[SOLVED] New gaming build, budget flexible, use €2000 as orientation

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horstp

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I've just moved into a second home and because there is 1,000km between my two homes now, I feel I need a whole new build, as hauling my rig around seems unreasonable. Also, my other PC is 10 years old at this point and even though it has been updated to cope with what I use it for, a 10-year-old main board poses certain limitations.

My budget is flexible, I think staying below €2,000 would be reasonable, but if I could get a significant boost in performance for a couple hundred more, I'd probably do that.

My primary uses for the PC will be gaming and internet surfing. I have a bad habit of opening thousands (literally!) of tabs when surfing and the game that I will probably be playing for the foreseeable future (and certainly the most demanding in terms of gaming performance) is Total War: Warhammer 2. So ideally my new build could run that game on maximum settings (ultra unit scale, first and foremost) and handle an unreasonable amount of open tabs.

Approximate Purchase Date: soon, i.e. I will buy parts as soon as I have all the info I need

Budget Range: flexible, ideally below €2,000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: surfing, watching movies, gaming (Total War: Warhammer 2)

Are you buying a monitor: Yes


Parts to Upgrade:Completely new build

Do you need to buy OS: Yes (and I despise Windows 10 so either Win7 compatibility or help in tweaking Win10 to effective become Win7 would be greatly appreciated)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Don't care. Last time I built a PC, I bought parts from various websites

Location: EU, Germany / Croatia

Parts Preferences: I don't care.

Overclocking: Probably not. I'd rather just buy better parts than reduce life expectancy of my build. If it can be done without harming parts, sure, but you'd have to tell me how.

SLI or Crossfire: I don't know what that is.

Your Monitor Resolution: I don't know what's common here. My current PC has 1920x1080, I think that's enough?

Additional Comments: A quiet PC would be much preferred.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Not really upgrading, but my current PC slows down significantly during large battles in TW: Warhammer 2.


Please let me know if you need any more info from me!
 
Solution
jeremyj_83
horstp said:
https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/Mrshp8

I have added the 280mm version on the Arctic CPU cooler. Looks like PCpartspicker doesn't include all possible merchants, so I have, for example, just found the monitor for €439 elsewhere. Looks like it might be a little cheaper in the end!

I'm just a bit insecure about the more expensive bits, at the moment. Maybe you could give me a little more guidance there, if I'm not being too demanding of your time!

So basically, I'm wondering regarding CPU, Motherboard, GPU (and maybe the monitor), how much difference in price and performance the next cheaper and the next dearer options would make respectively.

Also, a much more general question: With which of these parts does the brand...
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jeremyj_83

jeremyj_83

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horstp said:
I guess one could just buy another win7 license and update that. I saw you can create installation files for other pcs, too.

I have ordered all the parts now, but only one of the two Fractal Design X2 GP-14 (Black) 68.4 CFM 140 mm Fans - do I need two? The shop where I bought all the parts only had one available.
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You don't need the 3 front fans, 2 should be enough. Having 3 is an attempt to ensure the case has positive air pressure to reduce dust and not recycle hot air.
 
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horstp

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Sounds great. My last build I bought in 2010 and it served me well until now, still does and will probably do so for some more time. I upgraded RAM, GPU and got an SSD, so it can handle what I need it to handle. So I am hopeful the new rig will serve me for years, too!

All the parts have arrived now - now I'm just thinking, do I need to order some of that heat paste as well?
 
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Juan_Bijero

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As someone who recently built a Ryzen 3700X based computer, I would like to offer some very simple advice which will save you some big headaches. Download the most current version of Windows 10 via the media creation tool. You do not want to run a Ryzen 7 with any version lower than version 1909. If you do try to run an earlier version, you will run into the Clock_Watchdog_Timeout error. You may be surprised to hear that with Ryzen 7s and a newer video card, the bottleneck will be cpu driven. So even though an Nvidia 2070 Super is a great card, you won't get the same performance with it as you would with an Intel processor such as an i5 10600K.
 
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King Dranzer

King Dranzer

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Don't start purchasing anything now. Wait till new hardware is out. This time from all the rumors leaked we may be looking at biggest performance jump from generation to generation ever. Bad idea specially spending that high. In the mean time I recommend adding as much as possible to budget and going all out.
 
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horstp

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Thanks for the advice, but as I've said a few times now, I have already bought the parts, I only wanted to know if I need thermal paste for connecting the new CPU cooler with the CPU
 
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King Dranzer

King Dranzer

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horstp said:
Thanks for the advice, but as I've said a few times now, I have already bought the parts, I only wanted to know if I need thermal paste for connecting the new CPU cooler with the CPU
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If it is the Actic AIO then no need of purchasing additional thermal compound. The cooler comes with MX-4 and that will be enough.
Yes you need to apply the Thermal Compound that is included in the Package.
 
