at ultra @ 30fps.
Before you say that I should upgrade the GPU I want to tell you that I am having compatibility issues with my configuration. For some reason I get PCIe error 0x15 on this build. I get crash dump errors for Wolfenstein 2 really frequently. Also I get really unstable fps with this configuration. I mean that I get really bad frame times. So here is the question-
Should I upgrade my RAM or my motherboard to resolve these compatibility issues? After these issues are solved then I will think about upgrading the GPU. Note that I have already tried clean installing GPU drivers and my BIOS and windows. My chipset drivers are also up to date. I cannot upgrade everything at once. So according to you which component should I upgrade?
EDIT: I forgot to tell I tried single stick RAM but I still get bad frametimes with high fps.

For a second there, when you said the old Blood, I was thinking about the old Blood game by Monolith & was gonna give you Kudos for great taste in old games, but then I realized you most likely meant Wolfenstein TOB. lol..

Mixed n' matched RAM can easily be causing you issues. I'd suggest you get a matching pair of 2x8GB RAM. A good cheap kit of DDR4-2400 will work nice. With the 1200, I'd not suggest you put faster RAM in as you'll most likely not notice it. I have a 1200 myself as a backup should my 2700X ever fail and it was on par or slightly better than my old 1090T WHICH still games just fine.

As for the GPU, if you have documented issues with it, you might want to start there and get a new motherboard if you have ruled out a faulty GPU itself.

Here is a nice & inexpensive B450 board: Gigabyte DS3H
Crucial Ballistics DDR4-2666 (a little faster, but highly rated and will work just fine)

Whats your budget?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I would believe the mixed ram is causing the issues.
Remove all but 1 stick of ram and see what happens.

The 1200 and RX460 should be pretty stable. I had a 1200 and GTX1050 and with matched ram it was stable.
I have since upgraded GPU to an RX580 and the 1200 holds up alright.

 

[tennis2]

You've got a faulty stick of RAM.

Your rig is NOT capable of "ultra" settings at 1080p for the caliber of games you're talking about. Also, I don't know anybody that would recommend sacrificing frame rates all the way down to 30fps just to have higher graphics settings. You should be looking at high or medium-high.

 

[60frames]

For a second there, when you said the old Blood, I was thinking about the old Blood game by Monolith & was gonna give you Kudos for great taste in old games, but then I realized you most likely meant Wolfenstein TOB. lol..

Mixed n' matched RAM can easily be causing you issues. I'd suggest you get a matching pair of 2x8GB RAM. A good cheap kit of DDR4-2400 will work nice. With the 1200, I'd not suggest you put faster RAM in as you'll most likely not notice it. I have a 1200 myself as a backup should my 2700X ever fail and it was on par or slightly better than my old 1090T WHICH still games just fine.

As for the GPU, if you have documented issues with it, you might want to start there and get a new motherboard if you have ruled out a faulty GPU itself. Do you have the newest Bios for your mobo?

Here is a nice & inexpensive B450 board: Gigabyte DS3H
Crucial Ballistics DDR4-2666 (a little faster, but highly rated and will work just fine)

Whats your budget?

Why Gigabyte? I think there BIOS is the cause of all the problems which I am currently facing. I have tried the latest BIOS. How about MSI B450 TOMAHAWK? My budget varies with the component. Also I forgot to mention this good old game - Operation flashpoint cold war crisis.

 

[60frames]

I would believe the mixed ram is causing the issues.
Remove all but 1 stick of ram and see what happens.

The 1200 and RX460 should be pretty stable. I had a 1200 and GTX1050 and with matched ram it was stable.
I have since upgraded GPU to an RX580 and the 1200 holds up alright.

Yuo missed to read the EDIT part. I have already tried one stick.

 

[Mrgr74]

I don't know anybody that would recommend sacrificing frame rates all the way down to 30fps just to have higher graphics settings. You should be looking at high or medium-high.

Hey now! To each their own. The OP may just like the ol' eye candy, regardless of the performance hit.

 

[60frames]

You've got a faulty stick of RAM.

Your rig is NOT capable of "ultra" settings at 1080p for the caliber of games you're talking about. Also, I don't know anybody that would recommend sacrificing frame rates all the way down to 30fps just to have higher graphics settings. You should be looking at high or medium-high.

I can. I am good with 30fps. I am not saying that the GPU is capable. I wanted to first fix the compatibility issues. I was confused between RAM and motherboard. The frametimes are really bad. I thought that even buying a new GPU will not fix the frametimes.

 

[60frames]

Hey now! To each their own. The OP may just like the ol' eye candy, regardless of the performance hit.

