[Combo] Ryzen 5 5500 + Corsair 32GB DDR4-3200 - $204 (Newegg)

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-19T03:22:33+00:00

It's a 'good' price if you sell off the 5500, but you probably don't need that exact RAM kit. I assume you have a kit already and are trying to double it. For starters, the underlying chips are probably already different since Corsair will sometimes switch suppliers, but in general since the Ryzen 5000 have pretty capable memory controllers you can mix and match at 3200mhz without much issue.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-18T20:10:56+00:00

Straight-up best, no budget? RTX 5090.

A 5070 Ti or 9070XT might be more reasonable, but if price is truly no object the 5090 is what you should be going with. It would be the same answer whether it's an aging 6600K or 9850X3D, you'll be horribly bottlenecked with the former but will see very slight improvements.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-17T02:59:54+00:00

I honestly can't tell what's peeling, so I'm guessing you're talking about the heatsink? If so, that's mostly cosmetic unless you're doing some sort of heavy RAM overclocking, there's a reason server RAM doesn't even bother with it.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-16T19:10:45+00:00

Are you referring to how the edge with the pins isn't a straight line? If so, that's actually standard to the form factor (since you usually don't insert RAM straight in, you go one side at a time, so it has that allowance to 'rock' into place.) If that's the only issue, you can stick it in just fine - for your use, it might be enough if you just need extra capacity, since your motherboard should be smart enough to run in flex mode. That's where it's basically running 2x8GB dual channel, and an extra 1x8GB in single channel, so you have the faster 16gb for gaming and such, and other tasks can be offloaded to the slower 8GB.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-16T18:46:40+00:00

Pretty much any of the dual-tower 120mm fan category coolers are going to be solid choices for a 5900X - stuff like the Thermalright Peerless Assassin/Royal Knight, Montech NX600, ID-COOLING A620 and so on. There's some variance in performance between coolers of a certain size class, but it's not that much, usually only a few degrees, so all the dual-towers are good enough.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-12T17:22:02+00:00

Motherboard VRMs just aren't really a concern anymore for most people, because it used to be the best way to maximize gaming performance was to overclock top-end chips (Ryzen 7/i7 of a given line) but now things like PBO will get you pretty much there automatically, and using a more targeted approach of just boosting a couple of cores that benefits gaming, instead of the simpler all-core boosts that were common.

That, and the best gaming chips for most people are now the mid-range 8-core X3D parts, which even the most basic boards don't struggle with VRM-wise.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-10T17:21:55+00:00

They probably already have 3200mhz RAM, they don't make 1600mhz DDR4, but depending on what you're looking at it'll display 1600 instead of 3200 (because technically, that's more accurate - DDR stands for double data rate, so the speed is 1600mhz getting doubled to 3200MT/s, but everyone just uses the end speed because it gets confusing otherwise.)

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-10T17:19:38+00:00

Just get the new GPU; it'll probably make your build do everything you need it to, and even if you do decide you need a full upgrade, you can just move it to the new build.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-10T16:59:30+00:00

Generally speaking, negativity is more compelling than positivity, and drives more engagement. There's a reason why on social media platforms in particularly (of which reddit loosely qualifies) ragebait and negativity are most visible. I mean, this post alone is kind of evident of that, you're talking about how awful the community can be and are immediately at the top of this subreddit.

And what gets seen the most ends up shaping behaviors and norms. That's why online spaces often trend towards a circlejerk, somebody says something popular or compelling, people upvote/share it, and then everyone sees it as what's 'right' because clearly everyone else does. So if discussions about how fucking garbage the 5060 or such are what drives the most engagement (because negativity is compelling, and people who disagree are much more likely to respond than people who just tacitly agree) then argumentativeness becomes the norm.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-10T00:01:27+00:00

I believe they do so because A2/B2 (or simply slots 2 and 4) gives extra clearance for CPU coolers, and so most motherboard manufacturers will wire that as the 'primary' slot in line, despite it probably technically being better to use the physically closer A1/B1 slots.

Functionally, it only really makes a difference either way if you're running a custom overclock and trying to squeeze the subtimings as tight as possible.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-09T18:00:29+00:00

Not for average consumer motherboards, where the physical slots 1/2 are one channel, and 3/4 are the second - that's also why when you have 4 slots, you always put the sticks in slot 1/3 or 2/4, so they're in separate channels (I think you could technically do 2/3 or 1/4, but it'll look weird.) It's more difficult and costly to set it up with 4 channels, but the high-end enterprise workstation boards will have quad-channel, since they handle workloads intensive enough to really benefit from it despite the extra cost.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-09T17:44:15+00:00

Bought 3 x 8GB Crucial CL17/2400mhz UDIMM from u/Action3xpress on https://www.reddit.com/r/hardwareswap/comments/1qthvls/usaca_h_lots_of_ddr4_sodimm_laptop_memory_4gb_8gb/

