Dark_art_: I'm sure you're aware of it, but the 5500 is actually decent for the price, it's been around 80 something discounted Euros

Dark_art_: I'm sure you're aware of it, but the 5500 is actually decent for the price, it's been around 80 something discounted Euros around here looking at various online shops (normal price around 100). If you're stuck on first gen Ryzen it makes a quite cheap upgrade, now that most mobo's have a Bios update to support newer stuff.

For me, the 5950x is way more interesting than the X3D version. The couple extra fps on some modern games are meaningful when compared to the extra threads/efficiency and ease of use (like running older Windows versions), but of course, that's just me and my use case.

Regarding the memory, I've yet to see a kit of brand memory not working on non-launch Ryzen motherboards (not saying that don't exist), as mentioned, you're probably fine and the worst case is that you have to tune the memory manually.

Themken: I could use a beefy processor a couple of times a year but 2--10 minutes wait cut in half is not worth it to me. Of course the bigger processors have a bit larger cache than the six and eight core models which helps in some games too, just not as big as the 3D models.

pds41: Just to round this one out, got the processor, stuck it in and works fine!

Idling at 30 degrees (ambient 21 degrees) gets up to 72ish on a stress test and gaming framerates are now really smooth. I think those temps are good for the chip.

Witcher 3 Complete edition now runs like a dream in DX12 mode.

Thanks for the help and advice everyone.

Dark_art_: Great.
Good luck with it. But if you are anything like me, you may alreasy have an eye on stupidly fast newer generations...