[SOLVED] First PC - Advice on Parts List and Quality of Build

[caulfield521]

Hey guys,
I've recently been looking into building my first PC so I selected some parts with the help of a friend. Was hoping you guys would offer a second opinion and let me know whether you think is a good enough build. It will be primarily used for gaming and recording music (DAW stuff). My budget is around $1000 and $1500 AUD, so this is what I have so far, thanks:

CPU:
Intel Core i5 - 9400F 2.9 GHz 6-core Processor

CPU Cooler:
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler

Motherboard:
MSI Z390 - A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Memory:
Corsair Venegeance LPX x 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 - 3000 Memory

Storage:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Video Card:
MSI Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card

Case:
Corsair SPEC - DELTA RGB ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply:
Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Here is the list through PC Part Picker: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/gMHhyk

Thanks again.

 

[caulfield521]

Hey guys,
I've recently been looking into building my first PC so I selected some parts with the help of a friend. Was hoping you guys would offer a second opinion and let me know whether you think is a good enough build. It will be primarily used for gaming and recording music (DAW stuff). My budget is around $1000 and $1500 AUD, so this is what I have so far, thanks:

CPU:
Intel Core i5 - 9400F 2.9 GHz 6-core Processor

CPU Cooler:
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler

Motherboard:
MSI Z390 - A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Memory:
Corsair Venegeance LPX x 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 - 3000 Memory

Storage:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Video Card:
MSI Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card

Case:
Corsair SPEC - DELTA RGB ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply:
Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Here is the list through PC Part Picker: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/gMHhyk

Thanks again.

 

[bmockeg]

With that budget, this is what I would aim for.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/yycHhg

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($248.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($106.28 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Intel 660p 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($95.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($55.00 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB AORUS Video Card ($459.00 @ Shopping Express)
Case: Corsair SPEC-DELTA RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.00 @ Austin Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1520.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-26 14:50 AEDT+1100

 

[AtotehZ]

The revision proposed by bmockeg will:
-Boost FPS by ~25% in games.
-Boost Low 1% FPS by 30% or more.
-Give faster load times.
-Handle general workstation tasks faster because of generally faster hardware, more threads and Ryzen's better multi-core functionality.

Good luck with your build.

 

[caulfield521]

With that budget, this is what I would aim for.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/yycHhg

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($248.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($106.28 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Intel 660p 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($95.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($55.00 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB AORUS Video Card ($459.00 @ Shopping Express)
Case: Corsair SPEC-DELTA RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.00 @ Austin Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1520.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-26 14:50 AEDT+1100

The revision proposed by bmockeg will:
-Boost FPS by ~25% in games.
-Boost Low 1% FPS by 30% or more.
-Give faster load times.
-Handle general workstation tasks faster because of generally faster hardware, more threads and Ryzen's better multi-core functionality.

Good luck with your build.

Thanks for the help guys. I've been leaning more towards going with Intel, however i'm still undecided . Would this be a wise move, or do you think i should stick with AMD and follow the parts list you've provided?

 

[AtotehZ]

Thanks for the help guys. I've been leaning more towards going with Intel, however i'm still undecided . Would this be a wise move, or do you think i should stick with AMD and follow the parts list you've provided?

You're sitting in a spot cost-wise where Ryzen has an advantage. If you want Intel to really shine you need a much more expensive machine. Intel has had a huge advantage for games in a long time, but this is no longer the case. They still perform a bit better on single-core performance, which is good for games, but Ryzen makes up for it in other areas to boost their game performance.

I think you'll be able to use these video game benchmarks:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV0TG6Wy-eQ

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GdsWWYSdFo

(warning, only look in relation to each other, not absolute numbers as the rest of the hardware is not the same as in your build)

It looks like the final build will be more than 25% FPS increase to be honest. You're looking at +~40% instead.

I'm building a system myself right now, already ordered, and I ordered a 9900K. That is the flagship of consumer CPU's for gaming from Intel, and even there Ryzen made me stop and question my build. They've come a long way, and for you I'd say Ryzen is the way to go.

Finally, if I were to make a guess. The extra threads in the Ryzen 5 3600, will serve you well in the future. AAA games become increasingly capable of optimizing for multithreading. People are welcome to contradict me on that if they want, but that's what I've experienced, and the reason my current i7-3930k has lasted 8 years.

