Question First PC Build - Can you help me make sure this will work?

Nov 16, 2020
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Hey, gang.

My girlfriend and I are building our first PC for her teenage daughter.

The daughter likes to play a variety of games, but she's not a hardcore gamer playing the most demanding games on high settings.

We're trying to keep our build below $1,200. We've got a little wiggle room, but not much.

We're trying to build a budget to mid-level gaming pc that will keep her daughter gaming for a couple of years without needing any major upgrades.

We'll use Windows 10 for the OS.

I checked out a bunch of guides and YouTube videos to try to piece this together using NewEgg's PC Builder tool.

Can you please double-check these parts for me to make sure everything will work together?

And please explain why you recommend something. I'm trying to learn as we go so I can build more systems in the future.


THE PARTS LIST

Processor:
AMD RYZEN 5 3600X 6-Core 3.8 GHz (4.4 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 95W 100-100000022BOX Desktop Processor

Motherboard:
ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4/ac AM4 AMD B550 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16D-16GVKB

Video Card:
ASRock Phantom Gaming D3 Radeon RX 5600 XT RX5600XT PGD3 6GO 6GB (14Gbps) 192-Bit GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Case:
Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-05 CC-9011138-WW Black Steel, Plastic, Acrylic Window Side Panel ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case

Power Supply:
EVGA 700 GD 100-GD-0700-V1 700W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Non-Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Storage:
Western Digital WD Blue SN550 NVMe M.2 2280 1TB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) WDS100T2B0C


MY QUESTIONS

1. Will these parts work together? If not, can you please explain why?

2. What CPU cooler do I need to use for this? I'm not sure how to choose one.

3. We're going to use fans for cooling. How many do I need? And how do you figure that out?

4. Since this is my first build, is there anything else you can think of that will help me?
 
1. Yes, all parts above are compatible with each other.

2. That would depend on the types of games she's playing. I believe that CPU comes with its own stock cooler, which has pretty adequate cooling abilities assuming nothing is being overclocked or maxed out. PCPartPicker is great for choosing aftermarket coolers though! Any air cooler smaller than 150mm tall will fit (this limit is determined by your selected case), as well as a 120mm or 240mm AIO water cooler (these will cost more than air coolers though). I'd recommend trying out the stock cooler first, and then going for a different cooler if temperatures are too high.

3. First place to look is your case specs to see how many can fit and where. Looking at the manual, it looks like you can have up to 3) 120mm fans or 2) 140mm fans in the front, 2) 120mm fans on the top, and 1) 120mm fan in the back. A single 120mm fan comes included in the case. The best place to looks for fans is PCPartPicker.com which will help you sort through hundreds of fan types similar to NewEgg's PC Builder tool. Choosing between levels of airflow, noise, LED, and price options will be up to you, though I would recommend at least two intake fans (on the front) and two exhaust fans (on the back/top). Certain fans may or may not need a fan hub as well, and if not, you may need Y splitters if plugging many fans directly into the motherboard (assuming there aren't enough SYS_FAN headers)

4. I always recommend keeping the Boot Drive (where your OS, like Windows, will be installed) separate from everything else. My preferred setup is a 500GB M.2 for the OS (256GB at the absolute lowest if trying to save money) and a 1 TB 2.5" SSD. However, if your budget is too tight, you can still have everything working on a single drive. You just might not get the best possible performance the drive has to offer, and as you load it with more and more games, the OS can see a decrease in performance speeds.
 
Nov 16, 2020
4
0
10
Thanks, @DrummerManSpike .

You were a huge help.

I really appreciate taking the time to explain everything.

EDITED:

(Anyone can reply to this. I'm not just tagging DrummerManSpike.)

Ok, I played around with PCPartPicker.com and here's what I came up with:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/s9cqHz

The Notes section says this:
The ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4/ac ATX AM4 Motherboard has an additional 4-pin ATX power connector but the Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply does not. This connector is used to supply additional 12V current to the motherboard. While the system will likely still run without it, higher current demands such as extreme overclocking or large video card current draws may require it.

Is that going to be a problem?

And if it is, how do I find a power supply that provides the additional 4-pin ATX power connector?

Where am I looking for this information?
 
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