30fps is playable . Especially in slow paced games. It is a nice console like experience. What's wrong?

 

[Mrgr74]

30fps is playable . Especially in slow paced games. It is a nice console like experience. What's wrong?

Nothings wrong at all. I was defending your decision on not minding what most would consider low FPS for the sake of higher in-game settings. It's just that in this day & age, more & more people judge a games minimum playability by whether or not it's able to hit 60+fps. (not that anyone here stated 60fps, but for the sake of argument) Up until a year ago, my gaming rig was the secondary system in my sig below, circa 2008, so I'm well versed in sacrificing FPS for the sake of visuals & vice versa.

I would definitely take care of your RAM for starters though. Mixing & Matching is never a good thing.

 

[tennis2]

30fps is playable . Especially in slow paced games. It is a nice console like experience. What's wrong?

Love your comment and your username! Haha

 

[60frames]

Nothings wrong at all. I was defending your decision on not minding what most would consider low FPS for the sake of higher in-game settings. It's just that in this day & age, more & more people judge a games minimum playability by whether or not it's able to hit 60+fps. (not that anyone here stated 60fps, but for the sake of argument) Up until a year ago, my gaming rig was the secondary system in my sig below, circa 2008, so I'm well versed in sacrificing FPS for the sake of visuals & vice versa.

I would definitely take care of your RAM for starters though. Mixing & Matching is never a good thing.

Oh okay I misunderstood you the first time. Regarding RAM I checked with single stick and the bad frametimes were still there. Any other way to test if my RAM is the problem. Or is it the poor motherboard?

 

[60frames]

Love your comment and your username! Haha

I chose it because I had to. Don't attach meanings to it.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Oh okay I misunderstood you the first time. Regarding RAM I checked with single stick and the bad frametimes were still there. Any other way to test if my RAM is the problem. Or is it the poor motherboard?

The motherboard should be fine.

https://www.memtest86.com/technical.htm
Use this to test each ram stick individually.

 

[Mrgr74]

Why Gigabyte? I think there BIOS is the cause of all the problems which I am currently facing. I have tried the latest BIOS. How about MSI B450 TOMAHAWK? My budget varies with the component. Also I forgot to mention this good old game - Operation flashpoint cold war crisis.

From what I have read, the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max mobo is a rock solid piece of hardware. I'd definitely recommend it. I chose the Gigabyte because it's a good, cheap mobo. (and my secondary system below is running on an Gigabyte mobo thats 11yrs old & still going strong. ) I originally wanted to suggest the MSI mobo, but it's a good deal more expensive. I don't want to throw a bunch of parts at you sounding like an infomercial saying "Buy This Now!" lol..

As for the Bios on the board you currently had, I saw you had that in your OP, but I still asked it as there could be an issue with the Bios you used (even if from the Mfgr) When you updated it, did you need to flash a previous Bios 1st? Depending on the ver. your mobo had, sometimes you have to flash in series and not just the newest one you find. Was just curious.

 

[60frames]

The motherboard should be fine.

https://www.memtest86.com/technical.htm
Use this to test each ram stick individually.

My RAM has already passed the 4 tests of memtest. I found the RAM tutorial on tomshardware so now I am testing RAM using prime 95.

 

[Mrgr74]

The motherboard should be fine.

https://www.memtest86.com/technical.htm
Use this to test each ram stick individually.

My RAM has already passed the 4 tests of memtest. I found the RAM tutorial on tomshardware so now I am testing RAM using prime 95.

Even if your RAM is fine, if you have different speeds/timings/makes/models it can cause you performance issues. A general rule of thumb is to never mix RAM.

Here is a good read here on Tom's. (All credit goes to the OP of the article)

 

[60frames]

From what I have read, the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max mobo is a rock solid piece of hardware. I'd definitely recommend it. I chose the Gigabyte because it's a good, cheap mobo. (and my secondary system below is running on an Gigabyte mobo thats 11yrs old & still going strong. ) I originally wanted to suggest the MSI mobo, but it's a good deal more expensive. I don't want to throw a bunch of parts at you sounding like an infomercial saying "Buy This Now!" lol..

As for the Bios on the board you currently had, I saw you had that in your OP, but I still asked it as there could be an issue with the Bios you used (even if from the Mfgr) When you updated it, did you need to flash a previous Bios 1st? Depending on the ver. your mobo had, sometimes you have to flash in series and not just the newest one you find. Was just curious.

i flashed in series. My main concern was Fallout 4. I am having some crazy fps drops in that game when I look at trees. I saw others running the game at ultra on the RX 460 well above 30. Even the benchmark on tomshardware site says that Fallout 4 runs fine on a r7 370 on ultra. So I thought about putting up this rather indirect question about which component will solve the proble. And why I did not upgrade GPU was because I thought that the incompatible component might cause the same issues with the new GPU.

