Gaming PC guide

[Fenris Wolf]

Hey guys, I'm planning to get my brother in to PC gaming.

The goal here is Gaming and no streaming will ever happen. Some Apps such as Photoshop and music editing software will be used.

Budget is around 1200$ to 1500$ and the actual Case itself does not matter because we already got one. The budget must contain A monitor in it as well.

The performance we expect is 60+ FPS for all AAA games at highest graphics preset (specially newer ones) at 1080p. Crazy FPS numbers does not matter that much tho they would be appreciated.

Since we are going to play some competitive games such as Siege and Overwatch, High fps numbers are required. No peripherals needed.

 

Here's a list i gathered. I need your advice if any change is needed.

 

CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard	Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory	GeIL EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage	Samsung 860 QVO 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card	Asus GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB Dual EVO OC Video Card
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply
Monitor	MSI Optix G24C 23.6" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor

 

One thing to note is that RTX feature is needed. I don't know if 2060 Super would suffice but it's possible to swap it with a 2070 super.

Also is it possible to overclock that CPU with it's stock cooler?

 

P.S: At first i was kinda stuck between a 8700k and 9700k but then the lack of HT in the latter and no cooler in both of those got me thinking. I can fix the cooler problem but i don't know how much he would be losing in the future if HT is not available.... (Consider a gaming scenario)

[xriqn]

Personally wouldn't bother investing in X570, just get yourself a nice cheap B450/X470 board. I have an ASRock B450M Pro4 and it's more than sufficient for me, there's a zen2 BIOS for it now too so maybe get something cheap alongside the 3600 like an Athlon 200GE just to update the bios then sell it. I'd imagine that you won't need to upgrade the bios though asmine came with the zen2 update preinstalled.

[Fenris Wolf]

6 minutes ago, xriqn said:

Personally wouldn't bother investing in X570, just get yourself a nice cheap B450/X470 board. I have an ASRock B450M Pro4 and it's more than sufficient for me, there's a zen2 BIOS for it now too so maybe get something cheap alongside the 3600 like an Athlon 200GE just to update the bios then sell it. I'd imagine that you won't need to upgrade the bios though asmine came with the zen2 update preinstalled.

Can we overclock 3600 or other Zen 2 CPUs if we decided to upgrade in a year or two (to 3700x or even 3900x) on a B450 board?

[xriqn]

3 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

Can we overclock 3600 or other Zen 2 CPUs if we decided to upgrade in a year or two (such as 3700 or even 3900x) on a B450 board?

I'd imagine so, they are designed to overclock after all. Dunno if it'd handle a ryzen 9 though, might want to do a bit of research on that.

[Sorenson]

Just now, xriqn said:

I'd imagine so, they are designed to overclock after all. Dunno if it'd handle a ryzen 9 though, might want to do a bit of research on that.

They zen 2 chips don’t really have a lot of overclocking headroom past what they automatically do out of the box. If you’re talking about the b450 chipset, then yes he technically can overclock but the VRMs will become an issue.

[Jurrunio]

11 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

Motherboard Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard Storage Samsung 860 QVO 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive VPower Supply   Cooler Master MWE Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply

the board's pretty barren when it comes to its rear I/O section

SSD is overpriced. Its competitors at this price range are TLC SATA or QLC NVMe, don't see the point of a QLC SATA drive.

PSU's overkill, your build won't pull more than 400w at its current state no matter what you do with it.

 

14 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

RTX feature is needed.

how so? If you want to run that in a game, at least get a 2070S or the frame rate will be too low to be enjoyable.

 

14 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

Also is it possible to overclock that CPU with it's stock cooler?

There's very little OC headroom on 3rd gen's cores and when you do, core temperature shoot right up no matter the cooler (just to lesser degree with better ones) due to 7nm's high heat density. Stock cooler's fine if you leave the cores running stock, since it's also better to leave it that way.

 

6 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

Can we overclock 3600 or other Zen 2 CPUs if we decided to upgrade in a year or two (such as 3700 or even 3900x) on a B450 board?

a good board should be alright in running a 3900x, but again at stock core clocks.

[Devryd]

if you are purely gaming, you dont need a ryzen 9 
for gaming the 3600xor the 3700x is sufficient and they should be easily overclockable on a b450 board

 

[Mateyyy]

I'd go for a good B450 board instead of an X570, as you really don't need X570 for a 3600, but just know that you'll need to flash the latest BIOS.

 

I'd swap the PSU out for something like a Corsair RM550x. You won't need 750W, even with two of those GPUs in SLI.

 

In terms of storage, I'd suggest considering going with a 500GB NVMe SSD, and adding in a HDD for mass storage and other games.

 

With the savings you could be looking at by changing out the motherboard and PSU, you could maybe be looking at getting a better GPU, something like a 5700 XT or a 2070 Super would be great choices in terms of performance.

[Fenris Wolf]

9 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

the board's pretty barren when it comes to its rear I/O section

SSD is overpriced. Its competitors at this price range are TLC SATA or QLC NVMe, don't see the point of a QLC SATA drive.

PSU's overkill, your build won't pull more than 400w at its current state no matter what you do with it.

 

how so? If you want to run that in a game, at least get a 2070S or the frame rate will be too low to be enjoyable.

 

There's very little OC headroom on 3rd gen's cores and when you do, core temperature shoot right up no matter the cooler (just to lesser degree with better ones) due to 7nm's high heat density. Stock cooler's fine if you leave the cores running stock, since it's also better to leave it that way.

