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Upgrade FX8320 tips?

After building a few AM4 systems, I actually prefer Intel's push pins to AMD's system. The push pins are easy to install, and they work. The only down fall to the push pins is when you have to remove the heatsink after it has been on installed for a long period of time. It is almost impossible to re-use the cooler, because the white parts stay spread out and won't go back through the holes in the motherboard very easily.

Having to remove part of the mounting mechanism to put on the stock cooler is more a pain than the push pins ever were.



IMO, the 2600X isn't worth the cost over the standard 2600. This is especially true if you are overclocking. But even at stock, the 2600X is less than 2% faster than the 2600 in games @1080p.

I'd save the money and put it into DDR4-3200 instead of the DDR4-3000.
To get any sort of noticeably better performance than 3000 CL15 he needs 3200 CL14, which are more expensive and he won't see much difference at 60Hz. 3000 cl15 is the way to go, along with 2600 non-x.
I suggest spending the money on a good board instead. He's running a clc, and these do a bad job at cooling vrm's. With an overclocked 6c/12t CPU, they will get hot on a budget board. X470 Prime seems like a reasonable option,it's good enough even for Ryzen 7 OC, he will be able to take advantage of storeMI on a 4xx board since he's running a ssd + hdd, and if he sees an upgrade path for am4 he might benefit from a quality mobo in the future.

ps that x470 strix board is good too, if not better. Go for x470.
 
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Am4 like 2666, 2933, 3200 iirc, the faster the ram the better IF works.

If you want to manual OC grab a 2600, the X models are just for those who want to have it done for them.
 
Am4 like 2666, 2933, 3200 iirc, the faster the ram the better IF works.

If you want to manual OC grab a 2600, the X models are just for those who want to have it done for them.
3000 cl15 will be more than fine at 60Hz IMO.
 
I work as a PC tech and those Intel push pins have always given me trouble over the years, whereas the AMD sockets never have, except if a part of the plastic bracket has broken. That's easily repaired since I always keep the brackets from trashed AMD motherboards.

Anyway, I finally decided what to get:
CPU Ryzen 7 2700X purely for the fact that where I live it's almost double the price and getting stuff shipped here is a nightmare. Also, I have a Corsair H100i V 1.0 so I can sell the Prism cooler for a decent price down here (about $100).
Motherboard Asus Rog X470-F Gaming because it seems to be superb, has M.2 2280 slots and all the other gubbins and I wanted to move away from Gigabyte.
PSU Corsair RM850X full modular. It's the full modular that I wanted and paying extra for the 850i just didn't seem worth it.
WD 500Gb M.2 2280 SSD reduced on Ebuyer from £148 to £89
RAM Corsair Vengeance 16Gb (2 x 8Gb) DDR4 2400Mhz reduced from £172 to £139 and I really don't think I'm going to notice the difference in FPS if it were 3000Mhz.
Some Arctic Silver paste because you always need it.
I've gone a bit over budget and the 2700X is probably overkill, but since it's a five or six year major upgrade, it ticks all the boxes for me and I'm really looking forward to fitting it all into my CM Storm Trooper, particularly with modular cables.

I appreciate everyone's advice and tips, particularly the Overclockers' offer, which looked very tempting indeed.
:toast:
 
Is that the 2018 model of wd ssd ?
 
RAM Corsair Vengeance 16Gb (2 x 8Gb) DDR4 2400Mhz reduced from £172 to £139 and I really don't think I'm going to notice the difference in FPS if it were 3000Mhz.

Dude, you do not want to buy 2400Mhz for Ryzen. I agree with you 100% to buy Ryzen 2700X if you are not planning on upgrading in the next couple of years. But keep in mind that if you buy slow memory now, you'll probably keep on using it when you replace that 2700x by a 3700x or something like that. The memory performance impact could even be higher on the Next generation. We don't know that. But what we do know is that Ryzen needs 3000Mhz+ memory.

