[SOLVED] Help with quick gaming/work pc build

[turnfire]

Hello folks,

Unfortunately my current computer has called it quits, and not at a great time. I'm working (mostly code/writing) off an old laptop in the meantime, but looking to build a new pc asap -- one that will meet my gaming criteria and last me for several years.

I'm liking the idea right now of having memoryexpress build the computer and ship it completed (less shipping delays/chance of me screwing things up). I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm handy at watching youtube videos and reading guides.

Here is the build I've currently put together:
CPU: Ryzen™ 5 3600X Processor, 3.8GHz w/ 35MB Cache
GPU: DUAL GTX1660S OC EVO GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB PCI-E
MOBO: X570 UD w/ DDR4-3200, 5.1 Audio, Gigabit LAN, CrossFire
RAM: FlareX Series 16GB DDR4 3200 Dual Channel Kit (2 x 8GB) For AMD Ryzen™
SSD: MP600 PCIe v4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 SSD, 500GB
CASE: Carbide Series 275R Tempered Glass Edition Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case
POWER: TX Series TX650M Semi-Modular 80+ Gold Power Supply, 650W

$1464.93 at https://www.memoryexpress.com/Tool/Configurator
(*Not including any extras/OS for simplicity sake.)

Firstly, am I making any big mistakes with certain components? Perhaps ones not being utilized properly or have an obvious defect? I tried to research everything!

Is there a cheaper setup (using the parts in the configurator link above) that will perform the same for 1080p gaming? I want to play current games on max settings and be able to play games on good settings for a few years at least. (Please use the same case though =)

I also compromised on price for a few items to try and find all in-stock things, as I don't know when things will be in stock again.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated! I'd love to make a purchase with the confidence of all you knowledge builders behind me.

Stay happy and safe,
Kris

 

[Flashgo1]

if you are not going to over clock or doing extreme anything else. you are way over paying.
if you can assemble yourself. newegg will ship it all in one set if you do it as a single mass order of every part.(ups was not happy) also what country you are in

 

[turnfire]

Hey flashgo, thanks for the advice.

I'm in Canada, so the listed prices are in CAD which probably inflates it a bit. Newegg is an option for sure.

Not doing any overclocking or anything too extreme, but I do hope to use this computer for several years (5+?). Happy to spend a little more so I don't need to rebuild in 2 years -- but the main criteria would still be max settings 1080p gaming right now. (I'm using the recent Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord as my benchmark, which I will be playing!).

Will definitely have a look over the builds you posted and see what I can learn. Thanks!

 

[WildCard999]

Save money on the motherboard, there are a few B450 boards that ship with updated BIOS and will handle the 3600X fine. One such board is the MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX, another being the ASRock B450M A/C which has a ton of features for the price. If the 550W version of the PSU is considerably cheaper then go with that as it would be plenty for that build.

Everything else looks good for 1080P gaming.

 

[Hellfire13]

Build it yourself so that you do not have to stick to a single vendor. At the time of posting , all parts are available and some of them are on sale as well. This should be better...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor | $295.25 @ shopRBC
Motherboard | MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard | $159.75 @ Vuugo
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory | $118.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage | Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $94.50 @ Vuugo
Video Card | Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card | $549.00 @ Canada Computers
Case | Phanteks ECLIPSE P350X ATX Mid Tower Case | $87.98 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply | SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $142.50 @ Vuugo
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1447.97
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-11 22:52 EDT-0400 |

 

[turnfire]

Thanks Hellfire, that is a nice build

I see a few things I'm curious about if anyone could enlighten me.

For a good M.2 SSD, are seagate/western digital reliable? The last time I built a computer, HDDs were still the main option and I always remember avoiding the two of them due to bad experiences in the past. Is that still the case or are they just as reliable as brands like Samsung or Corsair? They seem cheaper on average otherwise.

For RAM. I have a hard time understanding the clock speed compatibility. If I have a motherboard that works with 2933mhz stock, and put in some 3600mhz ram, does that require overclocking, ect. to make work? Are there a lot of ways to mess that up? In general, I understand 3200/3600 would be better, but I also see that the mobos supporting those speeds are pricier (without tinkering). In the build I first posted, I tried to get a board supporting 3200, along with 16gb of 3200 ram, all working out-of-the-box.

