Question Worth upgrading from a i5 4690K to AMD Ryzen 5 3600?

[BogdanH]

I recommend to leave BIOS as it is. Put all things together, install Windows and use PC a while. That way you make sure that PC (the way you built it) is working properly. And if it does work as expected, I see no reason to update BIOS.
I think it's more important that you have latest chipset drivers ready (on USB stick, for example). You should install this driver just after installing Windows -same goes for graphic card driver. But then, PC should work even if these drivers are not installed (when installing Windows, "default" drivers will be installed anyway).

 

[Mr Drummer]

I recommend to leave BIOS as it is. Put all things together, install Windows and use PC a while. That way you make sure that PC (the way you built it) is working properly. And if it does work as expected, I see no reason to update BIOS.
I think it's more important that you have latest chipset drivers ready (on USB stick, for example). You should install this driver just after installing Windows -same goes for graphic card driver. But then, PC should work even if these drivers are not installed (when installing Windows, "default" drivers will be installed anyway).

Ok, i won't bother with the BIOS-update just yet then, maybe if i decide to upgrade the cpu in the future i'll look into it. I talked to my brother by the way and eventhough he offered me a two pairs of 8GB ramsticks they are pretty slow and i thought since he's already given me so much i might aswell go ahead and buy a pair of 8GB sticks myself. I read somwhere that since the "AMD Ryzen 5 - 3600" is a 3.6GHZ cpu it's adviced that i get ram that's the same frequency (3600MHZ that is), is that the general consensus? Someone also told me that i could just get a pair of "3200MHZ" and oveclock them to "3600MHZ" myself but i don't feel comfortable with doing that just yet.

 

[BogdanH]

No, CPU frequency has nothing to do with RAM speed.

I would get 3200MHz RAM because of two main reasons:

1. With 3200 you have bigger chance that your RAM will run stable
2. 3200 RAM is quite cheaper than 3600

-and in everyday work, you would not notice the speed difference anyway. Saying that, you wouldn't notice difference between 2666 and 3200 Mhz either. For average user, RAM speed just doesn't have much impact on PC overall performance.

 

[Unolocogringo]

I look at it slightly differently as far as ram speeds.
Ryzen performs much better with high frequency low latency ram up to a point.
3600 ram is about max for a lot of 3600 CPUs but it is at the low end for 5?00 CPUs .
It would be better to spend a little more now on 3600 low latency ram then upgrade CPU/RAM in the future.
Plus the faster ram will cut down editing times now and if he upgrades in a couple years to just a new CPU.

 

[Colif]

Yes. I did. I went from 4690K to 3600XT and I really would have to use my old one again to tell the difference.

Not saying there isn't one but I may not appreciate the difference as much on this as I would on it. I am sure I would miss it If I had to use the old one again (mainly as its gpu... ugh, it died one week before i made new one, so I would have either a GTX 960 or the onboard to use as graphics...

thinks. antivirus scans on old pc ued to take 2 hours to run, longest I run on this was 23 minutes. Yes, there are differences.

was it worth it. Yes. would I do it again? Yes, although I would change a few things in hindsight but thats how it always is.

@Zerk2012 if he sells GPU, whats he going to use in new one? I may have missed a detail

 

[Zerk2012]

Yes. I did. I went from 4690K to 3600XT and I really would have to use my old one again to tell the difference.

Not saying there isn't one but I may not appreciate the difference as much on this as I would on it. I am sure I would miss it If I had to use the old one again (mainly as its gpu... ugh, it died one week before i made new one, so I would have either a GTX 960 or the onboard to use as graphics...

thinks. antivirus scans on old pc ued to take 2 hours to run, longest I run on this was 23 minutes. Yes, there are differences.

was it worth it. Yes. would I do it again? Yes, although I would change a few things in hindsight but thats how it always is.

@Zerk2012 if he sells GPU, whats he going to use in new one? I may have missed a detail

He was given a 980ti.

EDIT he said he had this.
Fractal Design Core
3300 | Cooler Master G650M | Asus Z97-AR | i5 4690K | 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 1600MHz | Crucial BX100 240GB + Intel 530-series 120GB | Asus GTX770 OC | Benq G2420HDBL

 

[BogdanH]

3600 ram is about max for a lot of 3600 CPUs but it is at the low end for 5?00 CPUs

-that's what "overclockers" and "benchmark addict" say. One of the scenarios where 3600Mhz RAM (over 3200Mhz) would be of benefit is video editing. But from what OP told so far, that's not the case -if it would be, nobody would really recommend Ryzen 3600.
And btw. 3600MHz RAM is considered as "sweet spot" for 5000 series CPU -not low end).

