Building a new PC

[rockybulwinkle]

Hello all,

 

I've been researching for a new Ryzen 3600 build. I'm finally upgrading from my 10 year old i7-920 (yes, the original Nehalem). I wanted to run it by the people here to make sure I'm not making any stupid mistakes.

 

I have a couple questions and comments:

1. pcpartpicker warns me that the PSU doesn't have a second 4 pin connector for the 12v motherboard power. Is this going to be a problem for this build? Will I need to populate this in in the future if I upgrade to a more power hungry CPU?

2. Note that the case is actually going to (temporarily) be my current Antec Nine Hundred v1, not v3. pcpartpicker didn't have the older version.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$195.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	Asus PRIME X570-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$236.89 @ OutletPC
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$70.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card	$589.00 @ Amazon
Case	Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$103.00 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1225.77
	Mail-in rebates	-$30.00
	Total	$1195.77
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-30 00:00 EDT-0400

 

Thanks,

rocky

Edited August 30, 2019 by rockybulwinkle
pcpartpicker preformatted text wasn't working

[Fasauceome]

31 minutes ago, rockybulwinkle said:

1. pcpartpicker warns me that the PSU doesn't have a second 4 pin connector for the 12v motherboard power. Is this going to be a problem for this build? Will I need to populate this in in the future if I upgrade to a more power hungry CPU?

not an issue at all. A single 8 pin can push a ton of power.

 

31 minutes ago, rockybulwinkle said:

Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card $589.00 @ Amazon

$590 for a last gen graphics card? for that money a 2070 Super can be had.

 

32 minutes ago, rockybulwinkle said:

Power Supply SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $103.00 @ Amazon

the focus line has problems, for your money you can get a lot better.

 

32 minutes ago, rockybulwinkle said:

Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory $70.99 @ Newegg

single channel memory cripples Ryzen, and is generally not recommended for gaming PCs.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$195.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	Asus PRIME X570-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$236.89 @ OutletPC
Memory	Team T-FORCE VULCAN TUF Gaming Allian 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$69.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	Zotac GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Twin Fan Video Card	$499.99 @ B&H
Case	Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$69.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1102.75
	Mail-in rebates	-$30.00
	Total	$1072.75
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-30 00:28 EDT-0400

 

[rockybulwinkle]

Thanks for the suggestions. The GTX 1070 I already own from the last PC, so I'm not looking to upgrade the GPU right now. I'm a little surprised about what you say about the focus line, I've seen it suggested in the forums before. As for the ram, what does "crippled" mean? 10%? 50%?

[rockybulwinkle]

I found a general answer to my question about single/dual channel ram:

 

The difference is significant but I can live with it for now. I'm eventually going to add another 16GB stick as I do other things with my desktop like programming, serve stuff, etc.

[Herman Mcpootis]

13 minutes ago, rockybulwinkle said:

I found a general answer to my question about single/dual channel ram:

 

The difference is significant but I can live with it for now. I'm eventually going to add another 16GB stick as I do other things with my desktop like programming, serve stuff, etc.

you could always drop down to a cheaper board for another 16gb stick, even a $70 pro4 is more than enough for a 3600.

[rockybulwinkle]

3 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

you could always drop down to a cheaper board for another 16gb stick, even a $70 pro4 is more than enough for a 3600.

Yeah, I guess I could. Funnily enough, that's a board I had been considering. I'm going to lay out what I've been considering here.

 

I was thinking about future upgradability. Though what Fasauceome said in another thread here, that future proofing is a bad idea, has me thinking maybe you're right that I should go with the cheaper board.

 

What I'm wondering is if the next gen ryzen chips will still support x570. I'm doubtful I would upgrade to a higher ryzen 3000 series because it has plenty of cores already and so much higher single thread performance than I have on my i7-920. If we entertain some amount of "future proofing", zen 3 may be supported by x570/AM4. The ryzen 5 4600 (or whatever they end up calling it) would probably be supported by this motherboard...

 

About the PSU, I'm wondering what flaws Fasauceome is thinking of with the seasonic psu. It's listed as a Tier A psu here. Though I see the MWE on there as well though I'm not sure why; I haven't been able to find a tomshardware review of it and reviews are lacking.

 

 

Sorry if this was a bit rambly, it's past midnight here and I'm getting pretty tired.

 

Thank you so much for all the help!

[LienusLateTips]

21 minutes ago, rockybulwinkle said:

Yeah, I guess I could. Funnily enough, that's a board I had been considering. I'm going to lay out what I've been considering here.

 

I was thinking about future upgradability. Though what Fasauceome said in another thread here, that future proofing is a bad idea, has me thinking maybe you're right that I should go with the cheaper board.

 

What I'm wondering is if the next gen ryzen chips will still support x570. I'm doubtful I would upgrade to a higher ryzen 3000 series because it has plenty of cores already and so much higher single thread performance than I have on my i7-920. If we entertain some amount of "future proofing", zen 3 may be supported by x570/AM4. The ryzen 5 4600 (or whatever they end up calling it) would probably be supported by this motherboard...

