[SOLVED] It's time...

[bravodown]

It's that time again. Time to finally retire the old dog i7 3770k and assemble a new rig. I can just feel it in my circuits. Don't get me wrong. I love this CPU. Acquired back in December of 2012, world's end or so the Mayans said, this beast of a chip must have been imbued with the power of the gods. It still shines despite falling below those dastardly minimum system requirements that seem to be appearing with more frequency. Especially so now that I'm getting into VR. It served a long and purposeful life, and it still will! Albeit in reduced capacity. My current i7 had a good run. It's still holding up considerably well. However, new times require new thinking. Word on the street is that AMD is where it's at.

My dilemma is that I'm caught between what I'm reading/hearing about modern AMD processors and my affinity for Intel processors based on personal experiences. Of my three desktops, only one was AMD and it generally had more problems. Granted, it was the only prebuilt of the three. I'm leaning towards Intel and I know I'd be fine with that, but I'm just wondering if I'd really be missing out by not going for AMD.

 

[dimtodim]

It's that time again. Time to finally retire the old dog i7 3770k and assemble a new rig. I can just feel it in my circuits. Don't get me wrong. I love this CPU. Acquired back in December of 2012, world's end or so the Mayans said, this beast of a chip must have been imbued with the power of the gods. It still shines despite falling below those dastardly minimum system requirements that seem to be appearing with more frequency. Especially so now that I'm getting into VR. It served a long and purposeful life, and it still will! Albeit in reduced capacity. My current i7 had a good run. It's still holding up considerably well. However, new times require new thinking. Word on the street is that AMD is where it's at.

My dilemma is that I'm caught between what I'm reading/hearing about modern AMD processors and my affinity for Intel processors based on personal experiences. Of my three desktops, only one was AMD and it generally had more problems. Granted, it was the only prebuilt of the three. I'm leaning towards Intel and I know I'd be fine with that, but I'm just wondering if I'd really be missing out by not going for AMD.

i dont know all your configuration but that cpu is good i7 3770k . I have all years back intel now i have amd first time ...what is your budget?

 

[Darkbreeze]

AMD and Intel have pretty much switched places................again, when it comes to consumer CPUs, at least to some extent.

AMD CPUs are now less power hungry, with lower TDP, while the current (AND last two) generations of Intel CPU are more power hungry, with higher TDP and run hotter than equivalent core AMD models. That's a generalization and there are probably some exceptions to be made but overall that seems to be the case and state of the union these days. Also, AMD has the better multithreaded performance in most cases.

Intel still tends to hold the gaming advantage because it still has better single core performance for the most part, but that is also probably about to change when the new Ryzen 5000 series CPUs drop next month. If that happens, then AMD will be beating out Intel on number of cores per dollar, multithreaded performance AND single core performance, plus they will likely be less expensive than similar core count Intel processors.

That doesn't mean that Intel isn't still a good option though, and if we're being honest, neither of them have much overclocking headroom on their higher tiered CPUs so that's a feature that has largely been made irrelevant EXCEPT that on Intel processors the unlocked K skus still (As always) tend to be higher clocked than otherwise identical locked models so there is generally some binning advantages to be had there in addition to technically being capable of being overclocked AND when used with the unlocked chipset, using higher speed memory as well.

I highly recommend that anybody building a system soon should WAIT, and see what shakes out. It is so close to the release of the new AMD models AND Intel is dropping a new generation in January from what I've read, so there might be a lot to look at between the two when that happens but I still think that when the dust settles the new AMD processors are going to be the better choice, and that is coming from somebody who has also used Intel for four out of the last five of my own builds.

 

[Snow_cherry12]

It's that time again. Time to finally retire the old dog i7 3770k and assemble a new rig. I can just feel it in my circuits. Don't get me wrong. I love this CPU. Acquired back in December of 2012, world's end or so the Mayans said, this beast of a chip must have been imbued with the power of the gods. It still shines despite falling below those dastardly minimum system requirements that seem to be appearing with more frequency. Especially so now that I'm getting into VR. It served a long and purposeful life, and it still will! Albeit in reduced capacity. My current i7 had a good run. It's still holding up considerably well. However, new times require new thinking. Word on the street is that AMD is where it's at.

My dilemma is that I'm caught between what I'm reading/hearing about modern AMD processors and my affinity for Intel processors based on personal experiences. Of my three desktops, only one was AMD and it generally had more problems. Granted, it was the only prebuilt of the three. I'm leaning towards Intel and I know I'd be fine with that, but I'm just wondering if I'd really be missing out by not going for AMD.