 

[logainofhades]

B450 can be a bit finnicky with 3600 speed ram. I would recommend B550. You get PCI-E 4.0, for the GPU slot, and top M.2, and all the PCI-E, from the chipset is 3.0, instead of 2.0, like B450 is.

 

[Zerk2012]

He was given a 980ti.

EDIT he said he had this.
Fractal Design Core
3300 | Cooler Master G650M | Asus Z97-AR | i5 4690K | 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 1600MHz | Crucial BX100 240GB + Intel 530-series 120GB | Asus GTX770 OC | Benq G2420HDBL

Ok, i won't bother with the BIOS-update just yet then, maybe if i decide to upgrade the cpu in the future i'll look into it. I talked to my brother by the way and eventhough he offered me a two pairs of 8GB ramsticks they are pretty slow and i thought since he's already given me so much i might aswell go ahead and buy a pair of 8GB sticks myself. I read somwhere that since the "AMD Ryzen 5 - 3600" is a 3.6GHZ cpu it's adviced that i get ram that's the same frequency (3600MHZ that is), is that the general consensus? Someone also told me that i could just get a pair of "3200MHZ" and oveclock them to "3600MHZ" myself but i don't feel comfortable with doing that just yet.

I would do everything a bit different.
Sell your CPU, motherboard, memory, cooler, video card, and do a fresh install of windows on the SSD. That should recoup a lot of your money and it would only need a case and power supply to be a working PC.

About 500 bucks for everything else for your PC.
PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | Purchased For $0.00
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler | $39.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard | $114.99 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $159.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $62.99 @ Amazon
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $108.78 @ Other World Computing
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $486.74
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-03 09:08 EST-0500 |

With the age of your power supply it could be a good time to buy a new one then you could buy a 50 buck case for your old PC and sell it as a working PC and have all new parts for yours except the used video card.

 

[Zerk2012]

Yes. I did. I went from 4690K to 3600XT and I really would have to use my old one again to tell the difference.

Not saying there isn't one but I may not appreciate the difference as much on this as I would on it. I am sure I would miss it If I had to use the old one again (mainly as its gpu... ugh, it died one week before i made new one, so I would have either a GTX 960 or the onboard to use as graphics...

thinks. antivirus scans on old pc ued to take 2 hours to run, longest I run on this was 23 minutes. Yes, there are differences.

was it worth it. Yes. would I do it again? Yes, although I would change a few things in hindsight but thats how it always is.

@Zerk2012 if he sells GPU, whats he going to use in new one? I may have missed a detail

Quoted the wrong post deleted it and put it to the original poster.

 

[BogdanH]

B450 can be a bit finnicky with 3600 speed ram. I would recommend B550. You get PCI-E 4.0, for the GPU slot, and top M.2, and all the PCI-E, from the chipset is 3.0, instead of 2.0, like B450 is.

-and so we come to conclusion, he should also get 5600X CPU.
However, my impression is, OP is quite tight on budget.

 

[Colif]

He got given a 3600,

Hi, i recently and unexpectedly got my hands on a "AMD Ryzen 5 3600" and a "GTX 980 Ti"

so that would be silly to buy a 5600

He was given a 980ti.

EDIT he said he had this.
Fractal Design Core
3300 | Cooler Master G650M | Asus Z97-AR | i5 4690K | 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 1600MHz | Crucial BX100 240GB + Intel 530-series 120GB | Asus GTX770 OC | Benq G2420HDBL

his old pc is about on par with what i had.

 

[logainofhades]

I would do everything a bit different.
Sell your CPU, motherboard, memory, cooler, video card, and do a fresh install of windows on the SSD. That should recoup a lot of your money and it would only need a case and power supply to be a working PC.

About 500 bucks for everything else for your PC.
PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | Purchased For $0.00
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler | $39.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard | $114.99 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $159.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $62.99 @ Amazon
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $108.78 @ Other World Computing
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $486.74
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-03 09:08 EST-0500 |

With the age of your power supply it could be a good time to buy a new one then you could buy a 50 buck case for your old PC and sell it as a working PC and have all new parts for yours except the used video card.

I would do it even more different, than what you have.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX 400 V2 64.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team T-FORCE DARK Za 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($108.78 @ Other World Computing)
Total: $483.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-03 09:31 EST-0500

 

[Zerk2012]

I would do it even more different, than what you have.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX 400 V2 64.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team T-FORCE DARK Za 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($108.78 @ Other World Computing)
Total: $483.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-03 09:31 EST-0500

That would also work not the brand of memory and SSD I would buy but to each their own on that.
Nothing wrong with the B450 board still has PCI-E 3.0 on the top slot and gen 4 don't mean much to me.

EDIT I would still consider the new PSU and buying a cheap case to sell what he has as a working PC, the PSU is probably as old as the processor.

