Hello everyone,
Me and the wife need a couple of new PC's. To that end, I've been researching what components is hot right now. Before we pull any triggers though, I wanted some advice and input on the parts I've chosen, and the system as a whole. I've come up with this list. (PCpartpicker)
Last time I did this on these forums, there was a sticky with questions to answer. I couldn't find it this time. If I overlooked it, I apologize.
I have a lot of questions, and I'm going to try and explain my thoughts about each item as best as I can.
CPU:
This'll be my first AMD build. I chose AMD because I've read several times on this forum that right now, you get a lot more for your money by going AMD. What the research I did myself, it seems to hold true. It seems there's just way more AMD processors right now compared to Intel, where you really get your moneys worth. (Not saying there are NO Intel CPU's of course).
I originally chose the Ryzen 7 3700X. It seemed thought that for what we'll be doing with our PC's (Gaming), the Ryzen 7 was really not necessary. Even though it's a more powerful CPU, it doesn't seem like I could justify the price difference for the seemingly little added power compared to the Ryzen 5 3600. I made the same argument to myself with the Ryzen 5 3600X (And XT).
CPU Cooler:
I've had the popular Cooler Master 212 mega brick in my last 2 builds, and while it does the job, I really hate having that huge monster sitting there. So I wanted something smaller, and I've been wanting to try out a closed loop liquid cooling setup for a while now. It was difficult for me to find anything though that was NOT RGB. I really don't want it to be so flashy. I'd love some recommendations here.
Motherboard:
I honestly just googled something like "Best AM4 motherboard", and this was one of the ones that showed up a couple of times. The only real requirement I have is that it has 2 NVME ports.
RAM:
This was a bit of a jungle for me. I want 32GB of RAM because I amongst other things like to have a lot of tabs open in my browser, and I play a few games that's really RAM dependant (Such as Cities: Skylines with a lot of assets) I chose Ripjaws because I know they're fairly popular, and I had Ripjaws in my previous build as well and I have yet to experience problems with them. I'd love some suggestions here as well.
Storage:
2 Samsung NVME drives. I believe Samsung is a fairly solid choice when it comes to SSD's in general. I tried to look up alternatives, but most of the suggestions from various articles are either more expensive, or not available in Denmark. (Such as Addlink and Adata I believe they're called, both seems popular choices) I'll be buying 970 EVO or EVO Plus/PRO (Whatever they're called) depending on which is cheapest when I buy. It's my understanding that the performance of the PRO really doesn't justify the increased cost compared to the standard EVO version.
GPU:
I had originally chosen an RX580. Again, I went to a website I use, and looked at charts for best value. But when I compared the RX580 to the slightly more expensive GTX 1660 Super, it seemed like a mistake to not fork out the extra cash for a much beefier GPU. I chose MSI because my last card was MSI as well, and I've been extremely happy with the low to no noise.
Tower:
My last case was the Fractal Design Define R5 I believe, and I thought it an absolutely amazing tower. So when the Define 7 came up being praised in several articles, it was an easy choice for me.
PSU:
I just wanted something 80+ Gold at least. Modular. I've had EVGA before in both PSU and GPU with no issues. Not having much to go on other then the estimated wattage on PCpartpicker, I also assumed that 550W would be more then enough. I might need to change this though (See question 2 below)
So that's the build so far, minus a monitor for the wife. I had a couple of questions in regards to the compatibility problems the website reports.
1. It states that the tower has a USB-C Gen 2 port, that can be connected to the USB-C Gen 1 header on the motherboard. It says an adapter will be required. My question is if it really is required? Meaning if it's a question of different size connectors, or a question of maybe operating at Gen 1 speeds instead of Gen 2. If it's the latter I doubt I'll do anything about it.
2. PCpartpicker writes this: "The MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard has an additional 4-pin ATX power connector but the EVGA SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply does not. This connector is used to supply additional 12V current to the motherboard. While the system will likely still run without it, higher current demands such as extreme overclocking or large video card current draws may require it." I'm not going to be overclocking, but I want my games to look good. I want them to run at as max settings as possible. Will this be an issue? If so, any suggestions to another PSU I can buy instead? I'd at least like to know what to be on the lookout for in a new PSU.
3. The last note reads: " Some physical dimension restrictions cannot (yet) be automatically checked, such as cpu cooler / RAM clearance with modules using tall heat spreaders." This sounds like a common note to get, but if anything jumps out, please let me know. (GPU too long for instance)
4. We'd like some case fans as well. Any recommendations as to how many and which? Low noise/wattage is important here)
5. We need a new monitor for my wife. Gaming monitor, at least 27", IPS prefered since we're not doing any competitive gaming and don't care too much about the FPS as we do about colours and crisp graphics. I found it difficult to find one monitor that rules them all. I found the LG 27GL850 to be an option. Any thoughts on this one?
While we don't really have a spending limit, I'm still very cautious with my cash. I'm a best bang for the buck kind of guy. So while I would like to have these PC's last as long as possible, I'm not ready to pay a premium just to squeeze out a few more FPS for instance.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I'd love some feedback and/or suggestions to things I can change.
