Question My first from scratch build

[Joe Gallo]

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/xCPbrD
this is my first from scratch build.

I’m going to be using it mostly for Paradox games, Arma 3 and DCS, and some graphic design work.


the power supply and graphics card were off my last build.

I would like to be able to eventually expand the ram to 64gb, the cpu to a threadripper, and gpu with a 4000 series graphics card. Overclock all three, and without changing any other parts.
Questions, comments, concerns?

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Looks good. Threadripper is not compatible with AM4 socket motherboards. I think your best upgrade path is the Ryzen 9 5950X. RAM upgrade shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Lafong]

Not sure of the finer points of your storage requirements.....

I'd at least consider having one SSD with higher capacity, maybe 2 TB, for little extra money....quite possibly Gen 3 not Gen 4. You can get quality 2 TB NVMe Gen 3 storage for 150 or so

Compensate by reducing the OS/applications SSD to 500 GB, probably Gen 4 if you prefer.

But maybe you have perfectly good reasons to do it your way.

Lots of coolers superior to Coolermaster 212, but not a big deal unless you have an unusual situation.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Everything looks compatible and I don't see any problems really with any of the selected parts, except this cooler would be a better option. It's less expensive than the 212, cools better and is of better quality.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X Refined SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.37 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $46.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-10-23 22:58 EDT-0400

 

[Darkbreeze]

1TB storage devices are pretty standard really. If you can afford or desire a larger one that's fine but for most users it's not a big priority due to the jump in price from 1TB to 2TB.

 

[Joe Gallo]

1TB storage devices are pretty standard really. If you can afford or desire a larger one that's fine but for most users it's not a big priority due to the jump in price from 1TB to 2TB.

Thanks for replying man, I’m planning on purchasing a 1tb then maybe on the second go around getting a 2tb I did it this way because I’m going to be purchasing this over months rather than all at the same time. I do also have 3 1tb wd blues I can use if I really need some more space.

 

[Joe Gallo]

Everything looks compatible and I don't see any problems really with any of the selected parts, except this cooler would be a better option. It's less expensive than the 212, cools better and is of better quality.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X Refined SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.37 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $46.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-10-23 22:58 EDT-0400

Yeah I was really hoping someone would comment on the cooler, I’m very weak on my cooler knowledge so I picked something in my price range that I knew had some quality

 

[cAllen]

Congratulations!

 

[Joe Gallo]

Not sure of the finer points of your storage requirements.....

I'd at least consider having one SSD with higher capacity, maybe 2 TB, for little extra money....quite possibly Gen 3 not Gen 4. You can get quality 2 TB NVMe Gen 3 storage for 150 or so

Compensate by reducing the OS/applications SSD to 500 GB, probably Gen 4 if you prefer.

But maybe you have perfectly good reasons to do it your way.

Lots of coolers superior to Coolermaster 212, but not a big deal unless you have an unusual situation.

What’s your pick for a cooler? I just picked something I knew was decent in my price range.

I chose those ssds for a few reasons.

the main concern was I’m going to be purchasing this over a few months so I wanted decent space quickly I may end up with a 1+2. I do also have 3 1tb hardrives I can use in a pinch.

another reason is they have comparable dram cash to the 980 pro

the reason I chose pcie 4 over 3 is because I want those ssds to be stay in place just Incase 4 gets utilized somehow meaningful in the future. Since I can’t upgrade the cpu too far on this build if I end up having to upgrade mobo again it’s one less thing I’d have to purchase a second time.

All that being said any other build I’d 100% agree with you points on ssds

 

[Joe Gallo]

Looks good. Threadripper is not compatible with AM4 socket motherboards. I think your best upgrade path is the Ryzen 9 5950X. RAM upgrade shouldn't be an issue.

Thank you that brings up a good point I wanted to look into how far I could push the cpu upgrade before I pulled the trigger, to see if cannabalizing again in the future is possible.

 

[Joe Gallo]

Congratulations!

Thanks, coming from a 12gb mixed ddr3 fx-6300 on a prebuilt mobo, not using ssds….. I’m very excited.

