Upgrade advice please

[xu^]

hi all, current specs listed.

thinking of upgrading to the following

• 
  

  MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard, ATX - Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series Processors, AM5 - 14+2 Duet Rail VRM, DDR5 Memory Boost 6400+MHz/OC, 2 x PCIe 4.0 x16, 2 x M.2 Gen4, Wi-Fi 6EMSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard, ATX - Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series​

• Corsair Vengeance RGB White 32GB 6000MHz DDR5 Memory Kit​

• AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Processor (integrated Radeon Graphics, 8 cores/16 threads, 105W DTP, AM5 Socket, 40MB cache, up to 5.4 GHz max boost, no cooler)​

couple of things im unsure about, 1 is the cooler, i read many AM4 coolers work on AM5 , so i emailed Deepcool to ask if mine was AM5 compatible, to which they said yes it is.
but the box itself only mentions AM4 and lower... so will it, wont it? if not, what air cooler would you recommend for the 7700x ?

The other thing is PSU, I currently have a Corsair TX650M PSU which is approx 4 years old, would you carry it over or would you replace it ? if replace would a 750w be enough ?

any suggestions, ideas would be most helpful

thanks.

 

[Kapone33]

AM4 and AM5 have the same socket layout. You will be fine. The 7700X does not consume a ton of power and the GPU listed in your Specs is not a heavy user. You should be fine with 650 and may be at the prime sweet spot at 325 Watts of Power draw. The only thing I would change is the RAM to the TEAM 6000-30 32GB kit. It is cheaper than the Vengeance kit and at least you will know the ICs.

 

[tommesfps]

Hi xu^
1) I think the Deepcool website provides updated manuals which includes AM5 compatibility for AS-500 plus. 2) your 650W Corsair PSU will do fine, I would keep it for now.
when it comes to suggestions; may I ask if you thought about going with 7600X3D instead of 7700X (fewer cores but X3D for gaming)?

 

[Shou Miko]

hi all, current specs listed.

thinking of upgrading to the following

• 
  

  MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard, ATX - Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series Processors, AM5 - 14+2 Duet Rail VRM, DDR5 Memory Boost 6400+MHz/OC, 2 x PCIe 4.0 x16, 2 x M.2 Gen4, Wi-Fi 6EMSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard, ATX - Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series​

• Corsair Vengeance RGB White 32GB 6000MHz DDR5 Memory Kit​

• AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Processor (integrated Radeon Graphics, 8 cores/16 threads, 105W DTP, AM5 Socket, 40MB cache, up to 5.4 GHz max boost, no cooler)​

couple of things im unsure about, 1 is the cooler, i read many AM4 coolers work on AM5 , so i emailed Deepcool to ask if mine was AM5 compatible, to which they said yes it is.
but the box itself only mentions AM4 and lower... so will it, wont it? if not, what air cooler would you recommend for the 7700x ?

The other thing is PSU, I currently have a Corsair TX650M PSU which is approx 4 years old, would you carry it over or would you replace it ? if replace would a 750w be enough ?

any suggestions, ideas would be most helpful

thanks.

Why white memory for a black/grey motherboard? I hope you don't mind I ask.

as @kapone32 says 650W will be fine no worried with your current RTX 4070 it only pulls about 200W which leaves you with 450W left for the rest of the system unless you have ton of rgb lights and fans I doubt you will get in to issues if the unit is solid.

I agree with @tommesfps Deepcool have on their website which coolers are compatible and it can vary from manufacture to manufacture, I emailed Noctua for my current cooler they told me I could use the am4 mount and it fit really well no issues respect to Noctua they replied really fast.

I am not running the X variant of the 7700 because my chip even as a box was £16 cheaper than the 7700X when I brought mine and if I really felt like it I could just tune it for X speeds but no need it's solid with a 65W limit in the bios and performance is in top

 

[dgianstefani]

Zen5 or X3D.