 

a good board should be alright in running a 3900x, but again at stock core clocks.

 

Hmm. So you suggest a B450 instead of that X570 i mentioned as well, Correct?

Can you suggest a better SSD (1TB is sufficient)

Thanks for the PSU suggestion! I think a 500w would be a good choice (kinda want to make some areas of this build future proof)

RTX is needed because he likes the effect in general So 2070S is a must for playable FPS... noted.

Thanks for the helpful post btw.

 

6 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

I'd go for a good B450 board instead of an X570, as you really don't need X570 for a 3600, but just know that you'll need to flash the latest BIOS.

 

I'd swap the PSU out for something like a Corsair RM550x. You won't need 750W, even with two of those GPUs in SLI.

 

In terms of storage, I'd suggest considering going with a 500GB NVMe SSD, and adding in a HDD for mass storage and other games.

 

With the savings you could be looking at by changing out the motherboard and PSU, you could maybe be looking at getting a better GPU, something like a 5700 XT or a 2070 Super would be great choices in terms of performance.

 

So it is confirmed. I will definitely change the board to B450.

Thanks for the PSU suggestion!

Is there any specific model for SSD that you could suggest?

 

[xriqn]

5 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

 

Hmm. So you suggest a B450 instead of that X570 i mentioned as well, Correct?

Can you suggest a better SSD (1TB is sufficient)

Thanks for the PSU suggestion! I think a 500w would be a good choice (kinda want to make some areas of this build future proof)

RTX is needed because he likes the effect in general So 2070S is a must for playable FPS... noted.

Thanks for the helpful post btw.

 

 

So it is confirmed. I will definitely change the board to B450.

Thanks for the PSU suggestion!

Is there any specific model for SSD that you could suggest?

 

Go for a nice 850 Evo 500gb. Don't need a 1tb SSD unless you're only putting 1 drive in. Plenty say Samsung is overrated but they are the best for a reason: speed and reliability like no others. There are some other good SSDs out there though, maybe get something from crucial or teamgroup if you don't want to go Samsung.

[Jurrunio]

4 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

So you suggest a B450 instead of that X570 i mentioned as well, Correct?

Whether you have an older CPU for BIOS flashing will affect the options. Don't forget X470 as well if BIOS flashing with an older CPU is an option.

As for the boards themselves, MSI has the best boards with the Gaming Plus, Tomahawk, Gaming Pro Carbon, with BIOS flashing capability on their own. Asus B450-F, B450-E, TUF Pro boards are a bit worse but if you dont mind the brand or need to flash BIOS with older CPU, they are also viable.

 

8 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

Can you suggest a better SSD (1TB is sufficient)

Crucial MX500 and Adata SU800 are both TLC SATA, Intel 660p is QLC NVMe at about the same price. You might find budget TLC NVMe drives like the MP300, A2000, EX900, SX6000 Pro at similar price levels.

 

9 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

Thanks for the PSU suggestion! I think a 500w would be a good choice (kinda want to make some areas of this build future proof)

depends on whether you want to spend extra for efficiency, CX550M, TX550M, MWE Gold 550w, G2 550w, Focus GX 550w are all good options.

[Mateyyy]

12 minutes ago, Fenris Wolf said:

 

Hmm. So you suggest a B450 instead of that X570 i mentioned as well, Correct?

Can you suggest a better SSD (1TB is sufficient)

Thanks for the PSU suggestion! I think a 500w would be a good choice (kinda want to make some areas of this build future proof)

RTX is needed because he likes the effect in general So 2070S is a must for playable FPS... noted.

Thanks for the helpful post btw.

 

 

So it is confirmed. I will definitely change the board to B450.

Thanks for the PSU suggestion!

Is there any specific model for SSD that you could suggest?

 

The 2070S isn't a "must" for playable FPS per se, but it will definitely offer a better experience in the long run .

 

Regarding the SSD, you could go for something like an Intel 660p - while it's still QLC, I've personally had one for a while now (a 1TB version though, and speeds will usually slightly go up with larger storage) and had no problems when it comes to performance. As long as you don't do super massive reads and writes all the time that could make it slow down, which most people in the real world really won't, it will run fine. Reliability / lifespan is also something that, on paper, will not be as good when it comes to QLC, but I personally think that it can still handle so many writes that by the time it would die, you'd probably already have upgraded. At least that's my take on it.

 

That being said, you could also just go with a SATA SSD (performance will still be plenty). Something like a 860 EVO from Samsung will do, and that uses MLC memory if I'm not mistaken. 

[Jurrunio]

3 minutes ago, xriqn said:

speed and reliability like no others.

speed don't stand with the 860 QVO, as for reliability... the factory ratings are impressive but I'd rather pay for a replacement plan on top of the warranty.

[Fenris Wolf]

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

 

So i changed the PSU, SSD, Mobo and GPU with these. Are they fine? (These are the available parts and we cannot wait for shipment since it takes a long time to import these stuff from america)

Cooler Master MasterWatt 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard https://pcpartpicker.com/product/GNMwrH/samsung-pm981-512-gb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-mzvlb512hajq-00000 Asus DUAL EVO RTX 2070 Super     Alternatively i can change that SSD (if it's not good) with a Gigabyte AORUS RGB 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive   One thing i forgot to mention is that he already has a 1TB hdd (seagate Barracuda) so one SSD (512 or 1TB) would suffice for this entire build

 

EDIT: Sorry guys, i posted this too quick and had to do multiple edits...