Itching to upgrade, but I know its a bad time and been awhile.

MGCJerry

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
144
I'm still rocking on my aging Intel 4790K (first Intel build since my last socket 7 intel build), but looking to go back to AMD this round (I dont have a brand loyalty). I've been looking around and seen lots of stuff that honestly seems pointless. When did boards get so bloated? The days of $1K+ bleeding-edge builds are over for me as well as high-end gaming. I know I'm going to need a new PSU as mine is old (Corsair TX-750, 8 years old). Looking at setting up with an AMD 3700x.

So for a board what I'm looking for... Hopefully under $160usd. Would prefer a non Asus brand as the last Asus board I had, I still have a bad taste in my mouth regarding an RMA and that ship sailed 7+ years ago. But they do make good stuff but good luck if/when it breaks.

I intend to re-use/add:
• m2 SSD
• 10GB ethernet card
• RX460 video
• LSI 9260 raid controller (not in current setup, running in another machine that I would hope to move to my machine)

Notes:
• Will be using 32GB ram, corsair vengence unless someone has another good recommendation
• Looking at a Seasonic Focus 750w PSU
• More for more workstation load than for hardcore gaming
• At least 3 pci-e ports that can be used for my video, ethernet & planned raid controller
• No wi-fi, its a wasted cost
• RGB is irrelevant
• No cryptomining, but occasional BOINC projects during winter
• Will be reusing my current modded NZXT Guardian tower case, but will eventually be moved into its final home; Supermicro CSE-829 rackmount chassis
• No overclocking.
• I will be using the hardware until it is absolutely necessary to replace

Software:
• Windows 7 (imma try it anyway - would be nice for legacy reasons, but obviously not required)
• Debian (daily driver)
• Windows 10 LTSC
• Rendering (3d and video, and light audio work, occasional gaming but not top tier gaming)
 
I recent built a full AMD rig (look in sig) and I'm running Kubuntu. Been very happy with the CPU performance. It did cost a little bit (mostly cause I bought a GPU off eBay) but most of the other parts were at MSRP so it wasn't that bad.

I would recommend going with the Ryzen 5000 series if you can. They aren't that much more expensive, and the performance is significantly improved. Even a 5600x is almost as good in work tasks, but a lot better in gaming.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2135-amd-ryzen-5600x/

32GB is fine, more than enough. Seasonic is a good brand, though you might want an 850W so you have room to get a high-end GPU in the future when they are available (though 750W would be enough for what's out there today).

Don't bother with Windows 7. It's out of support and some stuff won't work (for example Nvidia recently dropped support, newer CPUs may not be fully supported, etc.).

Don't have any suggestions on the motherboard, but Gigabyte has been really solid for me. Everyone likes Asus but I had bad experience with them as well. The Gigabyte I just got is great, but it wasn't cheap. The B550 mobos might be more reasonably priced, but I don't have personal experience.
 
Get ram on the motherboards QVL for an easy life.
I bought Corsair Vengeance LPX because the price was good and ended up having to get 3 different mobos before I got one (that cost a lot more) that had it in its QVL.
With the first 2 cheaper mobos the ram wouldnt run anywhere near its rated speed.
With the last mobo with the ram in its QVL it not only ran at rated speed but overclocked like a lunatic!
 
Don't have any suggestions on the motherboard, but Gigabyte has been really solid for me. Everyone likes Asus but I had bad experience with them as well. The Gigabyte I just got is great, but it wasn't cheap. The B550 mobos might be more reasonably priced, but I don't have personal experience.

I've had bad experiences with ASUS too, but I keep going back to them. I must have Stockholm syndrome. That said, the B550 Prime I used for a family member's not-overclocked 5800X has been rock solid.
 
Right, Nenu checking the memory QVL is key. You can usually find it on the motherboard support page. This will resolve much headache.
 
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I've heard horror stories about Asus RMA, but I have built over 200 machines since 1996 using Asus boards and haven't had one fail yet.
I am using the higher end X570 boards on my 2 builds but have used the Asus TUF X570 for my friends 3900X build a year and half ago and that series is in the $160 or so range.
 
Thanks for the responses.

cybereality, I just looked at the 5600x and it definitely looks like a no-brainer upgrade. Thanks.

Agreed with looking at the QVL memory list. Corsair vengence is my default go-to, and looking at that list once a board is decided on will definitely occur. I've been bit before while building servers which can really, really picky.

