Building first PC for 1080p, high refresh rate gaming

[JamesStewy]

Hey,

 

I am planning out my first PC build to replace a very old and dying Dell tower. 

 

Minimum Goals

• Single 144Hz or faster 1080p monitor with VRR
• Rocket League at the monitors max refresh rate on or near the highest graphics settings 
• Other games (Civ 5 & 6, Minecraft, Overwatch, Forza Horizon 4) at playable frame rates (don't mind turning the settings down a bit just not too far)
• General usage including coding (compiling, IDE, heavy web browsing) and light photo editing (like family photo level light)
• Nvidia GPU for some armchair deep learning (RTX is out of my price range though)
• Mini tower case

So basically, I am looking for a 1080p, high refresh rate gaming system in a small-ish case. 

 

The absolute maximum I would want to spend is $1500AUD. 

 

Things I already have

I already have a keyboard, mouse, 500GB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" boot SSD and a copy of Windows 10.

 

Current Part List

Looking at benchmarks, any of the GTX 16xx series cards seem to fit my expectations on frame rates. Working from that, this is the current list of parts I am looking at:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$198.00 @ Shopping Express
Motherboard	ASRock B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$107.00 @ Skycomp Technology
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$108.00 @ Shopping Express
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$78.00 @ Centre Com
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB OC Video Card	$369.00 @ Mwave Australia
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 3 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$54.00 @ Shopping Express
Power Supply	Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$66.00 @ Shopping Express
Case Fan	Silverstone FN121-P 58.47 CFM 120 mm Fan	$7.00 @ Scorptec
Monitor	AOC 24G2 23.8" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$247.00 @ Shopping Express
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1234.00
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-02 21:59 AEDT+1100

All of these parts are available for $1334AUD from a single brick-and-mortar retailer (Scorptec) which is preferable but not necessary.

 

One thing I am unsure about is the power supply. Does it come with all the different connectors I would need (Corsair's website is a bit light on info)?

 

I have done my best to check that all the parts are compatible and come with all the necessary cables, but I would really appreciate having it looked over or any feedback on improvements.

 

Thanks.

[GabrielFerrazTPU]

Hello @JamesStewy and Welcome to the Linus Tech Tips Forum.

 

First of all, it is well balanced. But i'd suggest another PSU, even though your PC might not consume anything near 450w, it would be a better deal to get a CX-550w or even a CX-650w, because the 450W only has a 8P(6+2) GPU power conector, if in the future you want to upgrade the GPU that could have more than just one conector, you'd have to change the PSU.

Besides that, try getting a Ryzen 5 3600 instead of the 2600.

[JamesStewy]

17 minutes ago, GabrielLP14 said:

try getting a Ryzen 5 3600 instead of the 2600

How much of a performance improvement in game would you expect going to a 3600. A 3600 is typically over $100AUD (or 50%) more.

 

For the power supply, would 550W be enough for reasonable future expansion given that I probably won't be going deep into overclocking?

[GabrielFerrazTPU]

8 minutes ago, JamesStewy said:

How much of a performance improvement in game would you expect going to a 3600. A 3600 is typically over $100AUD (or 50%) more.

 

For the power supply, would 550W be enough for reasonable future expansion given that I probably won't be going deep into overclocking?

At least 20% in some game, in other games might be less or even more, there are games that the difference might be close to 30 ish.

 

And yes, the 550w has 2 8P(6+2) and gives you a better future proof cenario.

[boggy77]

7 minutes ago, JamesStewy said:

How much of a performance improvement in game would you expect going to a 3600. A 3600 is typically over $100AUD (or 50%) more.

 

For the power supply, would 550W be enough for reasonable future expansion given that I probably won't be going deep into overclocking?

A good 550w psu will be enough. Also, you need to think about cost in terms of overall price. A 100$ increase means a 9% increase of the cost of the total build. And with 3600vs 2600 you should expect about 9% fps increase in cpu-heavy games. So it's up to you whether the investment is worth it. Probably spending those 100 towards a rx5700 is a better investment.

[JamesStewy]

1 minute ago, boggy77 said:

9% fps increase in cpu-heavy games

3 minutes ago, GabrielLP14 said:

At least 20% in some game, in other games might be less or even more

Can you recommend a method or website I could use to investigate this for the games I am interested in. gpucheck.com always comes up near the top of google but that site just feels a bit fishy to me. 

[GabrielFerrazTPU]

Just now, JamesStewy said:

Can you recommend a method or website I could use to investigate this for the games I am interested in. gpucheck.com always comes up near the top of google but that site just feels a bit fishy to me. 

Youtube. Check some review on LTT Chanel, Gamer Nexus, JayzTwoCents.

6 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

A good 550w psu will be enough. Also, you need to think about cost in terms of overall price. A 100$ increase means a 9% increase of the cost of the total build. And with 3600vs 2600 you should expect about 9% fps increase in cpu-heavy games. So it's up to you whether the investment is worth it. Probably spending those 100 towards a rx5700 is a better investment.

Not exactly 9%, in some games indeed, but games like CSGO and other titles the performance increase varies a lot, from 5%-30%

[boggy77]

1 minute ago, JamesStewy said:

Can you recommend a method or website I could use to investigate this for the games I am interested in. gpucheck.com always comes up near the top of google but that site just feels a bit fishy to me. 

Youtube reviews from techdeals, hardwareunboxed, gamersnexus

[boggy77]

3 minutes ago, GabrielLP14 said:

Not exactly 9%, in some games indeed, but games like CSGO and other titles the performance increase varies a lot, from 5%-30%

I was giving more of an average and an indication that you get what you pay for.

[glenalz81]

I've seen basically a straight up 30% boost in the games i play going from a 1600x to a 3600x.

 

If high refresh is a priority then the 3600 is a no brainer.

[GabrielFerrazTPU]

1 minute ago, boggy77 said:

I was giving more of an average and an indication that you get what you pat for.

Hmm i see.

[JamesStewy]

1 minute ago, boggy77 said:

I was giving more of an average and an indication that you get what you pat for.

I get ya. 

 

Is it same to roughly correlate the improvement from a 2600 to a 3600 on a given GPU to the improvement I would see with a 1660 super or is it just too specific (and hence have to go out and find benchmarks for the exact combo of game, cpu and gpu)?

[boggy77]

9 minutes ago, JamesStewy said:

I get ya. 

 

Is it same to roughly correlate the improvement from a 2600 to a 3600 on a given GPU to the improvement I would see with a 1660 super or is it just too specific (and hence have to go out and find benchmarks for the exact combo of game, cpu and gpu)?

If you care enough about details, go and see benchmarks for the specific combo. But i think anyone on this forum would choose a 2600+5700 over a 3600+1660s, if those are the two options you're looking at. Generally, most games are limited by gpu rather than cpu, so for an average gamer it makes more sense to spend more on gpu. If one the other hand you have a specific case, like trying to get 240fps in cs:go, spending on the cpu makes more sense. 

[boggy77]

13 minutes ago, JamesStewy said:

I get ya. 

 

Is it same to roughly correlate the improvement from a 2600 to a 3600 on a given GPU to the improvement I would see with a 1660 super or is it just too specific (and hence have to go out and find benchmarks for the exact combo of game, cpu and gpu)?

If the other gpus is close to the 1660s performance (1660, 1660ti, 1070, vega 56) then yes, you could assume it's similar. 

[JamesStewy]

Thanks @boggy77 and @GabrielLP14 for your help. I will investigate whether a 3600 is worth it for me tomorrow.