[SOLVED] Please critique my PC build

[clemsontigerblah]

My wife's PC died last weekend (thinking likely mobo failed). I built it roughly 10 years ago and had a few upgrades along the way, but its time was due.
Old specs:
Gigabyte Ultra Durable Motherboard AM3+ GA-970A-UD3
AMD FX 6100 6-Core Processor (AM3+) w/ stock cooler
G.Skill Ripjaw Series 4GB DDR3 1600 x 4 sticks
EVGA GeForce GT 730 1GB GDDR5 64bit
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch --> OS and apps
WD Blue 2TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive --> photo and other storage
Seasonic S12II 520

She was content with it, but I figured she could do with a performance upgrade anyway. She uses it mainly for professional photo editing and blogging.
As always, I usually try to build with bang-for-buck in mind, but was really hard to design what with poor supply of components and jacked up prices. This is what I came up with...

MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Deepcool GAMMAXX 400 V2 --> not planning on OC, but because I heard stock cooler was loud
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB x2 DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory x 2 sticks
Samsung 980 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive x2 sticks
Gigabyte GeForce NVidia RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card --> was about the only decent GPU I could find in stock that wasn't over 1000k; for new paid $699 for it :-(
Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

Here are my questions/thoughts and wanted to know what you think.
1.) Overall does this sound solid to you?
2.) Was the RTX 2060 overkill? I know it is overpriced but so was everything else. Would it have been better to get a CPU with integrated graphics ? I was getting mixed info regarding whether you truly needed a good GPU for professional photo editing. Monitor is going to be upgraded at some point to probably a ~27" QHD or better.
3.) Was doing 2 sticks of 1TB NVME overkill? I figured since there were 2 M.2 slots and the price of a 2TB stick was so much more expensive than 2 1TB and that similar size 2.5" SSDs were not much cheaper, why not? I was also thinking this would be easy to throw a platter or SSD drive in later if needed but should be plenty of space for her needs right now.

Any other advice is welcome and thanks for your help.

 

[CountMike]

My wife's PC died last weekend (thinking likely mobo failed). I built it roughly 10 years ago and had a few upgrades along the way, but its time was due.
Old specs:
Gigabyte Ultra Durable Motherboard AM3+ GA-970A-UD3
AMD FX 6100 6-Core Processor (AM3+) w/ stock cooler
G.Skill Ripjaw Series 4GB DDR3 1600 x 4 sticks
EVGA GeForce GT 730 1GB GDDR5 64bit
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch --> OS and apps
WD Blue 2TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive --> photo and other storage
Seasonic S12II 520

She was content with it, but I figured she could do with a performance upgrade anyway. She uses it mainly for professional photo editing and blogging.
As always, I usually try to build with bang-for-buck in mind, but was really hard to design what with poor supply of components and jacked up prices. This is what I came up with...

MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Deepcool GAMMAXX 400 V2 --> not planning on OC, but because I heard stock cooler was loud
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB x2 DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory x 2 sticks
Samsung 980 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive x2 sticks
Gigabyte GeForce NVidia RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card --> was about the only decent GPU I could find in stock that wasn't over 1000k; for new paid $699 for it :-(
Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

Here are my questions/thoughts and wanted to know what you think.
1.) Overall does this sound solid to you?
2.) Was the RTX 2060 overkill? I know it is overpriced but so was everything else. Would it have been better to get a CPU with integrated graphics ? I was getting mixed info regarding whether you truly needed a good GPU for professional photo editing. Monitor is going to be upgraded at some point to probably a ~27" QHD or better.
3.) Was doing 2 sticks of 1TB NVME overkill? I figured since there were 2 M.2 slots and the price of a 2TB stick was so much more expensive than 2 1TB and that similar size 2.5" SSDs were not much cheaper, why not? I was also thinking this would be easy to throw a platter or SSD drive in later if needed but should be plenty of space for her needs right now.

Any other advice is welcome and thanks for your help.

1. Yes.
2. NO, integrated GPUs are still very much behind dedicated GPUs. best AMD's integrated is at level of GT 1030, Rx 560. All good for work but not for gaming.
3. Prices of M.2 and SATA drives are pretty close but NVMe are so much faster and handier, no cables, I have 3 and love them.

 

[Phaaze88]

1)Yes.
2)No. iGPU is still far behind dedicated gpu. Though, I've seen situations where having a cpu that does have iGPU helps with troubleshooting and with multi-monitor setups.
3)Depends on what you do with them. These devices really can't stretch their muscle with more 'casual' tasks, but hey, if you got it close to the price of a SATA SSD, then no big deal.
You have to use them to transfer data from one NVMe to another NVMe to see them 'mop the floor' with SATA SSD, but again, if you got them for a good price, then it really doesn't matter... but I see it's 2 Samsung 980 Pros...
Those aren't cheap, plus Gen 4 drives get toasty; you may have to invest in aftermarket cooling solutions, as well as minding chassis airflow.

 

[clemsontigerblah]

1)Yes.
2)No. iGPU is still far behind dedicated gpu. Though, I've seen situations where having a cpu that does have iGPU helps with troubleshooting and with multi-monitor setups.
3)Depends on what you do with them. These devices really can't stretch their muscle with more 'casual' tasks, but hey, if you got it close to the price of a SATA SSD, then no big deal.
You have to use them to transfer data from one NVMe to another NVMe to see them 'mop the floor' with SATA SSD, but again, if you got them for a good price, then it really doesn't matter... but I see it's 2 Samsung 980 Pros...
Those aren't cheap, plus Gen 4 drives get toasty; you may have to invest in aftermarket cooling solutions, as well as minding chassis airflow.