 

[Mrgr74]

i flashed in series. My main concern was Fallout 4. I am having some crazy fps drops in that game when I look at trees. I saw others running the game at ultra on the RX 460 well above 30. Even the benchmark on tomshardware site says that Fallout 4 runs fine on a r7 370 on ultra. So I thought about putting up this rather indirect question about which component will solve the proble. And why I did not upgrade GPU was because I thought that the incompatible component might cause the same issues with the new GPU.

Gotcha. Would any of your friends let you borrow one of their GPU's (if possible similar in performance as your RX 460) to try and see if you have the same issues & vice versa with your GPU in their system to check? How are your temps? Do you have any texture or visual mods installed for FO4?

Which slot do you have the GPU in? The one closes to the CPU or out near the edge. Tried it in the opposite slot? Reading thru the forums on Gigabytes site, a user had the same issue as you it kinda sounds like.

"Also in the Bios in the Pcie settings set it up for Gen3 card and do not leave it on Auto. That cured the problem for me.
Remember to do it after every Bios update has the updated bios revert to Default."

 

[60frames]

Gotcha. Would any of your friends let you borrow one of their GPU's (if possible similar in performance as your RX 460) to try and see if you have the same issues & vice versa with your GPU in their system to check? How are your temps? Do you have any texture or visual mods installed for FO4?

No I do not have any such friends. No mods are installed. All my temps are below 70. What do you think about the tomshardware benchmark? Was it fake or misleading?

 

[Mrgr74]

What do you think about the tomshardware benchmark? Was it fake or misleading?

Honestly couldn't say as I've not used it and so can't judge. I'll go out on a limb and say I don't think it's fake but like I said, I have not used it. I did a quick vs between the r7 370 and your 460 and on some games it's about even with others the 370 pulls ahead & vice versa.

Here is a 1200 + RX 460 + 16GB tested on 12 games and while not on ultra settings, the games do look decent and run at playable (again what is playable is subjective) frames. i also looked at your mobo and it seems like a good robust unit in it's own right.

I'd really like to see how your system runs with matching RAM running in dual channel. You have an HDD or SSD? Also your mobo has 4 slots, have you tried the RAM in the different slots?

Do you know the exact type of RAM you have installed? as in Make/Model/Speeds etc?

 

[60frames]

Honestly couldn't say as I've not used it and so can't judge. I'll go out on a limb and say I don't think it's fake but like I said, I have not used it. I did a quick vs between the r7 370 and your 460 and on some games it's about even with others the 370 pulls ahead & vice versa.

Here is a 1200 + RX 460 + 16GB tested on 12 games and while not on ultra settings, the games do look decent and run at playable (again what is playable is subjective) frames. i also looked at your mobo and it seems like a good robust unit in it's own right.

I'd really like to see how your system runs with matching RAM running in dual channel. You have an HDD or SSD? Also your mobo has 4 slots, have you tried the RAM in the different slots?

Do you know the exact type of RAM you have installed? as in Make/Model/Speeds etc?

My RAM is a CMK8GX4M1A2400C16R which Corsair has removed from its site. Now it comes with other timings. One module is made by SK Hynix and the other by Micron tech. But the thing is that even if I run the RAM in single channel the issue with Fallout is not solved. Here is another link-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmHQlsAWHzw

Skip to 3:52 .This is the problem with Ryzen. One can never guess what will be the most stable configuration. Add to that Windows update and AMD drivers. Also I have windows 10 on my ssd and 1TB hdd for games.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

This is the problem with Ryzen. One can never guess what will be the most stable configuration.

LOL. No, the problem is you mixed 2 ram sticks that don't want to be mixed.

Doesn't matter if you have Intel or AMD, running mixed ram is a bad idea.

Even when you remove the 2nd stick, I would expect performance issues since the ram is running in single channel.

What speed are both sticks?

 

[60frames]

LOL. No, the problem is you mixed 2 ram sticks that don't want to be mixed.

Doesn't matter if you have Intel or AMD, running mixed ram is a bad idea.

Even when you remove the 2nd stick, I would expect performance issues since the ram is running in single channel.

What speed are both sticks?

2400MHz.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Yea, a single stick of 2400mhz ram is going to cause issues.

I think you just need to buy a matched 16gb 3200mhz kit.