Check compatibility for Asrock B450M Pro 4 CPU and RAM.
Check compatibility for Asrock B450M Pro 4 CPU and RAM.
Hey, I understand your situation. You're planning to upgrade your CPU, RAM, and cooling system, but you're concerned about compatibility between your motherboard, CPU, and RAM. Your current setup includes an ASRock B450M PRO4 board, a Ryzen 5 2600X at 4.0GHz, and a Gigabyte 5700 XT OC with DDR4 2400MHz memory boosted to 2800MHz. You're considering upgrading to either a Ryzen 5 3600 or 3600X, and you're planning to install Team T-FORCE DARK Z 16GB DDR4 SDRAM (PC4 25600). Your cooler is the CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML120L RGB V2. The main issue is ensuring all components work together smoothly. When checking compatibility on ASRock's site, you noticed the memory list doesn't show the latest QLV support for your board.
I'd doubt the point of this upgrade. The 3600 should outperform your 2600x, though it won't be a major jump. Switching from 2800 to 3200 RAM won't really make a difference. If you need more performance, consider spending that money on a better CPU—something like a 3700 or 3800. Still, I'd wait for newer chips overall. This isn't a big step, and it doesn't keep your 5700 xt ahead unless you're planning heavy rendering or video editing. For gaming, it's safer to hold off and avoid extra RAM costs. 2800 is acceptable, and 3200 is only slightly better.
Ensure your motherboard's BIOS is updated before installing the new CPU. This will guarantee compatibility with a Ryzen 3000 chip. The higher frequency memory should function well since Zen 2 offers a more advanced memory controller than earlier Zen CPUs, and 3200MHz is fully acceptable. However, I concur with @LIGISTX that this upgrade may not be as substantial, and you might find it wiser to invest more or wait for future releases (such as the Ryzen 4000).