Question Finally upgrade time...

dermax

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Hi all.

About once every 6+ years I come out of "retirement" to build myself a gaming PC. My GTX 970 build from 2014 is chugging now and with Cyberpunk, Assassin's Creed, etc. coming soon, I guess it's time to build. This will be a gaming machine only - I don't stream or anything. I'm also - for now at least - only doing 1080p gaming at the best settings possible. I guess my eyes aren't what they used to be, so... I don't really have an interest in 4k gaming. I'm the USA - if that matters. Budget - basically depends on the graphics card. Below are my planned parts and thoughts - I'd really appreciate input; mostly because I have to "relearn" everything since my builds are so far apart!

Motherboard - MSI B450 Tomahawk Max. Dated; doesn't support PCI 4.0. I figure by my next upgrade DDR5 will be the hot new thing and I'll need a new motherboard anyway. This seems more "trustworthy" and "better reviewed" that the newer X570s until I go up a price point. I only used wired connections.

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 3600. Reviews are great. Seems like a high recommended "standard buy" in many gaming builds. Since I use my computer for gaming and internet I don't feel that getting into the "new generations" will get me that much benefit vs cost.

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws or Corsair Vengeance 16 GB.
Thankfully RAM has went down in price quite a bit, so I'll just make the call on the day. 32GB isn't that terribly much more, but I'm going on the assumption 16GB is still plenty for gaming only?

Graphics Card -???. I could use some advice on this. Graphics card is where I usually blow the bank. I'm not opposed to just getting a RTX 3080 (whenever you can find them) and calling it good. 3070s are "coming soon" - but who knows how long it will be before I could actually find one to buy that's not price gouged to hell. Compared to my 970 even a RTX 2070 Super would be quite the upgrade, but since it sounds like the 3000 series is the greatest thing since the 3.5" floppy... I'm guessing waiting for a 3000 series makes the most sense? It's not like my current rig is - hopefully - going away any time soon, and I have plenty of games it'll still run like a boss while I wait.

Power Supply - Corsair RM 750. My current build uses an RM 650 and I've never had a single issue with it. I'd like something a little beefier as my only "horror story" came from running too low of a power supply years ago. I think 850 would be overkill?

The Rest. I'll probably switch a couple of my hard drives between machines. I'll finally get an SSD. I'm not worried about cases - I might just reuse my current one.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Recommendations?
 
Ryzen 4000 (5000?) CPUs are launching on October 8th

What's your total budget?

32GB of RAM would be good to last 6 years.

Is your PSU 6 years old? Probably best to re-use this until pricing gets back to normal next year. PSUs are the most overpriced component in 2020.

You know you could've added an SSD to your current system? Shame....SHAME!!

What case are you reusing?

What monitor do you have? A nice 27" 1440p 144Hz variable refresh rate monitor would sure be nice, especially for "tired eyes".
 
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dermax

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Ryzen 4000 (5000?) CPUs are launching on October 8th

What's your total budget?

32GB of RAM would be good to last 6 years.

Is your PSU 6 years old? Probably best to re-use this until pricing gets back to normal next year. PSUs are the most overpriced component in 2020.

You know you could've added an SSD to your current system? Shame....SHAME!!

What case are you reusing?

What monitor do you have? A nice 27" 1440p 144Hz variable refresh rate monitor would sure be nice, especially for "tired eyes".

Total budget is difficult to say, because it really comes down to how much I splurge on the graphics card. Let's just say $1400 as a "random number". I can go north or south of that within reason.

My case was/is a Rosewill THOR V2. The PSU is also six years old. Since it's modular, switching it out would be simple enough - I just wouldn't want to risk shorting out a fancy new graphics card while I'm waiting for prices to get back to normal. Regardless of anything else, I'll need to a new monitor... I legitimately couldn't even tell you what I'm running now.
 
In order to be able to get Zen 3, and the benefit of PCI-E 4.0 (which for now does not seems like much but it may start to change soon) I would really get an X570 mobo, and theres no need to spend a lot to get a good board. If you don't like the brand you can change it.

A bit hard to come down with a system without knowing exactly the max budget, or if you wana chnage your case or not.
So heres what I would do if you are buying right now (usually I would pick the R5 3600 but since is very close to the R5 3600X I rather get that one instead), and next year, if reviews shows its worth it, you can upgrade the CPU to perhaps an 8 cores/16 threads Zen 3 which should last you a few years.
As for the GPU please feel free to swap the one I choosed for any RTX you like to buy. This is one is good enough for 1440p high refresh right now, but if you can get the RTX 3070 for the same price you should buy that one instead!!!
Oh and remove the case if you are keeping your current one!

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($209.09 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($112.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card ($499.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.00 @ Walmart)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor ($499.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1791.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-26 11:53 EDT-0400
 
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Pickachu

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In order to be able to get Zen 3, and the benefit of PCI-E 4.0 (which for now does not seems like much but it may start to change soon) I would really get an X570 mobo, and theres no need to spend a lot to get a good board. If you don't like the brand you can change it.

A bit hard to come down with a system without knowing exactly the max budget, or if you wana chnage your case or not.
So heres what I would do if you are buying right now (usually I would pick the R5 3600 but since is very close to the R5 3600X I rather get that one instead), and next year, if reviews shows its worth it, you can upgrade the CPU to perhaps an 8 cores/16 threads Zen 3 which should last you a few years.
As for the GPU please feel free to swap the one I choosed for any RTX you like to buy. This is one is good enough for 1440p high refresh right now, but if you can get the RTX 3070 for the same price you should buy that one instead!!!
Oh and remove the case if you are keeping your current one!

