Looking at some AM4 CPU options

Release of other 5000series CPU/APU imminent, and they're supposedly priced pretty well. But if you are to you go with a Ryzen 5600G you might not even need your GTX 680 depending on the tasks you do. However ,your best bang for buck option right now is most likely a Ryzen 5600X ( will need video card since the X does not have integrated graphics), they are/were going for ~ $280 from Canada computers. The Bios thing is a bummer, you can always see if CC will update the bios on your board if you buy the CPU from them..... Or perhaps a local rfd'er can help you out. Alternative is look for a B550 board that has USB bios flash capability built in. You can check out Memoryexpress too, I think they have a store in Ottawa ( if the tag in your profile is accurate).

Ryzens can be picky about ram, should consider getting some Corsairs or Crucials 3200mhz at least. I believe the corsairs 2X8gb 3200mhz kits are going for $80-90ish right now new. If that's too expensive Gskill ripjaws aren't too bad, at least in my experiences with them.

No point going with Windows 11 right now IMO. Especially if you're going with Ryzen CPUs. Some say 12th Gen intel works better with Windows 11. The typical CD key places will have both Win 11 and 10 keys readily available for very economical prices.

Thanks for replying.

However ,your best bang for buck option right now is most likely a Ryzen 5600X ( will need video card since the X does not have integrated graphics), they are/were going for ~ $280 from Canada computers.

I mean, is that really that much better than the Ryzen 5 3600? Looks like it's $300 right now (same price at Canada Computers and Future Shop). Not clear if it works without a BIOS flash.

No point going with Windows 11 right now IMO. Especially if you're going with Ryzen CPUs. Some say 12th Gen intel works better with Windows 11. The typical CD key places will have both Win 11 and 10 keys readily available for very economical prices.

Is there one that is recommended?

Alot of B550 boards will need a bios update to support 5000 series CPUs , unless you got a super new stock.

And yes 5600x is really that much better than the 3600. Especially if the difference in price is less than $50... Yes I know that's contingent on you able to get your bios updated somehow. It's $299-$20 coupon at Canada computers right now

coilz wrote: ↑And yes 5600x is really that much better than the 3600

I guess I'll take your word for it.

It's $299-$20 coupon at Canada computers right now

Gee, it looked like it was out of stock until a moment ago. Guess they must have just updated.

Alot of B550 boards will need a bios update to support 5000 series CPUs , unless you got a super new stock.

The support site says it's supported under "P1.20", which is a much lower number than the other 5th-gen CPUs listed, which makes me wonder. The box makes it quite clear that it doesn't support the 5 3400G and the 3 3200G, which the support site says requires "P2.10". I wish there was some way of knowing.

I don't suppose there is indeed a local RFD'er who could help out..?

ETA: Oh, wait, this board was a bargain because the socket is completely smashed. >_<

Seems some people are in the business of repairing these, but that's above my pay grade.

Guess I might as well wait for those cheaper "other 5000 series CPU/APU". When were those supposed to be released?

ETA2: Oh, just a few weeks, I guess. I see no reason not to go cheap with the Ryzen 5 4600G, assuming I can find a decent motherboard.
https://www.techpowerup.com/292954/amd- ... es-5800x3d

5600g or 5600x is my choice.

Choose a newer revision board that has 5000 series compatibility out of the box. There are plenty.

Jorpho wrote: ↑

ETA2: Oh, just a few weeks, I guess. I see no reason not to go cheap with the Ryzen 5 4600G, assuming I can find a decent motherboard.
https://www.techpowerup.com/292954/amd- ... es-5800x3d

The reason would be the 4600G is really the real 3600G since its based on the same architecture as the 3600. AMD just screwed up their naming scheme with their APUs until the 5000 series. That's why the 3xxxG are not supported on most B550 boards since it's really a 2000series CPU with graphics.

There is noticeable performance difference between the 3000 and 5000 series that makes it worth the money IMO. See how the pricing shakes out after the new CPUs release.

Now that you need to shop for a new motherboard, definitely look for one with USB Bios flashback function so you won't need help to update the bios. Good luck!

Jorpho wrote: ↑
Best Buy's cheapest DDR4 RAM is "Silicon Power Turbine" at $70 for 16 GB. I don't really need to be picky, do I?


(Also, what's the best way to get a Windows 11 license at the moment? Or is Windows 10 still worth considering?)

If you can find a good deal on DDR 3600 you're better off with that. There can be performance penalties on Ryezn for not running Infinity fabric clock, memory controller clock and memory clock at 1:1:1. 1800 MHz is the stock FCLK and UCLK so 3600 MT/s memory keeps it at 1:1:1. There's more to it if you want to try and squeeze more performance out. I bought the 3600 version of that memory kit at Best Buy for $80. It is decent memory despite the peak DDR3 style heat spreader. There's an XPG kit on amazon that is OOS right now but often has a coupon making it the same price as well.

Windows 11 is a free upgrade from windows 10 assuming you meet all the system requirements. If you can get windows 10 cheaper get that and upgrade through windows update if you want windows 11.

Like Coliz suggested getting a board that has USB flashback is just easiest. Almost none of the ASRock boards have it. If you end up buying new or can get a copy of the receipt and the bios isn't compatible AMD will also loan you a processor to do the bios upgrade https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/pa-100

Since you have a gpu waiting to see what the Ryzen 5600 and 5500 is priced at could be a really good value. The 5500 is based on Cezanne which doesn't have PCIE 4 so you maybe sacrifice a little future upgradeability but it's hard to say if that's worth the price difference.

