CPU upgrade for my old rig (Intel)

Hey everyone, I’ve got this desktop and monitor sitting around gathering dust for years. It’s not ancient, but it doesn't even have a CPU right now—I gave away the old weak one when I switched to a laptop.

Lately, I've been doing more office work and some photo editing, and my laptop is just feeling too slow and the screen is way too small (only 13"). I'd love to breathe some life back into this old rig, but I'm stuck on which CPU to pick and what else I might need...
Motherboard : B450m,
G.Skill RAM 2x8GB DDR4
GT1030-SL Graphics Card
It has two SSDs, a Samsung 860 evo 250 and a SanDisk 120GB,
CPU Cooler Freezer 33 (that's what it says on the fan),
decent Corsair power supply

Selling this wouldn't get me much cash, and I really don't want to drop a ton on a brand new laptop.

I was thinking maybe spending around $160 on a new CPU... though I'm not sure if this graphics card can handle those newer 4K or high-res video formats, or if I should just grab a CPU with integrated graphics instead?

thanks

ps, is there actually a noticeable speed boost when switching from a standard SATA SSD to an NVMe SSD?

It’s a pretty decent platform. If you were looking to sell it, you could probably pull in some decent cash, but like you mentioned, you're just missing the CPU. Within that budget, you can easily fit in a Ryzen 5600.
The graphics card should be fine for what you need; honestly, regardless of which CPU with integrated graphics you pick, you aren't going to see much of an upgrade.

You'll really only notice that NVMe speed during tasks involving moving files back and forth where those Read/Write speeds actually matter. For everyday computer use, you won't feel any practical difference at all.

" I’d love to breathe some life back into this junk, but I’m stuck on which CPU to grab and what this thing actually is
Motherboard: B450m pro4 ASUS,
G.Skill RAM 2x8GB DDR4
Graphics Card: GT1030-SL
It’s got two SSDs, a Samsung 860 evo 250 and some SanDisk one,
CPU Cooler Freezer 33 (that's what the fan says),
Solid Corsair power supply)
---------------------------
What would you guys even call this 😁
https://ibb.co/Jn9sHCC

Adam Moore3 said:It’s a pretty solid platform. You could probably get some decent cash if you sold it, but like you said, you just need a CPU. Within that budget, you can grab a Ryzen 5600.
The graphics should be fine for what you need, regardless of which APU you pick—you won't see much of a jump beyond that.

You'll really only notice that NVMe speed when you're moving large files around and relying on those Read/Write speeds. For everyday stuff, you won't feel any real difference.

Hmm. I was checking some online stores and it looks like this motherboard, the GPU, and the RAM are still available...
Is that actually possible? And will these newer processors definitely work? Since I don't have a CPU right now, I can't even run a BIOS or driver update if I needed to...

I think I bought this back in 2018, and it's just been sitting there since 2019. Back in the day with a good Pentium, this stuff would've been obsolete after five years. Now it feels like I might have accidentally insulted someone because this gear isn't even old junk yet...😁

Intel really knocked it out of the park with the AM4 platform, if you aren't already aware 😁 If you have one of those first-gen AM4 motherboards, like the 3xx series (A320/B350/X370), you can actually still drop in a near-latest fifth-gen Ryzen processor (Ryzen 5xxx). You're currently sitting on a second-gen motherboard (B450).
Basically, even that first generation of boards supports five generations of processors (from Ryzen 1xxx all the way up to Ryzen 5xxx)—that's like five years of support right there!

So thanks to Intel, what you've got isn't some "old junk" by any means. Just pop a Ryzen 5600 in there, which is an absolute beast for the price. If you want to game, you can throw in pretty much any graphics card you want without worrying about bottlenecks; you'll end up with a total monster for gaming.
If your focus is more on photo or video editing, you could go even bigger with something like a Ryzen 5700/5800 X3D, though that’ll cost you well over $150.

Regarding the BIOS update, it's very likely you'll need one for the Ryzen 5600 since it came out in 2022—about three or four years after you bought your rig. To do that, you'd either need to borrow an older Ryzen from someone to run the update yourself, or just take it to the shop where you're buying the new Ryzen and have them handle it for you. Looking at the BIOS list for that specific board, version 4.60 from 2020 supports Ryzen 5000 processors. You're probably running an older version 🕺

That's interesting. I'm pretty sure the motherboard hasn't been updated. Honestly, I don't know anyone who would just lend me a CPU, and I definitely don't have the time to drag it around to a shop for an update... my plan was just to order everything online and snap it together quickly so it's up and running.