 

[xu^]

Hi xu^
1) I think the Deepcool website provides updated manuals which includes AM5 compatibility for AS-500 plus. 2) your 650W Corsair PSU will do fine, I would keep it for now.
when it comes to suggestions; may I ask if you thought about going with 7600X3D instead of 7700X (fewer cores but X3D for gaming)?

tbh i didnt know there was a 7600x3d, not seen it listed on any of my local etailers either.

edit: i just checked the Deepcool website, and it seems my cooler is compatible, phew, thanks for that, never occurred to look on the website

Why white memory for a black/grey motherboard? I hope you don't mind I ask.

because my case is white and my GPU is white, CPU cooler is white , current ram is also white, so thought id just go the same.

Cheers guys, will have a look on the Deepcool website, id much rather user the cooler i have if its possible.

Zen5 or X3D.

i dont need the latest and greatest, its more about getting on the newer platform, with a view to upgrade the cpu in another couple of years
from the benchmarks Ive seen, the 7700x is way above my current 5700x as it is, so no need to spend silly money, hopefully pick up a 9800x3d in 2 or 3 years for much cheaper than it is now.

 

[Speedyblupi]

If I was personally in your situation, I'd probably wait for the Ryzen 7 9700 non-X to come out (this would probably be at some point in early 2025, possibly at CES in January), and/or for B650 motherboards and the 9700X to get a bit cheaper. B650s will probably get cheaper when B850 motherboards launch, on the 6th of January.

I guess it depends on what you use your computer for, and how desperate you are for an upgrade from your 5700X. The 5700X is still a pretty good CPU in 2024, and it wouldn't limit your RTX 4070 in most new games. The 7700X is about 30% faster on average, which is decent, but not revolutionary. As you'd be buying the new motherboard and RAM anyway, for high-refresh-rate gaming it might be worth paying extra to get a 7800X3D or 9800X3D, or for workstation tasks a Ryzen 9 7950, 9900X, or 9950X.

The 7600X3D exists, but it's very rare in the UK, and usually not possible to find at reasonable prices. It was originally launched as a "Micro Center" exclusive in the USA, and I'm not sure if it ever got an official release beyond that.

A Ryzen 7 9700X isn't much more expensive than a Ryzen 7 7700X, so might already be a better option for you. By choosing a similar but slightly cheaper motherboard, like a Gigabyte B650 Eagle AX, you could get a 9700X for a similar overall price to the 7700X.
To be fair, the 9700X is not all that much faster than the 7700X in most tasks, either (usually less than 5%), and it normally uses the same amount of power when gaming, but it is significantly more efficient in multithreaded tasks. The 9700X only uses up to about 80W at stock settings, while the 7700X can use up to 135W. You should be fine with your 650W PSU with either CPU, but a ~65W difference in maximum CPU power could save you about £10 a year, assuming you pay fairly average UK electricity prices and use your PC for intensive multithreaded tasks for 1-2 hours a day, and could also make a significant difference to cooling requirements in summer. That type of PC usage might not be realistic or relevant to you though.

 

[xu^]

The 7600X3D exists, but it's very rare in the UK, and usually not possible to find at reasonable prices. It was originally launched as a "Micro Center" exclusive in the USA, and I'm not sure if it ever got an official release beyond that.

heard of the 5600x3d as a Microcentre exclusive, but had no idea there was a 7600x3d version as well.

just checked the price of the 9700x and its around £50 more expensive on amazon, for only 5% diff as u mentioned i don't think ill bother.
as for the 9700 non x, if its anything like the 5700 non x then that'll be a pass for sure, even if its ok, itll prob be about the same as the 7700x or only 1-2% better.

 

[nomdeplume]

i dont need the latest and greatest, its more about getting on the newer platform, with a view to upgrade the cpu in another couple of years

Get whatever is the most feasible long term purchase. I'm sure if you stopped to think for a moment you would see how long some people are able to stretch out upgrades without missing out one bit.

The less you buy the more you save.

 

[Speedyblupi]

just checked the price of the 9700x and its around £50 more expensive on amazon, for only 5% diff as u mentioned i don't think ill bother.
as for the 9700 non x, if its anything like the 5700 non x then that'll be a pass for sure, even if its ok, itll prob be about the same as the 7700x or only 1-2% better.

