[SOLVED] Advice on PC parts to make a PC

[finnmccool]

Hello everybody,

This is my literal first day on this website and let me know if this question should be posted somewhere else on the forum.

I play on PS4 right now and I am looking to buy a PC to play games including VR games and possibly develop on Unreal Engine 4. I wanted to see if the rough draft setup I have can be manipulated to cut the cost down but to still have my desires in mind. I am looking to not go over $1000 for all the parts needed for the PC hopefully including the mouse, keyboard, and headset(not VR headset).

Here is what I have so far:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card(GPU): MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card
Case: Phanteks P400 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Monitor: AOC G2460PF 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech G610 Wired Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech G403 Prodigy Wired Optical Mouse
Headset: Corsair VOID PRO RGB (White/Black) 7.1 Channel Headset

Attached below is the link to pcpartpicker.com where it shows the prices and it might make it easier for readability.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2KDsRJ

 

[LordVile]

Hello everybody,

This is my literal first day on this website and let me know if this question should be posted somewhere else on the forum.

I play on PS4 right now and I am looking to buy a PC to play games including VR games and possibly develop on Unreal Engine 4. I wanted to see if the rough draft setup I have can be manipulated to cut the cost down but to still have my desires in mind. I am looking to not go over $1000 for all the parts needed for the PC hopefully including the mouse, keyboard, and headset(not VR headset).

Here is what I have so far:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card(GPU): MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card
Case: Phanteks P400 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Monitor: AOC G2460PF 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor
Keyboard: Logitech G610 Wired Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech G403 Prodigy Wired Optical Mouse
Headset: Corsair VOID PRO RGB (White/Black) 7.1 Channel Headset

Attached below is the link to pcpartpicker.com where it shows the prices and it might make it easier for readability.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2KDsRJ

Get 3200Mhz RAM

The GPU is overpriced. Go last gen with like a Vega 56 or current gen with a 2060. Also the monitor I don’t think is Gsync if you’re going Nvidia.

 

[finnmccool]

Get 3200Mhz RAM

The GPU is overpriced. Go last gen with like a Vega 56 or current gen with a 2060. Also the monitor I don’t think is Gsync if you’re going Nvidia.

So I tweaked things and allowed some more room in my budget to work with and this is what I have now:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mfDRjy

Let me know if this now looks like a good setup or if I could do better for the price that it is at.

 

[LordVile]

So I tweaked things and allowed some more room in my budget to work with and this is what I have now:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mfDRjy

Let me know if this now looks like a good setup or if I could do better for the price that it is at.

Consider putting in an SSD even if it’s just as a boot drive

 

[DSzymborski]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($133.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: GeIL EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($42.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card ($264.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: AOC G2460PF 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G403 Prodigy Wired Optical Mouse ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Headphones: Corsair VOID PRO RGB (White/Black) 7.1 Channel Headset ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $994.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-07 21:51 EDT-0400

I'd rather put in an SSD too, but I left a 2 TB hard drive in there since that was the storage amount you had requested.

The stock cooler will be no worse than a Hyper 212, which isn't really a great purchase these days when the stock fans are quality; it was a much bigger upgrade on some of the junky stock fans of 5-6 years ago.

No need to get an x570 motherboard if you're not doing anything that gets the advantage of using an x570 motherboard.

Also cut out the expensive keyboard. You need to get a monitor and peripheral for $1000 after all and it's better to upgrade your keyboard later and use a cheapo keyboard for now rather than splurge on the quality of life peripheral while leaving your PC weaker. And at this price range, price cuts have a real impact on the quality of the performance. I love fancy keyboards too, but I'll always downgrade the keyboard before a GPU or CPU!

Had to change to better RAM. DDR4-2400 is just leaving too much performance on the table in Ryzen when there's very little added expense.

 

[Karadjgne]

Welcome to Tom's. Hopefully we can fix this up some.

Not touching your peripherals ( those are personal choices), this would be me.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.00 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($159.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($77.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.92 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB XC BLACK GAMING Video Card ($342.68 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: MSI Optix MAG241C 23.6" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($199.99 @ B&H)
Keyboard: Logitech G610 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($84.70 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G403 Prodigy Wired Optical Mouse ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Headphones: Corsair VOID PRO RGB (White/Black) 7.1 Channel Headset ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1404.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-07 22:12 EDT-0400

 

[finnmccool]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($133.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: GeIL EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($42.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card ($264.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: AOC G2460PF 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G403 Prodigy Wired Optical Mouse ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Headphones: Corsair VOID PRO RGB (White/Black) 7.1 Channel Headset ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $994.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-07 21:51 EDT-0400

I'd rather put in an SSD too, but I left a 2 TB hard drive in there since that was the storage amount you had requested.

