Anyone have any thoughts on a B550 m/board instead of an X570?

Unless you need PCIe v4 (eg for extreme high speed storage), the B550 would be more than good enough.
AMD X570 vs B550 vs A520 Chipset Comparison

Thanks for that, Grant. I'm pretty sure I'd go for X570 over a B450 m/b, but the B550 sufficiently fills the gap and even has one or two advantages by being more recent.

I'm concerned about durability as I hit the hardware pretty hard with overclocking. The ROG Strix is better than the TUF Gaming in that regard, do you know?

And I need to take advantage of getting an M.2 drive now the hardware can handle it - I've seen the performance improvement.
And an HDMI-to-DVI-D cable for my monitor. I think that's everything #CountsPennies

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It dawned on me a while back that since I build dedicated machines for crunching, I don't need any added frills or extra slots.
So I am now buying Micro ATX boards (usually ASRock), and they work great. They also provide more free space in the case.

This is the type I usually buy:
https://www.newegg.com/asrock-b550m-pro4/p/N82E16813157939

But I have the Steel Legend also (though B450M), and they are probably better for overclocking, though I don't do it myself:
https://www.newegg.com/asrock-b550m-steel-legend/p/N82E16813157940

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It dawned on me a while back that since I build dedicated machines for crunching, I don't need any added frills or extra slots.
So I am now buying Micro ATX boards (usually ASRock), and they work great. They also provide more free space in the case.

This is the type I usually buy:
https://www.newegg.com/asrock-b550m-pro4/p/N82E16813157939

But I have the Steel Legend also (though B450M), and they are probably better for overclocking, though I don't do it myself:
https://www.newegg.com/asrock-b550m-steel-legend/p/N82E16813157940

And that makes good sense for dedicated crunching machines. I've seen ASRock mbs and they're nicely compact but still capable of what's demanded of them.
Mine would be my main domestic PC, so I like to build some comfort, space and longevity into it too.
I know there's a lot of flab in there, but I like it to do more than I ask of it - or do things with capacity to spare.
I've skimped a little on hardware in the past and suffered because of it. This is me learning my lessons.

Edit1. I'm jealous of your US prices. We always suffer on pricing in the UK
Edit2: Looking at your Rosetta PCs, there isn't one there I could afford, let alone six. Only partly to do with Edit1...

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I'm concerned about durability as I hit the hardware pretty hard with overclocking. The ROG Strix is better than the TUF Gaming in that regard, do you know?

Yep, it's their highend branding with better & more VRMs (Voltage Regulation Modules) to help with overclocking.
Although these days unless you're in to liquid nitrogen the benefits of overclocking are very minimal.

Smaller manufacturing nodes, lower voltages, combined with the current state of inbuilt turbo/boost functions means that unless you're in to extreme cooling measures to offset extreme overvolting, the benefits from overclocking are often minimal (2-5%), at the expense of more power usage (5-15%). Hence why more & more people are now in to undervolting.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Edit1. I'm jealous of your US prices. We always suffer on pricing in the UK
Edit2: Looking at your Rosetta PCs, there isn't one there I could afford, let alone six. Only partly to do with Edit1...

I am admittedly spoiled in the U.S. I usually have a few parts left over from some other project and say to myself, "with only a small expenditure, I could build another machine".
So it hasn't stopped, except now I have enough to heat my basement in the winter (the original goal), plus a few in the kitchen and family room.

But I am not traveling due to COVID, and the money saved is a great way to amuse yourself.

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I've skimped a little on hardware in the past and suffered because of it. This is me learning my lessons.

I'd look closely at the pricing of the CPUs.
For what you get, the Ryzen 7 5800X is somewhat overpriced.

                 Cores  Threads    Price ($Aus)  cost per thread

Ryzen 5 5600X     6      12            $469           $39.08
Ryzen 7 5800X     8      16            $699           $43.69
Ryzen 9 5900X    12      24            $859           $35.80
Ryzen 9 5950X    16      32           $1249           $39.03

5600X boost 4.6GHz, 5800X 4.7GHz, 5900X 4.8GHz, 5950X 4.9GHz, Base clocks 3.7/3.8 except for 5950X being 3.4).
It's an extra $230 for another 2 cores for a 5800X v 5600X
It's an extra $160 for another 4 cores for a 5900X v 5800X

The 5900X is the present price/thread/performance winner. If you can afford it even the 5950X is better than the 5800X (if you have workloads that can make use of all the threads). Otherwise the 5600X is a great option if you can't afford the other two. The 5800X really is a distant 4th choice.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I'm concerned about durability as I hit the hardware pretty hard with overclocking. The ROG Strix is better than the TUF Gaming in that regard, do you know?