CCL has the 9700X for a bit less than Amazon, but still £40 more than Amazon's 7700X, so in that case, yeah, the 7700X is probably the better deal. If your priority is getting onto the new platform then it might still be worth waiting for B850 motherboards, but if you want the upgrade now, there wouldn't be much harm in it, probably only about £15 or so.
My expectation is that the 9700 would effectively be a cheaper version of the 9700X (like what the 7600 is to the 7600X), but if they did release one that was based on an APU die with less cache and PCIe connectivity, like the 5700 compared to the 5700X, yeah, that would suck and wouldn't be worth waiting for.

 

[Shou Miko]

CCL has the 9700X for a bit less than Amazon, but still £40 more than Amazon's 7700X, so in that case, yeah, the 7700X is probably the better deal. If your priority is getting onto the new platform then it might still be worth waiting for B850 motherboards, but if you want the upgrade now, there wouldn't be much harm in it, probably only about £15 or so.
My expectation is that the 9700 would effectively be a cheaper version of the 9700X (like what the 7600 is to the 7600X), but if they did release one that was based on an APU die with less cache and PCIe connectivity, like the 5700 compared to the 5700X, yeah, that would suck and wouldn't be worth waiting for.

Why wait? You can get Asrock's B650 Steel Legend WiFi with PCI-E and NVME Gen5 it's as optional as for the B850 is set to be. (I built a couple of am5 builds with this board I love it, sadly I am stuck with matx so I use the B650M PG Riptide other wise I would rock this board myself).

Source: https://wccftech.com/amd-details-mainstream-b850-entry-level-b840-chipsets-b840-no-cpu-oc-pcie-gen3/

 

[dgianstefani]

For a <£50 difference it's nuts to buy a previous gen CPU.

 

[xu^]

For a <£50 difference it's nuts to buy a previous gen CPU.

not everyone has 100s to spare to throw at the latest and greatest, another 50 on top may be peanuts to you but to me its the diff between getting something or not, as i mentioned its more about getting on to AM5 and leaving AM4 behind, 7700x v 9700x as someone above said is like a 5% improvement, 5% to me is not worth another 50, especially when it wont even be noticeable.

if theres better options for the same price or less, im all ears.

 

[Speedyblupi]

Why wait? You can get Asrock's B650 Steel Legend WiFi with PCI-E and NVME Gen5 it's as optional as for the B850 is set to be.

I was considering mentioning that motherboard in my own answer. If you want a relatively reasonably priced motherboard with PCIe 5.0 for both graphics and M.2, without a load of the frills that most people don't need, the B650 Steel Legend is easily the best choice.
You can always pay a little more to get something a bit better though. I suggested the 9700X, but I also suggested a cheaper motherboard in order to compensate for its cost. A B650 Steel Legend with a 7700X would cost about the same as a B650 Gaming Plus WiFi with a 9700X.
Thinking about it, the former combination would probably be the better deal if you plan to keep the motherboard for a long time and upgrade your CPU and GPU in it.

For a <£50 difference it's nuts to buy a previous gen CPU.

For a <5% performance difference and circumstantial efficiency advantages? I did suggest the 9700X, as I think it should be considered as an alternative, but I don't think xu^ would be nuts to pay 15% less for a 7700X that's only about 10% worse. I would say that both the 7700X and 9700X are viable options at current prices. If the price difference was <£20, then yes, the 9700X would definitely be the better option.

 

[xu^]

that board isnt avail on Amazon UK currently, maybe elsewhere but then that would prob be in the new year, by which time i might've chickened out of upgrading
nice looking board, in fact to nice, id hazard a guess its costs a fair bit more than the MSI i was looking at originally ? which is £144.99

 

[Speedyblupi]

that board isnt avail on Amazon UK currently, maybe elsewhere but then that would prob be in the new year, by which time i might've chickened out of upgrading
nice looking board, in fact to nice, id hazard a guess its costs a fair bit more than the MSI i was looking at originally ? which is £144.99

The B650 Steel Legend is £185 on Scan UK right now. Somewhat more expensive than the Gaming Plus, but still reasonable IMO for full PCIe 5.0 support.
But if saving costs is your priority, it might be worth looking at cheaper motherboards. I mentioned the B650 Eagle AX, which is very similar to the Gaming Plus WiFi for £10 less. And if you don't need a full-size ATX motherboard, the ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 has a remarkably good VRM (interestingly, in Hardware Unboxed's VRM test, the Eagle AX, Gaming Plus WiFi, and HDV/M.2 are right next to each other, all 3 performing well with the Ryzen 9 7950X) for only £115, though without WiFi.

