Budget rebuild (PSU+AM4 Mobo advice)

[grec]

Can anyone recommend what's good out there for PSU's nowadays? Looking for an ATX ~500-600W in the ~£30-£60 price range, don't need modularity or anything like that.

Also any decent kinda-value mATX AM4 boards? Besides M.2 support there aren't many features I'd need, OCing capability is preferred but not putting much of a premium on it with these these parts and probably won't go beyond a 6-core in it, so even a decent A board would probably do alright, just something that won't fry itself basically. Will probably go 2nd hand with this one so not looking too specifically, even just good brands if some companies are consistent across the range. (I do have an ATX case about I wouldn't hate using if those boards were a lot better here but I'd rather stick with this smaller case)

 

[AlienALX]

MSI did a couple of decent MATX boards iirc. Arctic? And Mortar? B350 IIRC. One was white and blue etc and I've was black.

Hmm bit dear. What's your budget dude?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-B350M-...=1564343158&s=gateway&sprefix=msi+b350&sr=8-4

Oh hang on...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-B450M-...ords=am4+matx&qid=1564343281&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Cheaper and has vrm cooling. Only 20 series I've found with any cooling for the vrm whatsoever

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-A32...rds=am4+matx&qid=1564343374&s=gateway&sr=8-15

Obs make sure it supports the CPU you're wanting to use first

 

[grec]

Yeah would prefer something with 3rd gen support but given you can find £70 1600's on ebay nowadays that's probably not what I'll be dropping in with this quick rebuild. Was looking to spend £50-90 on the board but I've seen some good 2nd hand deals with boards much cheaper than new so with the olders ones I could maybe find something worth over £100 new. I can find that £110 MSI B350M board online for about half the price but it's seller refurb from Spanish vendors, would be a pain if I had to send it back.

That ASrock A320M board seems to have 3rd gen updates though and everything I need, very temping at that price new, seems well made enough but I'm not sure if that level of faulty complaints is normal on Amazon nowadays. I've seen some TUF boards (B350M & B450M) quite cheap(~£80) open box or whatever, are Asus still a strong option here? I remember for AM3+ boards they were the only ones making much worthwhile. I'd been using one of their later AM3+ boards in this build for a while and it's not bad but it always seemed a little spotty compared to the Asus piece it had in before it.

 

[Wraith]

Don't go cheap on the PSU you'll regret it also its our #1 rule, for value and peace of mind look into the EVGA G series line up. My 750w was only £65 from Amazon. Sadly the price of PSUs seems to be on the rise.

 

[grec]

Yeah things do seem more expensive in that area now than what I remember, looks like I'll have to go a little higher. What about something like this though? I've usually gone with SeaSonics barebones stuff before assuming they're still more or less the main OEM for other top lines?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seasonic-S...ply-80PLUS-High-Efficiency/dp/B003BIEOCI?th=1

 

[AlienALX]

That would be ample tbh.

I will vouch for Asrock as I've had loads of their boards when I was less fortunate than I am now and providing you didn't rag on the VRM they were great.

 

[grec]

Finally getting round to the CPU and motherboard side of things. CCL are listing the 1600AF's separately. Looking for a cheaper upgrade now with a view to adding a 2TB M.2 SSD in the mid term and probably a Ryzen 4600 or 4700 around the end of the year. Everything look alright here?

 

[tinytomlogan]

Really wouldnt buy anything right now with the new Ryzen 3's just about to land.

 

[WYP]

Really wouldnt buy anything right now with the new Ryzen 3's just about to land.

I second this, I'd wait for B550 and the new Ryzen 3s. It could lower the price of the Ryzen 5 1600 or the prices of B450.

 

[AlienALX]

Be careful. One on CCL says 1600, the other one (exactly the same price) says "New to CCL" and is the 12nm AF.

So it's basically a 2600. Only one specifies that it's 12nm from the look of it.

This is the one that states 12nm

https://www.cclonline.com/product/3...o-Wraith-Stealth-Cooler-12nm-Process/CPU0650/

edit. Looked at the CCL code, seems you're on the right track

 

[grec]

I know the exact details are embargoed but do you feel these B550 boards going to slot into similar price points as the 450's?

Some of my contracts have been put on hold for now so I can't "splash out" until we're on the other side of lockdown, though I'm happy paying extra for the motherboard now.

I was considering the 1600AF(A seemingly rebadged 2600) over the 3100 since my software development work relies a lot on VMs, and my PCB design toolchain relies on a fair few applications simultaneously. Game performance is nice but not a priority, so I guess I'll wait for reviews on that one.

Edit: @AlienALX Yeah I made sure to select the AF models, CCL are the only company I could see specifying them

Edit2:

It could lower the price of the Ryzen 5 1600 or the prices of B450.

Only just saw this, fair point

 

[WYP]

I know the exact details are embargoed but do you feel these B550 boards going to slot into similar price points as the 450's?

Some of my contracts have been put on hold for now so I can't "splash out" until we're on the other side of lockdown, though I'm happy paying extra for the motherboard now.

I was considering the 1600AF(A seemingly rebadged 2600) over the 3100 since my software development work relies a lot on VMs, and my PCB design toolchain relies on a fair few applications simultaneously. Game performance is nice but not a priority, so I guess I'll wait for reviews on that one.

Edit: @AlienALX Yeah I made sure to select the AF models, CCL are the only company I could see specifying them

Edit2:

Only just saw this, fair point

Some details are embargoed ATM for B550 etc. Should be a few weeks for the new Ryzen reviews.

I'd wait for reviews on this. Not sure about your specific workload, but B550 will have an impact on the market.

 

[AlienALX]

The only impact I see B550 having is that B450 boards will just be discontinued.

I can't see the prices dropping too much, in fact they may rise initially (as it's new) and it does nothing B450 doesn't apart from PCIE gen 4 (a total waste of time on that chipset, IMO).

 

[grec]

The only impact I see B550 having is that B450 boards will just be discontinued.

I can't see the prices dropping too much, in fact they may rise initially (as it's new) and it does nothing B450 doesn't apart from PCIE gen 4 (a total waste of time on that chipset, IMO).

Yeah with the rapidly rising prices of RAM in particular, but also electronics in general, this was my concern. It seems like a risk either way. So many discontinued items are selling for wayyy more than their RRP now in these condittions.

 

[AlienALX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDi4IbfRJGk

In short, 1600AF.

In long? it's very easy to calculate the performance of AMD's forthcoming chips by using simple maths with the 3600.

If you are using VMware then obviously more cores no matter how fast they are will work much better. You can't magic up cores for VMs that simply aren't there.

That's why I used to buy slow clock Xeons all of the time. I can not run 4 4c 4t VMs on an 8 core CPU. Hence the 16.