I've had some overall good luck with Asus. I've built plenty of systems myself using Asus myself and never had a problem until I built my... ahem... bulldozer (lol) machine on an Asus Sebertooth 990fx. That board ended up with a flaky sata controller after 3 months and I gave up trying to RMA it. After a year or so of dealing with a flaky controller, I gave it to a friend for free who needed a computer and told him to not use the onboard sata.
 
Thanks for the responses.

cybereality, I just looked at the 5600x and it definitely looks like a no-brainer upgrade. Thanks.

Agreed with looking at the QVL memory list. Corsair vengence is my default go-to, and looking at that list once a board is decided on will definitely occur. I've been bit before while building servers which can really, really picky.

I've had some overall good luck with Asus. I've built plenty of systems myself using Asus myself and never had a problem until I built my... ahem... bulldozer (lol) machine on an Asus Sebertooth 990fx. That board ended up with a flaky sata controller after 3 months and I gave up trying to RMA it. After a year or so of dealing with a flaky controller, I gave it to a friend for free who needed a computer and told him to not use the onboard sata.
Expect that finding Corsair on an AMD QVL will be more difficult than you expect. G.Skill is the go-to on these, just because. XMP speeds are important for Zen, so you want something that works. I run corsair in Intel, G.Skill in AMD, solved all my problems that way.

ASUS boards are good. RMA sucks, but it's rare to need it. Assume that you're overclocking unless you intentionally turn it off - ASUS is aggressive as hell with automated OCs (they're stupid stable in my experience, mind you, but pull watts and generate heat like mad as a result).
Alternatives to ASUS for AMD: MSI (Tomahawk or higher only), Gigabyte (avoid Aorus Master - the Aorus Pro is solid and right around your price range), ASRock (eh? Taichi is good but more expensive).

They do make boards with built-in 10G, you may want to find one of those, as the 3 slots on an X570 board may limit you some (8x/8x/4x with all 3 occupied) depending on what you want to do.

Overall - not a bad plan, but you may have to bump the board budget some. VRMs are the weak point on AMD builds, and good ones cost money - cheaper X570 boards tend to come with cheap VRMs, so... I'd aim for 200-250 for the mobo. LOTS of options there.
 
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They do make boards with built-in 10G, you may want to find one of those, as the 3 slots on an X570 board may limit you some (8x/8x/4x with all 3 occupied) depending on what you want to do.

Overall - not a bad plan, but you may have to bump the board budget some. VRMs are the weak point on AMD builds, and good ones cost money - cheaper X570 boards tend to come with cheap VRMs, so... I'd aim for 200-250 for the mobo. LOTS of options there.
These are two of the main points I was thinking of when choosing a motherboard for your application. Nothing but the x570 chipset in a mainstream platform will have a chance of doing what you want but you'll have to be very careful about which board you choose to make sure it's capable of doing what you want. Three add-in cards needing a lot of PCI-e lanes is going to be a problem in one way or another on anything below HEDT systems.

Also stated, you're not going to find a motherboard like you want in the $160 price range and will need to increase the budget considerably. x570 is an absolute must to do the minimum that you want and low end x570 boards are something I would steer away from and many of them might not be able to do what you want with add-in cards. I didn't want to increase my motherboard budget like I did when I bought the Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro Wifi as it was almost twice as expensive as I'd paid for any motherboard before at $270. However, I didn't have much of a choice as I needed something which would likely last me quite a few years with some non-compromise options down the line in case I needed something then that I don't now.
 
I've heard horror stories about Asus RMA, but I have built over 200 machines since 1996 using Asus boards and haven't had one fail yet.
I am using the higher end X570 boards on my 2 builds but have used the Asus TUF X570 for my friends 3900X build a year and half ago and that series is in the $160 or so range.
I had one bad experience with ASUS RMA (board needed to go back a second time), and one of my friends had a horrible experience with ASUS. But most of the time my ASUS experience was great. Until early 2020, my wife was using an ASUS board that I originally got around 2012, and it was very solid. The CPU cooling fan needed to be replaced, hardly an ASUS issue. I routinely use ASUS boards 5+ years.
 
