Rethinking my X570 Tomohawk for my build

[Jason 57]

As a LONG time MSI builder. And seeing GN showing just how much they try to pressure reviewers that are being honest about their products. 

 

 

I do realize that ALL companies probably pressure (well their PR department would anyway) reviewers to give them good reviews to keep revenue up.

 

Is there another alternative to the X570 Tomahawk? Basically, staying in that $220 price point. (And yes still staying with an X570 MB, not going to get a B450)

 

Normally I always looked at Asus as being more expensive for what they offer. (considering they were the higher price of MBs over the years of me building computers (1995 to present). 

 

I would love opinions. 

[Haro]

Don't look at the brand in all honesty look at the product. And the product is great. The tomahawk is one of the better x570 boards. 

What are you powering? And what's your budget?

[Mateyyy]

At $210-220, the X570 Tomahawk is the best new AM4 motherboard you can get. Every company does their share of shady stuff, but that doesn't mean that that motherboard is bad.

You can get a B550 Aorus Pro at around $180, if you don't need all the PCIe 4.0 lanes X570 offers, or if you do, a TUF X570-Plus, though that's pretty barebones in terms of features. It gets the essentials right though.

[startrek03]

2 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

Don't look at the brand in all honesty look at the product. And the product is great. The tomahawk is one of the better x570 boards. 

What are you powering? And what's your budget?

Well, if it's against his ethics to support MSI by any means, let him boycott the brand.

[Haro]

1 minute ago, startrek03 said:

Well, if it's against his ethics to support MSI by any means,

That's not my point. My point is judging a product by it's brand is just bad imo. 

[5x5]

7 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

As a LONG time MSI builder. And seeing GN showing just how much they try to pressure reviewers that are being honest about their products. 

 

 

I do realize that ALL companies probably pressure (well their PR department would anyway) reviewers to give them good reviews to keep revenue up.

 

Is there another alternative to the X570 Tomahawk? Basically, staying in that $220 price point. (And yes still staying with an X570 MB, not going to get a B450)

 

Normally I always looked at Asus as being more expensive for what they offer. (considering they were the higher price of MBs over the years of me building computers (1995 to present). 

 

I would love opinions. 

The Asus X570 TuF is what I would opt for. It's similar quality and has better firmware.

[Jason 57]

1 minute ago, TofuHaroto said:

Don't look at the brand in all honesty look at the product. And the product is great. The tomahawk is one of the better x570 boards. 

What are you powering? And what's your budget?

That is a good point! And one of the reasons why I have been waiting for the X570 Tomahawk to come back into stock. 

(Got a notification from Newegg that it was, checked 90 minutes later when I had the chance, ALL GONE!)

 

Trying to keep my spending to under $650. if possible. 

 

But looking at the R5 3600, 32GB or 64GB of 3200MHz C14 or 3600Mhz C16 or C18 (still a debate out there about that), Lancool 2 Mesh RGB and proabably a new 750W PSU, since my CM Silent 750 is almost 10 years old. 

[Jason 57]

3 minutes ago, startrek03 said:

Well, if it's against his ethics to support MSI by any means, let him boycott the brand.

Just going back and forth on if my support for the last 25 years was worth it. 

[Mateyyy]

2 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

That is a good point! And one of the reasons why I have been waiting for the X570 Tomahawk to come back into stock. 

(Got a notification from Newegg that it was, checked 90 minutes later when I had the chance, ALL GONE!)

 

Trying to keep my spending to under $650. if possible. 

 

But looking at the R5 3600, 32GB or 64GB of 3200MHz C14 or 3600Mhz C16 or C18 (still a debate out there about that), Lancool 2 Mesh RGB and proabably a new 750W PSU, since my CM Silent 750 is almost 10 years old. 

Yeah the Tomahawk's been really hard to find, it was a paper launch more than anything.

 

What components do you need to get exactly under $650, and for what workloads? Since I see you're looking to get quite a lot of RAM for just a 3600.

[Jason 57]

2 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

That's not my point. My point is judging a product by it's brand is just bad imo. 

Very true. 

I have always been a HARDWARE person at my core. 

(It just happens that I rarely build an Intel CPU since the Slot A)

 

And I will always be a hardware person. I like how things work and interact. 

[Haro]

2 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

32GB or 64GB of 3200MHz C14 or 3600Mhz C16 or C18 (still a debate out there about that),

If you're just gaming. 16 gig 3600 cl16 kit will do the job. 

32 gigs will be more than enough and you can upgrade in the future assuming it's a 2x16 kit. 

3 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

Trying to keep my spending to under $650. if possible

If it's out of stock. A b550 aorus pro or an a pro or a tomahawk are good. 

As for x570 the tomahawk and the tuf plus and the x570-p are really good as well. 

[startrek03]

Just now, Jason 57 said:

Just going back and forth on if my support for the last 25 years was worth it. 