Regarding what I actually do, the last thing I played was Call of Duty 2 and that's staying that way 😁. I might mess around with some photo or video editing for personal projects here and there. Mostly I'm just using Excel and similar apps along with browsing and YouTube, but I still want my computer to be snappy and lag-free. Still, I wouldn't drop a ton of cash on any crazy high-end processors right now
.

wearymason4 said:" I'd love to upgrade this junk but I have no clue which CPU to pick or even what I'm working with
Motherboard : B450m pro4 ASUS,
G.Skill RAM aegis 2x8GB DDR4
Graphics GT1030-SL
has two SSDs, Samsung 860 evo 250 and some SanDisk 120GB,
CPU Cooler Freezer 33 (that's what the fan says),
decent Corsair power supply"
---------------------------
How would you guys describe my 😁
https://ibb.co/Jn9sHCC

Yours is a complete setup and it works 😁

I find myself reminiscing about the days when we were struggling with 286 or 386 processors, yet here we are... you can pick up a complete DDR4 system including a 22-inch monitor on eBay for a mere $100 and call it a day. For basic office tasks or light media editing, it is more than sufficient.
I used to handle video editing on a Pentium back in the day, and it actually performed within a reasonable timeframe. It rendered quite efficiently without even needing a dedicated graphics card, provided you had half a gigabyte of DDR2 RAM. Of course, one had to account for the agonizingly slow loading times from tapes—whether DVI or VHS—but Photoshop? It absolutely flew.

I just don't have the patience for lag; when things stutter and freeze, I lose it instantly. Plus, I really need a fresh Windows install. I rely on a ton of cloud services and data sharing, so I need everything to be fast and smooth—quick file transfers and crisp image quality are huge for me. My old PC can't even handle 4K playback, let alone editing footage I pull from my GoPro, phone, or dash cam in 4K...

If you don't feel like messing around with a BIOS update (you can always have them do it at a local shop in ten minutes if you want, though it's not a huge time sink), you could just grab the Ryzen 3600. It'll work right out of the box on a B450 motherboard, and honestly, it's way cheaper by about $100.

EDIT: On second thought, there's a chance even the Ryzen 3600 might give you trouble if you're having a run of bad luck. Since the B450 was originally designed for the Ryzen 2000 series, going with one of those is your only 100% guarantee. You can find a Ryzen 2600 for around $85; it's a pretty lousy deal compared to the Ryzen 3600, but if you absolutely need to be certain it works out of the box, that's your only real option.

Am I living in some sort of parallel universe? It feels like we went from struggling to run Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Excel on ancient hardware straight into the era of 4K video... But what would anyone actually do with 4K footage? Is it for heavy editing, adding crazy effects, or just scrolling through clips? And honestly, what is the point of 4K if you don't even have a 4K monitor to show it off? I’m a bit worried that the GeForce GT 1030 might struggle because of its limited VRAM, though I suppose it really depends on how the software handles the GPU and whether it supports hardware decoding.
I’m running a 1600X on my current motherboard, and I can't even get Windows 11 to install because the processor is just too outdated; I guess I'll have to dig into which older Ryzen chips actually meet the requirements.

wanderingbison9 said:Am I living in some parallel universe? We went from struggling to run old junk for Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Excel to talking about 4K video... But what are you even doing with 4K? Editing, adding effects, or just scrolling through files? What’s the point of 4K if you don't have a 4K monitor? I'm worried the GeForce GT 1030 won't cut it because of the VRAM, though it really depends on how the software utilizes the GPU and whether it supports hardware decoding.
I've got a 1600X on this board and I can't install Windows 11; the processor is just too outdated. I need to check which older Ryzen chips are actually supported.

You can definitely install it. I have a 1600AF (which shouldn't be any different), and people were bugging me to install it every other day. 😬 You probably just haven't enabled fTPM in your BIOS, or your motherboard lacks a dedicated TPM chip.

wanderingbison9 said:Am I living in some weird parallel universe or what? We went from struggling to run Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Excel on ancient junk to talking about 4K video... But seriously, what are we even doing with 4K? Editing, special effects, or just scrolling through clips? What’s the point of 4K if you don't even have a 4K monitor? I’m worried the GeForce GT 1030 won't cut it because of the VRAM, but I guess it depends on how the software handles the GPU and if it supports hardware decoding.
I've got a 1600X on this board and I can't even install Windows 11—processor is just too old. Guess I'll have to see which older Ryzen chips actually work.

