Mid Tier Gaming PC

[Lorkhan420]

Hey all, Just trying to see if anyone can help me reign in the price of this build while keeping the performance.

Currently:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$299.99 @ B&H
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D9L 46.44 CFM CPU Cooler	$54.95 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$183.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$82.99 @ Newegg
Storage	HP EX920 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$74.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$53.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$53.98 @ Newegg
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB DD Ultra Video Card	$319.99 @ Amazon
Case	Cooler Master Silencio 452 ATX Mid Tower Case	$65.14 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA GA 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$87.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1297.97
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1277.97
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-28 12:19 EST-0500

General use is for gaming at 1080p max settings for AAA games, (would like to possibly stream game play) and some light video editing/audio recording. I would like the price to be below $1000, but prefer ~ $800.

 

This is a pure function over form build, more performance the better. Some things I would like to keep in mind;

Upgrade path, would like to eventually upgrade CPU to a 3900x or 3950x, and eventual upgrade of GPU to higher tier and better resolution(1440p once prices are more affordable). 

Storage is essential, I have 3 HDD drives I would be moving from current PC, and need the additional storage. 

Eventual water cooling (still doing research).

 

Any and all help is appreciated, Thanks everyone

[Beowulff83]

4 minutes ago, Lorkhan420 said:

would like to eventually upgrade CPU to a 3900x or 3950x

 

4 minutes ago, Lorkhan420 said:

Eventual water cooling (still doing research).

I would drop down to a 3600 and run with the stock cooler if you are planning on upgrading to the 3900x with water cooling in the future.

[Gol_D_Chris]

10 minutes ago, Beowulff83 said:

 

I would drop down to a 3600 and run with the stock cooler if you are planning on upgrading to the 3900x with water cooling in the future.

This or he could wait for Ryzen 4000.

I think that's the better upgrade path.

[boggy77]

can't really get it lower than this

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$174.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard	$144.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$82.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Inland Premium 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$72.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$86.70 @ Walmart
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB DD Ultra Video Card	$319.99 @ Amazon
Case	Deepcool MATREXX 50 ATX Mid Tower Case	$45.99 @ B&H
Power Supply	BitFenix Formula Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$86.11 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1014.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-28 12:58 EST-0500

 

[Lorkhan420]

13 minutes ago, Beowulff83 said:

 

I would drop down to a 3600 and run with the stock cooler if you are planning on upgrading to the 3900x with water cooling in the future.

Thanks, I'm assuming you mean the 3600 not the 3600x, would the stock cooler allow for any overclocking? 

[Kid.Lazer]

My recommendations:

- Stick with lower tier but excellent performing 3600 if you plan on upgrading down the road

- x570 is unnecessary unless you want/need PCIe 4.0

- 3600 mhz RAM has little benefit over 3200

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($174.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($110.28 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin PILOT 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB DD Ultra Video Card  ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master Silencio 452 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($65.14 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G1+ 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($95.25 @ Walmart)
Total: $959.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-28 13:08 EST-0500

[Lorkhan420]

4 minutes ago, Gol_D_Chris said:

This or he could wait for Ryzen 4000.

I think that's the better upgrade path.

I haven't heard anything about the 4000 yet, I'll have to look that up. Thanks

[Lorkhan420]

6 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

can't really get it lower than this

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$174.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard	$144.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$82.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Inland Premium 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$72.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$86.70 @ Walmart
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB DD Ultra Video Card	$319.99 @ Amazon
Case	Deepcool MATREXX 50 ATX Mid Tower Case	$45.99 @ B&H
Power Supply	BitFenix Formula Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$86.11 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1014.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-28 12:58 EST-0500

 

Thanks, This helps out. Any suggestions on the GPU? 

[Dedayog]

Just now, Lorkhan420 said:

Thanks, This helps out. Any suggestions on the GPU? 

If you take the cheapest parts from each list given, you'll have a sub-$1000 PC no problem.  Ie. use that Tomahawk motherboard in the above build instead of the ASUS Prime.

What recommendation are you looking for on GPU?  He listed it for you.