I believe you'll be fine as intel is trustworthy. AMD can be set aside now. My friend did so and she said it's fine.

 

[John Chesterfield]

as intel is trustworthy

I'll just leave this one out there.

 

[John Chesterfield]

If you prefer Intel, no great disadvantage in sticking with them. Even when the new AMD chips come out and they beat Intel, it won't be by much.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you prefer Intel, no great disadvantage in sticking with them. Even when the new AMD chips come out and they beat Intel, it won't be by much.

No, it probably won't be. But when they beat them by 5-10%, and are 100 bucks less for a similarly tiered CPU, well, that's hard to ignore. Not needing a jet turbine to keep them cool, or at least, not as big of one anyhow, is helpful as well. But again, both are absolutely viable, and neither is a particularly BAD choice.

 

[bravodown]

No, it probably won't be. But when they beat them by 5-10%, and are 100 bucks less for a similarly tiered CPU, well, that's hard to ignore. Not needing a jet turbine to keep them cool, or at least, not as big of one anyhow, is helpful as well. But again, both are absolutely viable, and neither is a particularly BAD choice.

Thanks for the feedback.

AMD and Intel have pretty much switched places................again, when it comes to consumer CPUs, at least to some extent.

AMD CPUs are now less power hungry, with lower TDP, while the current (AND last two) generations of Intel CPU are more power hungry, with higher TDP and run hotter than equivalent core AMD models. That's a generalization and there are probably some exceptions to be made but overall that seems to be the case and state of the union these days. Also, AMD has the better multithreaded performance in most cases.

Intel still tends to hold the gaming advantage because it still has better single core performance for the most part, but that is also probably about to change when the new Ryzen 5000 series CPUs drop next month. If that happens, then AMD will be beating out Intel on number of cores per dollar, multithreaded performance AND single core performance, plus they will likely be less expensive than similar core count Intel processors.

That doesn't mean that Intel isn't still a good option though, and if we're being honest, neither of them have much overclocking headroom on their higher tiered CPUs so that's a feature that has largely been made irrelevant EXCEPT that on Intel processors the unlocked K skus still (As always) tend to be higher clocked than otherwise identical locked models so there is generally some binning advantages to be had there in addition to technically being capable of being overclocked AND when used with the unlocked chipset, using higher speed memory as well.

I highly recommend that anybody building a system soon should WAIT, and see what shakes out. It is so close to the release of the new AMD models AND Intel is dropping a new generation in January from what I've read, so there might be a lot to look at between the two when that happens but I still think that when the dust settles the new AMD processors are going to be the better choice, and that is coming from somebody who has also used Intel for four out of the last five of my own builds.

Thank you for the feedback. I will definitely consider this in my decision. I'm not in any rush so I don't have a problem waiting and seeing how things pan out. Plus with the holiday sales season coming up it might make sense to wait to purchase components for another month or so anyway. Perhaps I'll get a deal on some other pieces I'm looking at.

I set aside money for this at the beginning of the year. I was still running windows 7 and some newer games just were not performing how they should've been. I decided to finally do the free upgrade to windows 10 (why it took me so long? who knows lol). It greatly improved my experience for some newer titles.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Did you do a clean install of 10 or did you just upgrade the existing Windows 7 installation and then leave it that way?

 

[Martinscott89]

Always been mostly leaned towards Intel, but i gotta say with recent AMD launches that i'm highly considering switching team, atleast until Intel catches up again.

Throughout time though i gotta say that Intel has been most consistent(in my eyes), but basically all my friends are telling me AMD is the way to go now.

And like Darkbreeze said, these 2 have been battling for the #1 spot forever, theres 100% no definite winner since they keep catching up to eachother it seems.

 

[bravodown]

AMD and Intel have pretty much switched places................again, when it comes to consumer CPUs, at least to some extent.

AMD CPUs are now less power hungry, with lower TDP, while the current (AND last two) generations of Intel CPU are more power hungry, with higher TDP and run hotter than equivalent core AMD models. That's a generalization and there are probably some exceptions to be made but overall that seems to be the case and state of the union these days. Also, AMD has the better multithreaded performance in most cases.

Intel still tends to hold the gaming advantage because it still has better single core performance for the most part, but that is also probably about to change when the new Ryzen 5000 series CPUs drop next month. If that happens, then AMD will be beating out Intel on number of cores per dollar, multithreaded performance AND single core performance, plus they will likely be less expensive than similar core count Intel processors.