 

[Why_Me]

Here's another option to consider leaving you an upgrade path to a i7 12700F / i9 12900F.

https://www.newegg.ca/white-phanteks-eclipse-p360a-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811854104
Phanteks Eclipse P360A White Mid Tower Gaming Case $114.99

Rear exhaust fan for that case.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B081VPP24C
ARCTIC P12 PWM PST 120mm 4-Pin White Case Fan $17.99

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09SVZRM13
GIGABYTE B660 Gaming X AX DDR4 $188.98

https://www.shoprbc.com/ca/shop/product_details.php?pid=57483068
Intel Core i5-12400F $239.95

https://www.vuugo.com/deepcool-cpu-coolers-DP-MCH4-GMX-GTEV2.html?tracking=5108053939762
DeepCool GAMMAXX GTE V2 CPU Cooler $29.13

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_1326&item_id=183957
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX DDR4 3600MHz 32GB (2x16GB) CL18 $119.99

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07QM2HD7B
PNY XLR8 CS3030 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal SSD $199.53

Total: $910.56 CAD

A better look at those components.

https://www.phanteks.com/Eclipse-P360A.html

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B660-GAMING-X-AX-DDR4-rev-10#kf

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...2400f-processor-18m-cache-up-to-4-40-ghz.html

i5 12400 / 12400F gaming benchmarks.

 

[Lafong]

What’s your pick for a cooler? I just picked something I knew was decent in my price range.

Didn't check the max cooler height on your case. It's a full tower, so likely plenty wide enough to accept virtually any air cooler. But you should confirm that.

Is fan noise at all important to you? Not sure how quiet that Hyper is. Some people don't care about fan noise.

Where would you draw the line on cooler expense?

I tend to steer toward quiet coolers that are single tower. Suits me because I don't have extreme cooling requirements. I assume you don't either since you are OK with Hyper 212.

You can look at any of several Noctua single towers that have 120 mm or 140 mm fans. Their web site has detailed compatibility lists for motherboards and RAM. Maybe one of the various U12 or U14 models. Good mounting system, thermal paste included. Haven't checked prices lately...probably 10 to 30 more than your Hyper 212?

Dark Rock has some good coolers. Scythe also.

Not a huge deal one way or the other since it doesn't look like you will be generating a lot of heat.

 

[Joe Gallo]

Didn't check the max cooler height on your case. It's a full tower, so likely plenty wide enough to accept virtually any air cooler. But you should confirm that.

Is fan noise at all important to you? Not sure how quiet that Hyper is. Some people don't care about fan noise.

Where would you draw the line on cooler expense?

ideally as quite and as inexpensive as I can while maintaining rgb, and minor overclock on a r7 5600 or/and a . I don’t mind spending money I just try to make it as worthwhile as I can.

 

[Joe Gallo]

Here's another option to consider leaving you an upgrade path to a i7 12700F / i9 12900F.

Definitely intrigued me with 12gen it’s a full 100$ more than the 5600 here but definitely would be more future proof I’ll have to think on that.

I would also like to ask about the case and fan picks and why you picked them?

 

[Darkbreeze]

For the CPU in question the Thermalright cooler I recommended is more than enough and it's fan noise profile is very tame. I've installed about three of them on various Ryzen systems and have been extremely impressed for the price. Unless you know for a fact that you'll be upgrading to a much higher TDP processor in the future, you seriously don't need anything more than that. It's only a 65w part. If you pretty well know you will be upgrading to a high TDP CPU later on then you'll likely want to go with something like one of the twin finstack coolers such as the Noctua NH-D15 or Deepcool Assassin III, or a 280mm or larger AIO liquid cooler.

Since the case you chose supports up to 185mm air coolers and up to 360mm liquid coolers, you can pretty well choose whatever you want without any worries.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Definitely intrigued me with 12gen it’s a full 100$ more than the 5600 here but definitely would be more future proof I’ll have to think on that.

I would also like to ask about the case and fan picks and why you picked them?

Personally, I don't think it's worth the extra 100 bucks. It's really no more "future proof" than the 5600 as both platforms have much better performing CPU models that can be plugged in later. The 12400F has slightly better single core performance while the Ryzen 5600 has slightly better multithreaded performance. Honestly I'd put the extra 100 bucks somewhere else in the build or simply not spend it. Or, if you want to spend an extra hundred bucks, go with the Ryzen 7 5700x which has about 35% better multithreaded performance than the 12400F.

 

[Lafong]

Definitely intrigued me with 12gen it’s a full 100$ more than the 5600 here but definitely would be more future proof I’ll have to think on that.

I would also like to ask about the case and fan picks and why you picked them?