 

[xu^]

thanks all, i decided to get the Asrock Steel Legend after all even tho it cost a little more than i wanted, but it does seem a much better board and the colour helped sway my decision , 7700x and 32gb corsair 6000mhz cl30 ram

hopefully no cooler fitting problems, stuff arriving Friday.

couldnt afford a better cpu currently, but i will eventually look to getting an x3d variant at some point in the future

 

[xu^]

just need to get the motivation to get it all set up, so maybe new year

 

[nomdeplume]

just need to get the motivation to get it all set up, so maybe new year

Best of luck with the new build. Good choice prioritizing a better board over same gen cpu performance.

 

[grammar_phreak]

hi all, current specs listed.

thinking of upgrading to the following

• 
  

  MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard, ATX - Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series Processors, AM5 - 14+2 Duet Rail VRM, DDR5 Memory Boost 6400+MHz/OC, 2 x PCIe 4.0 x16, 2 x M.2 Gen4, Wi-Fi 6EMSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard, ATX - Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 / 8000 / 7000 Series​

• Corsair Vengeance RGB White 32GB 6000MHz DDR5 Memory Kit​

• AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Processor (integrated Radeon Graphics, 8 cores/16 threads, 105W DTP, AM5 Socket, 40MB cache, up to 5.4 GHz max boost, no cooler)​

couple of things im unsure about, 1 is the cooler, i read many AM4 coolers work on AM5 , so i emailed Deepcool to ask if mine was AM5 compatible, to which they said yes it is.
but the box itself only mentions AM4 and lower... so will it, wont it? if not, what air cooler would you recommend for the 7700x ?

The other thing is PSU, I currently have a Corsair TX650M PSU which is approx 4 years old, would you carry it over or would you replace it ? if replace would a 750w be enough ?

any suggestions, ideas would be most helpful

thanks.

Looks like I'm late but I would seek out a Ryzen 7 5700x3d or try to find a decently priced 5800x3d (which I wish AMD did not discontinue, but AMD figured out the 5800x3d keeps people from jumping platforms). Since the 5800x3d and 7700x have similar performance in games, I would stick to the in-socket upgrade if gaming is your goal. I assume gaming is your goal because you could simply get a higher core count AM4 processor. The other reason I would switch is because I might want to hook up some Gen 4 or Gen 5 NVMe drives, or pricing and availably of these X3D processors which hasn't been good as of late.

I have not had any problems with 4 year old power supply units as of yet, and I rarely hear of people having issues with units that are less than six years old. If your PSU is seven or eight years old, then I'd question it. Personally, I replace PSU's once they hit the 10 years old mark, even if I'm not upgrading. I just switched out an old Seasonic X-1250 because of its age, and I replaced it with a Corsair HX unit.

When you bought your CPU cooler, the AM5 platform did not exist, or it was in the testing phase which was being kept under wraps. So yeah, a CPU cooler from the year 2021 should not mention AM5 at all. If Arctic was to release a Liquid Freezer IV cooler, and it made mention of the AM6 socket, people would lose their minds. Videocardz + WCCF tech + Youtubers would have content for weeks. AM4 and AM5 coolers are cross compatible. The reason AMD went with a thick IHS for AM5 processors is to match the Z-height of AM4 processors and the plastic AM4 socket. Also, the mounting holes for AM4 and AM5 coolers are in the same location. A few months ago I switched out an AM4 system that was being cooled by the Liquid Freezer II and replaced it with AM5 parts. I was able to reuse the LF II cooler without any issues.