That doesn't mean that Intel isn't still a good option though, and if we're being honest, neither of them have much overclocking headroom on their higher tiered CPUs so that's a feature that has largely been made irrelevant EXCEPT that on Intel processors the unlocked K skus still (As always) tend to be higher clocked than otherwise identical locked models so there is generally some binning advantages to be had there in addition to technically being capable of being overclocked AND when used with the unlocked chipset, using higher speed memory as well.

I highly recommend that anybody building a system soon should WAIT, and see what shakes out. It is so close to the release of the new AMD models AND Intel is dropping a new generation in January from what I've read, so there might be a lot to look at between the two when that happens but I still think that when the dust settles the new AMD processors are going to be the better choice, and that is coming from somebody who has also used Intel for four out of the last five of my own builds.

I finally decided on AMD but availability has been scarce. I found a Ryzen 7 5800x locally and went for it. I had been waiting to buy other parts until I decided on a cpu. This is what I have lined up so far:

CPU: Ryzen 7 5800x
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master 212 Black Edition RBG
Mobo: Asus ROG Strix x570-E
Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR4 3600 16 GB 2x8 (I was kind of unsure which way to go here but just ended up deciding on this kit - considering returning these for 4000 or 4400 but idk. From what I've read 16 GB is still sufficient for most users but could always get another set if needed).
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO 1 TB M.2 (i have other SATA SSD i can use from my old rig if needed)
PSU: undecided (but I saw you had responded to another post of mine, reviewing this currently)
Case: undecided (my last pc uses Rosewill Thor V2 which I really like - super spacious and great airflow - considering getting another one but part of me wants the new pc to have its own distinct case).

 

[Darkbreeze]

The Thor V2 was an EXCELLENT case, especially for Rosewill, but it IS like a 10-11 year old design. If it does all you want and need it to do, and the looks are not an issue, then there is no reason to change it just because you are doing a new build.

On the other hand, there are a lot of hugely improved cases on the market right now that incorporate a lot of newer features not generally found on cases back then including full tempered glass side panels, much better interior design and cable management features, newer features such as front USB C ports and so on. Plus, unless you're running an E-ATX motherboard OR a whole bunch of storage drives, that full tower might be somewhat overkill for a lot of builds. Used to be you HAD to run a bunch of drives if you wanted a lot of storage space but obviously these days with very small SSDs and HDDs that are commonly anywhere from 6 to 16TB, you don't need ten or twelve drives to house a lot of data.

So I could see that going either way really. As to the CPU cooler though, do you already have that or are you looking to buy it? What country are you in? What is your full budget for upgrades? I'll be glad to make a few recommendations if you like, but honestly I'd recommend you avoid that cooler unless it is literally the only decent choice you have in your region due to availability.

 

[bravodown]

The Thor V2 was an EXCELLENT case, especially for Rosewill, but it IS like a 10-11 year old design. If it does all you want and need it to do, and the looks are not an issue, then there is no reason to change it just because you are doing a new build.

On the other hand, there are a lot of hugely improved cases on the market right now that incorporate a lot of newer features not generally found on cases back then including full tempered glass side panels, much better interior design and cable management features, newer features such as front USB C ports and so on. Plus, unless you're running an E-ATX motherboard OR a whole bunch of storage drives, that full tower might be somewhat overkill for a lot of builds. Used to be you HAD to run a bunch of drives if you wanted a lot of storage space but obviously these days with very small SSDs and HDDs that are commonly anywhere from 6 to 16TB, you don't need ten or twelve drives to house a lot of data.

So I could see that going either way really. As to the CPU cooler though, do you already have that or are you looking to buy it? What country are you in? What is your full budget for upgrades? I'll be glad to make a few recommendations if you like, but honestly I'd recommend you avoid that cooler unless it is literally the only decent choice you have in your region due to availability.

I had an older hyper 212 evo in my current pc and it has worked amazingly well (granted with an 8 year old i7 3770k and 8 year old mobo asus z77 sabertooth). That's the only reason i was going with the newer black edition 212. Is there a specific reason not to use it? With this case and the 212 evo, my cpu has never gone above about 52 that I've seen (again - 8 year old components). I live in the U.S. I'm open to suggestions for sure! I did already purchase the 212 evo but I can always return it (or cancel the order, not even sure if it shipped yet).