Lastly, how big of a difference (in practical terms) is a PCIe 3.0 vs 4.0? Most of the motherboards I looked at were 3.0, but then the graphics cards were mostly 4.0. Also noted that difference with the SSDs.

Thanks again for the information all!

Cheers,
Kris

 

[Hellfire13]

For a good M.2 SSD, are seagate/western digital reliable? The last time I built a computer, HDDs were still the main option and I always remember avoiding the two of them due to bad experiences in the past. Is that still the case or are they just as reliable as brands like Samsung or Corsair? They seem cheaper on average otherwise.

Those issues you are talking about was more of individual user experience and perception. I for eg. have used both Seagate and WD HDDs for ages and never had any issues with them. In terms of SSD they are both quality manufacturers. They are not the best but they do the job fine. The difference of price between a WD and a Samsung is due to the memory configuration, sequential speeds and IO Ops. Here is a review of the WD drive listed in the build...
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd-blue-sn550-m2-nvme-ssd-review-best-dramless-ssd-yet
The Corsair drive is better but also more expensive, although the price difference does not justify the performance delta.

For RAM. I have a hard time understanding the clock speed compatibility. If I have a motherboard that works with 2933mhz stock, and put in some 3600mhz ram, does that require overclocking, ect. to make work? Are there a lot of ways to mess that up? In general, I understand 3200/3600 would be better, but I also see that the mobos supporting those speeds are pricier (without tinkering). In the build I first posted, I tried to get a board supporting 3200, along with 16gb of 3200 ram, all working out-of-the-box.

The Tomahawk board supports 3600 out of the box...
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450-TOMAHAWK-MAX/Specification

Memory Support
1866/ 2133/ 2400/ 2667Mhz (by JEDEC)
For AMD Ryzen Gen3 (R5/R7/R9)
2667/2800/2933/3000/3066/3200/3466/3600/3733/3866/4000/4133 by A-XMP OC mode
For AMD Other CPU
2667/2800/2933/3000/3066/3200/3466 by A-XMP OC mode

And DDR4 3600 CL16 is sweet spot for Ryzen 3rd gen...
https://premiumbuilds.com/ram/best-ram-for-ryzen-3000/

Lastly, how big of a difference (in practical terms) is a PCIe 3.0 vs 4.0? Most of the motherboards I looked at were 3.0, but then the graphics cards were mostly 4.0. Also noted that difference with the SSDs.

What you see is PCIe4 support. Doesn't mean it saturates all that bandwidth. It will still take a while for card architectures to reach there. Right now they don't even saturate PCIe3 bandwidth fully.

 

[turnfire]

Thank you for that great information Hellfire, I appreciate the simple explanations =)

Makes sense with the PCIe. And I can relate on the WD/seagate thing to products in other industries. I suppose even the PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSDs (of any brand) are a magnitude faster than the first gen of SSDs I've used for a while, and more than enough for my criteria. My main concern there was just something reliable so I won't have any problems with data.

Regarding the motherboard and RAM speeds. In your above post you say the b450 supports 3600 out of the box, but in the specs I see it says 'by A-XMP OC Mode.' I will do some of my own research on that, but in your experience is it user friendly to switch that mode on? A simple bios thing? Will the 3600 ram just work at a lower speed until that mode is turned on? (ie. when loading OS).

Thanks again for everyone's advice. I'm hoping to get this build ordered early this week =D

 

[Hellfire13]

Makes sense with the PCIe. And I can relate on the WD/seagate thing to products in other industries. I suppose even the PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSDs (of any brand) are a magnitude faster than the first gen of SSDs I've used for a while, and more than enough for my criteria. My main concern there was just something reliable so I won't have any problems with data.

Oh, its pretty reliable, "the SSD is rated to endure up to 600TB of writes at the largest capacity " as mentioned in the review. You can calculate in terms of years as well...
https://www.compuram.de/blog/en/the...es-it-last-and-what-can-be-done-to-take-care/

Regarding the motherboard and RAM speeds. In your above post you say the b450 supports 3600 out of the box, but in the specs I see it says 'by A-XMP OC Mode.' I will do some of my own research on that, but in your experience is it user friendly to switch that mode on? A simple bios thing? Will the 3600 ram just work at a lower speed until that mode is turned on? (ie. when loading OS).

You missed this crucial part where that XMP bit is written... "For AMD Other CPU "
It basically refers to the Athlon processors, not the Ryzen ones.