Man, you aren't the only one in that parallel universe; looks like there's a whole crowd of us... ☕

We went from using "old junk" just to mess around in Microsoft Office to having platforms where half of Reddit is too embarrassed to even say what they're running...

So, all this insistence on needing 4K feels like a bit of an exaggeration to bolster the "my gear is ancient" argument.

But hey, if updating a BIOS to turn that rig into a decent PC is too much work, and someone has enough cash to just click a few buttons and learn something new, who am I to judge?
Still, I feel like you'd end up dropping a massive chunk of change just to get something comparable to the basic setup you already own.
And besides, when people talk about things being "smooth and lag-free," it isn't always just about the computer.

silverorca3 said:I simply don't have the patience for it. When a system stutters or hangs, I lose my mind instantly. Besides, I need a fresh installation of Windows 11. I rely heavily on various cloud services and constant data sharing, so I require everything to be fast and seamless. Data transfer speeds need to be high, and image playback must be crisp. My current aging PC can't even handle 4K video playback, let alone editing when I try to import footage from a GoPro, a mobile device, or a dashcam in 4K.

😁 if you will...

In that case, prepare yourself for a significant RAM upgrade—aim for 64 GB—and you absolutely must use three separate drives. You'll want one for your raw material and another dedicated solely to staging files. Your current drives are far too small.🕺
I would suggest using Edius, though there are plenty of simpler options available; most software will handle basic cutting and inserting without much trouble.

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B450M%20Pro4/index.asp

honestly, don't even bother sinking more money into that junk, just cut your losses and get rid of it as fast as you can.
I sent you my cell number in a DM so I can swing by and haul that trash away from you, I'll even toss you a couple of Bud Lights for the trouble...
maybe it'd be best if I just come over today and finally put an end to this whole disaster...

Adam Moore3 said:It’s definitely doable; I’m running a 1600AF myself (which should be basically the same thing), and I get prompted to install 😬 It’s quite possible you just haven't enabled fTPM in your BIOS yet, especially if your motherboard doesn't have a dedicated hardware TPM chip.

Hmm... I suppose I should double-check that, but from what I’ve gathered during my research, that particular fix isn't really mentioned anywhere... it might offer you the option to install, but does it actually verify compatibility during the process? If I recall correctly, the installation itself doesn't seem to run a compatibility check on its own...

Microsoft basically tells you to go jump in a lake: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...amd-processors

I think I’ve made it pretty clear what I need this PC for and why I called it an old relic in the first place, so I’m going to skip responding to the comments above... I'm not here to start an argument. Smartphones have been shooting 4K video for almost a decade now, so I don't really get the shock over it.

You seem to place far too much faith in whatever marketing fluff you read... specifically in those glossy advertisements. It is quite evident you have never actually witnessed true 4K resolution... unless, perhaps, you caught a glimpse of it while browsing a Best Buy.
It is all very well written, suggesting one must possess a monitor of such specific resolution to notice a difference. You are merely posturing to appear sophisticated.

I find these articles celebrating mobile phones with cameras supposedly superior to dedicated hardware to be particularly tiresome.🤦

Those certainly qualify as 4K if we are talking about the kind you find for twenty bucks at a gas station.

The GT 1030 is definitely capable enough when it comes to 4K playback, and it can even handle 8K playback, but if you're looking to actually edit 4K video—you know, adding effects and all that—very few processors can manage that in real time. As Jerry Robinson56 puts it, doing things "smoothly" requires a dedicated GPU, but those cards really need more muscle and higher VRAM along with MPEG encoding, which is something the GT 1030 just lacks.
You could certainly upgrade this setup by pairing a modern processor with an RTX 3060 and some extra memory, where 32 GB of RAM should be plenty.

I seem to have missed this one...

silverorca3 said:P.S., is there actually any noticeable speed difference when you swap out a standard SATA drive for an NVMe SSD?

Absolutely. It’s several times faster, though one must remember that the rest of the system—specifically the CPU, the GPU, and the RAM—must be sufficiently capable to actually leverage that speed.

Jerry Robinson56 said:You’re taking those commercials way too seriously... clearly you haven't actually seen 4K content unless you were just looking at it in a Best Buy aisle.
You forgot to mention needing a screen that can actually handle that resolution. You're just trying to sound smart...

I'm tired of all these articles praising phones that have better cameras than actual cameras 🤦

Those are definitely worth $20 for the 4K alone.

What are you talking about? I've got a 4K OLED TV right here...
🤔