I don't have a rigid budget but I was trying to keep the tower and everything in it roughly around 1500-1800 and im already pushing 1700 without case and psu (but again, its not something I have to stick to, just the budget I had in mind). I'd prefer to stick with air cooling over liquid cooler.

The only items I have not purchased are the Case, PSU and GPU. GPU im not expecting to get any time soon due to high demand of 3000 series. I'm fine waiting. I bought everything else online but I can always return if needed or if I have a change of heart.

Any input on the memory? My understanding is that 16 GB is still enough for most people, especially if the primary use will be gaming. I didn't really know which way to go for brand or speed, so I just went with the one listed above (crucial ballistix 16 gb (8x2) ddr4 3600) after reading a bit. No particular reason I went for this one, other than it had a decent price and i had some older ballistix in the past and they were fine. I was also looking at some corsair kits.

After reading your post about PSU on the other thread, I've been looking at a few of the Seasonics:
Focus Plus 650 80+ Gold SSR-650FX ($117)
Focus GM-650 80+ Gold ($99)
Focus GX-650 80+ Gold ($125)
I'm currently leaning towards the GX 650 since on a parts picker list, there was a listed conflict that the other 2 didnt provide the additional 4 pin cpu connector that the GX has (although I've also read this is mostly not needed unless doing crazy OC). On Amazon, the GM and GX both have 4.7/5 stars out of 9000+ reviews. Some had mentioned issues where the PSU shorted out their mobo or other components but that has to be a potential risk, however unlikely, with any psu id imagine.

I'm wondering if my mobo is overkill. There was another x570 mobo i was looking at that was about $110 less (ASUS tuf gaming x570-plu) but I ultimately decided on the above mentioned ROG Strix x570-e. I also wasn't sure to go B550 or x570...after reading a bit I decided on x570 because apparently its a bit better suited for the future.

For the CPU, I was going to go with either Ryzen 5 5600x or Ryzen 7 5800x, whichever came first due to limited availability. I just happened to come across an available (non-marked up) ryzen 7 5800x first.

Cases....I'm still looking/debating. Not set on anything (and yes - the thor v2 is a beast...especially hauling it around to lan parties lol - but I don't mind the size - however, newer front port options, like usb c you mentioned, would be convenient).

Thanks for the input!

 

[Darkbreeze]

That was a four core CPU. The 5800x is pretty efficient, and certainly the 212 EVO is better than the stock cooler, but not by that much. These Ryzen CPUs have VERY cyclic behaviors and are very "bursty". I'd recommend considering only 140mm cooler models if you don't want to hear much cyclic fan behavior, ramping up then down, up then down. It's not that the cooler can't handle the CPU, because it can "handle" it. It's more a matter of do you want to listen to that crap anytime you are doing something demanding, especially if you plan to run PBO which will take it WAY out past it's rated TDP?

Honestly, the 212 EVO was never a very great cooler and was never considered to be a good choice for anything more than a budget option. As a budget option, it was at one time a good choice. But it's been a long time really since that held true. If you want a "budget" cooler, the Deepcool Gammax 400 v2 (And even the original Gammaxx 400 for that matter) outperform the 212 EVO, cost less and are quieter, but I still wouldn't recommend THAT either for this CPU.

I'd look more at something like the Thermalright True Spirit direct 140 or ARO M14G. (Or Macho rev.C)

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Direct 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $42.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-12 02:06 EST-0500

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Thermalright ARO-M14G 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $49.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-12 02:06 EST-0500

Or something like the Noctua NH-U14S. Here is my list of recommended coolers. Anything above the 212 coolers that are listed, are a probable upgrade in most cases. Again, I'd avoid 120mm heatsink models in general though. You'll have much better results and performance, especially with PBO enabled, if you run some flavor or 140mm heatsink fan assembly.

Below is my list of preferred CPU AIR coolers, also known as Heatsink fans (HSF).

Do not look here for recommendations on water/liquid cooling solutions. There are none to be found.

BEFORE seriously considering ANY cooler, make sure to compare it's height with the maximum CPU cooler height supported by your case. If a cooler won't fit, then there isn't much point in looking at it anyhow unless you are willing to replace the case with a larger, more accomodating model. It should probably go without saying that the recommendations below are NOT intended for systems that incorporate small form factor or mini ITX type enclosures. These are generally for standard ATX tower cases. For recommendations on coolers for very small enclosures, there are many of us around here that can offer some suggestions based on the use case.

A good air cooler works just as well for most applications. There are very few instances I can think of where an AIO will work better than a good air cooler, and even fewer where an AIO will outperform an air cooler if you are willing to buy the right air cooler and then level up by adding some even higher end fans to it.