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I would recommend going with the Ryzen 5000 series if you can. They aren't that much more expensive, and the performance is significantly improved. Even a 5600x is almost as good in work tasks, but a lot better in gaming.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2135-amd-ryzen-5600x/
Agreed. I built a new rig a year ago with a 3900X, well before the 5000s were available. Now I'm thinking through the process of selling the 3900X on EvilBay and getting a 5900X or if I really want to go to hell with myself, a 5950X. The fact that I will need a new GPU, and those prices are now insane, keeps me from doing this switch.
https://www.techspot.com/review/2135-amd-ryzen-5600x/
32GB is fine, more than enough. Seasonic is a good brand, though you might want an 850W so you have room to get a high-end GPU in the future when they are available (though 750W would be enough for what's out there today).
+1. For a few bucks more, you get a lot of future-proofing.

Don't bother with Windows 7. It's out of support and some stuff won't work (for example Nvidia recently dropped support, newer CPUs may not be fully supported, etc.).
Totally agree here. Just use you Win 7 license to get the free updated to Win 10 now, and then Win 11 later on.
Don't have any suggestions on the motherboard, but Gigabyte has been really solid for me. Everyone likes Asus but I had bad experience with them as well. The Gigabyte I just got is great, but it wasn't cheap. The B550 mobos might be more reasonably priced, but I don't have personal experience.
Supposedly ASUS has the best and longest BIOS support.

I got an ASUS Strix-E board, partly because of the built-in WiFI. More than your budget, but that board has been abso-freeken-stable over a year now, since I did a RAM RMA. Not a single BSOD, running Win 10 Pro 64.
 
ASUS is good about BIOS support for anything mainstream. Extremely high-end or oddball is sometimes hit or miss, depending on where it is in the lifecycle of the product, but that's true of everyone.
 
However, once the basic support period is over for Asus motherboards they remove all downloads except the manual and bios.
For example, its not possible to download motherboard utils, drivers and freebies that came with my Asus Maximus VIII Hero, they removed everything.
Even though they would not receive updates, they arent left as is, they are gone.
 
However, once the basic support period is over for Asus motherboards they remove all downloads except the manual and bios.
For example, its not possible to download motherboard utils, drivers and freebies that came with my Asus Maximus VIII Hero, they removed everything.
Even though they would not receive updates, they arent left as is, they are gone.
I downloaded rampage ii software the other day, it worked just fine. They changed their website to check your links.
 
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I downloaded rampage ii software the other day, it worked just fine. They changed their website to check your links.
Wow, for the last few years they have had nothing for my mobo, now its the full set again.
wtf?
Last time I checked was early this year.
Why on earth was there nothing except bios and manual?
Its not like the link had changed, it still worked for those.
Now the link has changed but the old link doesnt point anywhere, it displays nothing except the page top and bottom, no message.
Poor quality service Asus.

Thanks for the update.
 
Wow, for the last few years they have had nothing for my mobo, now its the full set again.
wtf?
Last time I checked was early this year.
Why on earth was there nothing except bios and manual?
Its not like the link had changed, it still worked for those.
Now the link has changed but the old link doesnt point anywhere, it displays nothing except the page top and bottom, no message.
Poor quality service Asus.

Thanks for the update.
Shit links with the new page. Happens for a lot of their gear once they changed. Google hasn’t updated
 
Not to derail the thread, but the issue I had with ASUS was on this X99 mobo I got a few years back. At first it was great, but then I upgraded to a Samsung SSD and the boot times were so long (like 45 seconds).

There was never a fix, and I searched all the forums and somehow there was an issue using certain SSDs with the motherboard. Kind of crappy that a $400 motherboard can't use the best SSD available at the time.

Also had a similar issue with an MSI Ryzen board, but I believe MSI did put out a new BIOS that fixed that. So far I've had no problems with Gigabyte and Asrock is also alright.
 
Not to derail the thread, but the issue I had with ASUS was on this X99 mobo I got a few years back. At first it was great, but then I upgraded to a Samsung SSD and the boot times were so long (like 45 seconds).

There was never a fix, and I searched all the forums and somehow there was an issue using certain SSDs with the motherboard. Kind of crappy that a $400 motherboard can't use the best SSD available at the time.

Also had a similar issue with an MSI Ryzen board, but I believe MSI did put out a new BIOS that fixed that. So far I've had no problems with Gigabyte and Asrock is also alright.
Some of those Asus X99 boards also had lots of USB issues. They seem to have goofed their X99 release boards.
 
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