Upgrade your motherboard and CPU for heavy workloads.
Upgrade your motherboard and CPU for heavy workloads.
Hello, I'm looking for guidance on selecting a motherboard and CPU for an upgrade. My current system is an MSI B450M Gaming Plus (not at full capacity). It runs a Ryzen 2700X with the stock cooler from Gigabyte RTX2070S Windforce8x2x16GB RAM, G.Skill DDR4 3600MHz, and a Casio 16GB RAM. The motherboard has 650W Seasonic White80+ power supply, a basic M.2 SSD, a 2TB Seagate HDD, a Wi-Fi card, and several fans (5). I'm into VR gaming and own a Valve Index with Vive Trackers.
My issues include CPU overheating during intense VR sessions at 144Hz with high resolution. The USB ports on the motherboard are failing, requiring driver reinstallation and causing problems with peripherals like the Vive trackers, keyboard, and tablet. I also had to replace the RAM, suspecting the motherboard was the issue.
I plan to install basic watercooling for the CPU (already has soft tubes) and upgrade the CPU to a Ryzen 5700+ or equivalent. I need a case that supports top-mounted fans and fits my setup. My usage is mainly RPGs at 144Hz, VR games, and competitive titles like Rocket League, plus occasional Osu!. The GPU runs smoothly but could use an upgrade. I prefer silence, so I won’t recommend noisy fans.
Budget: around €700 in France (21% VAT). Please advise on suitable options. Thank you!
Reikdar
Purchase a solid aftermarket cooler such as Dark Rock Pro 4 or NHD 15, Assassin III, etc.
The motherboard issue persists regardless of the fix, so it won’t resolve the problem. I believe AMD has released a driver update for USB ports; download the latest BIOS from the provided link (avoid beta versions). Running the update could help. If the motherboard remains unresponsive after updating, hardware damage might be present. For CPU overheating, as mentioned earlier, consider purchasing a more powerful cooler—NH-D15 or liquid cooling may be excessive but effective.