Yep, it's their highend branding with better & more VRMs (Voltage Regulation Modules) to help with overclocking.
Although these days unless you're in to liquid nitrogen the benefits of overclocking are very minimal.

Smaller manufacturing nodes, lower voltages, combined with the current state of inbuilt turbo/boost functions means that unless you're in to extreme cooling measures to offset extreme overvolting, the benefits from overclocking are often minimal (2-5%), at the expense of more power usage (5-15%). Hence why more & more people are now in to undervolting.

Thank you. That saves me 10UKP if I chose the ROG Strix B550 rather than the Tuf Gaming X570 for a more appropriate product. All good.
I understand the points you're making on overclocking on more recent tech - I've seen some discussions on the subject.
I'm quite pragmatic on OC'ing vs overvolting and err very much on the side of stability.
I was getting +13.4% OC'ing with high stability until recently when I had to drop back to +10.9%.
I've actually done very well over the last few days, so maybe I can revert to my hopes for January after all.
The spec'ing out has gone well and it could be that both price and availability improve into the new year so I can arrange for my preferred builder to put it together both cheaper and much quicker than the 10-days I'm currently looking at.
All valuable information for me.

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Edit1. I'm jealous of your US prices. We always suffer on pricing in the UK
Edit2: Looking at your Rosetta PCs, there isn't one there I could afford, let alone six. Only partly to do with Edit1...

I am admittedly spoiled in the U.S. I usually have a few parts left over from some other project and say to myself, "with only a small expenditure, I could build another machine".
So it hasn't stopped, except now I have enough to heat my basement in the winter (the original goal), plus a few in the kitchen and family room.

But I am not traveling due to COVID, and the money saved is a great way to amuse yourself.

I'm not sure you (have any reason to) appreciate how bad it is over here for technology pricing.

1GBP = 1.33USD

From NewEgg a 5600X CPU is $299.99 but on their UK site £316.79 (=$421) - 40% higher

It's been this same way for the last 30 years to my certain knowledge and, more likely, forever

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I'm not sure you (have any reason to) appreciate how bad it is over here for technology pricing.

I have lived in Europe, though that was before the Internet era. But I know the VAT, etc., etc.
It is not the only reason that I am glad that I am an American, but it will do for the moment.

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I've skimped a little on hardware in the past and suffered because of it. This is me learning my lessons.

I'd look closely at the pricing of the CPUs.
For what you get, the Ryzen 7 5800X is somewhat overpriced.

                 Cores  Threads    Price ($Aus)  cost per thread

Ryzen 5 5600X     6      12            $469           $39.08
Ryzen 7 5800X     8      16            $699           $43.69
Ryzen 9 5900X    12      24            $859           $35.80
Ryzen 9 5950X    16      32           $1249           $39.03

5600X boost 4.6GHz, 5800X 4.7GHz, 5900X 4.8GHz, 5950X 4.9GHz, Base clocks 3.7/3.8 except for 5950X being 3.4).
It's an extra $230 for another 2 cores for a 5800X v 5600X
It's an extra $160 for another 4 cores for a 5900X v 5800X

The 5900X is the present price/thread/performance winner. If you can afford it even the 5950X is better than the 5800X (if you have workloads that can make use of all the threads). Otherwise the 5600X is a great option if you can't afford the other two. The 5800X really is a distant 4th choice.

I take your point entirely, but I keep focused and avoid the whole arms race aspect. I'm not ever going to pay the prices for the other models.

I have a 4C/8T FX8370 base clock 4GHz, boost 4.3GHz but running at 4.768GHz
My choice is between a 8C/16T 3700X 3.6/4.4GHz at 299GBP (544AUD/398USD)
or a 6C/12T 5600X 3.7/4.6GHz at 280GBP (509AUD/372USD)

So I can skip 3 generations for an extra 4C/8T @4.4GHz
Or I can skip 4 generations for an extra 2C/4T @4.6GHz for a small amount <less> and whatever OCing I get on each is bunce
In both cases I need additional hardware: M/board, RAM, M.2 drive & monitor cable. And in both cases they'll be a major leap from where I am

I'm very much inclined to the latter. What would you say?

