[SOLVED] Need advice on picking board for new build please

[jaged]

Build will be based on: Ryzen 5 3600 cpu & I'm stuck on either the Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro or the MSI B550M Pro-Vdh Wifi Micro.

They are both highly rated & cost is not ALL that much different.

I'll be using an M.2 SSD(haven't decided which yet) for OS and maybe a Samsung 860 EVO 1tb or even a 2tb HDD for secondary/bulk storage.

**is Micro ATX the way to go? Should I be looking at ATX instead? I don't have a case picked out yet either(mid atx)

Thanks in advance

 

[tennis2]

I'm a huge proponent of mATX because VERY few people will ever use all the slots on a full ATX board. There are always caveats to that statement:

• What add-on cards will/could you use?
  • WiFi? - this is becoming increasingly common to have built-in
  • Capture/TV tuner - less common every year, pretty rare already.
  • Additional networking or storage cards - not very common
• How many slots is your GPU? - 2.5 to 3 slot cards are possible these days.
  • Some boards will have a PCIe x1 slot above the main x16 slot. I prefer that.
• If you're going to buy a full ATX case anyway, there's little reason to go mATX.

Speaking of which, the most obvious difference between the two boards you listed is that the MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi has....WiFi built in. That would cost you an extra....$20-$30 to add to the Gigabyte.

Have you bought every other component already? Sometimes if we know what country you're shopping in and your budget, we can finagle some $$ around to re-balance a build.

 

[jaged]

I'm a huge proponent of mATX because VERY few people will ever use all the slots on a full ATX board. There are always caveats to that statement:

• What add-on cards will/could you use?
  • WiFi? - this is becoming increasingly common to have built-in
  • Capture/TV tuner - less common every year, pretty rare already.
  • Additional networking or storage cards - not very common
• How many slots is your GPU? - 2.5 to 3 slot cards are possible these days.
  • Some boards will have a PCIe x1 slot above the main x16 slot. I prefer that.
• If you're going to buy a full ATX case anyway, there's little reason to go mATX.

Speaking of which, the most obvious difference between the two boards you listed is that the MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi has....WiFi built in. That would cost you an extra....$20-$30 to add to the Gigabyte.

Have you bought every other component already? Sometimes if we know what country you're shopping in and your budget, we can finagle some $$ around to re-balance a build.

Well the only thing I've purchased so far is the RAM(Crucial Ballistix 3600 DDR4 16gb CL16) so everything else is in the air.(we also bought a monitor 144hz, 1080p)

I've definitely decided on the Ryzen 5 3600 but haven't purchased it yet(I'm waffling b/c I don't know what the prices will be like)

You know which two mobo's I'm looking at.

The WiFi is a nice feature, no extra tuners or networking cards etc.

**I want to go with an M.2 drive(maybe WD Blue 500 or Crucial P2 500) for OS and maybe a 2TB HDD for bulk storage(cheapo I know)

**Video card-haven't decided(open to suggestions). I've looked at the more expensive RTX 2060 and the lower cost GTX1650 Super. I don't know how many slots these need.

**Cases I've briefly looked at and like: CM MasterBox NR400, FD Meshify C which is the more expensive option, & the CM MasterBox MB320L ARGB.

PC is for my younger son who will be exclusively gaming on it, Rainbow Six Sieige, Apex, Overwatch, Valaront, Minecraft, you get the idea.

There you go, you know the entire story now.

I have 3 lists going on Pcpartpicker that have a few different parts(one of the lists I copied from you last week actually and have since modified)

If you can have a look and tell me what you think, It would be great.

Thanks man.

 

[tennis2]

Of the two, the MSI would easily get my vote over the Gigabyte, especially if price is within $10. Like I said, the onboard WiFi is a value add. The MSI has slightly better VRM, I like the PCI slot layout far better on the MSI board (as long as you don't need that extra x16 slot afforded by the Gigabyte board, or the open first slot location for an extra large 140mm tower cooler). The MSI board also has more more fan headers and a nice right-angle front panel USB connector. etc etc. I guess the MSI does have two fewer rear USB2.0 ports.

 

[jaged]

Of the two, the MSI would easily get my vote over the Gigabyte, especially if price is within $10. Like I said, the onboard WiFi is a value add. The MSI has slightly better VRM, I like the PCI slot layout far better on the MSI board (as long as you don't need that extra x16 slot afforded by the Gigabyte board, or the open first slot location for an extra large 140mm tower cooler). The MSI board also has more more fan headers and a nice right-angle front panel USB connector. etc etc. I guess the MSI does have two fewer rear USB2.0 ports.

If you have time later can you have a look at the rest of my items and see what needs tweaking?

 

[tennis2]

Still no given budget or country, but here's approximately what it sounds like you're pricing up:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($109.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($74.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($52.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($249.99 @ B&H)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB311L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($86.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $884.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-16 17:19 EDT-0400

 

[jaged]

Still no given budget or country, but here's approximately what it sounds like you're pricing up:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($109.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($74.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($52.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($249.99 @ B&H)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB311L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($86.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $884.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-16 17:19 EDT-0400

Under $1400 and Canada.
Would the RTX 2060 be a huge upgrade or not worth it?

 

[tennis2]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($264.50 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($144.75 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($109.90 @ Memory Express)
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($80.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB KO ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($428.50 @ Vuugo)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB311L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($74.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($112.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1284.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-16 17:30 EDT-0400

 

[jaged]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($264.50 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($144.75 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($109.90 @ Memory Express)
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($80.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB KO ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($428.50 @ Vuugo)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB311L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($74.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($112.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1284.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-16 17:30 EDT-0400

Thanks. Appreciate it.