Advice Wanted: Upgrade to AM5 Micro ATX

LChasesBargains on 05/11/2025 - 13:29

Figure I'd upgrade my 6 year old Ryzen 5 3600 CPU to AM5 during black friday, I'm trying to figure the best RAM, CPU and OS Storage upgrade path is, but it's been a while so I'd love to get some ideas from the brains trust here. I already have a GPU, PSU, CPU cooler and case.

The only main component I'm locking in is the B850 motherboard: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/Q8KnTW/gigabyte-b850m-aorus-elite-wifi6e-ice-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b850m-aorus-elite-wifi6e-ice and the RAM has to be RGB.

I was thinking of getting these parts, but would love your input or if you know cheaper, but similar performance parts:
CPU: Ryzen 7 7700
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory
Storage: Samsung 990 PRO 2TB

I'm going to use it for gaming and as a workstation, but I'm not too fussed about min-maxing, especially if a part is significantly cheaper but only a 10% drop in performance. Also, I don't mind getting 2nd hand RAM (unless that's a potential issue, again, I'm not sure).

Computing AM5 Computer Component CPU RAM

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  • mrkorrupt on 05/11/2025 - 13:35
    +1

    RAM and SSD has gone up significantly.

    eg. 2 years ago JW was selling 16GB DDR4 for $29, that same stick is now $125 (yes i know this system will use DDR5)

    • ChasesBargains on 05/11/2025 - 14:43

      Yeah, it's frustrating, any ideas on SSD or DDR5 would be worth grabbing? I've seen some 6000 CL40-ish 2nd hand RAM.

    • bamzero on 06/11/2025 - 14:19

      Wasn't that in part because the CCP told manufacturers to stop making DDR4 and focus on DDR5?

      (Though I heard that since DDR4 has now become so profitable they started manufacturing again)

      • scrimshaw on 06/11/2025 - 15:45

        It's because of Open AI's Stargate project

        https://openai.com/index/samsung-and-sk-join-stargate/

        Through these partnerships, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix plan to scale up production of advanced memory chips, targeting 900,000 DRAM wafer starts per month at an accelerated capacity rollout, critical for powering OpenAI’s advanced AI models.

        ECC DDR4-2666 has gone from ~US0.50-0.55/GB to around US $1.3-1.4/GB. Even DDR4-2133, which sold for ~0.40/GB is now above 1.0/GB.

        Consumer DDR4 and DDR5 prices are even worse. Nvidia purchased last week the entire supply of SK Hynix in DRAM, VRAM, HBM, and NAND flash for through the end of 2026. Every single wafer of capacity they had left. That's on top of whatever agreements they already have in place with Micron and Samsung

  • tekisei on 05/11/2025 - 13:51
    +3

    Have you thought about just going with a 5700X3D or even 5700X, and skipping this socket entirely?

    • ChasesBargains on 05/11/2025 - 14:09

      Yes I was actually…but I really want to go for an mATX build rather than holding on to my ATX, so I figure it wouldn't make sense to side-grade the mobo and cpu.

      But you make a good point, I want to stick with a 65W CPU though, so I'm not sure an AMD -X variant would be appropriate.

      • tekisei on 05/11/2025 - 14:30
        +1

        5700X is a 65W part, but yeah if you absolutely need to go mATX there aren't many B550M available in the marketplace. Best available is MSI B550M PRO-VDH WiFi at around $150 but that's only a decent board. Pretty difficult to find better unless you luck on a top tier unused B550M on FB Marketplace etc.

    • freefall101 on 05/11/2025 - 14:17
      +2

      5700x3d is impossible to get now, even used they go for over $300.

      Personally I sold my 5700x3d and moved to a 5700x because I game at 4K and there is no difference, but I pocketed $200 from the changeover.

  • twdjlzl on 05/11/2025 - 13:56
    +2

    If the budget for the cpu is over $400, definitely go for something else like the 7800x3d from AliExpress or something which will last u a few more years. Plus u can try to find some secondhand ram stick with lower cl.

    • ChasesBargains on 05/11/2025 - 14:44

      Is 40cl going to be ok? I'm not super concerned about 5-10% difference.

      • twdjlzl on 05/11/2025 - 15:57
        +1

        CL40 is way to high, usually i will recommend something like cl30 or cl32 but rn, the price is just too high. Try to find something lower than cl36 should be alright

  • spackbace on 05/11/2025 - 14:08
    +1

    If it helps, this is my AM5 build

    And yes, ram/ssd pricing is ludicrous

  • freefall101 on 05/11/2025 - 14:24
    +1

    FYI, I wouldn't hold off too long in getting a chip

    Can get an R7 7700 for about $300 on aliexpress, which is a lot higher than a couple of months ago, IMO I'd shell out for the 7800X3D and undervolt it if you want to keep power down (it'll scale back the boost max doing that). 7500F is the best value overall, but 6 cores isn't really future proofed. At $180 though it's the best bang for buck.

    Worth looking at replacing your PSU too, depending on model. PSUs don't last forever, if you keep it another 6 years it might risk going pop.

    • ChasesBargains on 05/11/2025 - 14:42

      PSUs don't last forever, if you keep it another 6 years it might risk going pop.

      Wow, good to know! It's only a few years old, so I figure it'll be ok for now…

      I'm trying to keep the components under $300 each, so I'm holding out for black friday for CPU and Mobo deals (I looked into the F variants, but they don't sound great). Based on what I've read in here, I need to get the RAM and storage ASAP…

      • GordonD on 05/11/2025 - 17:07
        +3

        PSUs don't last forever, if you keep it another 6 years it might risk going pop.

        That's what people who want an excuse to buy a new gee-whiz one tell themselves. I've had a grand total one go pop. Because of a short-circuited output. And all I had to do was replaced the fuse in it.

        The thing that makes them need replacing, eventually, is the power requirement and connectors to supply it for high end video cards.

      • CrispyChrispy on 05/11/2025 - 19:18
        +1

        PSUs will last a lot more than 6 years. You'll be fine. The only consideration as GordonD already mentioned is whether it'll supply enough power or not, and also if it'll be suitable for your mATX system.

  • jk82 on 05/11/2025 - 14:35

    I agree with what the others have said. I'd definitely be looking at a 7800X3D at this point in time.

    Also, what case are you getting? And what GPU do you currently have out of curiosity.

    • ChasesBargains on 05/11/2025 - 14:39

      3080ti, but I'm going to be using it until it's min spec or it dies, I way overpaid for it.

  • codename47 on 06/11/2025 - 09:18
    +1

    Same boat trying to update my Ryzen 5 1600 , 16gb RAM, 1tb nvme SSD and nvidia 1660 6GB Gpu. I am okay for now but might get parts when there are some nice deals going on!

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