If you move to 12th or 13th gen Intel, I'd probably be a bit more concerned about adequacy of Hyper 212.

I know nothing at all about RGB stuff.

But if you don't care between say 70 degree temps versus 60, it probably doesn't matter. Some people are extremely nervous about temps....justifiably or not. Likewise fan noise....maybe you'd prefer very noisy and 56 temp rather than 64 and quiet. You are the authority on that....it's personal to each user.

 

[Joe Gallo]

Personally, I don't think it's worth the extra 100 bucks. It's really no more "future proof" than the 5600 as both platforms have much better performing CPU models that can be plugged in later. The 12400F has slightly better single core performance while the Ryzen 5600 has slightly better multithreaded performance. Honestly I'd put the extra 100 bucks somewhere else in the build or simply not spend it. Or, if you want to spend an extra hundred bucks, go with the Ryzen 7 5700x which has about 35% better multithreaded performance than the 12400F.

Yeah I’m on the fence a bit I think extra potential cores would be more future proof because that’s where I think gaming is headed. But the games I play are single thread hogs. Than again here’s hoping fingers crossed arma 4 and a new dcs update utilize multiple cores.

 

[Joe Gallo]

If you pretty well know you will be upgrading to a high TDP CPU later on then you'll likely want to go with something like one of the twin finstack coolers such as the Noctua NH-D15 or Deepcool Assassin III, or a 280mm or larger AIO liquid cooler.

Since the case you chose supports up to 185mm air coolers and up to 360mm liquid coolers, you can pretty well choose whatever you want without any worries.

I’m just a tad worried as I’ve heard that the r9’s throttle and sometimes blue screen when they boost after using the system for a few hours consecutively. Which is a big no no since paradox games can have u in the chair for 16 hours when you can find the time

 

[Lafong]

Yeah I’m on the fence a bit I think extra potential cores would be more future proof because that’s where I think gaming is headed. But the games I play are single thread hogs. Than again here’s hoping fingers crossed arma 4 and a new dcs update utilize multiple cores.

Keep an eye on single thread benchmarks at places like Passmark for any prospective CPU. The 13th gen scores are not fully in yet, but you can get a good idea about 12th gen versus most AMD.

 

[Joe Gallo]

If you move to 12th or 13th gen Intel, I'd probably be a bit more concerned about adequacy of Hyper 212.

I know nothing at all about RGB stuff.

But if you don't care between say 70 degree temps versus 60, it probably doesn't matter. Some people are extremely nervous about temps....justifiably or not. Likewise fan noise....maybe you'd prefer very noisy and 56 temp rather than 64 and quiet. You are the authority on that....it's personal to each user.

Yeah I’ll probably go with 64 on quiet. But as an engineer the second you add heat you add additional wear. And when I game sometimes its 8-12hr sessions (obviously with breaks with the pic on and in game) and that’s why I’m looking into and somewhat want overkill cooling. That’s why I find coolers so difficult, trying to matchup looks, cooling, sound and price when pc part picker has like 60000 options it’s a nonstarter lol.

 

[Joe Gallo]

Keep an eye on single thread benchmarks at places like Passmark for any prospective CPU. The 13th gen scores are not fully in yet, but you can get a good idea about 12th gen versus most AMD.

Yeah 13th gen is part of the reason why posted this, I wanted to see where everyone’s heads were at with how much more gains we’ll see on this socket. I don’t want to have to really touch another mobo for atleast 5-6 years

 

[Lafong]

But as an engineer the second you add heat you add additional wear.

Yeah, heat not good...but the quality control on all of this PC stuff (other than the CPU itself) is so shaky, I've pretty much decided that heat that is not at extreme levels is low on the totem pole of things to be worried about. If part A fails tomorrow, I don't know how I'd ever conclude it was heat related if I'm not operating a blast furnace.

Heat concerns could indirectly affect your power bills and up-front costs of course.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I’m just a tad worried as I’ve heard that the r9’s throttle and sometimes blue screen when they boost after using the system for a few hours consecutively. Which is a big no no since paradox games can have u in the chair for 16 hours when you can find the time

The 5700x is a Ryzen 7, not 9. And as to throttling, that entirely depends on your choice of board and cooler. With a good board with a good VRM configuration and adequate cooling, there is no reason any Ryzen CPU (Or Intel for that matter) should be throttling.