Check your motherboard's specifications to confirm compatibility with Ryzen 3rd Gen processors.
Check your motherboard's specifications to confirm compatibility with Ryzen 3rd Gen processors.
Hello. here is the information about your motherboard: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B350M-PRO-Vdh. The site doesn't mention 3rd gen Ryzen support, but MSI's blog lists compatible boards and states they don't support 3rd gen Ryzen either. It seems the update might not be complete. If you need a BIOS, check the official MSI resources or forums for the latest version. You're looking to upgrade from 1600 to 3300X—let me know if you need help with that process.
Seek AMD ComboPI1.0.0.4 or AGESA v1.0.0.4 BIOS updates from late last year or early this year. Without these, compatibility with 3rd generation is not guaranteed. If available, the board runs 3rd gen via beta BIOS, which may cause instability and offer no long-term performance gains due to its age.
The range from 1600 to 3300 feels more like a minor step than a significant upgrade. If you're still using the 1600 with a bios update to the latest version, it should allow your motherboard to handle the 3300x, provided it gets updated for that as well. It seems like a risky decision to me.
It seems unnecessary, in my opinion. You might want to hold on and wait for the Ryzen 4000, as it could lead to a price reduction for the Ryzen 3000.
I can trade in my 1600 and invest around 40 dollars for something close to a 7700k. This upgrade would shift my performance bottleneck across several games I enjoy—Ark, Valorant, and Natural Selection 2—from my CPU to my GPU.
If you're really in a tough spot and not happy with the results, go for a 3300x. If you're content, it's not worth it. The 3300x offers a noticeable boost but won't be much better than the 3300x itself—you'll lose some performance and more importantly, fewer hyper threads. The IPC will drop, and while it's better than the 2500x, it won't change things dramatically. I suggest holding off and saving for a better option like the B550 board. Hope this helps!
I wasn't familiar with computers in 2017. I thought my machine was still working and left it like that. It might not be a real upgrade now. Back then, video meant older games would run better while newer ones slowed down. The idea of improved performance is clearer today. A 1600 14nm chip won’t become a high FPS machine, but it will still work. There’s a report in tech news saying the B350M won’t support Ryzen3 and the B450 probably won too. The B550 isn’t available yet—troublesome!
They probably won’t include it since the official spec doesn’t allow 3000-series support. However, MSI has extended compatibility for several older models. I own a B350M Gaming Pro, and the newest BIOS lets it run smoothly with a 3600 clock speed.