[SOLVED] New build: Budget gaming build (+/- 1200 euros)

Falx

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May 28, 2009
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Hello,

My brother-in-law asked me to build him a new gaming pc. He enjoys the latest and greatest games (Civ 6, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Ark, Mount&Blade 2), but has a limited budget of around 1200 euro's.
He has a full HD monitor (1080p 60Hz) that he plans on keeping for now. His last system was an AMD FX 8320 @ 3,5 Ghz with a Geforce GTX 960

This is what I came up with:

Can anyone give me some recommendations on this build?

Thanks in advance for your time and advice!
 
Solution
I read about the 5700 XT, but there seem to be a lot of driver issues though..
Driver issues are there but AMD is known to mitigate their driver issues over time. Its kind of a trend in almost all of their cards. One of my colleagues is running a 5700 non XT for a while now and it seems to have stabilized more and more from the time he had bought it. On the flip side, with that card you can max out every game on that monitor.

I also see all of you opt for 16GB of DDR4-3600. Would you favor this over 32GB of DDR-3000 ?
For a mostly gaming load, 16gb should be enough for the foreseeable future. Ryzen 3rd gen. seems to give max performance from 3600mhz low latency RAM like CL16. Tighter the timing, better the performance...

WildCard999

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This should be better...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | €299.00 @ CD-ROM-LAND
CPU Cooler | Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler | €44.95 @ Azerty
Motherboard | MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard | €124.90 @ Azerty
Memory | Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory | €113.11 @ Azerty
Storage | Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | €125.00 @ Azerty
Video Card | MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB MECH OC Video Card | €423.00 @ Azerty
Case | Phanteks ECLIPSE P350X ATX Mid Tower Case | €69.95 @ CD-ROM-LAND
Power Supply | BitFenix Formula Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply | €90.24 @ Azerty
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €1290.15
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 19:44 CEST+0200 |
 

Falx

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May 28, 2009
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I'd dump the aftermarket cooler as the stock one is quite good and would spend a little bit more for double the storage (it's still NVMe so plenty fast). The rest of the build looks fine.

PCPartPicker Part List
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (€126.80 @ Alza)
Total: €126.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 19:06 CEST+0200

Great suggestion on the SSD! About that fan though: wouldn't it be a much louder fan (the stock one), that was my main reason for adding an aftermarket one.

Thanks for the quick reply!
 

WildCard999

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Great suggestion on the SSD! About that fan though: wouldn't it be a much louder fan (the stock one), that was my main reason for adding an aftermarket one.

Thanks for the quick reply!
Depends on your brother-in-laws tolerance for noise, the stock coolers are decent and I know the Wraith Prism that comes with it is quite good. The Wraith Prism that came with my friends 2700X stays pretty quiet under gaming loads. I'd try it first before replacing.
 

Falx

Distinguished
May 28, 2009
63
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18,635
This should be better...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | €299.00 @ CD-ROM-LAND
CPU Cooler | Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler | €44.95 @ Azerty
Motherboard | MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard | €124.90 @ Azerty
Memory | Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory | €113.11 @ Azerty
Storage | Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | €125.00 @ Azerty
Video Card | MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB MECH OC Video Card | €423.00 @ Azerty
Case | Phanteks ECLIPSE P350X ATX Mid Tower Case | €69.95 @ CD-ROM-LAND
Power Supply | BitFenix Formula Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply | €90.24 @ Azerty
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €1290.15
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 19:44 CEST+0200 |

Interesting suggestions you've got here. Can I ask, what would be your main reason for going with the 5700 XT instead of the RTX 2060 Super ?
 

Falx

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May 28, 2009
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Depends on your brother-in-laws tolerance for noise, the stock coolers are decent and I know the Wraith Prism that comes with it is quite good. The Wraith Prism that came with my friends 2700X stays pretty quiet under gaming loads. I'd try it first before replacing.
Ok, good to know, I'll try it first!
 
here's how I would build for 1200 euros, netherlands;

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($298.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($143.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($92.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($114.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB DD Ultra Video Card ($329.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Cougar MX330-G ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 9 600 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Total: $1035.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 14:59 EDT-0400
 

Falx

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May 28, 2009
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I read about the 5700 XT, but there seem to be a lot of driver issues though..

I like many of the suggestions made here but would offer that:
For 1080P/60FPS a 1660ti will MORE than do the job.
The 212 is a great cooler for the money.
Add a large HDD.
I agree on the 1660ti remark, however I thought for 1080p/60Hz, ray tracing might be viable and hence worth the 20xx card..
 

punkncat

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But they both suggested 16GB total, where I suggested 32GB total (2 times 16), only at lower speeds. I'm just wondering what would be more beneficial.

laughs at self for wondering why that kit was so expensive....

