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[redwudz]

Note: There ARE photos and step by step info to follow all this text.


I've been considering a PC upgrade for the past few months. My present system is fast enough, and built about 3 1/2 years ago.
But I have been getting a few random BSODs (Blue Screen Of Death, a unrecoverable OS failure.) in the same past few months.
I couldn't easily trace them down as it could be RAM, boot drive, corrupted OS files, problematic SATA drives, or even a motherboard problem.


So... I decided to move up to the AMD AM4 Ryzen CPU, along with 16GB DDR4 RAM
and a 250GB M.2 NVMe SSD boot drive. I prefer AMD CPUs over Intel offerings.

This is my existing system from my Computer Details:


W7 Home Premium 64Bit OS
AMD FX-8350 8 Core CPU 4.2Ghz
1600MB G. Skill DDR3 1866 RAM
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 MB
Nvidia GeForce GT730 Graphics
Corsair H50 Hydro CPU cooler
1 X 250GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO boot Drive
4 X 1500GB Western Digital SATA 6 data Drives
Pioneer BDR-209D BDRW
Pioneer BDR-209D BDRW
Pioneer BDR-209M BDRW
Corsair HX750 750W modular power supply


LIAN LI Lancool PC-K7B Case
• Aluminum/ SECC ATX Mid Tower
• 3 External 5.25" Drive Bays
• 5 Internal 3.5" Drive Bays


And the upgrade parts in US$:


GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K5 motherboard ................ $130
AMD RYZEN 7 1700X 8-Core 3.4 GHz 95W CPU ................ $330
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 3200 RAM kit............. $136
SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 250GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 . $130
Corsair Hydro series H60 CPU cooler ............................... $60
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.................................................. ........................About $786US total


Several of the parts were presently well discounted or on sale, so that helped with my decision. The Ryzen CPU is fairly new and available earlier this year. The 1700X running at 3.4 Ghz seemed to be at a good price point VS performance. The 1800X series is about a $100US more at 3.6 Ghz.
It has other features, but not really worth it for me.


There will be newer Ryzen CPUs coming out in the future, but this seems to me like a good time for an upgrade.
I like Gigabyte MBs and have had generally no problems with them. I had initially looked at the GB K3 motherboard,
but it seems to be missing from GBs site. Not a good sign. The K5 is a gaming MB, though I don’t play games on this PC.
But it does have all the features I wanted.


It also has LED light displays on the MB, a bit useless as I don't have a windowed case and don't plan to get one. But it was the same price as the K3 because of discounts and does have a few other upgrades over the K3. I wanted the AX370 chipset as it has more options than the AB350 chipsets. I don’t really plan to overclock the system at present, but I will likely need to change some BIOS settings to work correctly with the 3200 RAM.


I have a Samsung 950 EVO M.2 SSD boot drive in my laptop and it seems much faster than my current SATA SSDs. Seems a good upgrade.
250GB is more than enough for a boot drive, IMO. My existing 250GB SSD SATA drive has about 60% free space.
The boot has only the OS and programs on it. Page files and large temp files are on the SATA drives.


16GB RAM works well for me, so no need for more. During my encodes, only 2GB or 3GB is normally used. And I can always add more if desired.
The DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX RAM seems well rated. Most all RAM, especially DDR4 is expensive at present. But that should improve.


I’m changing to the Corsair H60 hydro cooler for CPU cooling. The existing H50 has worked very well with the FX-8350 125W CPU, but is also 3 ½ years old. The H60 also has some improvements for installation and efficiency. And it fits my case with 120mm exhaust fans. The Ryzen 1700X is a 95W unlocked CPU, so cooling shouldn’t be an issue, even if I decide to do an overclock. I'm very happy with hydro cooling and wouldn't go back to air cooling for the CPU.
My temps at 100% CPU on all eight cores usually runs about 47C with the FX-8350.


The existing Corsair HX750 750W is a decent power supply. But I was considering an upgrade to a newer fully modular PS. The existing PS runs the MB, three Pioneer BDR-209 BDRWs and four 1500GB Western Digital black SATA 6 drives and is cool and quiet, even under full load.

The existing Lian Li Lancool case is also sufficient for my needs with two 120mm filtered intake fans and two 120mm exhaust fans. All but one of my internal fans are PWM (Pulse Width Modulated) and very efficient, responsive and quiet. I also run a very quiet 80mm fan to help cool the GPU. This case has been used with four different MBs in the past and is very well built. It’s almost 9 years old. It’s the economy Lian Li line and was about $100US when I bought it. The premium Lian Li all aluminum line is mostly over $200US, but extremely well built. My HTPC uses a all aluminum Lian Li desktop case.


I will reuse my four WD 1500 SATA HDDs. I may upgrade them later to a larger capacity.


I also had planned to reuse the Nvidia GeForce GT730 Graphics card.
It’s a fanless card and fits my needs for quiet operation. I may upgrade this later.


Link to the Gigabyte K5 MB:

http://www.gigabyte.us/Motherboard/GA-AX370-Gaming-K5-rev-10#kf


Link to the Ryzen 1700X CPU:

https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-7-1700x

But that’s enough background, now the upgrade.


New parts and the PC







Existing PC internals




PC Cables unplugged and this radiator definitely needs cleaning





Removing old motherboard with case on it's side. I will leave the cooler and pump connected for later installation in a different case.





Case without MB.





Cleaning the PC, fans and filters, The front fans also needed cleaning.
I had to remove the HDDs and the HDD tower to clean the fans.







Front filters before cleaning. Lots of dust.
The filters, I just wash in the sink with dish soap and dry.