Loops leak. Heatsinks don't. Pumps fail, FAR more often and usually with far worse consequences, than fans do.

And unlike a heatsink fan assembly, when your pump fails for 99% of AIO coolers, you will be replacing the whole thing, for another 100+ dollars, rather than just a 25 dollar investment for the failure of a fan. Especially since I've rarely seen dual fan coolers have both fans fail at the same time, but even if you factor in two fan failures that's still only about fifty bucks compared to the 100+ it will cost to replace an AIO with a failed pump. And you WILL have a failed pump on most AIO coolers within three years of purchase. Seeing one last longer than five years is possible, but it is not particularly common and we often, very often, see them fail at around the 3 year mark. Sometimes much sooner.

Pump quality and longevity is an area that needs GREAT improvement before AIO coolers will become a primary recommendation for me.

I see a lot of AIO coolers leak and damage hardware as well.

Certainly there are situations where an AIO is called for, or even preferred, but those are MOSTLY aesthetic considerations, because let's face it, a build with an AIO or custom loop generally "looks" a lot cleaner than one that has a big heatsink taking up half the real estate inside your case. When that is the case, I have recommendations for those as well, but I don't offer them unless somebody is specifically asking to go that route.[/B]

They are basically listed in order of preference, from top to bottom. To some degree that preference is based on known performance on similarly overclocked configurations, but not entirely. There are likely a couple of units that are placed closer to the top not because they offer purely better performance than another cooler which is below it, but potentially due to a variety of reasons.

One model might be placed higher than another with the same or similar performance, but has quieter or higher quality fans. It may have the same performance but a better warranty. Long term quality may be higher. It may be less expensive in some cases. Maybe it performs slightly worse, but has quieter fans and a better "fan pitch". Some fans with equal decibel levels do not "sound" like they are the same as the specific pitch heard from one fan might be less annoying than another.

In any case, these are not "tiered" and are not a 100% be all, end all ranking. They are simply MY preference when looking at coolers for a build or when making recommendations. Often, which HSF gets chosen depends on what is on this list and fits the budget or is priced right at the time due to a sale or rebate. Hopefully it will help you and you can rest assured that every cooler listed here is a model that to some degree or other is generally a quality unit which is a lot more likely to be worth the money spent on it than on many other models out there that might look to be a similarly worthwhile investment.

Certainly there are a great many other very good coolers out there, but these are models which are usually available to most anybody building a system or looking for a cooler, regardless of what part of the world they might live in. As always, professional reviews are usually an absolutely essential part of the process of finding a cooler so if you are looking at a model not listed here, I would highly recommend looking at at least two or three professional reviews first.

If you cannot find two reviews of any given cooler, it is likely either too new to have been reviewed yet or it sucked, and nobody wanted to buy one in order to review it plus the manufacturer refused to send samples out to the sites that perform reviews because they knew it would likely get bad publicity.

IMO, nobody out there is making better fans, overall, than Noctua, followed pretty closely by Thermalright. So if you intend to match case fans to the same brand on your HSF, those are pretty hard to beat. Of course, Corsair has it's Maglev fans, and those are pretty damn good too, but they tend to be more expensive than what are in my opinion better fans by these other two, so while they are good products they don't have the same noise characteristics and are probably better suited for configurations where sheer brute force is preferred over low noise that still gives good performance. Also, as with most fan models out there, don't look at the specifications for the non-RGB Maglev fan models and think that you'll be getting the same specs on any RGB versions, because you won't. Fans with RGB tend to sacrifice both maximum CFM and static pressure for the right to stuff the RGB electronics under the hood.

Noctua NH-D14 (Replace stock fans with NF-A14 industrialPPC 2000rpm)
Noctua NH-D15/D15 SE-AM4
Noctua NH-D14 (With original fans)
Thermalright Silver arrow IB-E Extreme
Cryorig R1 Ultimate or Universal
Be Quiet Dark rock Pro 4
Thermalright Legrand Macho RT
Phanteks PH-TC14PE (BK,BL, OR or RD)
Deepcool Assassin III
Thermalright Macho X2
Thermalright Macho rev. C
Thermalright Macho rev.B
Thermalright ARO-M14G (Ryzen only)
SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HE1425
Thermalright Macho direct
Deepcool Assassin II
Noctua NH-U14S
Thermalright true spirit 140 Direct
Cryorig H5
FSP Windale 6
Scythe Ninja 5
Scythe Mugen max
Scythe Mugen 5 rev.B
BeQuiet dark rock (3 or 4)
Thermalright Macho SBM
Noctua NH-U12S
Arctic freezer 34 eSports Duo
Phanteks PH-TC14S
Phanteks PH-TC12DX (Any)
Cryorig H7
Deepcool Gammaxx 400 and 400 v2 (v2 is a better option with some improvements)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 (EVO, X, RGB. I'd only recommend this cooler if no other good aftermarket models are available to you.)

