I'm upgrading my existing AM4 system instead of building a completely new PC because current component prices are high. The planned changes are a Ryzen 5 5600X with its stock cooler to a Ryzen 7 5800X3D with a be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5, a GTX 1660 Ti to an ASUS Prime Radeon RX 9070 XT OC, and 16GB of G.Skill DDR4-3200 CL16 to 32GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 CL16.
The rest of the system is a Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE V2 motherboard, Cooler Master MWE 750 V2 modular 80+ Gold PSU, and a 1TB Samsung 980 SSD. Will these parts work well together, and are there any compatibility or setup issues I should watch for?
The graphics card has three 6+2-pin PCIe power connectors, while my PSU came with two PCIe cables. Should I buy another cable so every connector has a separate cable, or is it safe to use the connectors on the existing cables?
4 Answers
The upgrade should be a major improvement, though the RX 9070 XT will draw considerably more power than the GTX 1660 Ti. Make sure the case has enough room and airflow, connect all three GPU power sockets, and use separate power cables where practical rather than relying on one cable for every connector.
The motherboard, processor, memory, and graphics card are compatible. Remember to update the B550 BIOS before installing the 5800X3D if necessary, and enable XMP/DOCP afterward so the DDR4 runs at 3200 MT/s. The 5800X3D is a 105W CPU, so the Dark Rock Pro 5 will handle it easily, although a smaller cooler would also be enough.
A good 750W PSU should be sufficient for this build. You don’t necessarily need to buy another cable: if the two original modular PCIe cables each have two 6+2-pin connectors, you can use two connectors from one cable and one from the other. Do not use a random modular cable from another PSU—only use a cable made for this exact PSU model. A separate 850W unit would provide more headroom, but it isn’t required if your current PSU is healthy and has the necessary connectors.
For memory, replacing the existing 16GB kit with a matched 2x16GB kit is generally preferable to mixing it with another kit. Four DDR4 sticks can work, but mixing different kits can make the system less stable and may require lowering the memory speed or adjusting settings manually.
I’m getting the 32GB Corsair kit at a very good price, so I’ll probably replace the current kit rather than mix them. I’ll also check whether a less expensive cooler makes sense.