Me and the wife need a couple of new PC's. To that end, I've been researching what components is hot right now. Before we pull any triggers though, I wanted some advice and input on the parts I've chosen, and the system as a whole. I've come up with this list. (PCpartpicker)
Last time I did this on these forums, there was a sticky with questions to answer. I couldn't find it this time. If I overlooked it, I apologize.
I have a lot of questions, and I'm going to try and explain my thoughts about each item as best as I can.
CPU:
This'll be my first AMD build. I chose AMD because I've read several times on this forum that right now, you get a lot more for your money by going AMD. What the research I did myself, it seems to hold true. It seems there's just way more AMD processors right now compared to Intel, where you really get your moneys worth. (Not saying there are NO Intel CPU's of course).
I originally chose the Ryzen 7 3700X. It seemed thought that for what we'll be doing with our PC's (Gaming), the Ryzen 7 was really not necessary. Even though it's a more powerful CPU, it doesn't seem like I could justify the price difference for the seemingly little added power compared to the Ryzen 5 3600. I made the same argument to myself with the Ryzen 5 3600X (And XT).
CPU Cooler:
I've had the popular Cooler Master 212 mega brick in my last 2 builds, and while it does the job, I really hate having that huge monster sitting there. So I wanted something smaller, and I've been wanting to try out a closed loop liquid cooling setup for a while now. It was difficult for me to find anything though that was NOT RGB. I really don't want it to be so flashy. I'd love some recommendations here.
Motherboard:
I honestly just googled something like "Best AM4 motherboard", and this was one of the ones that showed up a couple of times. The only real requirement I have is that it has 2 NVME ports.
RAM:
This was a bit of a jungle for me. I want 32GB of RAM because I amongst other things like to have a lot of tabs open in my browser, and I play a few games that's really RAM dependant (Such as Cities: Skylines with a lot of assets) I chose Ripjaws because I know they're fairly popular, and I had Ripjaws in my previous build as well and I have yet to experience problems with them. I'd love some suggestions here as well.
Storage:
2 Samsung NVME drives. I believe Samsung is a fairly solid choice when it comes to SSD's in general. I tried to look up alternatives, but most of the suggestions from various articles are either more expensive, or not available in Denmark. (Such as Addlink and Adata I believe they're called, both seems popular choices) I'll be buying 970 EVO or EVO Plus/PRO (Whatever they're called) depending on which is cheapest when I buy. It's my understanding that the performance of the PRO really doesn't justify the increased cost compared to the standard EVO version.
GPU:
I had originally chosen an RX580. Again, I went to a website I use, and looked at charts for best value. But when I compared the RX580 to the slightly more expensive GTX 1660 Super, it seemed like a mistake to not fork out the extra cash for a much beefier GPU. I chose MSI because my last card was MSI as well, and I've been extremely happy with the low to no noise.
Tower:
My last case was the Fractal Design Define R5 I believe, and I thought it an absolutely amazing tower. So when the Define 7 came up being praised in several articles, it was an easy choice for me.
PSU:
I just wanted something 80+ Gold at least. Modular. I've had EVGA before in both PSU and GPU with no issues. Not having much to go on other then the estimated wattage on PCpartpicker, I also assumed that 550W would be more then enough. I might need to change this though (See question 2 below)
So that's the build so far, minus a monitor for the wife. I had a couple of questions in regards to the compatibility problems the website reports.
1. It states that the tower has a USB-C Gen 2 port, that can be connected to the USB-C Gen 1 header on the motherboard. It says an adapter will be required. My question is if it really is required? Meaning if it's a question of different size connectors, or a question of maybe operating at Gen 1 speeds instead of Gen 2. If it's the latter I doubt I'll do anything about it.
2. PCpartpicker writes this: "The MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard has an additional 4-pin ATX power connector but the EVGA SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply does not. This connector is used to supply additional 12V current to the motherboard. While the system will likely still run without it, higher current demands such as extreme overclocking or large video card current draws may require it." I'm not going to be overclocking, but I want my games to look good. I want them to run at as max settings as possible. Will this be an issue? If so, any suggestions to another PSU I can buy instead? I'd at least like to know what to be on the lookout for in a new PSU.
3. The last note reads: " Some physical dimension restrictions cannot (yet) be automatically checked, such as cpu cooler / RAM clearance with modules using tall heat spreaders." This sounds like a common note to get, but if anything jumps out, please let me know. (GPU too long for instance)
4. We'd like some case fans as well. Any recommendations as to how many and which? Low noise/wattage is important here)
5. We need a new monitor for my wife. Gaming monitor, at least 27", IPS prefered since we're not doing any competitive gaming and don't care too much about the FPS as we do about colours and crisp graphics. I found it difficult to find one monitor that rules them all. I found the LG 27GL850 to be an option. Any thoughts on this one?
While we don't really have a spending limit, I'm still very cautious with my cash. I'm a best bang for the buck kind of guy. So while I would like to have these PC's last as long as possible, I'm not ready to pay a premium just to squeeze out a few more FPS for instance.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I'd love some feedback and/or suggestions to things I can change.