[SpookyCitrus]

It depends entirely on when you plan to upgrade, but you could go for something like this if you want best price to performance. Or add an X570-p motherboard so you have the ability to upgrade to the 3900x when you're ready. The Ryzen 9 CPUs are pretty overkill for gaming however, the 3700x would be perfectly fine for 1440p high refresh gaming, hell the 3600 can do it as well. The 5700xt or the 2070 Super or better are going to be the best GPUs for 1440p high refresh rate gameplay. If you plan on doing all these upgrades here soon it would probably just be better to wait until you're ready to build the beefy boi system and see whats available when you're ready over building a cheaper system now.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$174.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$114.89 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$82.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Intel 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$69.99 @ B&H
Storage	Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$86.70 @ Walmart
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB DD Ultra Video Card	$319.99 @ Amazon
Case	Deepcool MATREXX 50 ATX Mid Tower Case	$45.99 @ B&H
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$78.36 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$973.90
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-28 13:08 EST-0500

 

[Lorkhan420]

@Kid.Lazer I went with the x570 primarily for future compatibility as well as avoiding any bios issues with the new ryzen chips for when I upgrade. The main reason I'm working on this build is my current MB has reached it's limits as far as upgrading goes. Thanks, I thought the ryzen chips liked higher memory, so I thought the ddr4-3600 would give the best performance, is there a reference you can point me to concerning the performance vs memory speeds? I appreciate you

[Gol_D_Chris]

16 minutes ago, Lorkhan420 said:

I haven't heard anything about the 4000 yet, I'll have to look that up. Thanks

Well the 4000 series might launch in a year.

 

I think it's fine to use a 3600/3700X for a year.

 

The 4000 series might release ealier/later, but we don't know yet

[Kid.Lazer]

It's not so much that it doesn't increase performance, but you get diminishing returns for the cost. If you want max performance, sure, go for it. But when working on a budget, $15 here and there adds up quickly. And sorry, I don't have a source to give you off the top of my head.

 

While I can't verify this, Ryzen 3000 has been out long enough that many good boards (like the Tomahawk) would most likely come with the appropriate BIOS. This was the case with many B350 boards as well. However, if that's a major concern, you can go x570. But once again, you'll have to balance budget constraints with not having to worry about the BIOS flashing.

[Lorkhan420]

8 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

If you take the cheapest parts from each list given, you'll have a sub-$1000 PC no problem.  Ie. use that Tomahawk motherboard in the above build instead of the ASUS Prime.

What recommendation are you looking for on GPU?  He listed it for you.

Thanks, I thought there were issues with the bios on b450 boards with the newer ryzen CPU's, so I thought the x570 boards would eliminate that problem. I also would prefer wifi, any suggestions on a wifi adapter with that mb?

 

The https://pcpartpicker.com/product/tt7p99/xfx-radeon-rx-5700-8-gb-dd-ultra-video-card-rx-57xl8lbd6 is the one I looked at originally I just didn't know if the price to performance was the best i could do or if there was a better option for now?

 

Thanks

[ShinRamen]

8 minutes ago, Lorkhan420 said:

@Kid.Lazer I went with the x570 primarily for future compatibility as well as avoiding any bios issues with the new ryzen chips for when I upgrade. The main reason I'm working on this build is my current MB has reached it's limits as far as upgrading goes. Thanks, I thought the ryzen chips liked higher memory, so I thought the ddr4-3600 would give the best performance, is there a reference you can point me to concerning the performance vs memory speeds? I appreciate you

 

It's a good thought to go with X570 for that reason. Ryzen 4000 will most likely release at the end of this year - by that time the CPU you buy today will nowhere near be outdated. So an upgrade would not necessarily have to happen on release. It's your decision if you want to invest in a X570 motherboard now (which doesn't have huge benefits over B450 at the moment) or buy a X670 when Ryzen 4000 release for example. The MSI B450 MAX were all released after the release of Ryzen 3000, so they are all working with those CPUs out of the box!

3600 MHz does have some advantage over 3200 MHz with Ryzen. If you can get it reasonably cheap over a 3200 kit, then I'd say go for it. It's not a huge advantage though and I'd personally save where I can to invest in a 2070 Super instead of an AMD GPU for now, since the driver issues and instabilities still seem to be a problem for some users. Or even downgrade to a 2060 Super.

[Lorkhan420]

@Gol_D_Chris Thanks, I agree, a year isn't that bad, plus by the time I upgrade my cpu there might be better prices and more options.

 

@Kid.Lazer Thanks, yeah it's hard for me to cut off the extra stuff, especially when working in a budget situation, and I know it's unnecessary but I want to eventually go to 32Gb of RAM. No problem, I think I saw a video about it a while ago but then I saw people suggesting the 3600 for ryzen 3rd gen. As far as the bios flashing, I really don't want to brick my board, I live in an older house and sometimes I lose power

 

 

 

[boggy77]

I would keep a asus x570 mobo if you want to upgrade to 3950x

[Lorkhan420]

@ShinRamen Thanks, I haven't done as much research on b450 Mb's because of the issues with bios and focused on the x570's, I'll have to look into that. Aren't the 2070 and 2060 super's more than I need to comfortably play AAA games in 1080p? I thought I would only need to go that route if I wanted higher resolution? Initially I was going to crossfire a couple rx 580's(mainly because I already have one and it would save on overall cost), but after learning about how few games are supporting CF/SLI and issues with micro stuttering decided against it. I've personally never had any issues with AMD GPU's I have a MSI Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC in my current pc, and it works great, It's the rest of my computer that needs an upgraded.

