[SOLVED] Would this PC build be ok?

[yuyake79]

Hi,

I've used PCPartPicker to check the compatibility of a build. It gave me 2 Compatibility notes which are:

1) The motherboard M.2 slot #2 shares bandwidth with a SATA 6.0 Gb/s port. When the M.2 slot is populated, one SATA 6.0 Gb/s port is disabled.

2) Some physical dimension restrictions cannot (yet) be automatically checked, such as cpu cooler / RAM clearance with modules using tall heat spreaders.

I'm wondering if I can ignore these compatibility notes for the build. Ultimately, I'd like to know whether I would run into any issues with this build (see below). Any recommendations would be appreciated.

CPU

AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor

$198.00

Motherboard

ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard

$123.20

Memory

Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory

$126.00

Storage

Seagate - BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive

$138.00

Storage

Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

$105.00

Video Card

Asus - GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB Phoenix Fan Video Card

Case

SHARKOON - VS4-W ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply

Corsair - CX 600 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

Operating System

Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit

$143.00

Sound Card

Creative Labs - Sound Blaster Audigy Rx 24-bit 192 kHz Sound Card

$103.94

Monitor

Acer - KG251QF 24.5" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor

$278.00

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, honest opinion?

Power supply is poor quality. If you you've had that for a while, and you probably have because those green label CX power supplies have been out of production for a few years now, then it's probably not going to be long before it needs to be replaced and I'd do it sooner than later because those units had capacitor problems and are known for taking out motherboards once they've had a few miles on them or been around the block a few times.

A gray label CX 550 or 650, at the least, would be a better choice by far. Something even better than that would be a wiser decision but I realize in some regions quality power supplies are hard to come by.

As far as the Sound blaster goes, unless there is a specific feature on that which you require, I'd just use the onboard motherboard audio. Most of them these days are quite good and only the MOST discerning audiophiles will be disappointed by the majority of audio codecs found on modern motherboards.

I'll tell you straight away, you're not likely to achieve 144fps very consistently with that graphics card unless you're willing to move a lot of quality setting sliders to the left. It's simply not that capable, but if you are mainly playing low demand eSports type games or don't mind dropping settings to medium-ish levels then you may be ok.

 

[yuyake79]

Yes, did need an honest opinion. Thank you.

As for the power supply, would this one be better then?

Corsair - CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

$108.00

If you were to go one step towards a better one, which one would you go for?

As for sound, yes, I think I'll just stick with the motherboard audio.

Would you have a few graphics card suggestions? My wife plays Lord of the Rings online. I play games like Dota 2, No Man's Sky, Ark Survival Evolved. Also, would changing graphics mean I would have to choose another monitor?

 

[Darkbreeze]

For 1080p, 144hz, and with the CPU you have, I'd say the RX 580, GTX 1660 TI or RX 5700 would be minimum entry level choices and you are still going to have to turn down some settings if you want to get 144hz/fps for smooth tear free gameplay.

However, that monitor does have Freesync, and might work with an Nvidia card in terms of adaptive sync to some degree, but is not on the list of G-sync compatible monitors according to Nvidia, so it could be pretty hit or miss on that. Might be better to go with an AMD card if you're going to use that monitor OR pick a monitor that has G-sync compatible Freesync if you want to stay with Nvidia.

Yes, that power supply would be much better.

I don't know what your budget is like, but I know Ark can be pretty demanding, so if you are looking at running peak settings, high or ultra, on that game, IDK, it might be wise to look at an RTX 2060 or RX 5700 XT. Especially if there are other games now, or maybe in the future, that are more demanding than most of those are, that you'll be wanting to play. 1440p 144hz is a lot more difficult than people think, but again, with a monitor that can give you an adaptive sync it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[yuyake79]

Thanks for those tips.

Changing the monitor to one that has G-sync would put the price up a fair bit, so I'm thinking about leaning towards your first suggestion and try going for an AMD card to match the monitor. So, I've altered the build to as follows.

