Y’all, I want your tech tips for my PC

[TheGoatGuy]

I am going build a PC, mostly for games, music production, and schoolwork, and I just want some opinions on anything I could improve or any big problems with the system. 

 

I know that the motherboard is listed as 1st and 2nd gen. Ryzen, but an Amazon reviewer posted a photo of the box which has the “3rd gen. ready” logo on it so I should be good.

 

I also know some people will ask about the WiFi feature on the board. Yes, I’m going to be using WiFi, I get almost no speed penalty and pretty low latency where my PC will be so it shouldn’t be a problem (but I can always run a cable if I need to). The other reason is Bluetooth, buying a PCIe card and a similar motherboard would cost more/higher price to performance with this set up. 
 

I’m not 100% set on the 1660S model; this one has fairly high reviews so I went with it. I don’t know if I should try to wait for 2000 series cards to get cheaper and buy one. Ideally, I would like to be able to build it within the next month or so and not have to wait until after the holidays to buy one. 
 

My plan for airflow is to put 2 fans in the front pulling air in, 1 in the top and 1 in the back both pushing it out. The board only has 3 case fan headers hence the splitters. I’m also planning on using the included cooler as Ryzen coolers are pretty good, but I’ll upgrade if I need to for thermals.  

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated, I would love to hear other suggestions and/or opinions. 

 

Build on PC Part Picker

 

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600

MOBO: GIGABYTE B450 AORUS PRO Wi-Fi

GPU: ZOTAC Gaming GeForce GTX 1660 Super

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 3200MHz CL16

PSU: Corsair CV 550 W 80+ Bronze

SSD: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME

HDD: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 

CASE: Lian Li Lancool 205 (White)

FANS: upHere Fans 3-Pack

SPLITTER: JBtek Fan Splitter

[WhitetailAni]

If your CPU isn't compatible, AMD has a loaner CPU program to solve this very issue.

I have no other comments, but other people probably will.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

2 minutes ago, ragnarok0273 said:

If your CPU isn't compatible

I should mention, this is out of the box.

You need a bios update to run it.

[IkeaGnome]

13 minutes ago, TheGoatGuy said:

I am going build a PC, mostly for games, music production, and schoolwork, and I just want some opinions on anything I could improve or any big problems with the system. 

 

I know that the motherboard is listed as 1st and 2nd gen. Ryzen, but an Amazon reviewer posted a photo of the box which has the “3rd gen. ready” logo on it so I should be good.

 

I also know some people will ask about the WiFi feature on the board. Yes, I’m going to be using WiFi, I get almost no speed penalty and pretty low latency where my PC will be so it shouldn’t be a problem (but I can always run a cable if I need to). The other reason is Bluetooth, buying a PCIe card and a similar motherboard would cost more/higher price to performance with this set up. 
 

I’m not 100% set on the 1660S model; this one has fairly high reviews so I went with it. I don’t know if I should try to wait for 2000 series cards to get cheaper and buy one. Ideally, I would like to be able to build it within the next month or so and not have to wait until after the holidays to buy one. 
 

My plan for airflow is to put 2 fans in the front pulling air in, 1 in the top and 1 in the back both pushing it out. The board only has 3 case fan headers hence the splitters. I’m also planning on using the included cooler as Ryzen coolers are pretty good, but I’ll upgrade if I need to for thermals.  

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated, I would love to hear other suggestions and/or opinions. 

 

Build on PC Part Picker

 

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600

MOBO: GIGABYTE B450 AORUS PRO Wi-Fi

GPU: ZOTAC Gaming GeForce GTX 1660 Super

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 3200MHz CL16

PSU: Corsair CV 550 W 80+ Bronze

SSD: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME

HDD: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 

CASE: Lian Li Lancool 205 (White)

FANS: upHere Fans 3-Pack

SPLITTER: JBtek Fan Splitter

 

4 minutes ago, ragnarok0273 said:

If your CPU isn't compatible, AMD has a loaner CPU program to solve this very issue.

I have no other comments, but other people probably will.

As long as it shipped with Bios F40 and newer it will support it out of the box. The ones that say 3rd gen ready have that bios or newer. 

[Downkey]

You are going to need a BIOS update to run that. I made a list with these changes -
-Diff PSU (Seasonic 550W, its on sale rn)
-A RX 5600XT (about 15% faster than the 1660 super)
-A B550 PRO WIFI VDH (Still a good board for the price, it also has wifi  )
-Diff RAM (Same speed/latency)

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$189.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$113.98 @ Newegg
Memory	Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$54.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$47.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$54.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT 6 GB GAMING MX Video Card	$259.99 @ Newegg
Case	NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.98 @ Amazon
Power Supply	SeaSonic S12III 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$44.99 @ Newegg
Custom	JBtek All Black Sleeved PWM Fan Splitter Cable 1 to 2 Converter, 2 Pack	$6.99 @ Amazon
Custom	uphere 3-pack Long Life Computer Case Fan 120mm Cooling Case Fan for Computer Cases Cooling	$12.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$891.88
	Mail-in rebates	-$35.00
	Total	$856.88
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-05 19:38 EST-0500