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I'm not sure you (have any reason to) appreciate how bad it is over here for technology pricing.

I have lived in Europe, though that was before the Internet era. But I know the VAT, etc., etc.
It is not the only reason that I am glad that I am an American, but it will do for the moment.

Fair comment.
It's swings and roundabouts on various issues, but on this one there's only one winner - and it's definitely you, not me

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It's swings and roundabouts on various issues

I know, but we are getting rid of that one.

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I'm very much inclined to the latter. What would you say?

The latter.
Even though it has less cores & threads, it's IPC (Instructions Per Clock) is much higher, along with higher base & turbo frequencies, along with lower power consumption.

AMD have done an amazing job with Ryzen 3, and personally i wouldn't even consider the previous series (as good as they were) even if they were at half the price of the current equivalent model as i'd consider it worth paying the extra, and reaping the savings in running costs over the next 10+ years.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I wonder what these tasks are about: jellyfish · orca · walrus

I wonder what these tasks are about: jellyfish · orca · walrus

Could be nothing more than a Scientist who is trying to not let on what they are researching and just choosing types of fish for the names, or it could be something realted to those actual fish. There was a story recently about an octupus being able to edit it's own DNA so they could be looking at the DNA of fish to see what possibilities exist.

I'm very much inclined to the latter. What would you say?

The latter.
Even though it has less cores & threads, it's IPC (Instructions Per Clock) is much higher, along with higher base & turbo frequencies, along with lower power consumption.

AMD have done an amazing job with Ryzen 3, and personally i wouldn't even consider the previous series (as good as they were) even if they were at half the price of the current equivalent model as i'd consider it worth paying the extra, and reaping the savings in running costs over the next 10+ years.

I think I've been on the FX range for 7yrs - if a new one lasts as long I'd hope I can think about one of the other CPU models in that range somewhere along the line.
Up until you mentioned this new range, only the 3700X crossed my mind - now it's out of the picture.

On the minus side, my current machine is getting flakier by the week so I'd better make a decision sooner rather than later. I don't think I'll make January.
I've clocked down a 2nd time from 4768 to 4659 to gain any kind of stability. With your advice I'm settled on where I'm going. Thanks for all the info.

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I've clocked down a 2nd time from 4768 to 4659 to gain any kind of stability.

Now pretty much at standard clock - 4314.7MHz.
Can't even say it's stable, except it hasn't crashed within 5 minutes of a reboot - even had problems at 4000Mhz before a little fiddling around from base clock moved it up a little.
I might have to put my FX8350 back in, in case it's the CPU. I haven't run at such a low temperature since I first had it installed

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hi, remember of some instabilities due to badcaps too ^^

I've clocked down a 2nd time from 4768 to 4659 to gain any kind of stability.

Now pretty much at standard clock - 4314.7MHz.
Can't even say it's stable, except it hasn't crashed within 5 minutes of a reboot - even had problems at 4000Mhz before a little fiddling around from base clock moved it up a little.
I might have to put my FX8350 back in, in case it's the CPU. I haven't run at such a low temperature since I first had it installed

I had to run fewer tasks at one time on some of mine to keep them running 24/7, I also keep one cpu core free for the gpu to use even if it isn't required.

I've clocked down a 2nd time from 4768 to 4659 to gain any kind of stability.

Now pretty much at standard clock - 4314.7MHz.
Can't even say it's stable, except it hasn't crashed within 5 minutes of a reboot - even had problems at 4000Mhz before a little fiddling around from base clock moved it up a little.
I might have to put my FX8350 back in, in case it's the CPU. I haven't run at such a low temperature since I first had it installed

I had to run fewer tasks at one time on some of mine to keep them running 24/7, I also keep one cpu core free for the gpu to use even if it isn't required.

Too late. The PC broke altogether - couldn't even reach the desktop without crashing.
Replaced the FX8370 with the spare FX8350 and - don't ask me how - I lost all video output. No idea if it hit the desktop. Not sure if somehow I damaged my graphics card, or the circuit board.
So I'm trying to order a new Mb/CPU/RAM/Drive and my supplier is so busy I can't even get through on the phones.

Now back at work, I'm doing to try and email an order enquiry, but the chances of me getting what I want by Christmas is looking highly unlikely.
Worst possible time *sob*

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