What's the best AMD CPU I can pair with the MSI B450 Max motherboard?

Dane wants to upgrade his PC and wants to know the best AMD CPU he can add to his MSI B450 Max motherboard.

Question by Dane from Australia | Answered by in CPUs, Chipsets & SoCs on

I'm looking to upgrade my CPU. I currently have a 2600x, and I'm wondering what CPU I could replace the 2600x with. I don't want to bottleneck my PC, but I do stream and have a few apps open while doing this. So with that said, I'd like to get the best CPU I can that the MSI B450 Max will handle without rebuilding an entirely new PC.

What suggestions do you have on this? I just want to make sure I get a CPU that the motherboard won't restrict the CPU or components.

Hi Dane,

Is there a reason why you want to replace your 2600X? Your MSI will support all current Zen 2 and Zen 3 CPUs, so no restrictions on upgrade options. Assuming you are gaming and streaming, more cores could likely open up your PC, so I would suggest Ryzen 3000 series secondhand if possible to save money.

What's the best AMD CPU I can pair with the MSI B450 Max motherboard? 1

This will put you in the Ryzen 7 market or Ryzen 9 if you want to go all out and max your board out. 3700X would probably be what I would go for, and if your memory is under 3600MHz, I would buy a better kit of memory to get the most from the new CPU.

Another option for opening up your PC's performance could be better storage, but only if you don't already have a decent NVMe solution. If you need one, the Samsung 980 is a fantastic DRAMless that can beat even the best Gen 3 solutions, and alongside that, I would say the Plextor M9P+ if you can find it or SK Hynix Gold P31.

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