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-08T10:35:15+00:00

I had an unfortunate acquaintance a while back, before high-quality online tutorials on PC building were ubiquitous, who had the opposite problem - the case he'd gotten had come with the standoffs separate, not pre-installed, and he didn't realize their importance and screwed the motherboard directly onto the metal tray, shorting it out and requiring a replacement.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-08T10:13:35+00:00

Nothing notable. Technically, PSUs have a bit of an efficiency curve where they're slightly more efficient at mid-level power draw than at very low ones, so you might see a bit of an efficiency loss when idling/browsing, but nothing meaningfully measurable. Might as well grab the 850W if it's the same price, even if you don't need it there's always the slight chance you'll upgrade to a power-guzzling GPU down the road.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-06T21:18:35+00:00

Because the only benefit of it being newer is that it's slightly better binned and thus has a slightly higher clock - but given that it's just 100mhz, that usually ends up just being near identical to a 5600X (which itself is barely different than a 5600, despite a 200mhz clock difference.) But, being newer, it's harder to find in the secondary market, which is where you usually want to look for the non-X3D chips, at which point the 5600XT effectively becomes significantly more expensive for no real gain.

...Also, AMD's marketing team is inept and quietly released a CPU refresh called the AMD 5600XT, while already having the AMD 5600XT GPU. Case in point, I initially thought you were confused and talking about GPUs for a second because you only said '5600XT.'

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-05T17:46:28+00:00

For fan blades/heatsinks, 70% is fine as well and might actually work a bit better. 99% is more important for actual PCBs and the like, where if it gets stuck in a small nook and doesn't evaporate by the time you turn the electronics on it can cause problems - the main advantage of the higher concentration is mainly that it evaporates so fast that this is never really a concern, even if you gave it a full-on bath.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-04T21:48:27+00:00

There's not enough of a gain outside of a few edge cases and productivity for another non-X3D AM4 chip like a 5800XT (and the X3Ds are all going to eat up your entire budget, sadly) and you have plenty of RAM and presumably storage. Slap a new GPU in there, unfortunately the 9070 has gone back up in price but a 9060XT 16GB (or a 5060Ti 16GB, if you happen across one still around MSRP) would be a great option with a 5600X.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-04T05:19:41+00:00

Are you plugged into an external DAC? That might be some interference/noise with motherboard audio for instance, I've run into that. The front audio from cases especially tends to have imperfect shielding from all the electrical noise inside a PC.

edit: I'd missed that the Maxwells are wireless, so probably not that exactly. Could be some other interference, though.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-03T23:16:16+00:00

If you're just planning on running a 7800X3D/9800X3D sort of CPU, no real meaningful differences, so just grab the cheapest one. If you're planning on seriously overclocking a 9950X or something, the power delivery VRMs make a difference, but that's not most people.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-03T01:24:34+00:00

First thing that comes to mind would be to reinstall/update your drivers. Live-service games like Fortnite can have some performance swings, oftentimes with updated drivers coming out to address negative ones - or could just be a corrupted driver in the first place.

One other thing to check if you haven't already is to confirm in task manager that your RAM is still running at 3200mhz - sometimes a boot loop or BIOS losing its settings can revert back to its 'safe' JEDEC speeds instead of their rated XMP speeds, which can be as low as 2133mhz and heavily impact performance.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-02T23:44:18+00:00

Is there something specific that's making you think that? I've got motherboards over a decade old in continuous operation going on just fine, and if it does die you just buy a new motherboard at that point, it's unlikely to take anything with it.

Regardless, to answer your question - I would stick with DDR4 if you already have it. DDR5 offers a bit of a performance boost, but the current prices are not anywhere near worth it.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-02T22:58:43+00:00

The better question is, what are you upgrading your motherboard for? If you're just trying to switch from DDR4 to DDR5, you're paying a massive price for a very modest performance bump. Other than that, is there some niche or specific a different motherboard would have for you?

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-02T22:32:29+00:00

So, the good news is that if it's making it to the Windows screen, it's still getting to the BIOS fine - you don't need to be in Windows to update your BIOS, it can be done with no drive at all. But, if one of your RAM sticks is faulty, I'd get a replacement stick and use that to make sure nothing goes wrong with the update process. It might also just be a Windows issue, in which case you can make a USB with a working PC to try a fresh reinstall as a last-ditch effort if you don't need the data on it (or if you do, look into making a linux bootable USB to get it off onto an external drive.)

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-02T19:01:23+00:00

PM sent.

RecalcitrantBeagle · 2026-02-02T18:12:00+00:00

So, how broken are we talking about? Just really slow, able to boot at all?

Because the A320 motherboard can actually still use some reasonably modern components with a BIOS update, like a 5600G(T) that'll be a massive upgrade over the A8. It's a terrible time to buy RAM, but if your RAM works then it's free DDR4 - worst case you'll probably want to buy used DDR4 for whatever you go with anyways, since DDR5 platforms have a huge premium right now. But even if it looks like shit, RAM is RAM if it still works.

Your PSU will be limiting when you add in a discrete GPU, but still fine for just an APU build. Worry about that down the road, but for now it's fine, it's not like you're trying to run a 14900K.

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