Just have a look at memory performance on Ryzen:
https://uk.hardware.info/reviews/82...out-on-performance-amd-ryzen-scaling-in-games
 
Dude, you do not want to buy 2400Mhz for Ryzen. I agree with you 100% to buy Ryzen 2700X if you are not planning on upgrading in the next couple of years. But keep in mind that if you buy slow memory now, you'll probably keep on using it when you replace that 2700x by a 3700x or something like that. The memory performance impact could even be higher on the Next generation. We don't know that. But what we do know is that Ryzen needs 3000Mhz+ memory.

Just have a look at memory performance on Ryzen:
https://uk.hardware.info/reviews/82...out-on-performance-amd-ryzen-scaling-in-games
I agree, I'd prefer 2600 with faster memory now. What will you really do with those 16 threads that 12 threads can't ?
 
To get any sort of noticeably better performance than 3000 CL15 he needs 3200 CL14, which are more expensive and he won't see much difference at 60Hz. 3000 cl15 is the way to go, along with 2600 non-x.

I didn't make the suggestion of 3200 because of performance, I made it because in my experience AMD like DDR4-3200 better than DDR4-3000. So you are more likely to get the rated speeds with DDR4-3200 than with DDR4-3000.

I work as a PC tech and those Intel push pins have always given me trouble over the years, whereas the AMD sockets never have, except if a part of the plastic bracket has broken. That's easily repaired since I always keep the brackets from trashed AMD motherboards.

I agree in the past, but with some of the new coolers requiring you to remove the brackets and screw the heatsink into the backplate, it is a pain in the ass compared to the push pins. I find it very difficult to get a clean mount with their system when the motherboard is already in the case.

I love AMD's lever/bracket system, and luckily they still use it on the Wraith. But the mid and lower end coolers I don't like at all.

But if you are using an aftermarket cooler, it doesn't really matter anyway.

I agree, I'd prefer 2600 with faster memory now. What will you really do with those 16 threads that 12 threads can't ?

That is a good argument today, but the OP already said he doesn't really upgrade but every 4-5 years. I'd say the extra threads are more likely to come in handy down the road than the faster memory.

And heck, with the rather poor AMD overclocking potential right now, he probably has a better chance with tweaking and overclocking the DDR4-2400 to something higher. LOL. He might even get lucky and hit 2933 with those sticks.
 
I didn't make the suggestion of 3200 because of performance, I made it because in my experience AMD like DDR4-3200 better than DDR4-3000. So you are more likely to get the rated speeds with DDR4-3200 than with DDR4-3000.



I agree in the past, but with some of the new coolers requiring you to remove the brackets and screw the heatsink into the backplate, it is a pain in the ass compared to the push pins. I find it very difficult to get a clean mount with their system when the motherboard is already in the case.

I love AMD's lever/bracket system, and luckily they still use it on the Wraith. But the mid and lower end coolers I don't like at all.

But if you are using an aftermarket cooler, it doesn't really matter anyway.



That is a good argument today, but the OP already said he doesn't really upgrade but every 4-5 years. I'd say the extra threads are more likely to come in handy down the road than the faster memory.

And heck, with the rather poor AMD overclocking potential right now, he probably has a better chance with tweaking and overclocking the DDR4-2400 to something higher. LOL. He might even get lucky and hit 2933 with those sticks.
those extra 4 threads will not matter in the long run. only thing that will is faster memory now and faster IPC gen of ryzen in the future. Buying 2700x for futureproofing a budget gaming rig is throwing money away, 12 threads will suffice a long time. Can't people see 2700x gets beaten by 8400 ? there's your proof of futureproof. Games will prioritize single core, as long as he has a hexacore with SMT he is not gonna be limited by number of threads, not now, not in the future.
 
Games will prioritize single core, as long as he has a hexacore with SMT he is not gonna be limited by number of threads, not now, not in the future.