Fans, filters and case cleaned. I use 99% isopropyl alcohol and cosmetic
removal pads to carefully clean the fans. Much better than regular lint type paper towels.
I also use Q-tips for tight spots. Dirty fans don't perform well.







Front fans and HDD tower re-installed.





The new GA-AX370 Gaming K5 MB sitting on a anti-static pad. CPU,
RAM and SAMSUNG 960 EVO card installed.





The SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 250GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal SSD.
Not all M.2 cards will work with this MB.





Checking fit for the MB. I have removed the existing rear IO shield and placed the new one.





IO shield and MB in place. Screws for all MB mounts installed.





The Corsair H60 Hydro cooler.





Heatsink and pump with thermal paste. Though it may be decent quality,
I will wash it off with alcohol and use Gelid thermal compound.





GELID Solutions GC-Extreme Thermal Compound which I prefer.





CPU with thermal compound evenly applied. About 2 magazine pages thick. I will clean up the excess on the MB.





he Corsair H60 Hydro heatsink/pump, radiator and fans installed.
Both fans are used for exhaust. The first fan blows air into the radiator
and the second blows air out, causing a higher velocity airflow and
more efficient cooling. The front air filters keep out most of the dust.
The case is fairly well sealed.





The MB up and running in BIOS mode. The EVO SSD is installed, but not formatted. No OS installed.
All other drives are disconnected. I test it in BIOS before plugging everything in.




Fan adjustments and BIOS temperatures. I always check the PC health in BIOS the first
time I power up a PC. Everything is OK. All the fan headers have plenty of adjustment options.


I also make sure the water pump is full speed. The PWM fans use the stock PWM settings.
They run at about 600RPM normally. If the CPU temp increases, they ramp up to about 1600RPM.
The small 80mm quiet fan for the GPU runs full speed.






CPU and RAM settings. You can use a mouse in BIOS. This makes setup easier.







Peripherals and drives. Sorry, my camera doesn't do well with screen shots.






Drives and BIOS save.


.



Wiring mostly set up, ready for the OS. The red cables near the bottom are a rear eSATA PCI slot adapter along with a X1 PCI SATA adapter card.
I've used all eight SATA slots.The gray cable is a SP/DIF PCI slot adapter for coaxial audio.
My surround amplifier and my audio switcher doesn't have optical connections.
I have also added an additional SATA 2GB HDD to my other four HDDs. Below the video card is a quiet 80mm fan for help cooling the GPU card





Windows 10 Pro, 64bit. I got it for $109US. I can always go back to W7, but W10 works well enough in my laptop. And W7 is a bit old... I do run 'Start 10' so I have a regular menu as neither PC has a touch screen. I also disable most of the W10 reporting to MS.







The old MB and PS mounted in a inexpensive Rosewill case.
I changed the power supply for the Ryzen PC to a CORSAIR RM750X 750W
Full Modular ATX Power Supply as it is a bit more modern than the one I had.
I recycled the other Corsair PS to the FX-8350 PC in the Rosewill case.


The red cables are a PCI slot eSATA adapter. The PC uses it's original SSD drive and runs Windows 7 Home 64bit.
The black and red cable is a SP/DIF adapter I made.
The PC just has the SSD boot drive at present and a WD 1TB storage drive.





Settings for Vidcoder. AC3 audio conversion also. CQ setting of 19 gives me decent quality and MKV file sizes around 8GB. Easy to store and quality I like.





HWiNFO 64, Windows Taskmanager and Vidcoder running on the Ryzen PC. The CPU temps under 100% CPU are about 51C. CPU idle temp is 23C.
All other temps and voltages are OK. I would like to see the temp a bit lower, but it's good enough and
it recovers very quickly to the mid 20C range within 15 seconds once the load is removed.



The AMD FX-8350 8 Core CPU 4.2Ghz ran at ~47C at 100%, but the Ryzen, though a 95W CPU, runs at ~51C. I think you need a good cooler.
Though lower wattage than the FX-8350, the Ryzen CPU does a lot more and it needs a fair amount of cooling. If OC'd, a lot more cooling, IMO.


Looking at the HWiNFO 64 info, fan speed data for the Ryzen PC:
The CPU and OPT CPU are the two rear exhaust fan speeds.
System 3 at 1474 RPM is the H60 pump motor.


System 2 RPM is the front fans, wye'd together. Both intake and exhaust fans run about the same speed.
System 1 is the 80mm quiet fan for cooling the GPU. The MB has five fan headers.




A simple performance test of the new PC and old PC was done by using VidCoder and a BluRay that I own of 'AVATAR' which is 2hrs, 41min in length.
Decrypted to the HDDs with AnyDVD HD.


I ran it first on the PC that's in my Computer Details,
a AMD FX-8350 8 Core CPU 4.2Ghz PC. It's fast.
It took 3hrs:55min:22seconds to encode to my MKV settings.
I had put it in a new case as detailed earlier.


With the same Vidcoder settings the Ryzen PC accomplished the same task in 1hr:49min:46seconds.
I could likely improve the encoding time a little if I OC'd the Ryzen PC RAM and CPU, but it's OK as is for the moment.



Some useless information:

The Ryzen CPU was originally know as 'Zen', but that name can't be copyrighted, so they
ended up with 'Ryzen', which sounds a bit like 'risen'. The PR people said that the "New Horizons" mission to Pluto was happening at the time and 'Horizon' was converted to 'Ryzen'.


The MB AORUS is a Gigabit subsidiary located in Tiawan.
The brand name "AORUS" is coined from an Egyptian god, Horus, known to be the god of sky and kingship, which is depicted as a falcon. The falcon head is therefore used as AORUS's brand logo. According to employees, the first letter of HORUS was changed to "A" to represent the brand as "A team".