PC parts for R5 3600: motherboard and RAM options available.
PC parts for R5 3600: motherboard and RAM options available.
Heh. This is exactly where I’m at. The only thing different is my CPU is a 4770k. I’ve been checking and I know what I’ve discovered: the 3xx chips are quick but they won’t really boost performance much beyond beans. Around 5-10% maybe. That actually makes the stock cooler a worthwhile upgrade. Some say that if you can get the 3600 for roughly the same price as a 3600x, it might be a better deal—unless you already own a cooler that fits.
When it comes to motherboards, prices start around $70 and go up. The B450 is a solid pick—it’s “3000 desktop ready” and comes with a sticker on the box. The top choice right now seems to be the MSI Tomahawk Max; it offers good specs, a larger BIOS, and faster RAM timings. But there are limits: only one video card and one M.2 NVMe drive can be connected at once. Using both slots will cut your PCIe lanes in half. If you have a card that doesn’t support x8 PCIe 3.0, you might need two.
The X470 is pricier but offers more flexibility—supports two cards and two NVMe drives without PCI bottlenecks. It’s not as cheap, but it’s worth considering. The X570 is the premium option, priced around $200 to more, with PCI4.0 support (maybe soon) and room for multiple NVMe cards and GPUs. However, most of them come with proprietary fans and can cost up to $600.
For RAM, stick with high-speed options—3xx chips favor lots of fast memory, preferably above 3000MHz. A 3200 is a big step up from 3000, while the 3600 is only slightly better than 3200. If you can snag a decent 3466, that could work. The key is to have fast RAM; otherwise, it’s not worth the investment.
3200 is trending, but 3000 is the minimum you should aim for.