[SOLVED] Old guy, new build, lots of questions

[MindFunkrr]

Hello all.
I am building my first "real" system, and although I have some experience, that was a long time ago and systems and components have changed so much since the days of Voodoo cards and the CD burners.

I have purchased the majority of my components, but I am still deciding on a few things while attempting to bring my knowledge base up to the latest component and build standards.
I will list what I've purchased and my thinking behind those purchases. I will also note where I am unsure and looking for some insight and recomendations. A few of my choices were solely because of the lack of additional funds at the time. Some decisions were made because of timing.

I want to game, do some streaming, and eventually set up for audio mixing and recording. I was a developer, so Adobe suite, programming and 3d creation applications will also be of importance as well.

I will want to overclock at some point but I have never done that, and honestly it looks frightening to me. Lol
Stability is important to me, so whatever I do to increase speed will lean more towards stability over extreme Performance curves.


SYSTEM SPECS SO FAR: (purchased) PCPartPicker Part List


Case: Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C ATX Mid Tower Case
(Had to have this case. It looks damn beautiful to me.)

Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero (Wi-Fi) ATX AM4 Motherboard
(I kind of fell in love with the bells a d whistles of this board. Could have gone low e d x570, but would rather have a high end board with the extras)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.00 @ Amazon)
(Purchased a Ryzen 7 2700x, then returned is for the Ryzen 5 3600. Not as good at multi core, but gaming is a focus for this month, and will upgrade later)

Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($117.41 @ Amazon)
(opted for a bit more expensive memory and will add an additional 2 TB HDD and an addition 500 GB SSD later.)

Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($96.95 @ Amazon)
(everything I read pointed me towards this PSU. 10 year warranty does show some expectation of quality and longevity from the manufacturer)


GPU:
I am undecided on a GPU. I am leaning towards the AMD RX 5700 XT, but do not want the reference card. I'm trying to hold out for the partner cards, but I must have my build done by August 22nd or 23rd, and I do not think I will have the time to wait. That is when I start my vacation, and have chosen to spend my entire vacation with my PC.I won't have a lot for the GPU, around $400 US. I've even looked at downgrading to the GTX 1660 Ti to get things going, then upgrading later.

Question:
What do you suggest? If I could afford it I would get a 2080Ti, but that is not feasible at this time.



RAM:
I was originally looking at 3200 mhz CL 14, but in going with the Ryzen 5 3600 cpu and looking to upgrade later to the 3900x, I understand that 3600mhz CL 16 might be a good sweet spot for price/performance.

Question:
Im still a bit perplexed with the choices available and need some guidance here in regards to ram choices where the r5 3600 is paired with an x470 chipset.
What do you recommend and why?
Any issues to look forward to?
Is B die ram worth the extra cost?



CPU COOLER:
I will use the included cooler for now, but will want upgrade asap to an Aio in preparation for a cpu upgrade in the coming months
Looking towards a 360mm AIO, maybe a 240mm. I really dislike the look of the heatsink and blower style coolers.

Question:
Recomendations for a cooler and or path to better stability, Temps and performance?



I'm also looking at these 2 products as well. I tried the optomechanical keys on the Huntsman and was hooked by the sound and feel of them. They feel so much better than the Cherrys in my opinion.
Keyboard: Razer Huntsman Elite Wired Gaming Keyboard ($192.99 @ Amazon)

I have no real Idea about the monitor, but research showed this as a possability.
Monitor: Dell D2719HGF 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($179.99 @ Amazon)

Thank you in advance for any advice and information you can supply,


R.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

So what is your total hard budget cap?

Also, 3rd gen ryzen has some issues that may not make it as stable as an intel chip.

 

[MindFunkrr]

So what is your total hard budget cap?

Also, 3rd gen ryzen has some issues that may not make it as stable as an intel chip.

I do not have a real hard cap, it's more about taking some from each paycheck to upgrade the base system when I am able to, and when I find the need to upgrade a certain component. I chose the x470 because of extras of the high end board. I know it doesn't have the X570's better wifi and better PCIe, but it should hold its own with the next Gen components, at least for a bit.

I went with amd because of the new architecture and price point.

 

[stinkycreature1]

Asrock has said they will release aftermarket XT 5700s on the second week of August, so hold out a bit just in case.

 

[mdd1963]

There is no reason to go hog wild on water cooling, a good air cooler will more than suffice, if you feel the stock cooler is not adequate. (There are not many realized/fulfilled fantasies of ever getting very far when overclocking these CPUs anyway, ergo a $200 liquid cooling solution to be stuck at roughly the same 4.0 - 4.1 GHz seems pointless, best to spend that money on a better GPU and/or CPU, especially as you have 144 Hz monitor gaming in mind)

 

[MindFunkrr]

There is no reason to go hog wild on water cooling, a good air cooler will more than suffice, if you feel the stock cooler is not adequate. (There are not many realized/fulfilled fantasies of ever getting very far when overclocking these CPUs anyway, ergo a $200 liquid cooling solution to be stuck at roughly the same 4.0 - 4.1 GHz seems pointless, best to spend that money on a better GPU and/or CPU, especially as you have 144 Hz monitor gaming in mind)

Thank you mdd1963 for your sage advice. I totally agree as well with that line of thinking.
There is most definitely a time and a place for it, but this kind of build is not it for sure.
To me, upgrading to a closed loop cooling solution at some point with this build will be for aesthetics, noise abatement and an open looking architecture. Back in the days of listening intently to the modem, and hoping for that audible that indicated I had connected at above 48.8, I wanted to build something that to me looked and felt special. I never did do that, and now that I am able, I have that bug again. This build will be my first adventure in building something that has some capabilities behind it, instead of just being a pre-made box of parts that barely makes the cut as an actual gaming system. Even this pc build is overkill for the type of gaming I want to do; Quake 3, wow, wow classic on august 27th (my birthday), Battlefield something, etc.
Plans are to get my feet wet with this one, relearn some of what I have forgotten and enjoy the feeling of flying free in an alternate world of pixels and technology. Overall though, after the initial joys of gaming on a decent computer has faded, my focus will be towards programming, 3d rendering, audio production, photography and digital media. Thank you again for your input.

 

[stinkycreature1]

Happy early birthday lol

 

[MindFunkrr]

Happy early birthday lol

Why thank you very much.