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horstp

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OMG! That Fractal Case is huuuge. I should have checked the dimensions on that thing. Now I don't think it's going to fit into the PC compartment of my new desk... rats. I'll let you know how it works out!
 
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horstp

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It definitely is! I might buy a few more fans, there's so much room. as a matter of fact, half the case is completely empty :D I guess a smaller one would have worked, too.

What's a shame is that now I have one perfectly workable CPU cooler sitting around collecting dust, but I guess noboby would want a vanilla Ryzen cooler...

PC is assembled and running. I tested WH1 one earlier and it was really laggy, even in the main menu. Not sure why, but I haven't downloaded any drivers yet, so maybe it's because it's running on generic drivers or something.
 
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jeremyj_83

jeremyj_83

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horstp said:
It definitely is! I might buy a few more fans, there's so much room. as a matter of fact, half the case is completely empty :D I guess a smaller one would have worked, too.

What's a shame is that now I have one perfectly workable CPU cooler sitting around collecting dust, but I guess noboby would want a vanilla Ryzen cooler...

PC is assembled and running. I tested WH1 one earlier and it was really laggy, even in the main menu. Not sure why, but I haven't downloaded any drivers yet, so maybe it's because it's running on generic drivers or something.
Click to expand...
Generic drivers will cause those issues.
 
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horstp

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So, I am now writing to you from the new PC! :)

It seems to work just fine, the monitor is epic, of course. But the desk... well. It's a corner desk and the compartment for the PC is measures a VERY tight fit. The space is 1.5 cm wider and 1 cm higher than the case itself. So, it fits, but it's very snug. Also, the compartment isn't deep enough, which means the front 12.5 cm of the case are actually sticking out - but that seems to be okay. Another concern is breathing room. The back of the case is pretty close to the wall, but at a 45° angle, meaning that the left side of the case basically touches the wall, the right has some room.

I've checked temperatures because I was concerned it would get to warm. It seems to idle at about 60°C and right after playing some Warhammer, it peaked at 75°. I'm not sure, but that seems hight. The case gets warm to the touch, too... :(
 
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jeremyj_83

jeremyj_83

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horstp said:
So, I am now writing to you from the new PC! :)

It seems to work just fine, the monitor is epic, of course. But the desk... well. It's a corner desk and the compartment for the PC is measures a VERY tight fit. The space is 1.5 cm wider and 1 cm higher than the case itself. So, it fits, but it's very snug. Also, the compartment isn't deep enough, which means the front 12.5 cm of the case are actually sticking out - but that seems to be okay. Another concern is breathing room. The back of the case is pretty close to the wall, but at a 45° angle, meaning that the left side of the case basically touches the wall, the right has some room.

I've checked temperatures because I was concerned it would get to warm. It seems to idle at about 60°C and right after playing some Warhammer, it peaked at 75°. I'm not sure, but that seems hight. The case gets warm to the touch, too... :(
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That is quite close for sure and having more room will help keep temps lower. Typically you want to have your CPU temps staying at 75C or less. I assume the case is warm because the warm air being expelled doesn't have much room to leave and so it is heating up the outside of the case as well. I also would think with it being so close together that since the warm air has a harder time escaping that it might start being recycled by the intake fans as the exhaust pushes the warmer out of the space. That could lead to higher temps as well. How long were you playing before it peaked at 75 degrees?

I am glad that you like the monitor. As I said I have yet to find someone who went ultrawide that will ever go back to a normal widescreen again.
 
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GarrettL

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horstp said:
OMG! That Fractal Case is huuuge. I should have checked the dimensions on that thing. Now I don't think it's going to fit into the PC compartment of my new desk... rats. I'll let you know how it works out!
Click to expand...


You'll always struggle with temps when a pc is inside a desk. It doesn't matter how many fans you put into it, the restriction of airflow can only be solved by moving the case out of the desk.

Do a test, one with it the desk running a gpu and cpu stress test and again with it outside the desk.

How do I know? Been through it. My pc is no longer in a desk.
 
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horstp

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So... I played another round. It peaked at 85°C. This is clearly a big problem. There are two fans in front drawing air in, one fan in the back blowing it out. So it shouldn't be possible for the warm air to get back in, but I guess there just isn't enough room for the hot air to escape. Maybe putting an ordinary desk fan behind my desk could improve things. I'm really caught for space here. It sucks, because since the case is half empty, I could have probably used one half the size and that would have fitted in the compartment. Not blaming you, it's my own fault for not mentioning where I was going to place it... :/
 
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