Father and Son build (need upgrade advise)

[Kaltene]

My son came to me before Christmas last year with a video he found on YouTube from Linus.  It was part of a Gamer PC build series for 3 different cost ranges.  My son picked the middle priced build.  We used the link that was provided in the Video description to load all the parts into Amazon Cart (he may have changed an item).  I split the cost with him for his Christmas present and we built the machine together.  Neither of us had built a machine before and it was a great experience. The machine is running great and we are very happy with it.

 

I have been unable to find that video on YouTube but I do have information about the build.

 

Last Years build.

 

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/22417535

 

 

So what I'm looking for in an new system......

 

1. Budget & Location

$2,000-$2,500 ish USA total.

 

2. Aim

I use the PC for Blizzard games like Hearthstone, Diablo III, Heros of the Storm.  Civ6 and a few older games like Banished and Galactic Civ.  In the near future I would like to play Diablo IV and what I think may be a fairly graphically intense MMORP like Pantheon Rise of the Fallen.  I don't play online shooters that required super high graphics and super fast refresh but I do want a very good card that will last 3-5 years on newer games.  I do some simple photo editing for marketing graphics for my business.

 

3. Monitors

I use 1 monitor a Dell U2717D thinking about a Dell S2716DGR to replace it.

 

4. Peripherals

Windows 10, I'll reuse older keyboards and mouse.

 

5. Why are you upgrading?

I'm building the new machine to replace my older Alienware X51 R3..  So that we can continue to have a fun gaming experience together as well as enjoy doing our second build.  It's very important to me that our machine look similar to reflect our Father Son time.

 

Could I please get some assistance with what would be good upgrades for the build.  My own thoughts are an improved CPU, better GPU in the newest Nvidia family up to $600.  I'd rather avoid liquid cooling and RGB lighting isn't important to me other then to turn my PC blue while he has his green.

 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

 

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, Kaltene said:

My son came to me before Christmas last year with a video he found on YouTube from Linus.  It was part of a Gamer PC build series for 3 different cost ranges.  My son picked the middle priced build.  We used the link that was provided in the Video description to load all the parts into Amazon Cart (he may have changed an item).  I split the cost with him for his Christmas present and we built the machine together.  Neither of us had built a machine before and it was a great experience. The machine is running great and we are very happy with it.

 

I have been unable to find that video on YouTube but I do have information about the build.

 

Last Years build.

 

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/22417535

 

 

So what I'm looking for in an new system......

 

1. Budget & Location

$2,000-$2,500 ish USA total.

 

2. Aim

I use the PC for Blizzard games like Hearthstone, Diablo III, Heros of the Storm.  Civ6 and a few older games like Banished and Galactic Civ.  In the near future I would like to play Diablo IV and what I think may be a fairly graphically intense MMORP like Pantheon Rise of the Fallen.  I don't play online shooters that required super high graphics and super fast refresh but I do want a very good card that will last 3-5 years on newer games.  I do some simple photo editing for marketing graphics for my business.

 

3. Monitors

I use 1 monitor a Dell U2717D thinking about a Dell S2716DGR to replace it.

 

4. Peripherals

Windows 10, I'll reuse older keyboards and mouse.

 

5. Why are you upgrading?

I'm building the new machine to replace my older Alienware X51 R3..  So that we can continue to have a fun gaming experience together as well as enjoy doing our second build.  It's very important to me that our machine look similar to reflect our Father Son time.

 

Could I please get some assistance with what would be good upgrades for the build.  My own thoughts are an improved CPU, better GPU in the newest Nvidia family up to $600.  I'd rather avoid liquid cooling and RGB lighting isn't important to me other then to turn my PC blue while he has his green.

 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

 

I am ALL for building new PC's, but really yours is pretty solid! That said, more is always better, usually. lol.

 

A new Ryzen build could be a good way to go. Something like a Ryzen 3700. 16 GB of DDR4 3200 MHZ RAM, a motherboard of your pick (motherboards don't make any performance difference, some just have features like wifi or more m.2 slots which differentiate them from each other, some also have better VRM's which is the power delivery which helps overclocking potential, although, Ryzen doesn't overclock well anyways), and the rest is relatively straight forward. A video card in your budget, case you like, a decent PSU, a solid state drive. If you need more help than that with specific parts, I would check out pcpartpicker.com as they have some good info and can help get you going in the right direction.

 

I, along with many on here can go and throw parts in a cart and tell you to buy it, but part of the fun is trying to figure out what parts will work. Id think of it as a way to get you and your son thinking about the parts more deeply and learning how compatibility works and what a good balanced build looks like. Definitely post here again asking if the build A) will work B) makes sense.

 

Hope that at least gets you on the right track. Intel is always an option as well, but these days, AMD is just a much better value for your dollar.

[Kaltene]

(placeholder)

[Kaltene]

On 12/6/2019 at 11:09 PM, LIGISTX said:

I am ALL for building new PC's, but really yours is pretty solid! That said, more is always better, usually. lol.

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$309.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$125.10 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$74.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Western Digital Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$87.99 @ Amazon
Case	Corsair Crystal 460X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$109.97 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$199.98 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$928.02
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$908.02
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-08 02:13 EST-0500

 

Is that what was meant by a 3700?  That Ryzen 7?

You mentioned DDR-4 3300, I assume 3600 is just a tiny better and does not seem like much more money.

I could not find a good option for a RTX 2060 super card on PCPartPicker but found many on Amazon.

EVGA 2060 Super

 

so as you put it.... A) will it work? B) does it makes sense?

[LIGISTX]

2 minutes ago, Kaltene said:

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$309.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$125.10 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$74.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Western Digital Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$87.99 @ Amazon
Case	Corsair Crystal 460X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$109.97 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$199.98 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$928.02
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$908.02
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-08 02:13 EST-0500

 

Is that what was meant by a 3700?  That Ryzen 7?