CPU

AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor

$198.00

Motherboard

ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard

$123.20

Memory

Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory

$126.00

Storage

Seagate - BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive

$138.00

Storage

Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

$105.00

Video Card

MSI - Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card

$298.00

Case

Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 5 ATX Mid Tower Case

$65.00

Power Supply

Corsair - CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

$108.00

Operating System

Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit

$143.00

Monitor

Acer - KG251QF 24.5" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor

$278.00

This build is brings the price down closer to my budget, which is around the $1500 mark (including the monitor). Going with the AMD card brought the price down a bit for me.

Let me know what you think.

 

[ConanLock]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($198.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($110.00 @ Skycomp Technology)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($109.22 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Intel - 760p Series 256 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($70.00 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Toshiba - X300 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($163.10 @ Amazon Australia)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card ($427.41 @ Amazon Australia)
Case: Deepcool - TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($85.00 @ PLE Computers)
Monitor: Acer - KG251QF 24.5" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($278.00 @ Austin Computers)
Total: $1499.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-21 18:45 AEST+1000

How does this look to you? It has much faster RAM, a better GPU and a 7200 RPM HDD. All of these is recommend, as without them you won't be getting as nice of an experience. I dropped the SSD to a 760p, which should still perform really fast, only a few seconds slower loading than the 970 I'd say. Also, the PSU is the non modular grey label CX, it's a good enough PSU, certainly won't blow up on you!

 

[yuyake79]

With the GPU being NVIDIA and the monitor being Freesync, if this particular monitor doesn't give me an adaptive sync, would there be any obvious frame sync issues?

 

[ConanLock]

Technically, Freesync will work on all Nvidia GPUs now, and the ones that aren't specifically supported should just need adaptive sync manually enabling from the Nvidia Control Panel. Even on the small off chance that it doesn't work, it shouldn't make too much difference anyway, if your FPS stay at around 60 or less, while the monitor refreshes at 144 times per second, then any frames that are not synced, then that Fram would be quickly replaced by the monitor.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That is the "common" belief, but Nvidia disagrees and says ONLY these models are approved to work correctly with G-sync. I'm going to tend to listen to them, because they have no reason to not WANT more models to work with G-sync so that people will not have reservations about buying their cards if they have a Freesync monitor already.

NVIDIA GeForce G-SYNC Gaming Monitors

Search for GeForce G-SYNC gaming monitors.

www.nvidia.com

An UN-official list of monitors that UN-officially work with G-sync, although some might require some fiddling to get them to do so and might do so with varying rates of success, can be found here.

https://www.esportstales.com/tech-t...patible-freesync-monitors-tested-by-community


So, no, not every Freesync monitor will work, or work well, with G-sync. Some have been found to have no compatibility at all.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Thanks for those tips.

Changing the monitor to one that has G-sync would put the price up a fair bit, so I'm thinking about leaning towards your first suggestion and try going for an AMD card to match the monitor. So, I've altered the build to as follows.

This build is brings the price down closer to my budget, which is around the $1500 mark (including the monitor). Going with the AMD card brought the price down a bit for me.

Let me know what you think.

At the price you are looking to target, it would be hard to do much better than that. Few things though. You absolutely DO NOT want a 5400rpm HDD. Too slow, even for a HDD.

Do you actually NEED a 4TB drive, or could you get by with a 1TB SSD for the secondary drive. If you need that much storage space, you'll want to look at 7200rpm models. Maybe drop down to a 3TB model if necessary or, expect to pay a little more for a 4TB 7200rpm model.

Also, the Masterbox 5 lite is very minimal. While it will work, the quality is, ahem, well, it's typical entry level Cooler Master, which is not particularly great and lacks a lot of features. If you skimp on the case, which in years past I've had a tendency to do as well, you'll regret it. Building in that case will suck and there are few options for expandability. It doesn't even support any top fans, so you get ONE exhaust fan location which is not acceptable in a case for any modern system IMO.

And, please post builds using the "bbcode" option. The way you are posting them, is too disorganized. The way you see Conanlock's build posted using the bbcode option is the preferred method.

