Suggest Motherboard and GPU upgrade options

meetdenis

Broken In
Hi,

I am looking to upgrade my Motherboard and GPU. Existing ones are more than 6 years old and are giving me problems in booting up.

My current config is:
Ryzen 5 2400G
Asus Prime B350M-A
Corsair 2x8 GB 3200 MHz
Zotac GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
Corsair CX550
Antec GX200

1x1 TB WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD (boot drive)
2x1 TB WD HDD


My hardware guy suggests upgrading to the B450 series motherboard. And for the GPU, he suggested the RTX 3050, which I feel might be an overkill considering my gaming usage and config limits.

Please suggest recommendations considering compatibility and considering :

I want to have at least 4-5 years of usage before the next upgrade.
I am not going to upgrade the PSU or CPU.


Thanks

---[ Filled in Questionnaire ]------

1. What is the purpose of the computer? What all applications and games are you going to run? (Be exact. Which games? Which applications? Avoid the word 'et cetera.' Vague answers like 'gaming' or 'office work' will not work.)
Ans:
Basic image post processing: Lightroom, Topaz AI
Games: Not very high end. Mostly FPS, Sniper and Strategy genres
Watching movies and series

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then please mention.
Ans: 25k for both

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: No

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: Windows

5. How much hard drive / solid-state drive space is needed?
Ans: Not buying storage

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention the screen size and resolution you prefer. If you already have a monitor and want to reuse it, then do mention the screen size and resolution of the monitor you have.
Ans: Not buying monitor

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy? i.e. which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: RAM, PSU, CPU, SSD, HDD, Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: ASAP

9. Have you ever built a desktop before? Or, will this be done by an assembler?
Ans:

10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
Ans:

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans:
 
Honestly 3050 GPU is bad for new games, minimum you need is an RX6600 or better buy a used 3060Ti for 16-17k. For very basic games, iGPU might work.

B450 mobo is enough if you want to save money.
 
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meetdenis

Broken In
Whats the max GPU a B450 mobo can support, given my other specs will remain unchanged?

Also, any suggestions which B450 to go for?
 

K_akash_i

In the zone
Whats the max GPU a B450 mobo can support, given my other specs will remain unchanged?

Also, any suggestions which B450 to go for?
I think it can support any, you'd only be bottlenecked by the CPU mostly. So any GPu that won't bottleneck your CPU is a good buy.
 
OP
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meetdenis

Broken In
If you aren't going to use RT and DLSS features, get an AMD GPU at the same budget which should have higher VRAM.
I have read that AMD GPUs consume more power as compared to Nvidia's. Given I have a 550W, I have some reservations. But open for a counter opinion
 
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meetdenis

Broken In
Lamington Road dealer PrimeABGB tells me the Asus Prime B450M-A II is outdated and asked me to go for GIGABYTE B450M DS3H V2. Not sure if they are intentionally pushing for the latter as they have it available and the latter is out of stock with them.

I did some comparisons and Asus looks to be the better choice as it offers better power delivery, faster RAM support, and a faster M.2 slot.
What are some other legit dealers on Lamington I can check with?
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
@meetdenis

I do not know which one is better between the two, if any. However, in my observation a shopkeeper’s job is to sell you what they have rather than what you want.

Aren’t you getting what you want online?
Lamington road has now lost its charm. It no longer is what it used be to a 15 years ago.

If you want to roam around in there, just check with another shop named PC Guide. I found them relatively better. General shops over there have a tie-up with distributors. So they generally do not have the item stocked in their shops. When you ask for say Asus Prime B450A, if they have tie-up with Asus distributor, they will call them over there and immediately get the item from its warehouse in a few minutes.

Some are cheaters, they will quote much less than market price and you may be tempted to buy it. They will demand cash and when you pay, will not give you invoice. They will say this is cash transaction and no GST so no receipt.
 
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meetdenis

Broken In
@patkim

Yea, have been ordering online for smaller stuff like RAM, SSD, etc. But for Mobo & PSU, prefer to get it from the shop itself. And this time more so, as I don't want to wait. Plus, online seems to be costing more, strangely so.

And I am aware about how Lamington dealers work. I picked up the Mobo and the GPU from Right Solutions who gave the best deal among the ones I asked (the shady ones, I don't bother asking), and also a valid GST receipt. No restrictions on mode of payment.

Installed both and everything seems to be in order.
 
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