Need some guidance in upgrading/rebuilding my current PC

[ahmedbatty]

Budget (including currency): PKR 50,000

Country: Pakistan

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming @ 1080p high to ultra settings. Target AMD Freesync.

 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

My current PC part list:

• Intel Core i5-8400
• Gigabyte B360M HD3
• 16 GB RAM @ 2666MHz
• Kingston 480 GB SSD
• WD 1 TB 5200RPM HDD
• Zotac GTX 1050 Ti
• Corsair VS650 PSU
• Corsair SPEC-05 case

First a little story about this PC. My friend bought this PC last year and I bought it from him a few weeks ago. I have never built a PC, but I know my way around one. Whoever assembled it didn't take care much for cable management. The PC works just fine, I cleaned it and I have been playing a few games.

 

What I would like to upgrade/modify in this:

 

 

CPU Cooler:

The currently installed Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED Turbo is very tall for this case at around 160mm. Corsair SPEC-05 specifications state that the maximum CPU cooler height should be 150mm.

Now I can't find a 150mm cooler available locally and I can't get one shipped from another country. So the only reasonable one I found is the Cooler Master MasterAir MA410P which has a height of around 158.5mm. Will this cooler be OK and be able to fit? Do I need to look for more options?

Note that I am able to close the panel right now, although with a little force.

 

 

Motherboard:

The current motherboard is mATX which is small for the case and the motherboard itself is not a very good one. I have already decided on this H370 motherboard. Reason for which is that it is ATX, a better chipset and looks better IMO. If you have any comments on this, do let me know.

 

Graphics Card:

I already have a Freesync supported Samsung monitor. So I would like to upgrade the graphics card to an AMD RX 5600 XT. Its reasonably powerful and its newer. Is this the right choice? I may not upgrade the card right away, but maybe a few months down the line.

 

Cable Management:

Since I will already be changing the motherboard, I will be cleaning up the cables as well. The current PSU is fine even though it has ketchup and mustard cables but I don't want to change it right now. If you can see in the pictures, the CPU power cable is being routed directly on the front. I think the guy who built this didn't find a hole from the back of the case. Even I didn't when I looked at the first time.

Now If you see this picture, there is a hole which I learned about after watching a few videos on YouTube. Then I though, this hole is way too down, it should be much higher up. If I route this cable from here will the new motherboard be able to sit right?

 

 

 

 

Case Fans:

I will also be upgrading the case fans to 2 of these and removing the currently installed fans. Does the new motherboard I have selected have 2 fan headers? How do I get to know that before I buy the new motherboard? Will I be able to control the RGB lights through the available fan headers?

Edited June 16, 2020 by ahmedbatty
Changed order of headings

[kamiraasu]

34 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

AMD RX 5600 XT. Its reasonably powerful and its newer. Is this the right choice?

I start by answering about the graphics card.
If RX 5700 XT fits the budget, i5-8400 seems to be enough for it.

Ofcourse RX 5600 XT is fine too.

I leave rest for people with better knowledge here.

[marmour]

16 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

Does the new motherboard I have selected have 2 fan headers? How do I get to know that before I buy the new motherboard?

As far as intel motherboards are concerned, I'm not well versed on their lineup so I dont really know how good your board is. However, from reading the specs, Asus says it has 2 4pin fan headers so you will be fine with two case fans.

 

Taken from their spec page:

1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
2 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (2 x 4 -pin)

24 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

Will I be able to control the RGB lights through the available fan headers?

The fan will probably come with another cable for rgb control that you can plug into the aura sync pins on your motherboard. You may need to buy an rgb splitter so that both fans can be attached.

18 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

So I would like to upgrade the graphics card to an AMD RX 5600 XT

This seems like a solid choice. You could keep an eye out for 5700s or 2060s on sale for slightly more performance. However lower end models of these like the evga 2060 KO and MSI mech oc 5700 will run hotter and louder than getting a midrange 5600XT, such as the Sapphire pulse, at the expense of a small amount of performance. If you are going to wait, you may want to see what is released with the new gpu launches later this year, although they are likely to be significantly more expensive.

 

As far as CPU cooler, so long as the current cooler isnt applying to much pressure on the motherboard when the side panel is on, I see no reason to change it. If you are worrying about damage everytime you put the panel back on, then maybe buy the slightly smaller one. You could also take a look at lower profile coolers from the likes of Noctua.

 

These are just my opinions, but hopefully this helps

[ahmedbatty]

5 minutes ago, marmour said:

This seems like a solid choice. You could keep an eye out for 5700s or 2060s on sale for slightly more performance. However lower end models of these like the evga 2060 KO and MSI mech oc 5700 will run hotter and louder than getting a midrange 5600XT, such as the Sapphire pulse, at the expense of a small amount of performance. If you are going to wait, you may want to see what is released with the new gpu launches later this year, although they are likely to be significantly more expensive.

This seems like good advice. But looking at the prices right now in my country, RTX 2060s are way expensive. But still will see when actually upgrading the card.

 

5 minutes ago, marmour said:

As far as CPU cooler, so long as the current cooler isnt applying to much pressure on the motherboard when the side panel is on, I see no reason to change it. If you are worrying about damage everytime you put the panel back on, then maybe buy the slightly smaller one. You could also take a look at lower profile coolers from the likes of Noctua.

If a Noctua or any low profile cooler was available, I would have jumped for it straight away. So far I can only find the Cooler Master cooler I mentioned. Let's see what the others say.

 

Thank you.

[kamiraasu]

 

7 minutes ago, ahmedbatty said:

RTX 2060s are way expensive.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/1/20748865/amd-radeon-rx-5700-review-nvidia-rtx-2060-2070-super-review

Some comparisons if it helps to decide.

I personally find AMD more appealing at the moment because dithering.
I like it on. We can use dithering on nvidia too but its real hasle to get working!
Desktop, movies, pictures etc. look horrible without dithering in my opinion, atleast with this display(Asus pg248q) but its not the only one.

[ahmedbatty]

I feel that my CPU cooler concerns are more important than everything else at the moment.

[kamiraasu]

21 hours ago, ahmedbatty said:

I feel that my CPU cooler concerns are more important than everything else at the moment.

Im that crazy diy that i would take power tools and make room.. but..

Recap: "maximum CPU cooler height should be 150mm."

[ahmedbatty]

On 6/16/2020 at 10:20 PM, kamiraasu said:

Recap: "maximum CPU cooler height should be 150mm."

I totally understand that, I shouldn't even be buying anything taller than 150mm, but the availability is a big factor

[ahmedbatty]

So, I bought the H370 motherboard and the CM MA410P cooler.

 

The cooler fits just right. it doesn't touch the side panel but there is very little space between them. So no problems here.

 

 

Although, I couldn't solve the following problem because the motherboard didn't sit right.

On 6/15/2020 at 7:51 PM, ahmedbatty said:

Now If you see this picture, there is a hole which I learned about after watching a few videos on YouTube. Then I though, this hole is way too down, it should be much higher up. If I route this cable from here will the new motherboard be able to sit right?

 

 

[ahmedbatty]

Still thank you to all who gave their input.

 

Very helpful. Cheers!