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Would it be worth it to upgrade to a B550/X570 motherboard from a B450 motherboard?

You have to justify the reason you want to upgrade.
Just for aesthetics, no. For USB-C, no. For PCiE Gen4, hell no.

For practical reasons, meaning if you really need 1-2-3 nvme ssds, probably gen 4 ones, for your job, or a 2.5Gb ethernet or HDMI input etc. and at the same time you plan to keep you build for years, then ok.
 
5700X + RX 6700 is already a good balance.
The 6700 10GB is so underrated. I think I'm putting it back into my HTPC and selling the 3070 in there right now.

Yes, the 3070 is a tad faster, but it uses 25% more power and that's audibly noisier in a cramped HTPC case. Also, raytracing is still a shitty gimmick that has yet to impress me, and I've installed so many RTX games since my two 20-series launch day cards, so it's not as if I haven't given RTX every chance to prove itself.
 
For USB-C
Especially since most USB-C ports are no faster than the USB-A ports on a lot of these systems

The "10Gb" USB-C on my x370 board runs 300MB/s vs the 500MB/s of the CPU's 5Gb ports
Then my x570 has the USB-C 10Gb ports, and it also has USB-A 10Gb ports that run the exact same speeds on an A-C cable making it rather silly
 
The 6700 10GB is so underrated. I think I'm putting it back into my HTPC and selling the 3070 in there right now.

Yes, the 3070 is a tad faster, but it uses 25% more power and that's audibly noisier in a cramped HTPC case. Also, raytracing is still a shitty gimmick that has yet to impress me, and I've installed so many RTX games since my two 20-series launch day cards, so it's not as if I haven't given RTX every chance to prove itself.
At stock power limit/clocks on my card it uses about 140W. ~160W with PL unlocked at 2700MHz. It's honestly a pretty efficient card, specially for the amount of performance it gives (~3060ti, which is a 200W+ card).
And this is w/o undervolting. I've seen some people run 2.5GHz at 1.05V which draws about 95~115W lol. Sadly my card is a very bad undervolter, but also a pretty good overclocker I guess. Can push 2750MHz (though efficiency goes down the drain after 2700, so I wouldn't bother), which is almost "max out slider" territory; but any undervolt over 30mV at stock clocks is an instant crash. Oh well.

Especially since most USB-C ports are no faster than the USB-A ports on a lot of these systems

The "10Gb" USB-C on my x370 board runs 300MB/s vs the 500MB/s of the CPU's 5Gb ports
Then my x570 has the USB-C 10Gb ports, and it also has USB-A 10Gb ports that run the exact same speeds on an A-C cable making it rather silly
Makes sense, I guess I'll just buy one of those cursed usb2 to usb3 connector then usb 3 to usb-c connector lmao
It'll be hidden at the back of the case at the end, so the adapter hell won't be visible.
 
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B450 to B550 isn't going to be much of an upgrade. B550 to X570/X570S will be a little better, but you'll still struggle to find more than a single USB-C port on any of them.

If you want to connect your case's front USB-C port to your motherboard, just buy a PCIe card to do that for you, e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Expansion-Transfer-Interface-Adapter-Desktop-PCIE-X1-USB3-2/dp/B0BG6F5G9D/ - you won't get 10Gbps speed but I get the impression that speed isn't your major concern.
Yeah it was just making my port useful. My usb drive collection is kinda cursed and all of them are USB-C.
 
Not worth it in my opinion, save your money for AM5.
In a way I agree but in a nuisance definitely not, it sounds like this pc is sticking around for two years,
And Am5 is on generation one I think you like me and some others prefer gen 2 if possible which is a ways out yet since the competition are in no rush.

So no if you're going to upgrade in 1/2 years anyway but yes if it's going to be longer-term just a reasonable x570 not top end pciex 4 for GPU and nvme make a small but noticeable difference. Better memory Pc in a lot of cases,
For sure it's more stable and refined plus you do get pbo2 working on that CPU which should see a small gain , I went x470 to 570 and while it was meh in a lot of ways little in use perks like better USBC , pciex4 make a difference over time.
 
In a way I agree but in a nuisance definitely not, it sounds like this pc is sticking around for two years,
And Am5 is on generation one I think you like me and some others prefer gen 2 if possible which is a ways out yet since the competition are in no rush.

So no if you're going to upgrade in 1/2 years anyway but yes if it's going to be longer-term just a reasonable x570 not top end pciex 4 for GPU and nvme make a small but noticeable difference. Better memory Pc in a lot of cases,
For sure it's more stable and refined plus you do get pbo2 working on that CPU which should see a small gain , I went x470 to 570 and while it was meh in a lot of ways little in use perks like better USBC , pciex4 make a difference over time.
Talking about longevity yeah. I'm planning to keep it until 2025 at least. 2026 maybe. My old PC lasted from 2018 (2600+ RX 480) until the start of 2023, so I hope this new system lasts similarly long.

The motherboard is a holdover from the old system right now, which is why the question popped up, besides the cursed USB-C port ofc.
 
