In the beginning...

[Ryknow]

Hello everyone.  To preface this, I am new to pc building but have spent a good amount of time reading, watching videos, and talking with friends who have at least built a handful of pcs over the years.  So apologies in advance if I ask a dumb question, or dont grasp everything fully.

 

For starters, I'm looking at a budget of around $1,500 +/- $100-$200ish.  This budget is entirely for just the pc and does not include monitor, keyboard, etc. etc.  I understand that is extra cost, just wanted to point out that I'm wanting to invest this much in the heart of it alone. Also I live in the US, so price is USD (from reading the before you post topic).

 

The aim/use for this rig will be kind of everything really. PC gaming, standard computer use, maybe streaming in the future, editing (nothing crazy). But the original purpose is/was gaming.

 

As stated before this is a new build, no old parts being reused, and not including monitor, keyboard, etc. etc.  Im open to discussing those components for this build, but do not want the cost figured into the initial budget. Those items will have a seperate budget I have yet to set. For discussion sake, likely  a one monitor setup, not looking for a crazy  $1,000 monitor out the gate. Mechanical keyboard with blue mx cherry switches (would like addressable backlighting). Mouse is pretty open. Dont need some ridiculous dpi standard, Im not looking to be 360 no-scope anyone like all the cool kids do.

 

Ive put together two fairly similar builds with the biggest difference is RGB. I dont mind the colors, if i go RGB, I'm thinking purple/green (Joker theme).  Im kind of locked on the Fractal Design Meshify S2 case.  One for decent space between the gpu and intended front mount AIO, and two, air flow in the case. Was originally on the Meshify C case, but didnt like how close the gpu was to the AIO in the build I saw with that case. Also spec wise wasnt sure it would fit.  Im fairly sold on th Ryzen 3600 for the performance to price with overclock potential. However I am totally open to opinions and changes if they make sense.  Last note on gpu, would like to stick with nvidia 2070 super (can be msi, asus, evga version) again because of price to performance.  Oh, forgot extra fans arent listed but will be added later, but not effecting the budget (could use advice there too).

 

What I've come up with so far:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$194.99 @ Walmart
CPU Cooler	Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$159.99 @ Best Buy
Thermal Compound	Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 1g 1 g Thermal Paste	$6.85 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$168.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$134.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$87.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$109.99 @ Dell
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Video Card	$499.99 @ Best Buy
Case	Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case	$162.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1636.75
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-30 11:09 EST-0500

    

Or:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$194.99 @ Walmart
CPU Cooler	Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$159.99 @ Best Buy
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$114.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$94.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$94.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$87.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$109.99 @ Dell
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Video Card	$499.99 @ Best Buy
Case	Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case	$162.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$119.89 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1640.79
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-30 11:11 EST-0500

Really should have done this on my phone and not my PS4 with a controller, yikes.  Shout out to the youtube channel creators that were a wealth of info:  Bitwit, Paul's Hardware, Gamer's Nexus, JayzTwoCents, and Linus Tech Tips!  Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this and to anyone who replies!

 

 

[Lorant]

First one, but what is with that incredibly overkill AIO for a 3600?

 

What's this overclock potential you talk of? It's a Ryzen 3600, not an Intel chip.  If you want serious OC, go Intel.

 

Honestly, I'd scrap that AIO and put the money into something else, like more GPU.

[WereCat]

Looks good. 

I like the first build more though since you will still have a room to upgrade the RAM in the future if you will need to as you will still have 2 empty slots. 

 

I recommend XPG SX8200 Pro over SAMSUNG 970 EVO as it's cheaper and faster though. 

 

@Lorant

I agree. 

Ryzen 7 3700X with air cooler would make more sense 

[boggy77]

The msi x570 gaming plus board isn't great. Either go for the tomahawk or an asus x570, they are better

[Ryknow]

@Lorant The AIO decision was pretty much for an esthetic purposes.  I am not fond of a giant fan look on the cpu, just my personal preference.  As for OC, its not huge on a 3600, but decent enough to reach in range of more expensivee cpus out of the box, price to performance was the idea there.  Gamers Nexus has a video on this specifically, great video.  Going higher in gpu was a fairly significant price increase vs performance. I found the 2070 super to be a pretty good sweet spot in the price v performance.

 

@WereCat i thought about potentially moving to the same g.Skill rgb RAM but at 2x16, just means more money. With the 4x8, i could at least 16 out of it to start out for now and stay in budget.  Ill look into the xpg sx8200, mainly went samsung because  its a familiar brand, performed well in specs/reviews.  Same reply as above to Lorant on the cpu/Aio.

[Ryknow]

@boggy77  Interesting, i just started trying to compare different mobos today (matter of fact, asus you listed).  Could you elaborate a little on your suggestion as to why? Genuinely currious, forgive my ignorance.

[boggy77]

4 hours ago, Ryknow said:

@boggy77  Interesting, i just started trying to compare different mobos today (matter of fact, asus you listed).  Could you elaborate a little on your suggestion as to why? Genuinely currious, forgive my ignorance.

The most important thing about mobos is their vrm quality and the amount of current they manage to get through. You can take a look at the mobo tier list below to see how they perform.

 

[Herman Mcpootis]

9 hours ago, Ryknow said:

@boggy77  Interesting, i just started trying to compare different mobos today (matter of fact, asus you listed).  Could you elaborate a little on your suggestion as to why? Genuinely currious, forgive my ignorance.

bullshit high temps on MSI X570 boards below the unify/ace.

 

[Ryknow]

1 hour ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

bullshit high temps on MSI X570 boards below the unify/ace.

 

I did not see the tomahawk even listed in this. Also notice this was with A Ryzen 9 3900x. Do you think it’s the same, just scaled down some for say a Ryzen 7 3700x or even the 5 3600? Multiple videos I’ve watched have recommended the tomahawk. Thank you for the video.

[boggy77]

1 hour ago, Ryknow said:

I did not see the tomahawk even listed in this. Also notice this was with A Ryzen 9 3900x. Do you think it’s the same, just scaled down some for say a Ryzen 7 3700x or even the 5 3600? Multiple videos I’ve watched have recommended the tomahawk. Thank you for the video.

Yes, it's the same, just scaled down.if you look in the link I provided, you will see in which tier the tomahawk is. It's the best price/performance.