When it comes down to it, if you just look at games, any mid to high end processor will never really be a bottleneck, the GPU will be. So it doesn't much matter, true. I personally wouldn't go with the 2700X. Like I said earlier in the thread, I would go with the 2600(in fact, I did, because I literally bought one this weekend to replace my FX-8350). I would say, get a 2600 and DDR4-2400. Put any money saved elsewhere, like a faster graphics card or an NVMe SSD instead of the SATA one he is getting now.
 
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Well, I do sometimes take advice so I'm ordering the 2600X instead of the 2700 and changing the motherboard to Asus ROG Crosshair Hero VII X470 WiFi because of the huge array of features.
I've already ordered the WD M.2 500Gb which was at a price that was hard to beat (£89) and I must confess to not having researched M.2/Nvme enough before taking the plunge.
Either way, this is all a huge step up from my current FX8320 system and I'm sure to see a difference in gaming performance. It's worth mentioning that my Asus ROG RX580 8Gb has doubled in price since I bought it in December.
Thanks for everyone's input by the way :)
 
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If it's the 2018 wd black you have made a great purchase. The old version was bad though.
 
If it's the 2018 wd black you have made a great purchase. The old version was bad though.
What old version?
I've gone with the WD Blue 500Gb M.2.
 
@Splinterdog
There have been many interesting points made, many of them very logical. Some seem to lend to brand loyalty. I have no brand loyalty issues and tend to go for parts that work best for the tasks needed of them.

Having said that, given what you already have and the budget you've stated, the Ryzen 2600X will give you the best "bang for buck", some overclocking headroom while keeping power usage low and at the same time giving very good future-proofing and upgrade path. Now if your budget was even $100 higher, then the 8600k might make more sense for the short term, but will have a limited upgrade path as Intel is going to change socket specs soon.

That's my 2 cents..
 
I've gone with the WD Blue 500Gb M.2.

That is the "old" version, the Blue came out before the Black. The Blue is SATA based, so won't perform any better than a standard 2.5" SATA SSD. The Black is PCI-E NVMe based, which performs much faster.
 
That is the "old" version, the Blue came out before the Black. The Blue is SATA based, so won't perform any better than a standard 2.5" SATA SSD. The Black is PCI-E NVMe based, which performs much faster.
there are two versions of wd blue, the old one is pretty bad, it's 2d tlc. The new one is excellent though, it's on toshiba's 64-layer 3d bics nand, same that they use on the blazing fast wd black 2018/sandisk extreme pro.

you can tell the old and new one apart by serial number

old:

WDS500G1B0A (sata)
WDS500G1B0B (m.2 sata)

new:

WDS500G2B0A (sata)
WDS500G2B0B (m.2 sata)


the old 2d tlc wd blue sucks to be honest

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow...d_pilnie_zamienie_talerze_na_flaszke?page=0,3
 
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According to my order the part number is WDS500G2B0B so maybe I got lucky.
I had a moment of panic when I read up on M.2 keys as the Asus CH7 mobo has two M.2 slots type M and this SSD is keyed B & M and I thought maybe I'd chosen incorrectly.
Anyway, it turns out that it will fit into both B and M slots, even though the tec specs do not state this for those of us who are not familiar with this type of drive.
 
...this SSD is keyed B & M and I thought maybe I'd chosen incorrectly.
Anyway, it turns out that it will fit into both B and M slots, even though the tec specs do not state this for those of us who are not familiar with this type of drive.
Dual keyed drives are slower and sata speed, not Nvme.
 
Before the major surgery of fitting the new motherboard and PSU, I rigged the new Crosshair Hero VII up on the bench to make sure everything works as it should, with a spare GPU and the cooler that came with the Ryzen and by heck it's quick!
Tomorrow I'll be stripping down the case and removing the Gigabyte and Sentey PSU to upgrade my stepson's gaming machine and then the fun begins.
It should look great with the Asus ROG RX580 and the Corsair H100i all glowing in the window.
asus-rog-crosshair-bench.jpg
 
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