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($209.09 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($112.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card ($499.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.00 @ Walmart)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor ($499.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1791.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-26 11:53 EDT-0400
For pure gaming i would go with Intel last gen cpu's, they get better results in gaming compared to Ryzen cpu's and also the last LGA1200 socket will support the next gen cpu's from Intel so its good for future upgrade.
 
For pure gaming i would go with Intel last gen cpu's, they get better results in gaming compared to Ryzen cpu's and also the last LGA1200 socket will support the next gen cpu's from Intel so its good for future upgrade.

I went with Ryzen to try to keep it close to the U$1700 mark you wrote. But if you can go higher yeah no problem going with intel.
Keep in mind though at 1440p you wont see a lot of a diference between both systems.
 
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Pickachu

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I went with Ryzen to try to keep it close to the U$1700 mark you wrote. But if you can go higher yeah no problem going with intel.
Keep in mind though at 1440p you wont see a lot of a diference between both systems.
Something like this for Intel build:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-10600KF 4.1 GHz 6-Core Processor | $277.50 @ B&H
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $33.49 @ Newegg
Motherboard | Gigabyte Z490 UD AC ATX LGA1200 Motherboard | $149.99 @ Newegg
Memory | Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $99.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $116.49 @ Staples
Storage | Western Digital Blue 2 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive | $49.99 @ Amazon
Case | Phanteks Eclipse P400A Digital ATX Mid Tower Case | $89.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $104.99 @ Newegg
Custom| GeForce RTX 3080| $715.00
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1637.43
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-27 08:10 EDT-0400 |
 
Something like this for Intel build:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-10600KF 4.1 GHz 6-Core Processor | $277.50 @ B&H
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $33.49 @ Newegg
Motherboard | Gigabyte Z490 UD AC ATX LGA1200 Motherboard | $149.99 @ Newegg
Memory | Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $99.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $116.49 @ Staples
Storage | Western Digital Blue 2 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive | $49.99 @ Amazon
Case | Phanteks Eclipse P400A Digital ATX Mid Tower Case | $89.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $104.99 @ Newegg
Custom| GeForce RTX 3080| $715.00
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1637.43
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-27 08:10 EDT-0400 |

A few notes on your picks

- That Gigabyte board is not really good, the VRM is one of the basic low end ones on the Z490 line up. If you plan to OC or upgrade to a higher chip (i7 or i9) its not the best option.

- No, just no, times when classic CM 212 EVO was good are long gone. That cooler will have a hard time keeping the cpu cool even at stock settings. I would aim to a way better cooling solution. Maybe the 212 Black Edition could be able to keep the i5 10600K cool, but I would really go higher, specially if you wana use this cooling solution for another build or cpu upgrade.

- WD hard drive 5400 rpm, another NO. Why on earth would you buy a 5400 rmp drive in late 2020?
At least get a 7200RMP with 32/64MB of cache. In fact I would really skip hard drivers altogheter if posible and go all SSD, either classic SATA (AHCI) or NVME. (The other device, A2000 is a nice pick price/performance wise).

- Phantek case is fine, you may need some extra fans.

- Antec PSU.... I woud pick Corsair or Seasonic (even some EVGA models) over Antec all the time.

Tell me If you want me to give you another list.
 

Pickachu

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A few notes on your picks

- That Gigabyte board is not really good, the VRM is one of the basic low end ones on the Z490 line up. If you plan to OC or upgrade to a higher chip (i7 or i9) its not the best option.

- No, just no, times when classic CM 212 EVO was good are long gone. That cooler will have a hard time keeping the cpu cool even at stock settings. I would aim to a way better cooling solution. Maybe the 212 Black Edition could be able to keep the i5 10600K cool, but I would really go higher, specially if you wana use this cooling solution for another build or cpu upgrade.

- WD hard drive 5400 rpm, another NO. Why on earth would you buy a 5400 rmp drive in late 2020?
At least get a 7200RMP with 32/64MB of cache. In fact I would really skip hard drivers altogheter if posible and go all SSD, either classic SATA (AHCI) or NVME. (The other device, A2000 is a nice pick price/performance wise).

- Phantek case is fine, you may need some extra fans.

- Antec PSU.... I woud pick Corsair or Seasonic (even some EVGA models) over Antec all the time.

Tell me If you want me to give you another list.
You are right about the mobo, however without ocing the cpu its doing well I5 10600k and also with the I9 10900k(without ocing).
I agree with you that need another mobo.

For the cpu cooler, my own decision would be minimum are takeing the fuma2/mugen 5 rev b/freezer 34 esports duo...but again, without ocing it will be good for I5 10600, less for I7 10700K/I9 10900k.
Because the WDis a PMR unit that better than any 7200rpm SMR units(not all of them, but a lot of...). It will be good for stocking some files that dont need fast access, but also here we can add some other 500/1tb Ssd instead of the Hdd.
This Antec psu has the same platform that the Seasonic unit you put in your configuration, its maybe not the best psu out there, but fairly a decent unit.
P400a digital has better airflow compared to the meshify C.

New configuration:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-10600KF 4.1 GHz 6-Core Processor | $277.50 @ B&H
CPU Cooler | ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler | $59.89 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI Z490-A PRO ATX LGA1200 Motherboard | $159.99 @ B&H
Memory | G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $97.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Team MS30 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $48.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $116.49 @ Staples
Case | Phanteks Eclipse P400A Digital ATX Mid Tower Case | $89.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $104.99 @ Newegg
Custom| Rtx 3080| $710.00
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1665.83
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-27 11:08 EDT-0400 |