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($309.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: MSI B450 Gaming Plus ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($109.00 @ Shopping Express)
Storage: Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($88.00 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB MECH OC Video Card ($658.00 @ Skycomp Technology)
Case: Corsair 270R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.90 @ Amazon Australia)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($145.00 @ Shopping Express)
Total: $1547.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-28 05:25 AEDT+1100

This will take your gaming experience to a completely different level. This will give you a good 60%+ performance increase over RX590 or GTX1660Ti build.
All are high quality components. No compromise there.
Skipped on HDD for now, it can be added in at any point of time no problem.
That motherboard supports BIOS Flashing without the requirement of CPU and RAM installation.

 

[AtotehZ]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($309.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: MSI B450 Gaming Plus ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($109.00 @ Shopping Express)
Storage: Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($88.00 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB MECH OC Video Card ($658.00 @ Skycomp Technology)
Case: Corsair 270R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.90 @ Amazon Australia)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($145.00 @ Shopping Express)
Total: $1547.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-28 05:25 AEDT+1100

This will take your gaming experience to a completely different level. This will give you a good 60%+ performance increase over RX590 or GTX1660Ti build.
All are high quality components. No compromise there.
Skipped on HDD for now, it can be added in at any point of time no problem.
That motherboard supports BIOS Flashing without the requirement of CPU and RAM installation.

This is true. I'm not so held up on the 1660ti and saving elsewhere to boost the GPU will almost always benefit a gaming system. If you can make do without a hdd this will boost your system considerably. 5700xt is a high end card while 1660ti is only mid/high.

 

[camwright]

If you have a micro center around look for some refurb cards and such also. I used to be weary. Bought a 1080FE over a year ago for like $400 with a 3 year warranty.

 

[Flayed]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($309.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: MSI B450 Gaming Plus ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($109.00 @ Shopping Express)
Storage: Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($88.00 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB MECH OC Video Card ($658.00 @ Skycomp Technology)
Case: Corsair 270R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.90 @ Amazon Australia)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($145.00 @ Shopping Express)
Total: $1547.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-28 05:25 AEDT+1100

This will take your gaming experience to a completely different level. This will give you a good 60%+ performance increase over RX590 or GTX1660Ti build.
All are high quality components. No compromise there.
Skipped on HDD for now, it can be added in at any point of time no problem.
That motherboard supports BIOS Flashing without the requirement of CPU and RAM installation.

That does look like a nice build but I would be wary of the 550W PSU to power the RX 5700 XT.

On MSI's website, they recommend a 750W PSU for the RX 5700 XT Mech OC

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/Radeon-RX-5700-XT-MECH-OC/Specification

 

[bmockeg]

Shouldn’t be too bad, GPU pulls max 275 watts and CPU is max 80 watts. 550 watts should be sufficient but I’d rather have 650 watts myself for upgrade capability and it’s only $4 more lol.

 

[King Dranzer]

That does look like a nice build but I would be wary of the 550W PSU to power the RX 5700 XT.

On MSI's website, they recommend a 750W PSU for the RX 5700 XT Mech OC

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/Radeon-RX-5700-XT-MECH-OC/Specification

Unless you push both CPU and GPU to max limit with OC that 550W PSU will be sufficient no problem at all

 

[King Dranzer]

If you still are not comfortable with it spend bit extra and get RX650M. If that is gonna ease your tension do it, and you can reuse it for your next upgrade without the requirement of spending on PSU again

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

Figured I'd throw my hat into the rink..... cuz why not?

I went for two different builds here.

First one attempting to get you the CPU upgrade while staying withing the amount that your original build costs.
Was able to upgrade the HDD to 2TB with a 256mb cache for games.

250gb SSD is more than enough for OS and main apps.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($309.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($248.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($118.90 @ Shopping Express)
Storage: Kingston A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($42.95 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.00 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 580 8 GB DUAL Video Card ($279.00 @ Shopping Express)
Case: Phanteks P300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1318.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-28 09:53 AEDT+1100


The second build tries to maximize the $1500 budget, and the only thing I could see worth spending every extra penny on is the GPU at this point.

So I upgraded that and had enough wiggle room to upgrade the SSD as well.


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($309.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($248.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($118.90 @ Shopping Express)
Storage: Crucial MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($86.00 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.00 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB OC Video Card ($415.00 @ Shopping Express)
Case: Phanteks P300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1497.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-28 09:51 AEDT+1100

This case I've chosen only comes with one fan at the rear, so you need at least one more fan for the front, but I recommend more fans than that.

I leave the choice of fans up to you in case you have a particular preference for looks, performance, and if they have RGB or not.

Best option is three 140mm fans.
two for the front, and one for the top.

