Replace AM4 mobo or upgrade to AM5?

Posted by kolobe2@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 11 comments

I have succesfully managed to kill my motherboard (gigabyte X470 aorus gaming 5) with a bios update today (stuck on aorus screen, cant usb boot, cmos reset, no del/end) so I am looking at replacing it (wasnt planned) I have a 7 3700X, 2x8GB DDR4/3000MHz and a 3090 FE. I WAS planning on a RAM/CPU upgrade already, but not immediate. Now with the mobo fried I am wondering if just replacing it is worth it or should I re-invest into an upgrade to AM5. (If I get the AM4 mobo, I lock myself into an AM4 CPU and DDR4 path going forward). My main concern is that if I buy another AM4 motherboard, I’m locking more money into an old platform. But if I go AM5, I’m turning an unplanned motherboard failure into a much larger upgrade. What would you do in this situation? Is a cheap AM4 board still the sensible bridge option, or would you take the opportunity to move to AM5 now?

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11 Comments

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kolobe2@reddit (OP)

Thanks all for the input, I will start looking at getting the upgrade (although looking at the current prices I wish it died a year ago!)

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Kevin_Xland@reddit

So bad news is am5 upgrade is pretty big money right now. Good news is your am4 resale is also insane right now on eBay. I'm debating making the switch and looking at eBay sales I can pretty much sell my CPU, RAM and mobo for like $450-550 and I paid like $300 (5600+64Gb)

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Agent_Nate_009@reddit

I think your best bet is to upgrade to AM5. If mine died, I would probably move to AM5.

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Consistent_Stand8382@reddit

AM5 is a great platform and depending on your chosen CPU a huge performance jump. But honestly with how expensive DDR5 is right now, I wouldn't switch.

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MysteriousOrchid464@reddit

It's only going to get more expensive, right now is the cheapest it will be

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Consistent_Stand8382@reddit

Possibly but that's just an assumption. Still, a full switch to AM5 would be too costly for me.

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MysteriousOrchid464@reddit

Then why did you post this question at all? You can only afford to replace your motherboard, so replace your motherboard and don't waste everyone's time asking.

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Consistent_Stand8382@reddit

What the hell are you talking about? I didn't ask any questions.

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pythonic_dude@reddit

I'd try to flash again (with usb in the dedicated port for it), if not, then go with AM5. There are cases where it's wiser to just stick to the existing system and try to skip ddr5 platforms altogether (nobody will persuade me to move off my 5800x3d with 64gib of ram), but you don't really have much holding you on am4. Time to start hunting combo deals on ram+mobo+cpu.

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MysteriousOrchid464@reddit

It's likely only going to get more expensive to upgrade in rhe future, so might as well just do it now rather than kick the can. And .. if you do upgrade to am5, adding another am4 motherboard to your shopping cart won't increase the price in any really noticable way, and you'll be able to sell the full am4 build as a prebuilt pc to recoup a significant amount of your upgrade cost.

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FatalGamer1@reddit

If you have the money to upgrade then 100% upgrade to AM5, because there’s only going to be support for the AM4 platform just another few years maybe then you’ll be spending more to upgrade to AM5.