Don't worry. You couldn't have known better.

[Jason 57]

1 minute ago, Mateyyy said:

Yeah the Tomahawk's been really hard to find, it was a paper launch more than anything.

 

What components do you need to get exactly under $650, and for what workloads? Since I see you're looking to get quite a lot of RAM for just a 3600.

I do a LOT of media conversion lately. 

My daughter who still uses my machine, does graphic drawing and some rendering. 

I know I will see a HUGE improvement going from the 4 cores of my current CPU Athlon X4 860K Kaveri Quad-Core 3.7 GHz to the 6 cores of the R5 3600. I just can't see spending an extra $120 for the 3700X for 2 extra cores, right now. 

 

And adding a NVMe scratch drive will help in that, I would think from everything I have read. 

[Jason 57]

5 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

What components do you need to get exactly under $650, and for what workloads? Since I see you're looking to get quite a lot of RAM for just a 3600.

I would like to keep the CPU, MB, Memory and Case under that. 

But now that I need a new PSU (just when stock for 750W is hard to come by) I have to factor that in as well. And if I get one, I don't want to have to get anoter in a few years, hence getting a minimum of 750W or 850W. (Hell I bought my son 1000W for his, and probably paid a bit too much for it)

 

[Mateyyy]

1 minute ago, Jason 57 said:

I do a LOT of media conversion lately. 

My daughter who still uses my machine, does graphic drawing and some rendering. 

I know I will see a HUGE improvement going from the 4 cores of my current CPU Athlon X4 860K Kaveri Quad-Core 3.7 GHz to the 6 cores of the R5 3600. I just can't see spending an extra $120 for the 3700X for 2 extra cores, right now. 

 

And adding a NVMe scratch drive will help in that, I would think from everything I have read. 

Not only two extra cores, but they're worlds faster than those Kaveri cores.

The 3600 should be enough for that, though 64GB of RAM sounds pretty overkill.

 

So you're looking at getting the CPU, motherboard, memory and what else for $650?

[Jason 57]

Just now, Mateyyy said:

Not only two extra cores, but they're worlds faster than those Kaveri cores.

The 3600 should be enough for that, though 64GB of RAM sounds pretty overkill.

 

So you're looking at getting the CPU, motherboard, memory and what else for $650?

I have my sights set on a case, I would like to put on my desk, instead of sitting on the floor and hitting my knee for the last 25 years. 

Sadly, I am giving up my Optical drive (which I guess people don't use anymore) but I would like some good airflow, hence a mesh front.

I have been going back and forth on cases for the last month. 

 

And trying to fit that PSU into the mix as well. 

So far rough calculation is I am sadly going to spend probably $800 to 900 when I am done. 

 

Just like how my son't $1400 PC turned into just over $2000. 

[Jason 57]

3 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

 

though 64GB of RAM sounds pretty overkill.

I try to have half of what the MB memory is capable of, since I actually do workload stuff. 

But as things have changed over the years, that seems to not be the need as much anymore. 

I can probably get away with just 32GB. and I need to ask @Mateyyy You have seen my debate over higher speed or lower CAS Latency. (of course I should just see what is the best deal when I pull the trigger, and not worry about it afterwards)

[Haro]

4 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

And trying to fit that PSU into the mix as well. 

So far rough calculation is I am sadly going to spend probably $800 to 900 when I am done. 

So basically a full build excluding the GPU and storage for 900 bucks? 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$279.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$144.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory	$214.99 @ Newegg
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case	$79.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$829.85
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-01 08:42 EDT-0400

Or you could go with a 3600 and 32 gigs  and save some money. Which a 3600 will still be good. 

Edited August 1, 2020 by TofuHaroto

[Mateyyy]

4 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

I would like to keep the CPU, MB, Memory and Case under that. 

But now that I need a new PSU (just when stock for 750W is hard to come by) I have to factor that in as well. And if I get one, I don't want to have to get anoter in a few years, hence getting a minimum of 750W or 850W. (Hell I bought my son 1000W for his, and probably paid a bit too much for it)

The 3600 pulls 70-80W at full load, and for upgradability's sake, the 3950X pulls around 140-150W at worst.

750W is totally unnecessary, even for a 3950X and beefy graphics card. A high-quality power supply more than anything is what actually matters.

Just now, Jason 57 said:

I have my sights set on a case, I would like to put on my desk, instead of sitting on the floor and hitting my knee for the last 25 years. 

Sadly, I am giving up my Optical drive (which I guess people don't use anymore) but I would like some good airflow, hence a mesh front.

I have been going back and forth on cases for the last month. 

 

And trying to fit that PSU into the mix as well. 

So far rough calculation is I am sadly going to spend probably $800 to 900 when I am done. 

 

Just like how my son't $1400 PC turned into just over $2000. 

