PC Upgrade - looking for parts list advice

B450 it is then. B350 (and X370) boards need a BIOS upgrade before you can use a 2nd Gen Ryzen. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll get a B350 board with the latest BIOS version already installed but you could ask the seller if they offer to perform a BIOS uprgade for you before they ship it.

1 Like

That is incorrect.

The brand / quality of the NIC can have an impact on latency, system stability, system performance and OS compatibility. Now if you won’t use it … ever, then that is different of course. But otherwise quality always matters.

Stability is the absolute baseline. If the BIOS can’t deliver that, the board goes back.
For Ryzen you want proper memory support so having somewhat current BIOS revisions is a good thing.
UI is not important to me. I do the BIOS stuff once, I don’t care if it’s clunky. As long as I can find everything I need, I’m good.
Features can vary but you probably won’t find a desktop board that really lacks essential stuff.

1 Like

You buy a brand name MB the point is mute. Name one vendor makings shit NIC’s on MB’s today that get called out on reviews.

Moot. The point is moot. Also ‘killer nic’. Just Google some of the issues some have had. Not all are created equal my friend.

Killer nic is a extreme gamer nic that is so stupid it should not exist. It will keep up with an ADSL 2+ internet connections however.

A $350USD budget should put killers nics off the table.

1 Like

Since obviously not every implementation of every NIC on every motherboard is equally perfect, I don’t know why you are debating against my point. And as the Killer NIC example shows, price has nothing to do with that.

If an onboard NIC is bad … that’s bad.

Do you really disagree with that? :roll_eyes:

1 Like

here’s the thing. i’m not really fussed about it. as long as it works. good. why?

because physically living on the literal side of the world, typically when i play anything online, the latency is gonna be 250ms AT BEST anyway. it’s just something that i just have to accept, and have come to terms with, so again. i’m not bothered with it.

except if it’s absolutely bad to the point that it affects something else irrelevant

anyway i think i settled on these.

  • ryzen 3 2200g
  • MSI B450M Mortar : because i completely forgot that my case is an m-ATX one. derp. good thing i checked again. really preferred the tomahawk though.
  • 2x8GB Klevv CRAS II 3000Mhz C15, Hynix M-Die

checked the prices. it’s actually quite overbudget… but since my GPU died… i’ll consider it “repair cost” for now.

How frequently it is updated, what the memory timing support is, whether or not the vendor will support it beyond year 1, etc.

This is why I’d suggest ASUS. They have the best memory timing support, their bios software is generally solid. ASrock? I own an x470 taichi and only late december did they update the BIOS release version for AMD’s AGESA 1.0.0.6. That was released in may 2017 IIRC(!).

Things like that are going to make FAR more difference to your experience with the system running an R3 (or R5 or R7) on air cooling than hard core extreme over clock support from the VRM or other BIOS features that you’ll never use unless pushing things on LN2, dry ice, etc…

NIC wise - intel is fine. It will have drivers built into Windows, Linux or whatever platform you happen to run. Killer? Maybe? Either way if you’re on third world internet, paying more for a less widely supported killer NIC to shave a couple of milliseconds latency when you’re in a third world country is a waste of time.

I live in a first world country on 100 megabit (gigabit at work) and intel is fine for me.

I do agree. I might be harsh on killer and its weirdo windows hooks.

All a network card has to do is very very simple and set in stone. As long as the kernel driver is solid. The hardware is solid (and it really is now). A nic is a simple device.

Now it is more a 10G nic onboard over 1G is a bonus feature.

Depends. Some of the hardware is brain damaged.

For lols, go read the kernel source for some of the cheaper network adapters.

intel nics are solid though.

1 Like

I know but shame a common brand MB with putting a half assed chip on there MB now. Sure PCIe cards and other laptop plug in cards are utter china rubbish. This is a PC upgrade.

True. 90% of onboard nics are intel. They’re fine, and well supported.

well you guys made me check it… the MSI Mortar i picked got the Realtek 8111H

i don’t know how bad/good it is…

1 Like

:man_shrugging:

Probably not going to make much of a difference to you, but still intel is better.

Its a solid NIC. You will be fine.