 

I'm open to any suggestions, in particular any specific model GPU would be awesome.

[ShinRamen]

1 minute ago, Lorkhan420 said:

@ShinRamen Thanks, I haven't done as much research on b450 Mb's because of the issues with bios and focused on the x570's, I'll have to look into that. Aren't the 2070 and 2060 super's more than I need to comfortably play AAA games in 1080p? I thought I would only need to go that route if I wanted higher resolution? Initially I was going to crossfire a couple rx 580's(mainly because I already have one and it would save on overall cost), but after learning about how few games are supporting CF/SLI and issues with micro stuttering decided against it. I've personally never had any issues with AMD GPU's I have a MSI Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC in my current pc, and it works great, It's the rest of my computer that needs an upgraded.

 

I'm open to any suggestions, in particular any specific model GPU would be awesome.

Just like boggy mentioned above: stick with the X570 if you have a potential upgrade path planned out already - it's the best way to go then.

Yes a 2060 Super is definitely enough for 1080p gaming, you're right - no need for a 2070 Super in that case video cards of the same type all perform roughly the same, I would just make sure that you don't pick a blower style card - just get one with 2 regular fans that is reasonably priced. There is absolute no reason to pay $50-100 extra for an OC high end version or something.

[Lorkhan420]

4 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

I would keep a asus x570 mobo if you want to upgrade to 3950x

Thanks, I have a lot more research to do I guess. My last build was in 2011, and there have been quite a few changes since then. One of my main issues currently is a need to upgrade my CPU which I can't do because of my MB. Essentially that's the component I want to future proof as much as possible.  

[Dedayog]

3 minutes ago, Lorkhan420 said:

Thanks, I have a lot more research to do I guess. My last build was in 2011, and there have been quite a few changes since then. One of my main issues currently is a need to upgrade my CPU which I can't do because of my MB. Essentially that's the component I want to future proof as much as possible.  

Not to throw water on the fire, but if you're building an $800 entire PC now and plan to upgrade to a $750 CPU only....  Think you either need to take a look at your finances or realistic expectations.

 

Are you truly going to need/want a 3950X?  If most likely not, don't go x570 now.  You may be surprised that a Ryzen 3600 is all you need.

[Lorkhan420]

5 minutes ago, ShinRamen said:

Just like boggy mentioned above: stick with the X570 if you have a potential upgrade path planned out already - it's the best way to go then.

Yes a 2060 Super is definitely enough for 1080p gaming, you're right - no need for a 2070 Super in that case video cards of the same type all perform roughly the same, I would just make sure that you don't pick a blower style card - just get one with 2 regular fans that is reasonably priced. There is absolute no reason to pay $50-100 extra for an OC high end version or something.

yeah when I was looking into GPU's I saw this LTT video 

for the price range and use case I decided on the RX 5700 because of the OC'ing potential and the GDDR6 memory @ 448 gb/s vs the 336 gb/s with the RTX 2060. Plus I'm not all that interested in ray tracing. 

 

Thanks, yeah for the most part I'm just looking for the best performance to price ratio. Your comments help a lot I really appreciate it. 

 

 

 

[ShinRamen]

1 minute ago, Lorkhan420 said:

yeah when I was looking into GPU's I saw this LTT video 

for the price range and use case I decided on the RX 5700 because of the OC'ing potential and the GDDR6 memory @ 448 gb/s vs the 336 gb/s with the RTX 2060. Plus I'm not all that interested in ray tracing. 

 

Thanks, yeah for the most part I'm just looking for the best performance to price ratio. Your comments help a lot I really appreciate it. 

 

 

 

In that video Linus compares the 5700 vs the 2060, not the 2060 Super IIRC - but yes, they both perform about the same. However, I'm still somewhat reluctant to recommend AMD GPUs as I've mentioned previously, that's why I went with Nvidia

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

I would keep a asus x570 mobo if you want to upgrade to 3950x

You can run that cpu on a Tomahawk board. 

[Dedayog]

12 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

You can run that cpu on a Tomahawk board. 

No need to even go to a 3950X tho, so it's a moot point as the OP will undoubtedly understand over the next couple years as his 3600 performs like a champion.