 

[VeganJoy]

this is the maximum optimization i can find within a close budget afaik:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$189.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$113.98 @ Newegg
Memory	Team T-FORCE DARK Za 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory	$104.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$47.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$54.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB TUF GAMING OC Video Card	$229.99 @ Best Buy
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.98 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA BQ 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$58.93 @ Amazon
Case Fan	ARCTIC P14 PST CO 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan	$15.49 @ Amazon
Case Fan	ARCTIC P14 PST CO 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan	$15.49 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$901.82
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-05 19:33 EST-0500

the pro-vdh has bios flashback through usb and out of the box zen 2 support, great features on the board and just all around spectacular for the price. high bandwidth ram, and lots of it, for any sort of computational work i.e. music production, 3600mhz syncs with zen 2 fclk perfectly. asus tuf 1660 super has higher boost clocks out of the box and is cheaper than the zotac, and asus warranty is generally a bit better than zotac's. p400a has better build quality, cooling support, and significantly improved airflow over the h510 which will keep your components much cooler which is always appreciated. the evga bq is semi modular compared to the nonmodular cv and is a very popular unit. arctic p14's for super kickass airflow while staying relatively quiet, and they have daisy-chainable power so you can run both plus another fan off of a single mobo fan header.

 

i'd suggest a 5600xt as its on the same level as a 2060 at a similar price to the 1660S, but nvidia cards are generally heavily favored in creative workloads, you'd need to figure out what hardware works best with the programs that you use. 

[TheGoatGuy]

31 minutes ago, Downkey said:

A RX 5600XT (about 15% faster than the 1660 super)

What 5600XT model would you recommend? (i.e. GIGABYTE vs MSI)

 

Will most likely be switching to the MSI motherboard, another user also recommended it. 

[Downkey]

The MSI one is fine. It's also the cheapest one rn, as its 260. Also change your case too a P400A or Focus G

[TheGoatGuy]

Just now, Downkey said:

The MSI one is fine. It's also the cheapest one rn, as its 260.

Sounds good.

 

You also recommended the NZXT H510, but I’ve read reviews of poor airflow with that case. It was one I initially considered when planning as I like the design, but I didn’t know if I would have thermal problems. 

[TheGoatGuy]

37 minutes ago, VeganJoy said:

i'd suggest a 5600xt

Another user suggested this as well, I may switch after checking performance is certain apps.

 

I will definitely think about your other suggestions as well like RAM, fans, PSU, etc. I am probably going to swap with the MSI MB since another user also recommended it. 

[Downkey]

11 hours ago, TheGoatGuy said:

Sounds good.

 

You also recommended the NZXT H510, but I’ve read reviews of poor airflow with that case. It was one I initially considered when planning as I like the design, but I didn’t know if I would have thermal problems. 

It probably won't have that many thermal problems with your current parts, but if you plan to upgrade to higher end parts in the future, then your components will most likely get very hot. A P400A or Fractcal Design Focus G would be much better.

[TheGoatGuy]

8 minutes ago, Downkey said:

It probably won't have that many thermal problems with your current parts, but if you plan to upgrade to higher end parts in the future, then your components will most likely get very hot. A P400A or Fractcal Design Focus G would be much better.

I do like the design of the Focus G so I’ll probably go with that one.

 

Another user (@VeganJoy) recommended 3600MHz CL18 RAM instead of 3200MHz CL16, which do you think would be better?

[Downkey]

23 minutes ago, TheGoatGuy said:

I do like the design of the Focus G so I’ll probably go with that one.

 

Another user (@VeganJoy) recommended 3600MHz CL18 RAM instead of 3200MHz CL16, which do you think would be better?

Prob the 3600 CL18. The Cas Latency is higher, but the high frequency is much more beneficial.

[TheGoatGuy]

1 minute ago, Downkey said:

Prob the 3600 CL18. The Cas Latency is higher, but the high frequency is much more beneficial.

Sounds good. Do you have any other suggestions?
 

If not, thank you so much for the help!

[Downkey]

1 minute ago, TheGoatGuy said:

Sounds good. Do you have any other suggestions?
 

If not, thank you so much for the help!

This is kind a more optional choice, but if you want to wait about a month for stock, and if your willing to pay an extra $100, you could upgrade to a 5600x. It has similar gaming performance to the 10700K. If you don't want to upgrade, then the list looks good!

[TheGoatGuy]

2 hours ago, Downkey said:

This is kind a more optional choice, but if you want to wait about a month for stock, and if your willing to pay an extra $100, you could upgrade to a 5600x. It has similar gaming performance to the 10700K. If you don't want to upgrade, then the list looks good!

I’ve thought about it and I might do it, I just don’t want to wait and have to deal with online order bots like 3000 series card and not get it for another month or two anyway. I may just get the 3600 and upgrade next year. Thank ya for the input