The stock cooler will be no worse than a Hyper 212, which isn't really a great purchase these days when the stock fans are quality; it was a much bigger upgrade on some of the junky stock fans of 5-6 years ago.

No need to get an x570 motherboard if you're not doing anything that gets the advantage of using an x570 motherboard.

Also cut out the expensive keyboard. You need to get a monitor and peripheral for $1000 after all and it's better to upgrade your keyboard later and use a cheapo keyboard for now rather than splurge on the quality of life peripheral while leaving your PC weaker. And at this price range, price cuts have a real impact on the quality of the performance. I love fancy keyboards too, but I'll always downgrade the keyboard before a GPU or CPU!

Had to change to better RAM. DDR4-2400 is just leaving too much performance on the table in Ryzen when there's very little added expense.

So as you and LordVile have said by putting in an SSD, would that be an addition to what you have listed or would that take position for the memory listed? And what would be the difference between the two noticing that you prefer the SSD?

 

[Karadjgne]

Ssd is storage. It's @ over 5x faster than a hdd in reads/writes.

That translates to maps/zones loading in 5-10 seconds vrs 30-60 seconds. That can get important in multi-player scenarios, teams hate waiting on hdd players to load.

It's not so bad in single player mode, but in open world type games like skyrim or fallout, whenever moving in/out of buildings, caves, cities etc to different areas, you'll need another wait while the new map loads.

And that's not to mention anything run by windows.

The ssd is used primarily as OS drive, the hdd becomes mass storage, store games on hdd, but the game plays through the ssd. It's considerably faster.

 

[finnmccool]

Ssd is storage. It's @ over 5x faster than a hdd in reads/writes.

That translates to maps/zones loading in 5-10 seconds vrs 30-60 seconds. That can get important in multi-player scenarios, teams hate waiting on hdd players to load.

It's not so bad in single player mode, but in open world type games like skyrim or fallout, whenever moving in/out of buildings, caves, cities etc to different areas, you'll need another wait while the new map loads.

And that's not to mention anything run by windows.

The ssd is used primarily as OS drive, the hdd becomes mass storage, store games on hdd, but the game plays through the ssd. It's considerably faster.

So I should get both the EVO SPEAR memory listed and SSD or just the SSD? And what SSD would be recommended with the $1000 setup DSzymborski listed?

 

[Karadjgne]

Samsung 860 evo. Crucial P1 or MX500. WD. Adata XPG pro. Those are the better SSDs, proven performance, decent price. There are cheaper, and some aren't half bad, but generally with SSD's you get what you pay for, so a deal that's too good to be true, generally is.

 

[finnmccool]

Samsung 860 evo. Crucial P1 or MX500. WD. Adata XPG pro. Those are the better SSDs, proven performance, decent price. There are cheaper, and some aren't half bad, but generally with SSD's you get what you pay for, so a deal that's too good to be true, generally is.

So you are saying to switch out the Seagate Barracuda storage for one of those SSDs you list?

 

[Karadjgne]

No. Use both. The Ssd is uber fast storage, that's where you'll keep the OS and any important apps like Adobe or Photoshop or main Steam files etc. Your library files, long term storage files like old photos or music that's rarely accessed and the bulk game files get stored on the slower hdd. This keeps what you use moving fast, and stuff that's old is safe someplace out of the way. Storing a backup of the OS and important documents on the hdd is a good idea, all your eggs aren't in the same basket. That way if you ever get hit by a bad virus or malware that just won't go away, you can format C drive and just replace it with the backup copy (make a 'picture' of the drive, iso file). Backup to hdd at least 1x a month, or before any new program change or after any major windows update.

 

[finnmccool]

No. Use both. The Ssd is uber fast storage, that's where you'll keep the OS and any important apps like Adobe or Photoshop or main Steam files etc. Your library files, long term storage files like old photos or music that's rarely accessed and the bulk game files get stored on the slower hdd. This keeps what you use moving fast, and stuff that's old is safe someplace out of the way. Storing a backup of the OS and important documents on the hdd is a good idea, all your eggs aren't in the same basket. That way if you ever get hit by a bad virus or malware that just won't go away, you can format C drive and just replace it with the backup copy (make a 'picture' of the drive, iso file). Backup to hdd at least 1x a month, or before any new program change or after any major windows update.

