Build Refinement Performance/Value

[Nanook]

Help me squeeze out every dollar of value in this build that I possibly can. Please don't be afraid to critique the build as I look forward to constructive criticisms that eek out most performance for the best value.

 

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.2GHz Max Boost)	$199.99
CPU Cooler	Cooler MasterHyper 212 Black Edition CPU Air Cooler	$38.99
Motherboard	ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 AM4	$154.99
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3200	$77.99
Storage 1	WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB Internal SSD	$61.05
Storage 2	N/A	$0.00
Video Card	GIGABYTE Geforce RTX 2070 Super WINDFORCE OC 8G	$499.99
Case	Cooler Master MasterCase H500 ATX Mid-Tower	$119.99
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS series SSR-750FM 750W 80 + Gold	$117.91
Monitor	Undecided	$???
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1375.75
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$1365.75

 

I am still currently in the midst of searching and making decisions on a monitor. I am aiming for 1440p, IPS panel, 27 inch, 144Hz to 165Hz, and I have not decided whether I want to go with pure G-sync or just certified G-sync compatible. I appreciate your feed back and helping me to maximize my build.

 

Thank you. 

 

[Mister Woof]

I'd spend a bit less on the case and PSU and try to go up to a 3700x imo.

 

A Cougar MX 330-G would be only $55 and a Corsair Vengeance 650w is around $80, saving you a good amount to put towards a better cpu

[Nanook]

13 minutes ago, Plutosaurus said:

I'd spend a but less on the case and PSU and try to go up to a 3700x imo

I thought about a 3700x, but this rig is meant for gaming. I won't be doing any video encoding or other tasks that take advantage of many threads at once. Most games only take advantage of 2-4 cores at the most. But I agree I could maybe save on the case and PSU. The reason for picking that case was the airflow factor. For its price point, the Cooler Master H500 has very good air flow, but maybe there is another case out there that is comparable for cheaper. As for the PSU, I just need to research harder to get a better deal. I will say that Seasonic has a reputation for lasting PSU's.

[Mister Woof]

2 minutes ago, Nanook said:

I thought about a 3700x, but this rig is meant for gaming. I won't be doing any video editing or any tasks that take advantage of many threads at once. Most games only take advantage of 2-4 cores at the most. But I agree I could maybe save on the case and PSU. The reason for picking that case was the airflow factor. For its price point, the Cooler Master H500 has very good air flow, but maybe there is another case out there that is comparable for cheaper. As for the PSU, I just need to research harder to get a better deal. I will say that Seasonic has a reputation for lasting PSU's.

Just a thought; buying more than you need right now might save you hundreds later

 

I got a 4/4 CPU in 2014 and that was a mistake.

 

A 6/12 will age better than a 4/4, but I still believe in that philosophy

 

Also the cougar is really good for it's price point, 1/4 the cost of your choice.

[uberas]

5 minutes ago, Plutosaurus said:

Just a thought; buying more than you need right now might save you hundreds later

I don’t agree with this one - at time when games will support more cores/threads IPC of this CPU will be low-average and even grabbing something like 3900x wouldn’t help. But in case games will focus on multithread (unlikely) he can still sell his 3600 and buy 3900x or something cheaper later on. It is actually smart idea 

 

40 minutes ago, Nanook said:

Help me squeeze out every dollar of value in this build that I possibly can. Please don't be afraid to critique the build as I look forward to constructive criticisms that eek out most performance for the best value.

 

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 3.6GHz (4.2GHz Max Boost)	$199.99
CPU Cooler	Cooler MasterHyper 212 Black Edition CPU Air Cooler	$38.99
Motherboard	ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 AM4	$154.99
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3200	$77.99
Storage 1	WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB Internal SSD	$61.05
Storage 2	N/A	$0.00
Video Card	GIGABYTE Geforce RTX 2070 Super WINDFORCE OC 8G	$499.99
Case	Cooler Master MasterCase H500 ATX Mid-Tower	$199.99
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS series SSR-750FM 750W 80 + Gold	$117.91
Monitor	Undecided	$???
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1375.75
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$1365.75

 

I am still currently in the midst of searching and making decisions on a monitor. I am aiming for 1440p, IPS panel, 27 inch, 144Hz to 165Hz, and I have not decided whether I want to go with pure G-sync or just certified G-sync compatible. I appreciate your feed back and helping me to maximize my build.

 

Thank you. 

 

If you’re looking at best performance per dollar then buy cheaper case, b450 motherboard, you can think of cheaper PSU aswell, use box cooling and buy RTX2080S- however your build is pretty good (x570 let you upgrade your CPU in future and OC it). 

You have to decide if you want to have good all-round PC or sacrifice “quality” over quantity. I would sacrifice but that’s me.

[Mister Woof]

Suit yourself - we are already seeing games where 6/6 is being surpassed by 6/12 or 8/16 chips at equal IPC, despite people saying just last year that getting more than 6/6 was pointless, and with high powered 8/16 consoles on the way, it's possible developers will advance faster than they did in the past. Of course it's a gamble, but it's not one with bad odds, and I'm not recommending the 3900x at all. 

 

If I were buying right now and with a budget that includes a $500 GPU, I would definitely get the 8 core chip.

 

But a nice case and a good PSU aren't bad investments either, so I don't fault the OP for wanting them.