You mentioned DDR-4 3300, I assume 3600 is just a tiny better and does not seem like much more money.

I could not find a good option for a RTX 2060 super card on PCPartPicker but found many on Amazon.

EVGA 2060 Super

 

so as you put it.... A) will it work? B) does it makes sense?

DDR4 3200, but 3600 is fine as well. Ryzen likes RAM speed, so that would be a good option. And yes, Ryzen 3700x. Everything about that is great, except I would definetly upgrade the 2060 as it won't be much better than your 1070ti. I am not very knowledge about AMD motherboards, so I am not sure if that B450 would allow you to overclock your 3700 at all, but I am sure that would be easy to google if that is something you would consider doing.

 

Also, thats a very overkill PSU. I mean its a fantastic unit, but you can easily drop that down by 100 bucks and put that money towards a 2070 super for example. Reference this list: 

 I would do anything in TIER B+ or better. Your choice is a fantastic option, but I would consider that very overkill and unbalanced, as that money would be much better spent somewhere else as there are adequate PSU's in the ~100 range.

 

Besides those few things, not a bad build at all! Definitely get a better GPU in there though. RTX 2070 super is an amazing bang for buck option and would give you a noticeable gain over your "old" 1070 ti.

[Queen Chrysalis]

I'll take a crack at this.  You said your budget was 2k?  Heres one for $1170.  The 3700 and 3600 are no different from each other in gaming (same processor, one has six hyperthreaded cores, the other has eight) as cores 7 and 8 are the least (if ever, especially with hyperthreading) used cores in the machine and usually the most expensive ($310 for the 3700, $190 for the 3600), you'd be far better off getting the 3600 and getting a better GPU so you don't have to upgrade again for a while.  At this price point a 2070 super seems like a no brainer.  I picked an x470 motherboard so you would have a pcie 4.0 port for the future with a bios update.  x570 doesn't offer much for 99 percent of users, so it would be pointless.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/spitty84/saved/yMkhgs

Don't worry about the alerts, ASRock boards are always on top of being ready to go for new Ryzen. 

 

Also, If you live near a microcenter, they have CPUs cheaper than anyone else, and you get a $30 discount when you bundle a CPU with a motherboard.  Makes for easy returns, too.

[boggy77]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$189.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$48.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$114.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$69.99 @ Newegg
Storage	HP EX920 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$108.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB GAMING OC 3X Video Card	$509.99 @ Newegg
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$114.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1286.91
	Mail-in rebates	-$30.00
	Total	$1256.91
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-08 06:36 EST-0500

 

[Kaltene]

23 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

Besides those few things, not a bad build at all! Definitely get a better GPU in there though. RTX 2070 super is an amazing bang for buck option and would give you a noticeable gain over your "old" 1070 ti.

 

Thank you LIGISTX and everyone else.

 

I've updated the build to step back the CPU a bit, step back the PSU some and use the Motherboard Queen Chrysalis mentioned.

 

I also heard everyone loud and clear about going with a 2070 super.

 

Let me know if I made a mistake in missing slot, cabling/power needs, ect please and thank you.

 

I think the only question I have is if the cooler that comes with the CPU be enough?  (I don't plan to overclock)

 

MSI GAMING GeForce RTX 2070 8GB GDRR6

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor	$239.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock X470 Master SLI/AC ATX AM4 Motherboard	$138.98 @ Newegg
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$74.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Western Digital Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$87.99 @ Amazon
Case	Corsair Crystal 460X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$139.97 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$119.89 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$801.81
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-09 01:31 EST-0500

 

 

[boggy77]

4 hours ago, Kaltene said:

ASRock X470 Master SLI/AC ATX AM4 Motherboard

the tomahawk max is cheaper and better than this. if you want pci-e 4 ready boards, I'd go for a gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite

[boggy77]

4 hours ago, Kaltene said:

the cooler that comes with the CPU be enough

yes, the cooler will be adequate (although a bit loud)

[Kaltene]

After some price checking, everything has been ordered and is being shipped.

[Kaltene]

Problem with SSD and/or Boot USB solved with an update of the Bios.  System up and running windows.

 

[Kaltene]

The CPU fan keeps cycling up RPM and going back to quite many times per minute even with the Task Manager not show anything running at more then 1% of CPU.  Any thoughts on this?

[boggy77]

7 hours ago, Kaltene said:

The CPU fan keeps cycling up RPM and going back to quite many times per minute even with the Task Manager not show anything running at more then 1% of CPU.  Any thoughts on this?

Are you using ryzen balanced power plan or windows balanced? I'd start with that. Also make sure to install the chipset drivers from amd's website.

[Kaltene]

On 12/25/2019 at 3:37 AM, boggy77 said:

Are you using ryzen balanced power plan or windows balanced? I'd start with that. Also make sure to install the chipset drivers from amd's website.

I was not familiar with any of the things you mentioned here until I looked them up.

 

I've downloaded the Ryzen Master program from AMD website and I believe that has updated my Chip Drivers but honestly can't tell for sure.  This image is from running only Blizzards Hearthstone on computer at the time of the pic.

 

Ryzen Master.bmp

 

 

Based on what the Ryzen instructions said, I set the Windows Power to "High Performance".

 

No changes to the CPU/Fan performance that I can see.

[Kaltene]

After these 2.5 years my SSD started to go south and doing some research to replace it I realize the Western Digital Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive was pretty bad I installed and clone window boot  to a new WD_BLACK 1TB SN750 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD  - Gen3 PCIe, M.2 2280.  I also had the SSD incorrectly put in the wrong slot. 

 

The new SSD is in the "fast gaming" slot with the heatsink.  Runs much better!!