Question Time to Finish an Old Build -- Need Some Help

[Bruin1]

I could use some advice.

I started a build back in 2021 and got sidetracked by two bouts of Covid and all the rest of life changes at the time. Here are the components I purchased at that time and which remain in the original packaging, and a list of what I still need/want:

Have:

Case Corsair 200R
MB GIGABYTE B460 HD3 LGA1200
CPU Intel Core I5-10400
SSD SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus SSD 500GB - M.2 NVMe
PSU Seasonic FOCUS GX-650, 650W 80+ Gold

Need/Want:

Ram Need a recommendation. (16 or 32 G?)
(CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 RAM 16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz CL15-17-17-35 1.35V - Black
(CMK16GX4M2B3000C15)?)
(Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 2400MHz (PC4-19200) C14 Memory Kit - Black
(CMK32GX4M2A2400C14)

Cooler Need a recommendation. (Scythe Mugen 6 CPU Air Cooler -- will this fit?)
ODD Need a recommendation. (LG Electronics WH14NS40 14X Blu-ray/DVD/CD?)

OS WIN11 – I’m presently using WIN7 on my 10-year-old machine. Have flirted with WIN10 on the office machine.
I guess I will have to move on to WIN11 and dig in.

Monitor Likely Dual HP Series 5 27 inch FHD Monitor 1920x1080
Keyboard Would welcome a recommendation for a good tactile keyboard.


I do a lot of word processing and online research. I use Dragon Naturally Speaking, Note Bene, and MS Office. Use multiple windows and two monitors simultaneously. Scan and print a fair amount. Watch online movies. Back up regularly to a WD and Samsung SSD. Need an OS. Shop on Amazon and Newegg or wherever. Don’t overclock.

I freely admit my head has not been in the computer world for 4 years. But I need to get back into it and build a new one because my older system is finally maxed out.

So, is there anything here that is absolutely insanely out of date? Anything I should replace to tweak the system without starting from scratch?

And, by the way, are any the “deals” out there for WIN11 for $20 etc. valid? Or just pay full price off the shelf? I still have my WIN10 install disk.

Thanks for any help you can render. I need to build something, and soon.

 

[Lutfij]

You should look into DDR4-2666MHz ram kits with tight latencies as your processor and chipset will only go that far;
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...-12m-cache-up-to-4-30-ghz/specifications.html

As for your cooler;
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/p/pc-...N4uCMxwX9pMiC3rGVwymPBtDb75ZFTK#tab-techspecs
the maximum supported by your chassis is 165mm, you could look into Thermalright's coolers.
Scythe Mugen 6 CPU Air Cooler -- will this fit?
Yes it will but the stock cooler that comes with the processor will also work albeit being noisier and with slightly higher temps.

So, is there anything here that is absolutely insanely out of date?
Honestly, it'd be the case as the cases these days are more airflow focused but you lose out on ODD support unless you look at a case like the Fractal-Design's Pop series.

Keyboard Would welcome a recommendation for a good tactile keyboard.
You could look into a mechanical keyboard with hotswap switches.

Where are you located, what sort of a budget do you have allocated towards your upgrade path(parts selections) and your preferred site for purchase?

 

[Bruin1]

Thank you for your reply. I will look at it more carefully tomorrow. We've been without power in SE Ohio for a few days, hence my tardy response. Again, thanks for your help.

 

[geofelt]

Your parts look ok for what you want to do.
Because of multitasking, buy a 2 x 16gb ram kit. Capacity is more important than speed.
The Corsair 32gb kit should be ok.

Your cpu is relatively low power. I would try the stock intel cooler first.
The fan can spin up to high speeds under load, but it is relatively quiet.
See my canned instructions on how to mount the stock cooler at the end.

The scythe mugen will fit There are other good options at that price point.
Thermalright for example.

You might as well install win 11 or be forever pestered to do so.
Download directly from Microsoft.
You do not need a license to run it forever. You just lose out on display customization.
To buy a legitimate windows license, a 10% discount is the most you should expect.
No telling what the $20 cheapies include. Don't buy them.

On keyboard, see if you can't try one out for yourself.

You should do OK with integrated graphics.

----------------how to mount the stock Intel cooler--------------

The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.
If properly mounted, you should expect temperatures at idle to be 10-15c. over ambient.

To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the opposite direction of the arrow,(clockwise)
and pulled up as far as they can go.
Take the time to play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.
Orient the 4 pins so that they are exactly over the motherboard holes.
If one is out of place, you will damage the pins which are delicate.
Push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.
When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.
If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard should be out of the case to do the job. Or you need a case with a opening that lets you see the pins.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly
unless you can verify that the pins are through the motherboard and locked.

If you should need to remove the cooler, first run the cpu to heat it up and soften the paste before shutting down and powering off the pc. That makes it easy to unstick the old cooler.
Turn the pins counter clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new if you ever take the cooler off.
Clean off old paste with alcohol and a lint free paper like a coffee filter.
Apply new paste sparingly. A small rice sized drop in the center will spread our under heat and pressure.

It is hard to use too little.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[punkncat]

Look at the price of Silicone Power Value Gaming 3200MHz/CL16 and would also recommend looking at G Skill Ripjaws in a similar configuration. Check price against the Corsair Vengeance RAM as in that arena none is really going to be particular better than the other aside from cost. Don't be concerned about looking for "slower" RAM as it may well be more expensive. It is not going to hurt anything for 3200/3600MHz RAM to be running at 2666 or whatever your motherboard defaults to.

I would not bother with a cooler for that 10400 unless the noise of the stock cooler is an issue. That CPU isn't going to run particular hot under any load it is capable of.

edit- In relation to the aspect you asked about whether you should replace anything...

I run an 11400 on my work PC and it does pretty well under a use case of almost all the same things listed. My use case is Having (4) Chrome tabs open, using Office, and using Adobe Pro alongside a good deal of printing, and back and forth in Dropbox. I have 32GB of RAM in that machine and notice that when I am converting from jpeg to pdf that Adobe will max out at 15 images to convert. To compress I have not found a limit. IDK if it is a limitation of the RAM or of the program itself.

Another machine in the office was using an 8400 and was showing its age for the use case. Updated that to the 12600KF. It is actually faster than my 11900K in most things and is obvious against the 11400.

The reason I mention this is that the CPU and motherboard combo you have right now will work "fine" for that use case, but is 5 generations behind and you may be considering the purchase of W11 license. +$110 for the Home version on Newegg. Probably in the ballpark of about what one could get for those new old stock parts you have. If you decide afterwards that the new system isn't really performing the way you want, a new CPU and motherboard are more than likely going to bork the activation on that key. As was mentioned above, one can run W11 unlicensed with the lack of personalization and a watermark. I would highly suggest using the system without a key for a week or two anyway just to see how it feels.