20+ years since last build. HELP!!!

[NunyaBizness]

Howdy.

 

1st time poster, long time lurker.  I haven't built a machine in at least 20+ years.  I decided to build one for the kids for the holidays.  I have watched and read a million videos and reviews, and have decided on the following main setup:

 

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• HDD: 250GB NVMe M.2 SSD
• MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR4/3000MHz 
• MOTHERBOARD: ASUS TUF X470-Plus Gaming 
• VIDEO: AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB 

  95% of the time these games will be played: Fortnite, CS:Go, Tomb Raider, COD MW, Apex Legends, Red Dead 2.

 

  My question is what monitor to get?  120Mhz or 144Mhz?

 

  I am looking at a 24-27" monitor as that's all that will fit in the space.

 

  I was leaning towards a 120Mhz, as I figure most games will be played in Med to High at 1080p, unless you think the specs above can handle better.

 

  Help me get this last detail please so I can finish ordering stuff for Christmas.

 

  Thanks in Advance!

 

Craig

 

[RodrigoRS]

Hello!

 

First of all, what is your budget. I think we can polish your build a bit more and squish more out of it.

 

Do you have another storage disk or will only have the 250gb ssd? Seems a bit low.

[RodrigoRS]

Furthermore, do you already have any of those parts? The budget includes monitor, keyboard, etc?

[NunyaBizness]

Removing the storage options, I have about $800 to build the system.

 

I have a 250GB NVMe M.2 which I want to put the OS and cycle between 1 or 2 games on there.  I also have a 1TB SSD and a 1TB Mechanical Drive for everything else.

 

Here's where I put my money allocations:

 

MB: $100

Processor: $175

Ram: $75

GPU: $200

Case: $75

PSU: $75

Storage: $100

Monitor: $150-200

 

Total: $1000-1100

 

Oh, and keyboard, mouse, display port cables, etc are covered.

 

[NunyaBizness]

This was my original build list I started with.  I updated today with things currently in stock at places, but with same specs:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$189.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard	$109.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$49.99 @ Newegg
Storage	HP EX900 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$36.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 580 8 GB GTS Black Core Edition Video Card	$159.99 @ Best Buy
Case	Deepcool Gamer Storm MACUBE 310 ATX Mid Tower Case	$59.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$114.99 @ Newegg
Monitor	MSI Optix G24C 23.6" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$159.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$911.92
	Mail-in rebates	-$30.00
	Total	$881.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 15:16 EST-0500

 

[RodrigoRS]

Okey, so storage is not a problem. Your cpu is way too powerful for the gpu, it will be a bottleneck for the processor. Seems like a waste of resourses. Would you be interested in a cpu downgrade in exange for a better gpu? That way both will be in the same tier. I switched the psu also, I think you don't need more than 500~550w.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$119.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard	$109.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$49.99 @ Newegg
Storage	HP EX900 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$36.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI Radeon RX 5700 8 GB Evoke OC Video Card	$299.99 @ Newegg
Case	Deepcool Gamer Storm MACUBE 310 ATX Mid Tower Case	$59.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$69.99 @ Newegg
Monitor	MSI Optix G24C 23.6" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$159.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$966.92
	Mail-in rebates	-$60.00
	Total	$906.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 15:26 EST-0500

You can go with the 2600x if you want ($20 more) and about the RX 5700, you can buy that or the RTX 2060. Both are almost the same, get the cheaper one.

 

With that, your cpu and gpu will be more balanced. In a couple of years, just buy a Ryzen 4xxx and you have a future proof pc.

 

At least, that's what I think you should do if you are just gaming.

[mariushm]

For more than 60 Hz, you'd want something better than RX 580.

Also, while Ryzen 5 3600 has very good value, the Ryzen 2600 has even better value at only $120 - those 70$ can go to a better video card.

If you'll find the performance insufficient, it's still a very good processor that will hold its value and you can sell it on eBay or somewhere with a small discount and go for a 8 core or 12 core later.

 

The motherboard below is good for up to 8 core and even 12 core processors, as long as you won't overclock such cpu.

I picked mATX format in case you'll want to use a smaller and potentially cheaper case.

If you have the budget, go up to a MSI B450-A Pro Max or MSI B450M Gaming Plus  or MSI Tomohawk MAX or stay with that Asrock x570 board  but in that case you'd have to change the case to ATX size, as the one below is mATX.

 

The GTX 1660 Super is around 10-25% more powerful as long as you play below 4K resolutions. Above let's say 3440x1440 the 6 GB frame buffer starts to show, and card slows down. Still, at 230$ it's a good performance for money.

It's about 5-10% faster than RX 590 which you can find for as low as 180-200$

 

At 2560x1440 high quality you'll get around 90 fps with this card, so if you tweak settings to medium-high you may get up to 120 fps. You could also play at 2560x1080 on a 2560x1440 monitor, and the image quality won't suffer, you'll just have black bars on top and bottom of the image.

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$119.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$54.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card	$229.99 @ Newegg
Case	Deepcool MATREXX 30 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$34.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Antec High Current Gamer Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$84.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$609.93
	Mail-in rebates	-$25.00
	Total	$584.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 15:53 EST-0500

 

Here's some options that look good to me:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
Monitor	Acer XG270HU 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor	$269.99 @ Best Buy
Monitor	LG 34UM59-B 34.0" 2560x1080 75 Hz Monitor	$276.44 @ Amazon
Monitor	AOC CQ27G1 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor	$249.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$796.42
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-04 16:04 EST-0500

 

[NunyaBizness]

Perfect.  Just what I needed.

 

Thanks for both of your inputs.  I'll look over everything closely tonight and make my decision.

 

Appreciate the detailed feedback.

 

Craig