As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently upgraded one of my computers. It is based on AMD’s AM4 platform, which means that any CPU (Central Processing Unit) from the AM4 range is physically compatible with the CPU socket on the computer’s motherboard (the main internal component). The first AM4 CPUs were released in early 2017, with subsequent generations released in 2018, 2019, and finally late 2020.
In theory, assuming that the electronic components and software were adequate, you would have been able to buy an AM4 motherboard in 2017 and later buy an AM4 CPU from 2020 and plug that CPU into that motherboard. If we are considering practical lifespan of parts, we could be talking about a motherboard bought in 2017 and a CPU bought in 2024 (since parts are available for some years after their release, and not just in the year of release). In practice, of course, things are often not that simple.
Still, we are talking about remarkable longevity of parts compatibility; early 2017 to late 2024 is a good eight years—a ludicrously long time in modern technological terms, where products or parts that are just a year or two old could be considered outdated. It is remarkable that AMD has supported this degree of compatibility over such a long period, but in some ways, they had to do something special. Those of you who are familiar with mainstream computing in the mid-2010s will remember that AMD was very much in survival mode, as market leader Intel looked like it would wipe AMD out of existence. (AMD’s products at the time were simply not competitive with Intel’s.)
In 2024, AM4 parts were starting to become scarce. The platform itself was seven years old, and the last generation of CPUs that would work on that platform was essentially three years old. When computer parts start becoming outdated, the price continually drops … until that point at which you typically see a large increase in price, because the parts are no longer made, therefore irreplaceable, and therefore more valuable to those few people who might be seeking them.
Last year, I had a few options with this particular AM4 machine of mine: (1) leave it as is, and build an entirely new machine at some later date (when necessary); or (2) upgrade some core components (e.g., CPU) and extend its usefulness by a few more years. The CPU that I had—the Ryzen 2700X—was part of the second generation of AM4 CPUs. Taking the software side into consideration, Microsoft has widely announced that it will be stopping mainstream support of the Windows 10 operating system in 2025, and is encouraging Windows users to move to Windows 11. One good thing about the Ryzen 2700X is that it is capable to running Windows 11. From that perspective, I could just as well leave the computer as it was, and be able to run Windows 11 well into the future.
Factoring in the increased performance of later AM4 CPUs and the all-time low prices, however, and having to weigh the financial cost of (potentially) an entire new computer in the next few years, I decided it was more worthwhile to upgrade the computer while it was still cost-efficient to do so.
As a photographer, I documented the process with my near-20-year-old Nikon D70S. Why not my newer Nikon D700, which has far better image quality? Simple: I do not have a true macro lens for close-up photography, and the most appropriate lens I have is the Nikkor AF-S 18–70 mm f/3.5–4.5 lens, which has a minimum focusing distance of 38 cm, if memory serves correctly. This body-lens pairing, combined with my Nikon SB-600 flash, makes for a light and passable kit for this pseudo-macro kind of shooting.
Let us take a look at the AM4 CPU socket itself, since that is really the crucial physical part of the motherboard that makes the AM4 platform’s longevity possible. In the photograph below, you are looking down into the computer case, and you can see the motherboard with various components attached to it. The CPU socket is the square shape in the middle with a grid of pin sockets in it. The metallic silver brackets on either side are for the CPU cooler—the Noctua NH-U12A, but more on that later. There are two memory modules towards the right of the image, and of course cables serving power and communication functions. The CPU socket is what the CPU itself will be (carefully) placed into.
The next photograph shows the motherboard from slightly farther away. You can see that the memory modules have changed (I upgraded from 32 GB to 64 GB, given that the memory used by AM4 platforms is also outdated, thus very affordable in late 2024). The greyish square now occupying the CPU socket is the Ryzen 5950X CPU itself.
Here is a closer look at the Ryzen 5950X CPU. Lighting was different for this image, as I used a combination of a fluorescent light on a stand, the Nikon SB-600 flash, and the torch function on my mobile telephone to varying degrees. In all of the images in this post so far, you can see that the CPU cooler brackets are not centred on the CPU socket, but are offset to the right. This was a conscious configuration decision based on Noctua‘s advice that this provides optimal cooling on this CPU. In short, the hottest parts of the CPU are towards the right of the CPU in the picture below, and so offsetting the CPU cooler to the right keeps it centred above those hottest parts—for best cooling performance.
While this post has mainly been about the CPU upgrade, the photograph below shows the NH-U12A fully installed on top of the CPU. In essence, it is a precisely-manufactured array of metal heat pipes and metal fins that draws heat up from the CPU and, with the help of the two cooling fans, vents that heat away from the CPU. If you have any familiarity with computer components, you will immediately recognise Noctua’s famous (or infamous) tan and brown fans. Noctua fans have widely been recognised as some of the best-performing fans on the market, and also widely derided for their colour scheme—which is usually a visually jarring appearance next to the black- or white-themed colour schemes of most components.
I need to put a cautionary note here: handling computer components is not to be done lightly, unless you want to risk damage to those delicate and expensive parts. They are normally safe and secure inside a computer case, but open that case, and that is something else. Electrostatic discharge or physical damage can render the parts useless. If you are planning to build, upgrade, or repair a computer, do your research and be sure you know what you are doing.
What will this increase in computing power (CPU) and working space (memory) get me? In essence, the CPU upgrade means that my computer is now far faster in raw speed and in multitasking performance, which is important for RAW image processing, and the memory upgrade means that it now has much greater capacity to hold and manipulate images as quickly as possible. It will become my next photographic workstation, at some point replacing my original MacOS photographic workstation.
The upgrades described above are part of the final upgrades that I will be making to this machine. We are already starting to see AM4 parts becoming scarcer and more expensive. All around the world, there will be many other AM4 users who have also made, or will very soon be making, these final upgrades. Credit goes to AMD for designing, implementing, and supporting what has been probably the longest-lived mainstream computing platform to date.