As well, if you have a Windows 7, 8 or 10 license now, whether OEM or retail, and don't plan to continue using it on your current system, you can upgrade to Windows 10 (If not ON 10 already) and attach it to yourself via a Microsoft account, and then move it to the new system. No reason to buy a new license unless you plan to continue using your current license on the existing system. And I can show you how to go about doing that.

Something along these lines, tweakable as you please of course, might serve you better in terms of higher quality and less "damn, I should have....." in the long term.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($198.00 @ Skycomp Technology)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($118.71 @ Amazon Australia)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($126.50 @ Newegg Australia)
Storage: Mushkin - Enhanced Helix-L 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($74.70 @ Newegg Australia)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.00 @ PLE Computers)
Video Card: Sapphire - Radeon RX 580 8 GB NITRO+ Special Edition Video Card ($299.00 @ Device Deal)
Case: Corsair - 270R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.00 @ Umart)
Power Supply: Antec - Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($105.00 @ IJK)
Monitor: Acer - KG251QF 24.5" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($278.00 @ Austin Computers)
Total: $1407.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-22 04:17 AEST+1000

 

[yuyake79]

Thank you again for the tips.

On my current system, both drives have around a 1.4 TB capacity and I find myself having to uninstall some games to install new one. I think I could get by just fine with 2TB over both drives.

What case would you recommend?

I've got Windows 10 on my current system and I will need it there because either my wife or myself will be using it when playing online games together. So, I would need Windows 10 on the computer too.

 

[ConanLock]

Is there a certain style you want, colour, size, glass window or not etc. Basically, as long as it fits the motherboard and GPU, as well as having front USB 3 (pretty standard nowadays, cases that don't have it are just cheapo ones), then it's good.

 

[Darkbreeze]

There's a lot more to it than that. Cheaper cases usually lack in the area of cable management, space BEHIND the motherboard tray, where you have to do most of your hiding of cables etc., they may or may not have drive locations that are convenient and out of the way, or have removeable drive bays if you don't need ten bays blocking all your airflow.

Cheaper cases will come with even cheaper fans, creating a need for some people to buy additional fans or add fans if it's a model that only comes with one fan or smaller fans than you would like to run. Typically a lot of cases only come with 120mm fans even though they probably support 140mm models, which I generally prefer as they tend to move more air, or the same amount of air at lower noise levels.

You might also come to realize that cheaper cases have cheaper electronics and any included front I/O panel mini-boards or fan hubs are particularly low quality and may either not work right from the start or before too long they start acting funky. Just all things to think about.

 

[yuyake79]

So, looking at the $90 mark or under for a case, what do you think about the following for that last build you (Darkbreeze) suggested.

Cooler Master Storm Scout 2
Thermaltake Core V21
Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L

Two of these are mini towers. Would everything still fit in them?
Any other suggestions?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are you wanting a very small case, or are you just looking at those due to price?

For the range you're talking about, I'd look at these. These are decent or very good cases. depending on which of them we're talking about.

Fractal design Focus G

Probably one of the very best cases under 60 bucks. If you want a case with decent options and features that is large enough to hold an ATX board and decent sized cooler, this is arguably one of the best options out there.



Corsair Carbide 275R

A basic, no frills unit that is clean and simple. Has fairly good basic features, full size acrylic side panel window. Just a decent unit for the money.



Phanteks P400

Phanteks makes good cases. I don't think the features are as good on this case as on some others, but the quality is good, it is a nice looking case AND it does have the majority of features you could expect in a case this price. Plus, it has a tempered glass side panel instead of acrylic like most of the cheaper cases have. This is an important distinction because tempered glass isn't going to scratch or have as many visual imperfections as an acrylic panel will when in a certain light. There is also another version, the P400S that comes with RGB but is slightly more expensive.



Phanteks P350x

Another decent budget case that has good features, tempered glass AND some bling with the included RGB and RGB controller.



Phanteks Enthoo Pro M TG

The mid tower version of the VERY popular full tower Enthoo Pro case. Great features, good cable management options, well built, tempered glass, good airflow and looks sharp as well.