Got Meshify 2 compact case to put it all in. U think the stock 2x140mm front and 120mm rear exhaust fans would be adequate?

 

[Phaaze88]

Got Meshify 2 compact case to put it all in. U think the stock 2x140mm front and 120mm rear exhaust fans would be adequate?

That sounds fine. A few pointers:
The slot above the gpu is usually the worst place, in regards to airflow. It's a bit of a deadzone there.
In the slot below the gpu, do not utilize 0rpm modes if the gpu has one. Those fans will aid in cooling the drive.
The heatsinks help, but the drives still need active cooling.

 

[clemsontigerblah]

That sounds fine. A few pointers:
The slot above the gpu is usually the worst place, in regards to airflow. It's a bit of a deadzone there.
In the slot below the gpu, do not utilize 0rpm modes if the gpu has one. Those fans will aid in cooling the drive.
The heatsinks help, but the drives still need active cooling.

Great thx.

 

[geofelt]

1) I suspect overkill.
Wife was happy with a FX-6100. 6 threads and a passmark rating of 3653/1305.
1305 single thread is abysmal:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+FX-6100+Six-Core&id=257

The i5-11400 with 12 threads and a rating of 17873/3059 would be hard to beat.
Cheaper than 3600 also.
Here is a review:

Intel Core i5-11400F Review: The New Value Champ

The Core i5-11400F coupled with a B560 motherboard make for an interesting build configuration, as it's significantly cheaper than the Core i5-11600K/Z590 and less than the cost...

www.techspot.com

2) if I read your post correctly, you have already bought a RTX2060 which makes this a moot point. Again, probably overkill.
Good idea to consider an upgrade to QHD, make it a 34" wide one.
Integrated graphics can run it if it can use displayport.

3) I would buy a single m.2 pcie 2tb ssd instead. The cost would be similar, the performance would be similar.
It is easier to manage a single C drive address space than worrying about what should be placed where.
Also, there will be one m.2 slot that is enabled for faster pcie 4.0 and will be disabled without a 11th gen processor.

I don't see a corsair CX550m as much different than your current seasonic S12II 520
When buying a psu, plan for the long term.
Look for a unit of 650w with a 7 to 10 yer warranty.
Often the price difference is minimal between 650w and 750w .
For example there is only a $7 difference between 650 and 750w:
https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-650-gold-ssr-650fm-650w/p/N82E16817151202
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.

On your original build, you say 2 sticks. Is that two 2 x8gb kits?
Do not buy that way. Even the same part numbers may not work properly together.
Ram is only supported as a single kit.
For photo editing, consider going to more ram capacity if wife will be editing large photos.
And ryzen likes fast ram, 3600 speed is the sweet spot.
Intel does not care much. 2666 would do as well.

 

[DRagor]

"Please critique my PC build"
Your build sucks. You welcome.

Just kidding Was gonna write pretty much same as geofelt: don't like that CXM (although it should work fine, just you leave yourself no room for upgrades) and beware of using 2 kits of RAM (use 1 kit of 4 sticks instead). Other then that its fine.

 

[Bob.B]

My wife's PC died last weekend (thinking likely mobo failed). I built it roughly 10 years ago and had a few upgrades along the way, but its time was due.
Old specs:
Gigabyte Ultra Durable Motherboard AM3+ GA-970A-UD3
AMD FX 6100 6-Core Processor (AM3+) w/ stock cooler
G.Skill Ripjaw Series 4GB DDR3 1600 x 4 sticks
EVGA GeForce GT 730 1GB GDDR5 64bit
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch --> OS and apps
WD Blue 2TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive --> photo and other storage
Seasonic S12II 520

She was content with it, but I figured she could do with a performance upgrade anyway. She uses it mainly for professional photo editing and blogging.
As always, I usually try to build with bang-for-buck in mind, but was really hard to design what with poor supply of components and jacked up prices. This is what I came up with...

MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Deepcool GAMMAXX 400 V2 --> not planning on OC, but because I heard stock cooler was loud
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB x2 DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory x 2 sticks
Samsung 980 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive x2 sticks
Gigabyte GeForce NVidia RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card --> was about the only decent GPU I could find in stock that wasn't over 1000k; for new paid $699 for it :-(
Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

Here are my questions/thoughts and wanted to know what you think.
1.) Overall does this sound solid to you?
2.) Was the RTX 2060 overkill? I know it is overpriced but so was everything else. Would it have been better to get a CPU with integrated graphics ? I was getting mixed info regarding whether you truly needed a good GPU for professional photo editing. Monitor is going to be upgraded at some point to probably a ~27" QHD or better.
3.) Was doing 2 sticks of 1TB NVME overkill? I figured since there were 2 M.2 slots and the price of a 2TB stick was so much more expensive than 2 1TB and that similar size 2.5" SSDs were not much cheaper, why not? I was also thinking this would be easy to throw a platter or SSD drive in later if needed but should be plenty of space for her needs right now.

Any other advice is welcome and thanks for your help.

Look at the reqs of the photo editing app an igp might work fine.
Save 700 bucks.