It may not be obvious, but is probably worth mentioning, that not all cooler models will fit all CPU sockets as aftermarket coolers generally require an adapter intended for use with that socket. Some coolers that fit an AMD platform might not fit a later AMD platform, or an Intel platform. Often these coolers come with adapters for multiple types of platforms but be sure to verify that a specific cooler WILL work with your platform before purchasing one and finding out later that it will not.

 

[bravodown]

AMD and Intel have pretty much switched places................again, when it comes to consumer CPUs, at least to some extent.

AMD CPUs are now less power hungry, with lower TDP, while the current (AND last two) generations of Intel CPU are more power hungry, with higher TDP and run hotter than equivalent core AMD models. That's a generalization and there are probably some exceptions to be made but overall that seems to be the case and state of the union these days. Also, AMD has the better multithreaded performance in most cases.

Intel still tends to hold the gaming advantage because it still has better single core performance for the most part, but that is also probably about to change when the new Ryzen 5000 series CPUs drop next month. If that happens, then AMD will be beating out Intel on number of cores per dollar, multithreaded performance AND single core performance, plus they will likely be less expensive than similar core count Intel processors.

That doesn't mean that Intel isn't still a good option though, and if we're being honest, neither of them have much overclocking headroom on their higher tiered CPUs so that's a feature that has largely been made irrelevant EXCEPT that on Intel processors the unlocked K skus still (As always) tend to be higher clocked than otherwise identical locked models so there is generally some binning advantages to be had there in addition to technically being capable of being overclocked AND when used with the unlocked chipset, using higher speed memory as well.

I highly recommend that anybody building a system soon should WAIT, and see what shakes out. It is so close to the release of the new AMD models AND Intel is dropping a new generation in January from what I've read, so there might be a lot to look at between the two when that happens but I still think that when the dust settles the new AMD processors are going to be the better choice, and that is coming from somebody who has also used Intel for four out of the last five of my own builds.

The (Almost) Final Build:

CPU: Ryzen 7 5800x
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master 212 Evo Black Edition RGB
Mobo: Asus ROG Strix x570-E
GPU: TBD
Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3600 16GB (2x8GB) RGB
PSU: Seasonic GX650 80+ Gold (fully modular)
Case: Cooler Master H500 ARGB
Additions: Cooler Master ARGB fan for rear exhaust, moved preinstalled non-rgb fan to top exhaust.

RTX 3060 ti or 3070 gpus have been quite hard to come by as we all know. I'm borrowing my old PC's GTX 1060 6gb until I find one of the aforementioned cards, whichever I find first. This is also why I bought a Ryzen 7 5800x instead of 5600x. I simply just had access to 5800x so I went for it.

While gaming (Warzone), CPU temps hold around 54-55 C generally but will fluctuate between 47 and 59 occasionally. These CPU temps are totally fine and I'm happy with the results. I've even read about people with higher end HSF that were getting higher temps with the 5800x. That could be due to a variety of factors, though, like case, thermal paste application, etc. I have not done any stress testing yet but plan to do so.

The only tiny issue I had with the entire build was that the Strix X-570-E bios flash button arrived to me broken. I had all the parts (sans GPU) and couldn't resist building it. Plus I wanted to make sure everything worked. The button is in there, but its loose and can potentially fall out (it has twice). I'm not too worried about it as I don't anticipate needing it often. You just have to wiggled it around a bit to push in correctly. I had to use it to update my bios for the mobo to run with the 5800x and it flashed fine. I don't really see a need to uninstall everything unless ASUS advises I return it as to not void warranty - which would be my only concern. I'm going to contact ASUS to see what they think.

I love it! Can't wait to put a RTX inside!

Thanks everyone!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nice man! Great job. Too bad about the button, but if that's the worst thing, you can probably live with it. Chances are good you might not ever use it more than once or twice after this anyhow, and can update the BIOS from in the BIOS anyhow if you needed to so it's really not a great big deal anyhow. Looks good.