The "Frankenstein" build - reusing laptop parts for an AM4 build until 2030? Need a sanity check.
Posted by Due_Load5767@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 17 comments
The Goal: I’m looking to retire my 2018 gaming laptop (i5-8th Gen, 1050 Ti) and build a "stepping stone" desktop. I want to play current titles at 1080p High/Ultra or 1440p Medium. The plan is for this to last until the AM6 platform matures (around 2030-2031), at which point I’ll do a full new mid-to-hugh-end build
The "Frankenstein" Specs: CPU: Ryzen 5 5600 (Stock cooler) - €118 Motherboard: ASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 - €82 GPU: 9060 XT 16 GB - €449 PSU: MSI MAG A650GL (650W) - €62 Case: Montech AIR 100 - €61 RAM (my gamble): I have 24GB (16+8) of DDR4 2666MHz laptop RAM. I'm planning to use SODIMM-to-Desktop adapters (€13) to save money. Storage: Reusing my laptop's 512GB Samsung Gen 3 SSD + 4TB NAS HDD for bulk storage.
Total price: 785 euros
Notes: - If the CPU temps rise too much, I will get an air cooler for around 25-35 euros that has enough clearance for the RAM situation. - if ram adapters are simply not working, or are causing too much stutters and bigger 1% lows dips, I will just get a new PC ram. But for 13 euros for two adapters, why not trying it out first, right? I also saw a LTT video from 7 years ago when Linus was testing it and it generally worked. It's quite funny how this video aged and how many people came to the same idea like me under the comments section 😄
The Home Server Side-Project: I'm turning the old laptop into the "brain" for my home lab. It’ll handle the heavy lifting (Pi-hole, Sonarr, Radarr, Home Assistant) while my old Synology NAS acts as raw storage.
What do you guys think, I would appreciate a sanity check overall for the value and the ideas.
PadPoet@reddit
Laptop ram has terrible latency. Absolutely not worth it for the price difference. Are you located in Europe? I could sell you some proper and good DDR4. Whatever the case don’t go with laptop DDR4. You can still find good used deals for DDR4.
japespszx@reddit
He's spending 10 bucks just for the adapters. That's absolutely worth it. It may have terrible latency, but used DDR4 nowadays have a terrible price in comparison. I bought secondhand 16 GB DDR4s for around $65 apiece.
PadPoet@reddit
Agree, for 10 euros it doesn’t hurt to try. Curious to see the AIDA results myself if I’m being honest.
Due_Load5767@reddit (OP)
As promised, although a bit late, here is the AIDA64 results: https://imgur.com/a/XajGpPz
I managed to overlock the ram from 2666 to 3000 MHZ. The timings are still loose, around 10-15% loss in performance, but it's pretty much stable. I ran OCCT for hours to stress test the ram, and also the CPU+ram communication and there were no errors.
So far one month in, I can say that it's pretty much stable and definitely worth the time 😄
PadPoet@reddit
At 1080p gaming, ram timings of 22-21-21 at 2940mhz will really hold you back IMO. Especially with the 0.1% and 1% lows. I found search online for any used ram either 3200mhz CAS14 or 3600mhz at CAS16. Here is my 5800X at a custom ECO mode at 3733mhz with 16-18-18 (nothing special to brag about).
https://imgur.com/a/kw3XhRa
Due_Load5767@reddit (OP)
Just a quick last update - managed to decrease the timings to 18/20/20/40, which will definitely help out with the 0.1 and 1% lows since the latency got reduced by around 5 ns.
Buut seems like that's more or less all one can do with this kind of laptop ram. I feel like I'm on the edge of diminishing returns compared to stability through the adapters.
https://imgur.com/a/EzbxWiN
PadPoet@reddit
Yeah it’s good for that ram. Don’t push it further.
Due_Load5767@reddit (OP)
Yeah, that's definitely true, especially for 0.1% lows.
For example in Hogwarts legacy with everything on ultra settings (+ ray tracing on, on high), and with the hyper RX optimisation for the graphics card, the average fps is anywhere around 150-230, with 1% lows going down to 70 fps, but the 0.1% is definitely going even further down around 25-45 when it's a really really big change of the scene that demands lots of computing on CPU+ram side of things (which is really not that frequently occuring, but still definitely worth to mention). Buuut that is the reality, it's not bothering me enought to make me buy an overpriced normal ram for the moment and it's just the reality 😄
Due_Load5767@reddit (OP)
I will try to update you guys once everything arrives and I try it out with the adapters. Whatever happens I am happy that I will be able to at least "experiment" with something a bit more unconventional solution to the ram prices 🤣
katzengoldgott@reddit
OP, please double check on AMD’s official website if your RAM’s MT speed is compatible with the Ryzen 5 5600!
People didn’t believe me at first when I pointed this out in another post, but AMD CPUs of the 3000 to 5000 series require higher MT speeds of 3000 MTs overclocked speed (what it says on the pack of the RAM you buy), and a minimum of 2400 JEDEC timing speeds, compared to older Intel CPUs of the same release year.
I had this issue myself when I wanted to test some RAM I got for free from a friend’s old PC and ran into an infinite boot loop with my 5800X because the RAM rated at 2133 MTs was too slow despite the 3600 MTs I have in my PC running at 2133 MTs when I turn off the EXPO profile in BIOS.
If you got a buddy with an AM4 build nearby, you could ask to test this before you get a rough awakening.
japespszx@reddit
I'm using SODIMM adapters too and my 5600 has been running just fine with four sticks running at 2133.
Two of them are desktop sticks and the other two are laptop sticks on adapters.
Due_Load5767@reddit (OP)
Wow, nice! Glad to hear that it works! Especially in combination with desktop sticks... A couple of years ago this was more or less not supported most of the times
Due_Load5767@reddit (OP)
Thanks! Will check it out, I haven't heard about it until now... Anyways, its 13 euros for the two adapters, so I will try it and if it falls I can easily switch to new ddr4 PC ram (or used one, whatever 😄)
yokerlay@reddit
Sounds sane. For 200€ more you could even get the rx 9070xt.
snapperfis_@reddit
I'd swap the 5600 for a 5600x if you can, the price isn't much different
MaintenanceAny7430@reddit
Going with SODIMM adapters is actually pretty clever for the price - worst case you're out 13 euros and can grab proper sticks later. That 5600 should handle everything you throw at it until AM6 drops, and the 9060 XT is solid for your resolution targets
The laptop-to-homeserver conversion is a nice touch too, way better than letting it collect dust in a drawer
Due_Load5767@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much!