MATX Secondary System

[Bouncewasp]

Budget (including currency): £250 - £300 but somewhat flexible

Country: UK

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Secondary system for in the garage, will likely stay on 24/7, used for playing turbo training videos, music and maybe for me to play about with a simple home network.

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): I've already got a cheap Aerocool Cylon mini case leftover from my old system, various fans, peripherals etc. Whilst this is a secondary system, equally I cant bring myself to build something that doesnt at least look and perform half decent. The case has a tempered glass side so I'm thinking a little bit of RGB (maybe on the mobo only) would be ok but not essential, but keep everything else fairly simple.

 

Current thinking on parts list is:

Mobo: Asrock steel legion (£80ish) or MSI Mortar Max (currently £70 but RRP £80)

CPU: Ryzen 3100 (£110ish)

Ram: Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz (not sure if need this fast?) 8gb kit (£50-60)

PSU: EVGA 500w 80+ white (£45ish)

M.2 WD Green SSD 120GB (£20) for OS, will add more sata SSDs as I need.

 

I have a thing about unfinished rear I/O sections on mobos, the mortar is kind of OK to look at, but I'm drawn to the steel legend for the aesthetics if I'm honest. Might also add a cheap air cooler as I'll probably end up overclocking the CPU slightly for no other reason than because I can.

 

My alternative was go full budget build with a B320 mobo and throw aesthetics to the wind?

 

[Ankh Tech]

9 minutes ago, Bouncewasp said:

Budget (including currency): £250 - £300 but somewhat flexible

Country: UK

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Secondary system for in the garage, will likely stay on 24/7, used for playing turbo training videos, music and maybe for me to play about with a simple home network.

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): I've already got a cheap Aerocool Cylon mini case leftover from my old system, various fans, peripherals etc. Whilst this is a secondary system, equally I cant bring myself to build something that doesnt at least look and perform half decent. The case has a tempered glass side so I'm thinking a little bit of RGB (maybe on the mobo only) would be ok but not essential, but keep everything else fairly simple.

 

Current thinking on parts list is:

Mobo: Asrock steel legion (£80ish) or MSI Mortar Max (currently £70 bit RRP £80)

CPU: Ryzen 3100

Ram: Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz (not sure if need this fast?) 8gb kit

PSU: EVGA 500w 80+ white (£45ish)

M.2 WD Green SSD 120GB (£20) for OS, will add more sata SSDs as I need.

 

I have a thing about unfinished rear I/O sections on mobos, the mortar is kind of OK to look at, but I'm drawn to the steel legend for the aesthetics if I'm honest. Might also add a cheap air cooler as I'll probably end up overclocking the CPU slightly for no other reason than because I can.

 

My alternative was go full budget build with a B320 mobo and throw aesthetics to the wind?

 

the mortar has the best vrm on a amd matx boards, comparable to some atx boards, get the mortar

[Bouncewasp]

@Ankh Tech thanks for the advice, I went with the MSI Mortar in the end - arrived yesterday, very happy with it (albeit sat in a case, with no other components attached!).

 

Update on the parts list:

Mobo: MSI Mortar Max (bought for £69 on Amazon)

CPU: Ryzen 3100 (bought for £113 on Amazon)

Ram: Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz 16gb kit (bought for £59 on Amazon)

PSU: EVGA 500w 80+ white (£45ish) - still to buy

M.2 WD Green SSD 120GB (£18) for OS - still to buy

Misc: 2x 120mm Arctic F12 case fans for intake (bought for £16 on eBay) plus I already had a matching 92mm F9 for exhaust.

 

I had a bit of a nightmare getting hold of a 3100 due to low stock of CPU's everywhere atm. eBay prices are crazy, with pre-owned selling at new prices and a lot of brand new items listed at 10% or so over RRP. Supply and demand I guess, but not just limited to 5000 series CPUs and 3000/6000 GPU's it would seem.

 

I noted that 2700X and anything 3700X and higher seemed readily available but at that point you're into £200ish for a 2700X and £300ish for any of the 3000 series offerings. I was very tempted with a 2700x for a while when they were listed at £170, but the voice of reason stepped in and the £60 I saved bought me my RAM and also I was determined to build this with a 3000 series processor if at all possible. Also, I don't need an 8 core CPU for a secondary machine that will live in the garage!