Yeah once you add all of those up you might exceed your $650 limit a bit.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$159.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 AORUS PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$179.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$144.99 @ Newegg
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case	$59.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ B&H
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.89 @ Amazon
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.89 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$700.64
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-01 08:46 EDT-0400

 

Or, if you don't care for super nice fans and things like better onboard audio and other pretty minor details:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$159.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$144.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$144.99 @ Newegg
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case	$79.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$639.85
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-01 08:47 EDT-0400

 

6 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

You have seen my debate over higher speed or lower CAS Latency. (of course I should just see what is the best deal when I pull the trigger, and not worry about it afterwards)

At 2x16GB, 3200 CL14 Samsung B-die tends to be quite expensive. Really though, you won't see much of a real-world difference between that and a decent 3600 CL16 kit, like the Ripjaws V I picked above.

[Jason 57]

6 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

So basically a full build excluding the GPU and storage for 900 bucks? 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$279.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$144.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory	$214.99 @ Newegg
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case	$79.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$829.85
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-01 08:42 EDT-0400

Or you could go with a 3600 and 32 gigs  and save some money. Which a 3600 will still be good. 

Oh believe me, I am going to save where I can. and get the things I am going to have for a long time. Namely the case most likely and such. LOL
See the credit card has a LOT of room. however my payments don't LMAO

[Haro]

4 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

Oh believe me

Yea if you want get a 32 gig kit and you'll still be able to upgrade to 64 later down the line.

As for the 3600, it'll be enough. But if you can afford it and if your tasks scale up to 8 cores, the 3700x will be more than enough. 

[Jason 57]

4 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

The 3600 pulls 70-80W at full load, and for upgradability's sake, the 3950X pulls around 140-150W at worst.

750W is totally unnecessary, even for a 3950X and beefy graphics card. A high-quality power supply more than anything is what actually matters.

Yeah once you add all of those up you might exceed your $650 limit a bit.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$159.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 AORUS PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$179.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$144.99 @ Newegg
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case	$59.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ B&H
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.89 @ Amazon
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.89 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$700.64
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-01 08:46 EDT-0400

 

Or, if you don't care for super nice fans and things like better onboard audio and other pretty minor details:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$159.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$144.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$144.99 @ Newegg
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case	$79.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$639.85
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-01 08:47 EDT-0400

 

At 2x16GB, 3200 CL14 Samsung B-die tends to be quite expensive. Really though, you won't see much of a real-world difference between that and a decent 3600 CL16 kit, like the Ripjaws V I picked above.

Thanks for this list!!

 

I have never purchased from B&H. I know you all have been at this recently more than me (I used to get my stuff from www.mwave.com all the time, but they are not in computer business anymore) Lately I have kept all my shopping to Amazon and Newegg. But if B&H has the stock of what I am looking for, then I will go there. 

 

I debate on the RBG. Of course I can always just get some light strips if I want that. LOL
When you suggested the P300A, I was wondering what fans you were going to pick. 

FYI, I am still using fans from 15 years ago or so. I have consolidated all the case fans I have over the years, to make sure I have what airflow I could in my old Rosewill R5 tower I am stuck in right now. 

 

But to your point. Yes I do prefer the performance, and have the Ripjaws V on my Newegg wishlist, to keep an eye on their price. 

Also the CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 DRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) in my son's PC doesn't have the RGB always lit. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I almost think that it is the MB. But that is a different thread to make, if I troubleshoot it.

 

I guess I need to start looking at changing out some storage drives that I have. 

Currently have 1TB WD Black, 3TB WD Green (getting older now), SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series 2.5" 128GB, SanDisk SSD PLUS 2.5" 240GB. 

Currently using the Samsung Pro 840 as my scratch drive. 

 

FYI, I do appreciate this conversation. 

 

[Jason 57]

7 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

Yea if you want get a 32 gig kit and you'll still be able to upgrade to 64 later down the line.

Does anyone actually use 128GB???? and for what tasks these days?

 

8 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

As for the 3600, it'll be enough. But if you can afford it and if your tasks scale up to 8 cores, the 3700x will be more than enough. 

But spending $120 over the $156 for a 3600 is a bit much. 

[Haro]

5 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

But spending $120 over the $156 for a 3600 is a bit much. 

As I said. If it's not possible the 3600 will still do the job. 

 

5 minutes ago, Jason 57 said:

Does anyone actually use 128GB????

Depends on the scale of the project and depends on what workload exactly but the imc does indeed handle 128 gigs. 

[Jason 57]

So I got another push notification from Newegg about the X570 Tomahawk. 

I was able to get it for $220! YAY me. 

Now to just wait for the other parts on my list to come in.

 

My daughter told me I just need to go for a Blacked out system that has some good power to it. 

 

Maybe I should just do that, and add some color (painting the case) later on down the line. 

 

Thanks for all the help @Mateyyy and @TofuHaroto. You have both been a big help to me. 

 

I can't believe that the power supply that was recommend is gone now. Man, supplies are LOW!!