 

[logainofhades]

The A-data SX8200 is a Tom's Hardware editors choice.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/adata-xpg-sx8200-pro-ssd,5955.html

All ram comes from a few select fabs, and companies slap their sticker on it.

 

[Mr Drummer]

No, CPU frequency has nothing to do with RAM speed.

I would get 3200MHz RAM because of two main reasons:

1. With 3200 you have bigger chance that your RAM will run stable
2. 3200 RAM is quite cheaper than 3600

-and in everyday work, you would not notice the speed difference anyway. Saying that, you wouldn't notice difference between 2666 and 3200 Mhz either. For average user, RAM speed just doesn't have much impact on PC overall performance.

Ok, and the 3200MHZ will be a good fit even if i decide to upgrade to a better cpu in the future? Regarding budget it's more of a "quick and easy" one than a financial concern. I got a Ryzen 5 3600 and a GTX980 Ti by chance and thought it would be a fun thing to see what i could do with it without to much time and effort, just buy a motherboard maybe some RAM-sticks and be done with it. My only concern was if it would be a worthwhile upgrade from my current i5 4690K but from what i understand it is, From what i understand though my power supply isn't the best (Cooler Master G650M) but will it suffice for now or am i at the risk of something happening because of it?

 

[BogdanH]

and the 3200MHZ will be a good fit even if i decide to upgrade to a better cpu in the future?

Hard to say what will be good fit for you in future... But to give an impression: I have 5900X and am very happy with my 3200MHz RAM. I just think it doesn't make sense to pay price difference, if I can't notice performance increase in my work (no matter what benchmarks say).

 

[Mr Drummer]

Hard to say what will be good fit for you in future... But to give an impression: I have 5900X and am very happy with my 3200MHz RAM. I just think it doesn't make sense to pay price difference, if I can't notice performance increase in my work (no matter what benchmarks say).

Yeah you're right, the white version of "Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200MHZ" are really cheap now, maybe i'll get those.

 

[logainofhades]

Ok, and the 3200MHZ will be a good fit even if i decide to upgrade to a better cpu in the future?

Ryzen 3000 and 5000 are designed to natively run at 3200 speeds, but 3600 is better. Next gen AMD will most likely be a new socket, and DDR5, so I would spend a bit more, to get the most out of what you will have. The price of 3200 vs 3600 isn't massive, except when looking at lower latency 2x16gb kits of 3600.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Yes, at about year 2000, AMD CPU's were kinda hot (to put it mildly)....

Around the 2015 time frame too...when the only way to get decent performance was by overclocking FX8000 CPU's into the stratosphere. That generally needed awesome cooling. AMD even bundled a water cooling kit with one of their CPU's.

Ryzen is a universe of difference to that.

 

[BogdanH]

Around the 2015 time frame too..

-didn't know that, because I switched to Intel at about 2002 ..and came back to AMD last year

 

[Mr Drummer]

-didn't know that, because I switched to Intel at about 2002 ..and came back to AMD last year

I've got a question regarding the cooler i'm gonna use, a Noctua NH-U12P. i've got an extra fan for the cooler ( so a dual fan setup if i want to) aswell as an extra pair of metal hooks for attaching it to the cooler. I just want to check with you that i've understood it correctly regarding the placement of the fans for optimizing the airflow and "cooling capabilities. The first fan (closest to the ram stick) should be placed like Picture 1 below right? And the second fan pointing towards the back of the chassi should be placed so that the grills are showing like in Picture 2? Have i understood this "push/pull" thing correctly?


Picture 1

Picture 2

 

[BogdanH]

I can only see Picture 1.. but doesn't matter.
Every fan has arrows on "frame" which show in what direction fan rotates and in what direction air flows. I tell that because just by looking at fan, it's impossible to tell in what direction fan blows (because it depends on rotating direction).
In short: fan on RAM side must blow (cold) air into cooler (=push) and fan on opposite side must suck (hot) air from cooler (=pull). And obviously, case fan on top/back of your PC case must blow that hot air (that comes from CPU) out of the case.

 

[Mr Drummer]

I can only see Picture 1.. but doesn't matter.
Every fan has arrows on "frame" which show in what direction fan rotates and in what direction air flows. I tell that because just by looking at fan, it's impossible to tell in what direction fan blows (because it depends on rotating direction).
In short: fan on RAM side must blow (cold) air into cooler (=push) and fan on opposite side must suck (hot) air from cooler (=pull). And obviously, case fan on top/back of your PC case must blow that hot air (that comes from CPU) out of the case.

Ok, thanks for all the info! By the way, do you know if it's still possible to use a Windows 7 product/license key to validate Windows 10 during the installationprocess?

 

[logainofhades]

Ok, thanks for all the info! By the way, do you know if it's still possible to use a Windows 7 product/license key to validate Windows 10 during the installationprocess?

Yes