At stock power limit/clocks on my card it uses about 140W. ~160W with PL unlocked at 2700MHz. It's honestly a pretty efficient card, specially for the amount of performance it gives (~3060ti, which is a 200W+ card).
And this is w/o undervolting. I've seen some people run 2.5GHz at 1.05V which draws about 95~115W lol. Sadly my card is a very bad undervolter, but also a pretty good overclocker I guess. Can push 2750MHz (though efficiency goes down the drain after 2700, so I wouldn't bother), which is almost "max out slider" territory; but any undervolt over 30mV at stock clocks is an instant crash. Oh well.


Makes sense, I guess I'll just buy one of those cursed usb2 to usb3 connector then usb 3 to usb-c connector lmao
It'll be hidden at the back of the case at the end, so the adapter hell won't be visible.
Yeah I need to put it back in still, but hopefully I still have my custom profiles installed. IIRC I had a 2.4GHz profile at 975mv which was ~100W (reported) but that's the chip power, not the board power, so the card was probably using ~125W for something nipping at the heels of a 3060Ti
 
I agree for an RX 6700, PCIE 3.0x16 is more than enough. But if you need more connectivity, that's always a valid reason to get another board. You could easily sell the old board or repurpose it into something else.
 
B550 to X570/X570S will be a little better, but you'll still struggle to find more than a single USB-C port on any of them.
My B550 has 3 of them, but one is USB 2.0 speed I think :D

I have only had B550 boards so I cannot comment :ohwell:
 
Talking about longevity yeah. I'm planning to keep it until 2025 at least. 2026 maybe. My old PC lasted from 2018 (2600+ RX 480) until the start of 2023, so I hope this new system lasts similarly long.

The motherboard is a holdover from the old system right now, which is why the question popped up, besides the cursed USB-C port ofc.
Three years, I would bother then.
It won't knock your socks off but for that many years definitely worth it.
 
usb2 to usb3 connector then usb 3 to usb-c connector lmao
Not sure what you mean there, but don't confuse certain facts
USB '2 to 3' will lock you at 0.5Gb, 480Mb speeds.


USB A to C cables can be any speed, so dont get USB 2.0 ones.
 
Not sure what you mean there, but don't confuse certain facts
USB '2 to 3' will lock you at 0.5Gb, 480Mb speeds.


USB A to C cables can be any speed, so dont get USB 2.0 ones.
Yeah I meant the adapter for the USB header on the motherboard, since I only have one (broken, lol, those things are made of cardboard) usb 3 header.
Mostly to make the usb-c port useful. Aware it'll lock me on usb 2 speeds.
 
Below goes borderline offtopic as i rant about a feature on FA's board, but ugh why are people doing dumb stuff like this to confuse everyone about USB-C


My B550 has 3 of them, but one is USB 2.0 speed I think :D

I have only had B550 boards so I cannot comment :ohwell:
You can see some weird shite with USB 3.x, but that comment had me sure you were wrong - but nope, you get a type-C "Audio" port for whatever reason.
The official webpage for your board makes it sound like the port is designed for USB 2.0 DAC's, but nope - it's an output for a special cable of theirs from the onboard solution?!?
They don't even picture the included cable adaptor or mention it anywhere in the specs or manual that i've seen so far.
1675226743284.png

It literally seems to just divert the onboard analogue audio over the included cable, giving you... a second set of analog jacks right next to the existing ones?

"USB Type-C Audio is really analog signals over USB. And that is bad because you are passing audio right next to power lines of USB, which can cause interferes which can be audible"
Reddit and the asus forums are full of confusion since they spaz out and behave weird, or refuse to activate at all - because it seems like a one or the other situation, it;s like they divert the front panel audio (or rear ports or SPDIF or something) to those jacks and send plain old analogue sound over it - any other devices connected, it's just USB 2.0
It's broken for most users and requires specific BIOS versions and settings, AND software combinations to work

Apparently its stereo analog only, no mic support, and often really crackly
1675227233421.png



Why grab a weird tech standard that doesn't make sense at all, and slap it on a motherboard? Oh right, asus sell a heap of USB-C audio accesories - they want you to buy those, even tho they don't need this port
1675227028195.png

seems entirely useless when it already has 3.5mm jacks RIGHT NEXT TO IT
1675226584148.png




On the more generic USB 3.x and AMD chipset confusion topic:

USB-C at a design level you could wire something up as two single 5Gb ports, or merge them together to make one 10Gb type-C (since they're literally double sided, it's 5Gb each side)
You could then get USB-A ports that are 10Gb, that if they used that trick they'd become the 20Gb ports - but those are extreeeeemely rare, the fabled and lovingly named USB 3.2 gen2x2

If you used the single-sided stuff with USB 2.0, you get a simple USB 2.0 connection with type C at the end that likely only works one way around, but if everything follows the specs properly works facing both ways (Some of these weird combos only function one way around)