 

[Nanook]

11 minutes ago, uberas said:

I don’t agree with this one - at time when games will support more cores/threads IPC of this CPU will be low-average and even grabbing something like 3900x wouldn’t help. But in case games will focus on multithread (unlikely) he can still sell his 3600 and buy 3900x or something cheaper later on. It is actually smart idea 

 

If you’re looking at best performance per dollar then buy cheaper case, b450 motherboard, you can think of cheaper PSU aswell, use box cooling and buy RTX2080S- however your build is pretty good (x570 let you upgrade your CPU in future and OC it). 

You have to decide if you want to have good all-round PC or sacrifice “quality” over quantity. I would sacrifice but that’s me.

The reason why I avoided the B450 is because it doesn't fully support Ryzen 3rd gen yet. There needs to be more memory on the chipset for full support of Ryzen 3rd gen. There are a few companies looking into this. I think MSI is going to update its B450 line with the acronym MAX (Example, B450 MAX) which signifies that it now fully supports Ryzen 3rd gen. I just didn't want to wait another month or so until the new boards are released. Sure, it is still possible to play on a B450 with a Ryzen 3rd gen processor with a bios update, but I would rather have full support.

 

I agree about the PSU and case though. I need to dig a little more and get a better deal for both.

[uberas]

32 minutes ago, Plutosaurus said:

Suit yourself - we are already seeing games where 6/6 is being surpassed by 6/12 or 8/16 chips at equal IPC, despite people saying just last year that getting more than 6/6 was pointless, and with high powered 8/16 consoles on the way, it's possible developers will advance faster than they did in the past. Of course it's a gamble, but it's not one with bad odds, and I'm not recommending the 3900x at all. 

 

If I were buying right now and with a budget that includes a $500 GPU, I would definitely get the 8 core chip.

 

But a nice case and a good PSU aren't bad investments either, so I don't fault the OP for wanting them.

 

We never know, actually we’ve had the biggest bump in corecount in years - remind me of 2500k and 2600k. So let’s say 3600 is 2500k and 2600k is 3700x it’s probably gonna be pretty similar. 3600 will serve you for another 3-5 years while 3700x probably will last 6-7 years (you would have to sacrifice graphics settings). The thing is: you’re getting 15% performance gain for 40% price. I would still stand for 3600.

 

25 minutes ago, Nanook said:

The reason why I avoided the B450 is because it doesn't fully support Ryzen 3rd gen yet. There needs to be more memory on the chipset for full support of Ryzen 3rd gen. There are a few companies looking into this. I think MSI is going to update its B450 line with the acronym MAX (Example, B450 MAX) which signifies that it now fully supports Ryzen 3rd gen. I just didn't want to wait another month or so until the new boards are released. Sure, it is still possible to play on a B450 with a Ryzen 3rd gen processor with a bios update, but I would rather have full support.

 

I agree about the PSU and case though. I need to dig a little more and get a better deal for both.

Pretty much all motherboards were updated ages ago - well there are some problems but with both old and new platforms. I would suggest you buying MSI b450 gaming plus - you can flash new BIOS without CPU on that one. Plus support ram up to 3466MHz, 3666MHz is sweetspot for zen 2 as I recall anyway and it gets stupidly expensive above so you’re all good.

[Nanook]

51 minutes ago, uberas said:

We never know, actually we’ve had the biggest bump in corecount in years - remind me of 2500k and 2600k. So let’s say 3600 is 2500k and 2600k is 3700x it’s probably gonna be pretty similar. 3600 will serve you for another 3-5 years while 3700x probably will last 6-7 years (you would have to sacrifice graphics settings). The thing is: you’re getting 15% performance gain for 40% price. I would still stand for 3600.

 

Pretty much all motherboards were updated ages ago - well there are some problems but with both old and new platforms. I would suggest you buying MSI b450 gaming plus - you can flash new BIOS without CPU on that one. Plus support ram up to 3466MHz, 3666MHz is sweetspot for zen 2 as I recall anyway and it gets stupidly expensive above so you’re all good.

Thank you for that.

[paulmohr]

Yep, like the others said, previous gen motherboard for less money, cheaper case and a less expensive PSU.

 

I can understand not wanting to skimp on a power supply though. I certainly wouldn't suggest getting the cheapest pile of crap power supply you can find.

 

And the case, I don't know, 200 bucks for a case sounds pretty pricey to me but I guess it would depend on the features it has and if you need them. Some are expensive because they come with good fans. Especially if they come with RGB fans. That could add 100 or more to the price I bet. But if your looking to save money I surely wouldn't go that route. I would buy better fans over RGB fans any day of the week personally.

[Nanook]

5 hours ago, paulmohr said:

Yep, like the others said, previous gen motherboard for less money, cheaper case and a less expensive PSU.

 

I can understand not wanting to skimp on a power supply though. I certainly wouldn't suggest getting the cheapest pile of crap power supply you can find.

 

And the case, I don't know, 200 bucks for a case sounds pretty pricey to me but I guess it would depend on the features it has and if you need them. Some are expensive because they come with good fans. Especially if they come with RGB fans. That could add 100 or more to the price I bet. But if your looking to save money I surely wouldn't go that route. I would buy better fans over RGB fans any day of the week personally.

I made a mistake in the OP. That case is actually $119.99.

[paulmohr]

Well that is better, but still you can get a case for half that if saving money is your key concern. If those fans are the fans I think they are they are pretty decent. LIke 90 cfm and pretty quiet.