 

[xu^]

Looks like I'm late but I would seek out a Ryzen 7 5700x3d or try to find a decently priced 5800x3d (which I wish AMD did not discontinue, but AMD figured out the 5800x3d keeps people from jumping platforms). Since the 5800x3d and 7700x have similar performance in games, I would stick to the in-socket upgrade if gaming is your goal. I assume gaming is your goal because you could simply get a higher core count AM4 processor. The other reason I would switch is because I might want to hook up some Gen 4 or Gen 5 NVMe drives, or pricing and availably of these X3D processors which hasn't been good as of late.

I have not had any problems with 4 year old power supply units as of yet, and I rarely hear of people having issues with units that are less than six years old. If your PSU is seven or eight years old, then I'd question it. Personally, I replace PSU's once they hit the 10 years old mark, even if I'm not upgrading. I just switched out an old Seasonic X-1250 because of its age, and I replaced it with a Corsair HX unit.

When you bought your CPU cooler, the AM5 platform did not exist, or it was in the testing phase which was being kept under wraps. So yeah, a CPU cooler from the year 2021 should not mention AM5 at all. If Arctic was to release a Liquid Freezer IV cooler, and it made mention of the AM6 socket, people would lose their minds. Videocardz + WCCF tech + Youtubers would have content for weeks. AM4 and AM5 coolers are cross compatible. The reason AMD went with a thick IHS for AM5 processors is to match the Z-height of AM4 processors and the plastic AM4 socket. Also, the mounting holes for AM4 and AM5 coolers are in the same location. A few months ago I switched out an AM4 system that was being cooled by the Liquid Freezer II and replaced it with AM5 parts. I was able to reuse the LF II cooler without any issues.

not really, i already had/have a 5700x i didn't think the 5700x3d made much of an improvement and zero upgrade path after that, at least now on AM5 i have upgrade path to 9000 series or 10,000 if that's also AM5>

spend 200 ish on a 5700x3d or 500 ish on platform upgrade to AM5, AM5 makes most sense to me.


yes i was debating if i should get a new PSU with it being 4 years old, years ago you was lucky if they lasted 4 years, seems these days , they seem to last much longer

 

[Bobaganoosh]

I wouldn't worry about your PSU unless you want a more powerful GPU. Then I'd look at something that meets ATX 3.0/PCIe 5.0 specs, but I don't see any reason to rush. That was a decent power supply when new and at 4 years old, I think it should still have several years of life.

 

[grammar_phreak]

not really, i already had/have a 5700x i didn't think the 5700x3d made much of an improvement and zero upgrade path after that, at least now on AM5 i have upgrade path to 9000 series or 10,000 if that's also AM5>

spend 200 ish on a 5700x3d or 500 ish on platform upgrade to AM5, AM5 makes most sense to me.


yes i was debating if i should get a new PSU with it being 4 years old, years ago you was lucky if they lasted 4 years, seems these days , they seem to last much longer

i manage systems for family members and the PS units they're using are 4 years old at the minimum. you're scaring me a bit, lol
It seemed like EVGA had their G2, P2, and T2 units out for several years before they updated them

 

[oxrufiioxo]

IF you keep it on a decent power strip/ups, make sure to dust it every couple months, live in a pet free/smoke free home a power supply should last 8-12 years. I've never actually have had one die on me my oldest one is like 14-15 years old at this point a seasonic based XFX unit, I have an evga g2 850 that is 10 years old and still just fine.

The only actual psu related issue I've ever had was a 3080ti tripping protections on 6 different models but I'm pretty sure it was that specific model because a 3090 that I was testing I could not replicate the issue.

4070/7700X will not even make the OP psu break a sweat.


Awesome choice on the upgrade and Asrocks bios has been pretty decent on AM5.

 

[xu^]

ok upgrade installed and running fine.

the only thing im a little concerned about, is this board has x2 8 pin power connectors at the top, but my PSU only has 1, will this likely become a problem ? or do i need yet another new part lol

maybe also my cooler might need upgrading at some point, in cinebench it sitting at 95c and according to cpuz its hitting just over 5ghz boost, is it throttling because of the cooler ?