I am not (normally) of a mind that the faster speed would normally trump double the size......however, that 3700X will be looking for 3200mhz for it's infinity fabric elf magic stuff (or more) so unless you are quite sure the memory you selected will OC to that I would probably go with something faster at 32GB if possible.
 
I read about the 5700 XT, but there seem to be a lot of driver issues though..
Driver issues are there but AMD is known to mitigate their driver issues over time. Its kind of a trend in almost all of their cards. One of my colleagues is running a 5700 non XT for a while now and it seems to have stabilized more and more from the time he had bought it. On the flip side, with that card you can max out every game on that monitor.

I also see all of you opt for 16GB of DDR4-3600. Would you favor this over 32GB of DDR-3000 ?
For a mostly gaming load, 16gb should be enough for the foreseeable future. Ryzen 3rd gen. seems to give max performance from 3600mhz low latency RAM like CL16. Tighter the timing, better the performance...
https://premiumbuilds.com/ram/best-ram-for-ryzen-3000/

If you do not mind the stock cooler noise, then go for 32gb RAM in place of the aft cooler...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | €293.95 @ Megekko
Motherboard | MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard | €124.90 @ Azerty
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory | €183.85 @ Azerty
Storage | Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | €125.00 @ Azerty
Video Card | MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB MECH OC Video Card | €423.00 @ Azerty
Case | Phanteks ECLIPSE P350X ATX Mid Tower Case | €69.95 @ CD-ROM-LAND
Power Supply | BitFenix Formula Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply | €90.24 @ Azerty
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €1310.89
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-01 01:02 CEST+0200 |
 
Solution
I agree on the 1660ti remark, however I thought for 1080p/60Hz, ray tracing might be viable and hence worth the 20xx card..
You might also consider a 2060 (non-SUPER), depending on what pricing is like where you are. The SUPER card tends to be around 10-15% faster, though that might not be worth the added cost, particularly at 1080p.

The 212 is a great cooler for the money.
The 212 Evo might still be decent, but the 3700X's Wraith Prism is rather good for a stock cooler, and is probably worth trying first.
 

punkncat

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The 212 Evo might still be decent, but the 3700X's Wraith Prism is rather good for a stock cooler, and is probably worth trying first.

Own and have used both and totally stand behind my recommendation. The 212 is quieter and cooler, if not as pretty. My one and only concern with the use of non downdraft air coolers is the change in VRM temps without other case circulation.
 

punkncat

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Ambassador
Of course a 120mm tower cooler is going to be somewhat better at quietly cooling the CPU. There are options that look and perform a bit better than the Evo around that price range now though. Even the 212 Black.

I agree in part that the black is far more desirable with the right build than the raw version.

Assuming no out of stock (overclock) operation the stock cooler IS going work fine. If there was a $30 price difference in a part that was going make a notable difference in performance without causing temp issues, and that it's possible noise wasn't an issue...….

I use the Spire cooler in one of my own stock clock builds and absolutely would use them for anyone else I built a box on enthusiast level for. They kick Intels stock coolers in the backside for sure.
 

QwerkyPengwen

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This build is by no means an attempt at anything, just me offering an alternative build with alternative choices for the price.

Something to simply look at and use as reference for your official build.

Since you seemed very hard pressed on the 1200, I always assume it's a hard limit, and so I try to stay under it rather than right on top of it or even over it. Especially if there is any additional taxes and fees that end up applying at checkout when purchasing.


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (€183.90 @ Azerty)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (€124.90 @ Azerty)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory (€113.11 @ Azerty)
Storage: Kingston A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€43.94 @ Megekko)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€63.85 @ Megekko)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB THICC II Video Card (€409.00 @ CD-ROM-LAND)
Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case (€54.95 @ CD-ROM-LAND)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€59.90 @ Azerty)
Total: €1053.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-01 01:57 CEST+0200
 

Falx

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May 28, 2009
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All of your suggestions taken into account, I reshuffled some things. As @QwerkyPengwen said, I should take a little more care taking the budget in mind. (easy to overshoot, because I am a PC enthousiast myself). I was thinking of dropping down to a Ryzen 5 3600. This lowers the price with about 100€ and my bro-in-law is not going to stream, video edit, or whatever. Since that cooler is a bit worse, I would reintroduce the aftermarket cooler. I've taken the suggestions of GPU and Storage in mind (this will be paired with a WD green 3TB SATA-600 spinning disk he still has). Also went with 16GB of 3600 CAS16 memory. This is what I've come up with now:

 

QwerkyPengwen

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The Wraith cooler that comes with the Ryzen CPU is at the very least on par with the Hyper 212 EVO. Despite the fact that most stock coolers are considered garbage (thanks to Intel) the Wraith cooler that comes with Ryzen is decent and more than enough to even handle a mild overclock.

Save the money on the cooler and put it towards some case fans because the case you've chosen only comes with two.

Airflow is super important.

Otherwise everything looks super good for the budget congrats (y)