So I put together the updated setup, is there still any room for improvement? Should I change the CPU cooler listed? I also added the SSD storage.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7jhRjy

 

[Karadjgne]

I'm not any kind of fan of the hyper212. They are mediocre performance budget heatsinks at best. There are better. Their only claim to fame arose with the fact that years ago they had the best performance for the cheapest price, $25, when anything equitable was more, sometimes double that. Even now, coolers like the Raijintek 92mm Aidos get equitable temps at just $18.

And it's not all that much better than the stock Ryzen coolers. A bit quieter at maximum rpm.

As is, the hyper212 is 159mm, your case clearance is 160mm and you have only the stock case fans listed. Personally, I'd trade that cooler for 2x - 3x more decent case fans.

 

[finnmccool]

I'm not any kind of fan of the hyper212. They are mediocre performance budget heatsinks at best. There are better. Their only claim to fame arose with the fact that years ago they had the best performance for the cheapest price, $25, when anything equitable was more, sometimes double that. Even now, coolers like the Raijintek 92mm Aidos get equitable temps at just $18.

And it's not all that much better than the stock Ryzen coolers. A bit quieter at maximum rpm.

As is, the hyper212 is 159mm, your case clearance is 160mm and you have only the stock case fans listed. Personally, I'd trade that cooler for 2x - 3x more decent case fans.

So you are saying a setup with these two case fans would be better?
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/X7P6vn

 

[Karadjgne]

Yep.

 

[finnmccool]

Yep.

Okay thank you very much for the help. That setup is what I will get. How do I go about closing this thread?

 

[Karadjgne]

Trophy on left side will choose the best answer you think (or know) was the most helpful.

 

[King_V]

The GPU is overpriced. Go last gen with like a Vega 56 or current gen with a 2060. Also the monitor I don’t think is Gsync if you’re going Nvidia.

I could see going with a Vega 56, but once you move to a 2060, then, honestly, for only the slightest bit more, you can go with a Radeon 5700 (non-XT).

The only problem is that, as of this moment, there are only the reference blower style cards. XT versions are starting to see AIB partners designing their own, better coolers. I imagine they'll be coming soon for the non-XT 5700, but I haven't seen/heard yet.

Price/performance wise, the 2060 can't justify costing the same as the 5700.

If you can hold off a little while until the non-reference-cooler versions of the 5700 come out, then I would suggest it.

 

[LordVile]

I could see going with a Vega 56, but once you move to a 2060, then, honestly, for only the slightest bit more, you can go with a Radeon 5700 (non-XT).

The only problem is that, as of this moment, there are only the reference blower style cards. XT versions are starting to see AIB partners designing their own, better coolers. I imagine they'll be coming soon for the non-XT 5700, but I haven't seen/heard yet.

Price/performance wise, the 2060 can't justify costing the same as the 5700.

If you can hold off a little while until the non-reference-cooler versions of the 5700 come out, then I would suggest it.

Thing is the AIB cards will up the price of the 5700. I’m sticking with my Vega 56 until the next gen comes out be that RTX 3000 or Big Navi.

 

[King_V]

Thing is the AIB cards will up the price of the 5700. I’m sticking with my Vega 56 until the next gen comes out be that RTX 3000 or Big Navi.

Not necessarily. The two I've seen announced here for the XT, the Gigabyte, and the Sapphire, if I recall, added only $30, and $10, respectively.

I doubt it would be more, and suspect it could be less, when more start coming out, particularly for the non-XT. But even those numbers I mentioned don't shift the needle at price/performance away from the 5700 vs the 2060.

 

[LordVile]

Not necessarily. The two I've seen announced here for the XT, the Gigabyte, and the Sapphire, if I recall, added only $30, and $10, respectively.

I doubt it would be more, and suspect it could be less, when more start coming out, particularly for the non-XT. But even those numbers I mentioned don't shift the needle at price/performance away from the 5700 vs the 2060.

Which models are those? Cos gigabyte do some awful AIB coolers

 

[King_V]

I was wrong, the Gigabyte is only $20 over.

MSI: (no price given, but looks like it's targeting the premium level) https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gigabyte-radeon-rx-5700-xt-gaming-oc,40128.html

Gigabyte: $419.99 - https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/msi-radeon-rx-5700-xt-evoke-graphics-card,news-61380.html

Sapphire Pulse: $409.99 - https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sapphire-pulse-radeon-rx-5700-xt-amd-navi-review,6276.html