The other thing to consider since you don't have that motherboard anymore is an i5 12400 and a B660 board. It out performs the 5600G and and is very close to a 5600x in performance for less money. A 12400f without the gpu is even less ($229) since you already have the 680.

Thank you very much for the advice.

stacksonstacks wrote: ↑Since you have a gpu waiting to see what the Ryzen 5600 and 5500 is priced at could be a really good value. The 5500 is based on Cezanne which doesn't have PCIE 4 so you maybe sacrifice a little future upgradeability but it's hard to say if that's worth the price difference.

The other thing to consider since you don't have that motherboard anymore is an i5 12400 and a B660 board. It out performs the 5600G and and is very close to a 5600x in performance for less money. A 12400f without the gpu is even less ($229) since you already have the 680.

I would have thought that the GTX 680 was almost an afterthought, considering it is ten years old? Surely even the 4600G would completely blow it out of the water?

Check the RFD Buy & Sell forum, sometimes there are very good deals in there.

Jorpho wrote: ↑ Thank you very much for the advice.

I would have thought that the GTX 680 was almost an afterthought, considering it is ten years old? Surely even the 4600G would completely blow it out of the water?

It is but it's also a top of the line card from years ago. The 4600G has a Radeon Vega 7 which is the same as the 5600G. A lot depends what you want to do with the card if its gaming or something else. I don't know if there's any direct benchmarks comparing the two cards but Hardware unboxed compared a 1050ti to a 680



Essentially a 680 performs about the same as a 1050 ti (albeit with much higher power consumption.) There are tonnes of 5600g vs 1050ti benchmarks on YouTube, its best just to search and watch a few so you can see if any feature the games you want to play, but a 1050ti generally gets double or more FPS than a 5600G's Vega 7. The only potential sticking point is while the GTX 680 supports DirectX 12 it's feature level is 11_0 which may not work in some modern DX12 games.

Edit: The APUs do still get you playable FPS in lots of game with the appropriate settings, so I don't mean to suggest you have to use the 680 or you shouldn't buy and APU but depending on your needs you may be better off with the 680 despite it being so old. It could also be a placeholder if you intend on buying a better graphics card in the future. The APUs have architectural differences to the regular Ryzen processors like less cache and that also impacts performance in gaming and some applications.

someone mention newegg ebay $260.99 for the CPU https://www.ebay.ca/itm/AMD-Ryzen-5-560 ... 4985027425

If you can find Win 8 license for cheap, that will work, is free upgrade to WIn 11

$50 AM4 board that can update BIOS without CPU: LINK

+ 5600X ($280: LINK + your GTX 680

and then you can play anything. The M/B is somewhat basic. You probably won't be able to overclock much, but you don't sound like you'd want to, and with the CPU and GPU combo you won't need to, and it's only $50 and no BIOS flashing issue.

You can grab this mobo on Amazon and don't need a cpu to update the BIOS it has Qflash Plus.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08F7H ... UTF8&psc=1

And it's a great price.

The CPU socket on that ASRock looks pretty bad, I would not use it

jm1 wrote: ↑$50 AM4 board that can update BIOS without CPU: LINK

Fifty bucks!? What's wrong with it, exactly? I see it only has two memory slots, but 16 GB ought to be more than enough for anything these days.

Jorpho wrote: ↑ Fifty bucks!? What's wrong with it, exactly? I see it only has two memory slots, but 16 GB ought to be more than enough for anything these days.

Nothing's wrong. It's a good basic board. It's PCI 3.0 instead of 4.0, but your GTX 680 is 3.0 anyway. It's microATX so, as you noted, it's only has two memory slots. Also, only one PCIx16 slot (for your 680) and another PCI slot for M.2 SSD. Not meant for overclocking, so no big heatsinks and probably can't do much overclocking in the BIOS.

Recent thread about it: LINK

Ahh, thank you. It is difficult to keep these forum threads straight sometimes. That is quite compelling. Better jump on it before it sells out.

I suppose the only question left is, would paying an extra ~$100 for the 5600X be worth it over the new 5600 when it comes out in two weeks, assuming it is still compatible with this board?

Jorpho wrote: ↑ Ahh, thank you. It is difficult to keep these forum threads straight sometimes. That is quite compelling. Better jump on it before it sells out.

I suppose the only question left is, would paying an extra ~$100 for the 5600X be worth it over the new 5600 when it comes out in two weeks, assuming it is still compatible with this board?

Well the 5600 is going to be maybe 3-5% slower than the 5600X, so anything more than $20 cheaper makes it a better value than the 5600X.

Assuming you can find one when it launches.

Jorpho wrote: ↑ Ahh, thank you. It is difficult to keep these forum threads straight sometimes. That is quite compelling. Better jump on it before it sells out.

I suppose the only question left is, would paying an extra ~$100 for the 5600X be worth it over the new 5600 when it comes out in two weeks, assuming it is still compatible with this board?

Remember the quoted price on most of the news article are in USD so the price difference between 5600 and 5600x will be ~$50-80CDN ?

Going with a no frills A520 board wont be too bad as long as you can live with things like Less/no RGB, one M.2 , less ram slots, limited fan headers etc etc.