Fractal design Meshify C Dark TG

Good case in this price range. Good feature set. Great airflow from the full mesh front panel. Tempered glass with a darker tint. Typical Fractal design quality. Doesn't really stand out to me because I don't particularly like the front panel design, but others do, and my opinion on it's looks shouldn't be a factor for anybody. I think it would have been better with a simple full front mod mesh rather than weird angles, but hey, that's just me. It's still a good choice.



Fractal design Define C TG

Very similar to my own Define S. Great features. Good quality. Very easily modified if you're inclined to case modding the front panel for full airflow like I did. Full flow front panels also available from various prebuilt mod sources. Even without, still a good choice. And of course, tempered glass side panel.



There are of course many other worthy cases to choose from like the NZXT H500, Silverstone RL06, Lian Li Lancool One and some others in that price range.

If you can add just a little more to the price of the case, you can get a significantly better case that will likely last you, well, maybe never buy another case actually (Not that these less expensive models are throw aways either though), like the Corsair Crystal 460X RGB, Fractal Design Define S2, Fractal Design Define R6 (Probably one of the best cases out there under 150 bucks), but obviously these are a larger investment so probably not what you're looking for. Still worth looking at though.

If you specifically are wanting something small, we can definitely look at some microATX or mini-ITX options, but contrary to what you might think, building small usually results in a MORE expensive build, because the most common hardware won't fit the constraints of the case and you have to target hardware designed specifically for use in small enclosures. That tends to increase the prices.

 

[yuyake79]

No, I didn't necessarily want a small case. I was looking at those due to the price and reviews. I care more about what's better for my particular build and maybe also some decent cooling (and not too noisy).
So, I'm guessing the Fractal design Focus G might work for me.
So, going back to the storage for my build. I don't necessarily need 4TB. If I have 2TB between both drives, I think that would be enough. Would it matter which drive has the greater capacity? At what price would I be able to get that for?

 

[Darkbreeze]

More important should be the question "What is the maximum amount I CAN, or am WILLING to, spend on this build"?

Knowing that, down to the last penny in most cases, would be most helpful in helping you get the most bang for your buck.

If most of your space is being taken up by game files, then you probably don't need more than maybe 500GB for the primary drive. In many cases 250GB is more than enough for that. Games take up a lot of space so placing your Steam or other game folders on the secondary drive is the usual process.

 

[yuyake79]

I am still hoping to stick to the $1500 mark on my build. That's including Windows 10, monitor and case. I won't include mouse and keyboard for now.
At the moment, on my current system. My 1TB secondary drive has 45GB of free space. My Steam Library alone is taking up 550GB. The rest is taken up by non-Steam games and a some software.
I've got 70GB of free space in my 500GB primary drive. I think I have a few games in there (because I couldn't get them all to fit in my secondary drive). Too many games? lol.
So, anyway, that's why I was thinking of having a bit more space.
But having said that, I'd still value performance and a good graphics card over space in my drives. If worse comes to worst, I'll just delete/won't install games that I don't play much. Therefore, to stay around that $1500 mark, if I have to sacrifice something, I'd rather sacrifice a bit of space in my primary and secondary drives rather than performance and graphics card (which needs to match with the Acer - KG251QF 24.5" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ).

 

[Darkbreeze]

Man, this is about as good as it's gonna get without sacrificing something somewhere.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($198.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($120.27 @ Amazon Australia)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($119.81 @ Newegg Australia)
Storage: Mushkin Enhanced Helix-L 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($75.80 @ Newegg Australia)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.00 @ PLE Computers)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 580 8 GB NITRO+ Special Edition Video Card ($299.00 @ Device Deal)
Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case ($120.00 @ Mighty Ape)
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($105.00 @ IJK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($143.00 @ Shopping Express)
Monitor: Acer KG251QF 24.5" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($278.00 @ Austin Computers)
Total: $1577.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-27 11:44 AEST+1000

 

[yuyake79]

Looks good to me. I think I'll go with that.
I appreciate all the help.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You bet. Best of luck to you. Take care.