 

[Flayed]

Shouldn’t be too bad, GPU pulls max 275 watts and CPU is max 80 watts. 550 watts should be sufficient but I’d rather have 650 watts myself for upgrade capability and it’s only $4 more lol.

I guess I am more cautious due to personal experience. I bought a card that said it required a 750W PSU on the box and I had a Seasonic 660W Platinum PSU. I thought well it's a good quality PSU it will be fine, but it wasn't. My system would restart during gaming under certain repeatable conditions

 

[King Dranzer]

Get this for $15 extra, if you are unsure
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/product...-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020178-na

This will be more than enough. Are you sure it was 750W recommended PSU as even on AMD site it only says 600W which they recommend the average pairing of high and mid range CPUs from both AMD and Intel.

If this was to be paired with i9-9900K then yes I would have recommended 750W but for R5 3600 pairing even 550W is enough. But in any case I listed a 650W PSU above get that by spending $15 extra, which shouldn't matter in any case.

 

[Flayed]

This will be more than enough. Are you sure it was 750W recommended PSU as even on AMD site it only says 600W which they recommend the average pairing of high and mid range CPUs from both AMD and Intel.

I posted a link above so you can see for yourself
https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/Radeon-RX-5700-XT-MECH-OC/Specification

 

[King Dranzer]

I posted a link above so you can see for yourself
https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/Radeon-RX-5700-XT-MECH-OC/Specification

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. Don't know how MSI calculates total Power consumption of PC but as it is their TDP is 225W and whereas we are rounding up to 250W for base. In any way 550W is honestly more than enough specially in combination of CPU like R5 3600 which is not very power hungry even when OCd like i9-9900K which consumes lot more power than listed TDP. Still as you decided to buy 650W by spending little extra it wouldn't matter.

 

[Flayed]

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. Don't know how MSI calculates total Power consumption of PC but as it is their TDP is 225W and whereas we are rounding up to 250W for base. In any way 550W is honestly more than enough specially in combination of CPU like R5 3600 which is not very power hungry even when OCd like i9-9900K which consumes lot more power than listed TDP. Still as you decided to buy 650W by spending little extra it wouldn't matter.

Yes, I don't know why they list such a high wattage PSU. It may be to do with very brief power spikes from the graphics card which wouldn't alter the average power use much but may trip the OCP on the PSU.

 

[King Dranzer]

Yes, I don't know why they list such a high wattage PSU. It may be to do with very brief power spikes from the graphics card which wouldn't alter the average power use much but may trip the OCP on the PSU.

Nah they most probably paired it with Xtreme CPU while testing hence that high load(which is unlikely). Or probably have OCd the CPU like i9-9900K to max(which is also unlikely). In any case that high recommendation is unreal from testing point of view. We as advisers do recommend high wattage PSU for other reasons like maintaining the load under 60-70% of total rated wattage of PSU to have a silent and more efficient build over long period of time. But companies should mark the limit instead of recommending larger headroom for no valid purpose.

 

[Flayed]

Nah they most probably paired it with Xtreme CPU while testing hence that high load(which is unlikely). Or probably have OCd the CPU like i9-9900K to max(which is also unlikely). In any case that high recommendation is unreal from testing point of view. We as advisers do recommend high wattage PSU for other reasons like maintaining the load under 60-70% of total rated wattage of PSU to have a silent and more efficient build over long period of time. But companies should mark the limit instead of recommending larger headroom for no valid purpose.

Well as I said earlier I ran into power issues with a 65W stock cpu, a couple of SSD's, 3 case fans, 8GB of ram, an Asus ROG Vega 56 and a Seasonic 660W Platinum PSU. The GPU required a 750W PSU, and would restart during gaming with my 660W one.

I've also read about Vega 64's spiking 47A on the 12v rail which can be enough to shut down multi-rail PSU's or low wattage ones

 

[King Dranzer]

What CPU were you using.

 

[Flayed]

What CPU were you using.

A stock 3570k with a very large heatsink double fan

 

[King Dranzer]

That shouldn't have been the problem unless there is physical issue with either GPU or PSU(if it was the issue of insufficient power). Or it could have been simple driver incompatibility issue. If you were not pushing CPU and GPU to limit it should have been fine. Possibly there was phisical issue with your PSU which was limiting its power output or your GPU was drawing excessive power than required.

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

Be mindful that wattage isn't the only important thing, as some components can require more amps on the 12v rail, and not all PSU's are built the same and some can have high wattage and all that but poor amperage support on the 12v rail