Those 3.2 gen 2 ports are all 10Gb, so you have 3 USB A and one USB-C at the rear that are all 10Gb, regardless of if you use A-B or A-C cables
You get 4x10Gb and 4x 480Mb, when my older x570 gets 4x 5Gb and 4x10Gb

Then your front ports are two 5Gb type A and one 10Gb type C (same as x570, this setup seems common - they internally converted two 5Gb ports into a 10Gb 2x2 type C))

1675226279957.png


Yeah I meant the adapter for the USB header on the motherboard, since I only have one (broken, lol, those things are made of cardboard) usb 3 header.
Mostly to make the usb-c port useful. Aware it'll lock me on usb 2 speeds.
Ah gotcha, to let you use 2.0 case ports off the 3.0 headers on the motherboard

Depending on your case and setup, those are really handy - i've even had to use those to connect RGB and fan controllers to a build once, since the board had two 3.0 headers
 
seems entirely useless when it already has 3.5mm jacks RIGHT NEXT TO IT
Yeah it’s pretty weird.. the cable is too I don’t remember what it terminates to but it left me with question marks. I had a usbc to lightning cable that was a tad on the shady side and would repeatedly disconnect from the front and rear high speed connection, but that lower one by the audio jacks charged my phone no problem :laugh:
 
Yeah it’s pretty weird.. the cable is too I don’t remember what it terminates to but it left me with question marks. I had a usbc to lightning cable that was a tad on the shady side and would repeatedly disconnect from the front and rear high speed connection, but that lower one by the audio jacks charged my phone no problem :laugh:
apple only use USB2.0, so that's why it was stable there

That's always thrown me off about why people like the lightning cable, when it's so, sooooooo far behind on data transfer speeds, as well as charging... i've got a 512GB phone and do 8K videos. I'm not doing that over wifi or an internet connection, that shites going at 10Gb/s

1675237345620.png


It's one of the ways i found the asmedia USB-C on my x370 board was rather terrible, but the 10Gb USB-A ports ran great (with a quality cable)
 
That's always thrown me off about why people like the lightning cable
I don’t like it per se.. it came with my phone.
 
My B550 has 3 of them, but one is USB 2.0 speed I think :D

I have only had B550 boards so I cannot comment :ohwell:
B450 to B550 isn't much of an upgrade. For someone with a B450 board the hassle of replacing and selling on is likely enough that you'd want to move up to a premium-tier X570 board just to make it feel worth the time and cost. If it were me, I'd want a wide range of upgrades like a nicer BIOS, better fan control, better memory tuning options, more NVMe ports, dual-NIC with at least one 2.5GbE, boot diagnostic LEDs, some nice aesthetics (or RBGLED if that's your thing...) etc

Just going from midrange B450 to midrange B550 is a non-event that costs time and money - the extra ports, bells and whistles come from going premium$$
 
B450 to B550 isn't much of an upgrade. For someone with a B450 board the hassle of replacing and selling on is likely enough that you'd want to move up to a premium-tier X570 board just to make it feel worth the time and cost. If it were me, I'd want a wide range of upgrades like a nicer BIOS, better fan control, better memory tuning options, more NVMe ports, dual-NIC with at least one 2.5GbE, boot diagnostic LEDs, some nice aesthetics (or RBGLED if that's your thing...) etc

Just going from midrange B450 to midrange B550 is a non-event that costs time and money - the extra ports, bells and whistles come from going premium$$
X570 might be worth for the 2.5G really. 2000Mbps+ residential is becoming common here now. Currently got 1Gbps and it's the second cheapest option lol
 
apple only use USB2.0, so that's why it was stable there

That's always thrown me off about why people like the lightning cable, when it's so, sooooooo far behind on data transfer speeds, as well as charging... i've got a 512GB phone and do 8K videos. I'm not doing that over wifi or an internet connection, that shites going at 10Gb/s

View attachment 281827

It's one of the ways i found the asmedia USB-C on my x370 board was rather terrible, but the 10Gb USB-A ports ran great (with a quality cable)
Because Apple users don't buy for functionality, just for the brand.
 
X570 might be worth for the 2.5G really. 2000Mbps+ residential is becoming common here now. Currently got 1Gbps and it's the second cheapest option lol
Most x570 don't have that

B550 is newer than x570, you need the x570s (the silent re-launched versions) to have a chance at the 2.5Gb/wifi AX models
 
Most x570 don't have that

B550 is newer than x570, you need the x570s (the silent re-launched versions) to have a chance at the 2.5Gb/wifi AX models
Sneaky. Guess you have to look for the speed of the ethernet port more than anything, as I haven't seen any that says X570s explicitly.
 
Upper end B550 is pretty nice, its too bad that they are so close in price to X570.
 
Sneaky. Guess you have to look for the speed of the ethernet port more than anything, as I haven't seen any that says X570s explicitly.
You have to text search for X570S after selecting X570 when looking for one (add to search box in this link- 15 boards listed)

My MSI MAG X570S TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI has 2.5Gb LAN
Only feature that is missing is USB C gen 2x2 (20Gbps)... didn't want to spend the extra 60+ dollars for that feature
 
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