 

So other than PSU (also generally out of stock all over the place!) I think I'm pretty much sorted, however I'm deliberating trying to get hold of an 850W PSU for my main rig, and then reusing the 600W EVGA in this secondary build, but that would mean laying out close to £200 for a good unit to effectively save £42 in the short term. With the run up to Xmas I think I'll just pick up the cheap EVGA unit and accept I'll end up with a spare to sell at some point next year.

[Ankh Tech]

yeah pretty good list, would go for an rm550x instead for the psu, but that is preference, and I'm pretty sure it is more expensive. Also good fans, the cpu is overpriced, but as you said, supply and demand I guess, hope everything goes well!

[Bouncewasp]

22 minutes ago, Ankh Tech said:

yeah pretty good list, would go for an rm550x instead for the psu, but that is preference, and I'm pretty sure it is more expensive. Also good fans, the cpu is overpriced, but as you said, supply and demand I guess, hope everything goes well!

Thanks dude, I'll take a look at the Corsair unit and see if it's available atm and then weigh up pricing. The 3100's are listed at £106 new (Scan UK) but incur a £6 delivery charge, so the cheapest I can get one from an online retailer in the UK is £111 anyway, Cheapest eBay prices are £130 (and the same used it would seem) new but delivered from China or Hong Kong so wouldn't likely arrive until Jan at this rate anyway! Weird, but at least I didn't fall into the trap of talking myself into doubling the budget haha!

[Ankh Tech]

lmao, anyways, the 3100 doesn't lose that much against the 3300x anyways, good build, could inspire mine

[Mateyyy]

58 minutes ago, Bouncewasp said:

PSU: EVGA 500w 80+ white (£45ish) - still to buy

Please don't buy a time bomb.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/2PZFf7/be-quiet-system-power-9-400-w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-bn245

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3G97YJ/seasonic-s12iii-550-w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-ssr-550gb3

 

Also, the WD Green is about as bad as it gets for an SSD.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/7x4NnQ/pny-cs900-120gb-25-solid-state-drive-ssd7cs900-120-pb

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/VqgzK8/crucial-bx500-120gb-25-solid-state-drive-ct120bx500ssd1

^ these are already mediocre as they are, yet they're still probably better than the WD Green.

[Bouncewasp]

1 hour ago, Mateyyy said:

Please don't buy a time bomb.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/2PZFf7/be-quiet-system-power-9-400-w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-bn245

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3G97YJ/seasonic-s12iii-550-w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-ssr-550gb3

 

Also, the WD Green is about as bad as it gets for an SSD.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/7x4NnQ/pny-cs900-120gb-25-solid-state-drive-ssd7cs900-120-pb

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/VqgzK8/crucial-bx500-120gb-25-solid-state-drive-ct120bx500ssd1

^ these are already mediocre as they are, yet they're still probably better than the WD Green.

Thanks for the reply and suggestions! I was mainly choosing the EVGA unit based on my 600W equivalent I have in my main rig which is coping with an OC 2600 and 5700xt well enough and also partly due to availability. I will, however take a look at the bequiet and seasonic units you suggest and see what's about. Are EVGA units really that bad?

 

As for the WD Green, what makes them so bad? I've got 2 120GB M.2's and a 240GB SSD in my main rig and they've been ok so far - I only use my drives for Steam libraries and have no other data on my PC so it's not like I have anything to lose, and I'm definitely not going to notice any performance difference? Still, I am relatively new back into PC building so appreciate the advice and will have another look at what's available

[Mateyyy]

6 minutes ago, Bouncewasp said:

Thanks for the reply and suggestions! I was mainly choosing the EVGA unit based on my 600W equivalent I have in my main rig which is coping with an OC 2600 and 5700xt well enough and also partly due to availability. I will, however take a look at the bequiet and seasonic units you suggest and see what's about. Are EVGA units really that bad?

