Planning Ryzen system, cooling solution and budget.

[doremian]

I've been planning to build myself a new system for quite a while and i never been a PC enthusiast. For a last couple of months i read and watched everything that there is about PC building i could find and understand and got myself enough knowledge to balance my budget and build a good system - a mid range 1060 6gb, ryzen 5, 16gb RAM (min), yadda yadda.

The question is - which ryzen 5 CPU do i choose and what cooling solution will be the best without spending too much.

Initially i thought about R5 1600 with a 150-ish TDP coolers like a Hyper 212 or GAMMAXX 400(it think?), with a minor over clocking, but Ryzen 2 kinda threw all my plans out of the window with it amazing preformances, so i need someone who have more experience with all that and who have Ryzen system to help me to sort it out.

Is it even worth getting last gen? Ryzen 1600 is now cheaper, so does it still worth taking it and put difference into cooling or elsewhere?
Get ryzen 2600 and spend even more on cooling?
Don't buy cooler at all, don't overclock and use stock cooler?

Just to explain what kind of preformance i expect - i don't plan to play demanding games on ultra high settings, i don't hunt high numbers in benchmarks and i don't use PC for heavy works load. I am currently running an i3-4130 with a 750ti and 8gb DDR3 and i alright with a preformance, so anything better than that will simpy blow me away. I draw ocassionally and that's about it.
What i want is to have a well balanced system where all components are as strong as they need to be.

And i am not mentioning budget because i live outside US, so there is too big of a difference in prices. I can only use them as reference.
For sake of simplicity, let's say it's a 1000$ PC.

 

[vapour]

1600 with stock cooler is best bang for the money compared to other 3rd party coolers.
I am OCing my 1600 with stock cooler to 3.8, no heating issues, ~70 max most of the time

Feel free to grab 2600 as well, just stock cooler is weaker than 1600's. AMD is pushing you to get 2600X instead, which comes with a better stock cooler than 2600.

 

[doremian]

Yes, i took 2600x into considiration because of a cooler, but i still would like tower cooler for many other reasons - airflow, noise, aesthetics.

I guess the main question could be boiled down to - is 2600 is really that much of improvment from 1600 to justify extra spending for someone who doesn't care about benchmarks.

But thanks for an input. I did see people overclocking ryzens on stocks coolers and i do think it's really impressive. I might actually lean toward it just because of that, like a gateway to overclocking.

 

[vapour]

~10% better, not worth the trouble upgrading from 1600 to 2600. For new guys, 2600 is better but more expensive. Whether the 10% diff is worth it is up to you. Caveat with 1600 + B350 is the mb may not be able to run Ryzen 3600+ in its full potential due to power limit.

 

[doremian]

Yes, and i am new to ryzen, so Ryzen 2 did threw me off guard.
But i guess yeah, i shouldn't bother about ryzen 2 for time being. While there might be new amazing CPUs, at the level that i am going to use this PC it will probably last me a well 3-4 years before i even need to consider an upgrade. I'll save myself money and headache by going with a cheaper option and use it as a learning experience.
Ryzen 1600 on a b350 with a tower or stock, as i initially planned.

Thanks for clearing things out for me.

 

[vapour]

Then it comes to MB choice, what do you have in mind? dual channel dual stick 3200 ddr4 is preferred too.

 

[doremian]

Well, i was going for "recommended" - B350 of either MSI, ASUS or Asrock. Currently i am stickign to Asus b350 Prime Plus. Althought if my budget allow it, i was going to make black and white system on MSI Arctic board.

And while i am aware that ryzens love them fast RAM, i couldn't find any good information on how faster, aside of great jump between 2133 and 2400, so i've been looking at Samsungs 2400 8gbx2 with clock profile to 29xx or whatever it's called. It's seems to be one that most people recommend when it's about price to preformance. And it's the one i can get with relative ease for a good price, unlike any g.skill that peopel claim to be "the best for AMD".

 

[vapour]

3200 is preferred but 2666 will do too, this is a simple figure for FPS for 1 game: https://www.eteknix.com/memory-speed-large-impact-ryzen-performance/

definitely 2 sticks in a pack. single stick from different packs may not work even same model. For MB, best bang for the money is MSI Tomahawk / ASRock Pro4, all ATX. Can you list prices and a few B350 MBs you are considering?

 

[doremian]

It's relative because i am using "price check" and "internet catalogue" resources for prices, but within individual markets prices may be cheaper:
(Also gonna use local currency with loose conversion to $)
Asus Prime b350 Plus - 5700 (97$)
MSI Tomohawk - 6050 (103$)
MSI Tomohawk Acrtic - 7200 (123$) *some cool points for white color
AsRock B350 Pro4 - 5550 (95$)

Additionally Samsung 8gb 2400 RAM will be around 90$ per stick, while other 8x2 kits starts around 220$, unless it's some strange unnamed Chinese RAM.
I might add more budget to RAM and get 8x2 kit of a higher speed, i just didn't thought it is necessary when it's mostly used by a processor and i could use equal amount and get a Ryzen 2 for that matter, which will also yeld preformance. Only question remains - which gives more preformance with a less hustle.

And just to be clear, prices are relative. 10$ here are not like 10$ there, so in some cases difference may be in for better or for worse.

Edit: I did more price checks on RAM.
2400 8x2 kits would be around 210$, something like Corsair vengeance, while 3200 is around 240$.