UPGRADE & IMPROVE UPGRADE
UPGRADE
UPGRADE
CPU MOTHERBOARD
A SIMPLE UPGRADE for our CPU
would be the Ryzen 5 3400G.
At $50 more, it provides double
the threads of the 3200G, and an
operating frequency of 100MHz
faster (200MHz at maximum auto-
overclocking). The 3400G also
uses Radeon Vega 11 integrated
graphics, as opposed to the 3200G’s
Vega 8. However, if we were to add
a discrete GPU, it might be worthTHE MOST obvious upgrade here
would be directly to an X570
motherboard, although, of course,
this will come with an associated
increase in cost. Cheaper X570
mobos start at around $150,
although we would recommend
upgrading to a slightly better
model, such as MSI’s MPG X570
Gaming Edge WiFi or Asus’s TUF
Gaming X570-Plus. The X570
format allows for PCIe 4.0,
making Gen4 M.2 drives
a possibility.investing in a more powerful CPU
without integrated graphics, such
as the Ryzen 5 3600 or Ryzen 7
3700X. As a rule of thumb, select a
3000-series Ryzen CPU comparable
in price to your graphics card.STORAGE
THERE’S PLENTY to choose from
when it comes to system storage,
but one of the key things missing
from this system is an M.2 drive,
due to their significantly higher
price compared to SATA SSDs.
There’s potential to improve
our SATA storage here; a single
extra 2.5-inch SSD could be
added without needing to change
anything else, or we could forgo
the HDD and replace it with twomore SSDs. 1.5TB of storage is
already respectable, though, so
more speed might be a better
direction to look in. Team Group,
Western Digital, and Patriot all
produce affordable Gen3 M.2 SSDs,
or if you’re looking for a higher-
quality piece, Samsung and XPG
are the way to go. Remember that
upgrading to an X570 motherboard
will be necessary if you want to
use a Gen4 M.2 drive.PSU
THE LOGICAL CHOICE here is to go
modular. The ability to simply
remove unused power cables
would work wonders for a
cramped build like this, both in
ease of assembly and in terms of
aesthetics. There are plenty of good
options, but our recommendation
would likely be the Corsair
RM550x, which provides fully
modular power delivery for a little
over a hundred bucks. Of course, if
you’re planning on throwing a GPU
(or any other major components)
into this build, you’re going to need
more power. 600W is perfectly
sufficient for most systems
that include a GPU, with 700W
providing total peace of mind.
Most importantly, make sure that
the power supply you choose is
small enough to comfortably fit the
mounting bracket in the Q500L.$500 build
36 MAXIMUMPC DEC 2019 maximumpc.com