 

As for the WD Green, what makes them so bad? I've got 2 120GB M.2's and a 240GB SSD in my main rig and they've been ok so far - I only use my drives for Steam libraries and have no other data on my PC so it's not like I have anything to lose, and I'm definitely not going to notice any performance difference? Still, I am relatively new back into PC building so appreciate the advice and will have another look at what's available

Oh, well that's awkward...

 

The EVGA W1 (I'm assuming that's the one you're talking about) is just very mediocre, at best: double forward primary topology, group regulated, sleeve bearing fan, poor ripple suppression, among other things that basically are exactly what you wouldn't want in a modern PSU, especially if you're powering anything above a super basic APU system that you don't really care a whole lot about, which is why I'm frankly pretty surprised that it's holding up to your 5700XT. If it was me though, I probably wouldn't try pushing my luck any further and change it out for something better.

That's not to say that all of EVGA's PSUs are bad, since it sounded like that's what it lead you to believe. They've got both really good PSUs (T2, P2) and really bad PSUs (N1, W1, W3, etc.). This is the case with pretty much all PSU manufacturers though, not just EVGA. 

 

Regarding the SSD, the WD Green uses both a really crappy controller (which also happens to be DRAM-less), and really poor NAND (what they call 2D NAND). In fact, the WD Blue also used to use the same 2D NAND, though WD then released a 3D version of the Blue which did turn out to be superior.

The two SSDs I linked above, while they're still mediocre at best as I've mentioned (both still DRAM-less), solve at least one of those issues that the Green has, at least as far as I'm aware.

[Bouncewasp]

22 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

Oh, well that's awkward...

 

The EVGA W1 (I'm assuming that's the one you're talking about) is just very mediocre, at best: double forward primary topology, group regulated, sleeve bearing fan, poor ripple suppression, among other things that basically are exactly what you wouldn't want in a modern PSU, especially if you're powering anything above a super basic APU system that you don't really care a whole lot about, which is why I'm frankly pretty surprised that it's holding up to your 5700XT. If it was me though, I probably wouldn't try pushing my luck any further and change it out for something better.

That's not to say that all of EVGA's PSUs are bad, since it sounded like that's what it lead you to believe. They've got both really good PSUs (T2, P2) and really bad PSUs (N1, W1, W3, etc.). This is the case with pretty much all PSU manufacturers though, not just EVGA. 

 

Regarding the SSD, the WD Green uses both a really crappy controller (which also happens to be DRAM-less), and really poor NAND (what they call 2D NAND). In fact, the WD Blue also used to use the same 2D NAND, though WD then released a 3D version of the Blue which did turn out to be superior.

The two SSDs I linked above, while they're still mediocre at best as I've mentioned (both still DRAM-less), solve at least one of those issues that the Green has, at least as far as I'm aware.

Awesome, many thanks for the advice, as I said I'm fairly new back into this so more than happy to take a steer off more experienced people. I've found a bequiet 400w system power 9 CM on Amazon which is also semi-modular for not much more (£52). I'll run with that, wasn't sure if 400W would be enough, but PCpartpicker is telling me 299W for the system, so a good 100W headroom.

 

Having said I didn't have an issue with the EVGA W+ 600W I would say I have noticed a lot of coil whine under load, definitely PSU not GPU related, and no fans on the GPU as I'm under an EK block - definitely will upgrade in the new year once stock levels settle. Will aim at 850W as I'm looking at a 6800/3080 in the new year plus 5900X.

 

Appreciate the detail on the SSD's, any thoughts on an M.2 drive for my OS? I'm going M.2 mainly for (physical) space requirements, any SATA SSD's I add later on will be for general storage and backup (photos, music, etc).

 

Latest on the parts list:

Mobo: MSI Mortar Max (bought for £69 on Amazon)

CPU: Ryzen 3100 (bought for £113 on Amazon)

Ram: Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz 16gb kit (bought for £59 on Amazon)

PSU: BeQuiet! 400W CM (bought for £52 on amazon)

Storage: M.2 WD Green SSD 120GB (£18) for OS - still to buy

GPU: RX570 Strix 8GB OC (free - already had leftover from previous build)

Misc: 2x 120mm Arctic F12 case fans for intake (bought for £16 on eBay) plus I already had a matching 92mm F9 for exhaust.