 

About the PSU, I'm wondering what flaws Fasauceome is thinking of with the seasonic psu. It's listed as a Tier A psu here. Though I see the MWE on there as well though I'm not sure why; I haven't been able to find a tomshardware review of it and reviews are lacking.

 

 

Sorry if this was a bit rambly, it's past midnight here and I'm getting pretty tired.

 

Thank you so much for all the help!

Hey!

 

We're actually planning to bump it down to Tier B or C for not being within ATX spec.

Read more here:

 

[Herman Mcpootis]

58 minutes ago, rockybulwinkle said:

What I'm wondering is if the next gen ryzen chips will still support x570. I'm doubtful I would upgrade to a higher ryzen 3000 series because it has plenty of cores already and so much higher single thread performance than I have on my i7-920. If we entertain some amount of "future proofing", zen 3 may be supported by x570/AM4. The ryzen 5 4600 (or whatever they end up calling it) would probably be supported by this motherboard...

X570 will likely still support the next generation of zen CPUs, though it's unclear after that since AMD only promised to support AM4 until 2020. the B350M Pro4 is perfectly fine with the 3900x on stock and was mostly borderline after enabling PBO, so something like a tomahawk will be fine.

 

[rockybulwinkle]

Hello again,

 

I've updated my parts list to reflect the advice of not using that seasonic psu, use a cheaper motherboard, and to get two sticks of ddr4.

 

I've selected an x470 motherboard. I'm a little nervous about how much hassle it might be to upgrade the BIOS. Can someone who has gone through AMD's loaner program chime in here?

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$193.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	MSI X470 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard	$149.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$70.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$70.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card	$589.00 @ Amazon
Case	Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA G1+ 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$100.88 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1200.84
	Mail-in rebates	-$25.00
	Total	$1175.84
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-31 00:41 EDT-0400

 

Thanks,

rocky

[Herman Mcpootis]

10 minutes ago, rockybulwinkle said:

Hello again,

 

I've updated my parts list to reflect the advice of not using that seasonic psu, use a cheaper motherboard, and to get two sticks of ddr4.

 

I've selected an x470 motherboard. I'm a little nervous about how much hassle it might be to upgrade the BIOS. Can someone who has gone through AMD's loaner program chime in here?

some changes:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$193.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	$114.96 @ Amazon
Memory	OLOy WarHawk RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$137.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card	$589.00 @ Amazon
Case	Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$64.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1100.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-31 00:52 EDT-0400

the tomahawk has bios flashback so if it doesn't boot up on first try, download the bios files and put them on a thumbdrive, plug it into a usb port and push the bios flashback button.

[rockybulwinkle]

 

22 hours ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

some changes:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$193.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	$114.96 @ Amazon
Memory	OLOy WarHawk RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$137.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card	$589.00 @ Amazon
Case	Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$64.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1100.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-31 00:52 EDT-0400

the tomahawk has bios flashback so if it doesn't boot up on first try, download the bios files and put them on a thumbdrive, plug it into a usb port and push the bios flashback button.

Huzzah, I have placed the order for these parts! Thanks again for the help. And thanks for suggesting the tomahawk, it turns out someone has written a program to control the RGB from linux for that board!

 

Now, as I said before, the case is something I'm reusing from my current pc, but this is a short term solution. What case do you think would look good with this hardware? I'm currently thinking of an NZXT H500i or H510i (mostly debating between these whether I want two type a or one type a and one type c on the front) in either the black and white config or all black color. Keeping the case colors neutral seems like a good idea for the RGB.

[rockybulwinkle]

I went with the nzxt h510i in black and white

On 8/31/2019 at 12:53 AM, Herman Mcpootis said:

some changes:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$193.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	$114.96 @ Amazon
Memory	OLOy WarHawk RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$137.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card	$589.00 @ Amazon
Case	Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$64.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1100.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-31 00:52 EDT-0400

the tomahawk has bios flashback so if it doesn't boot up on first try, download the bios files and put them on a thumbdrive, plug it into a usb port and push the bios flashback button.that.ks

 

[rockybulwinkle]

I got all the parts and put it together! It's been running fine, if a little hot on the stock cooler (I decided to abort prime95 because the temp was creeping towards 90C). Idles around 30-35C. I accidentally lifted the heatsink while screwing it to the backplate so there might be a lot of bubbles. I may have to try applying it again.

 

Something I didn't expect with this case however was that the H510i has a "key-a" usb 3.1 gen 2 connector, which my motherboard doesn't have. I'm looking at getting a silverstone ECU02 so I can utilize that port: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R2MH4KV . I'm wondering if anyone knows of a better adapter with a USB 3.1 gen 2 internal header? Maybe one that also adds some more external USB ports? It seems the choices are somewhat scarce at the moment.

 

I managed to get control of the RGB of the motherboard and case lighting under linux. The motherboard lighting using MSI-RGB: https://github.com/nagisa/msi-rgb although it can't turn off the pulsing on this board. I got control of the NZXT RGB controller by running a windows VM in virtualbox and passing the USB through. I'm going to try to reverse engineer its controls using RWEverything and wireshark so I can get rid of the VM. The ram's RGB I haven't tried to control yet.

 

Thanks,

rocky