PC Build/Upgrade

[uwshirk]

Budget (including currency): TBA (gotta get SO approval)

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Streaming?, Riot Games, WoT, Humankind, Total War Warhammer. There are some more intensive games that I want to play but realistically I probably wont get to them.

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): 

Quick notes!

 

Just bought a pre-built pc for gf so now we will have three pcs. Our current two pcs are also pre-built but I would like to mash em up and try to make one. One of the things to note is that I have ADHD and sometimes I can't play just one game at a time and find myself running 2-3 games at once tabbing through them. An example would be having a turnbased strategy like Humankind or TW Warhammer in the background that I would play in between WoT or Valorant rounds. I notice that when I have both Humankind and WoT on max settings my GPU does redraw WoT when I tab between them and Valorant drops frames as well so I usually have something lighter to play in the background. Maybe I should just not have multiple games up. 

Current Build Idea/Options - A lot of my comments are my novice level opinions so corrections are okay.
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400. Should not need an upgrade. Is a good size to work in and has a lot of filtered air options.

The cpu: Intel i5-10400F. Potential upgrade. I say potential because I don't think the processors I have access to aren't terrible but an upgrade never hurt anyone! Have access to the i5 as well as a Ryzen 7 2700X.

The motherboard: I do not have links for the motherboards I have access to. AMD board is a Gigabyte AX370-Gaming 3 and the intel board is an MSI Aegis SE 10SI-001US. Even if I do not upgrade the CPU I am very much leaning towards an upgrade for my motherboard. I am not sure of the full capabilities of the two I have and feel like they are lacking in some more up to date features such as M.2 storage. 
The gpu: MSI GTX 1660 Super 6GB Ventus XS OC The AMD pc has an RX 590 and the Intel pc has a GTX 1660 Super. The RX 590 as mentioned above does struggle from my use to a degree. I know the GTX 1660 Super would be an upgrade to the 590 in my system.

The ram: T-Force Delta 2x8GB DDR4 3200. Shouldn't need an upgrade.
The storage: My pc has a Toshiba TR200 SSD for the boot drive (curious about getting M.2) and a 2 TB Seagate HDD. I am debating if I want just one good 2 TB M.2 or maybe one for booting and then a regular SSD? I do want to abandon the HDD at least.
The cooling: As mentioned, the case has room for 6 total fans. Currently there is a fan on front for intake and then there is an Asetek 550LC water cooler for the cpu. It is sandwiched between two fans pointing out the rear of the PC. I am not sure on the quality of this cooler but if I were to upgrade this part, I would prefer to work with an air cooler unless a suggested water cooler is easy to use. 

The power: I have access to an 80+ Bronze 800W (Could not find link) and an 80+ Bronze 500W. Both are non-modular. I think I saw in a thread that upgrading just to have 80+ Gold isn't worth it in power savings and I do not think I would HAVE to get a modular PSU or be aware of any potential compatibility issues?
 

The main idea of this post is to make sure that the parts I think are "good enough" are actually good enough. In summation I think Case, RAM, Cooling, and PSU are good enough to combine. I would like to upgrade the motherboard and storage for sure. If I can find good cost effective upgrades to CPU and GPU (hahahaha) then I would like to upgrade those. If a CPU upgrade is recommended, I would appreciate a good motherboard recommendation. I think my boards have a slotted wifi card on them so so I think I could use those on a new board? Oh! Afterthought, would it be easy to sell the RX 590 and Ryzen 7 2700X to mitigate upgrade costs?

 

[Jonathan Lee]

1 hour ago, uwshirk said:

I can't play just one game at a time and find myself running 2-3 games at once tabbing through them.

CPU power, that's what you need to do that. I would recommend the Ryzen 9 5950X to accomplish this task the best. I don't think you can really avoid frame drops if you're running 3 games, but it should mitigate some of it at least. You would need to get a B550/X570 motherboard to pair with this. More ram as well. I would recommend at least 64GB. You might even benefit from 128 GB. 

 

1 hour ago, uwshirk said:

The gpu: MSI GTX 1660 Super 6GB Ventus XS OC

As long as you're not playing any too graphically intensive game, it should be fine. If you can grab a 6600XT, should be a much better than a 1660 Super.

 

1 hour ago, uwshirk said:

The cooling

Cooling wise, 2 intakes and 1 exhaust is plenty for good air flow. More is marginally better. AIO's for a 10400f is overkill, you can get a budget air cooler and it will be plenty. For a 5950X, I would go with at least a 280MM AIO or one of the high end air coolers. You can go with a Noctua NH-U15 or Be Quiet! Dark Rock 4 Pro.

 

1 hour ago, uwshirk said:

The power: I have access to an 80+ Bronze 800W (Could not find link) and an 80+ Bronze 500W. Both are non-modular. I think I saw in a thread that upgrading just to have 80+ Gold isn't worth it in power savings and I do not think I would HAVE to get a modular PSU or be aware of any potential compatibility issues?

Modular is not needed, it's just easier to manage cables since you don't have all the cables attached to PSU. 500W will be plenty for 1660 Super, but If you plan to put a higher end GPU in the future, I would recommend at least 750W. Gold is also more on personal preference. Typically, Gold PSU's are higher quality, but not always the case. If you're getting a higher end GPU, I would recommend a Gold, but it's not really necessary. You can also reference the PSU Tier List in the forums to check the quality.

 

1 hour ago, uwshirk said:

The motherboard:

For a 10400f, going with a B460/B560 is the best bet. Going for B460M Bazooka at minimum is my recommendation. Any higher end motherboard is also good.

 

For a 5950X, I would go at minimum a B550 Tomahawk. Any B550 mobo ~$200 USD+ should be good.

1 hour ago, uwshirk said:

The storage:

Couple of my recommendations:

ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro

Silicon Power P34A80

Mushkin Pilot-E

Western Digital SN750

 

1 hour ago, uwshirk said:

Afterthought, would it be easy to sell the RX 590 and Ryzen 7 2700X to mitigate upgrade costs

Yea, there are some people who would be looking for those to upgrade their older systems as well. Always worth to check if anyone is looking to buy them in your area.

[uwshirk]

18 hours ago, Jonathan Lee said:

For a 5950X, I would go at minimum a B550 Tomahawk. Any B550 mobo ~$200 USD+ should be good.

So I still do not know which processor I will go for with an upgrade, I am thinking about waiting just a little longer for sales/deals. 

 

If I end up getting an AMD processor, would this motherboard (MSI PRO B550-A) be a good cheaper option? From what I can tell the only differences are one less LAN port and it also does not have the optical port in the rear IO.

 

[Jonathan Lee]

3 minutes ago, uwshirk said:

If I end up getting an AMD processor, would this motherboard (MSI PRO B550-A) be a good cheaper option? From what I can tell the only differences are one less LAN port and it also does not have the optical port in the rear IO.

Yea, that's a good motherboard as well. Should handle all the ryzen processors well.

[uwshirk]

Honestly I might just upgrade everything in the end. If that is the case, would it be easier to sell the system as a whole? And by system I mean the AMD system which would be the Phanteks case linked above, Ryzen 7 2700X with the AIO, 2x8GB RAM, RX 590 XFX Fatboy, the gigabyte mobo, and the 800W 80+ Bronze PUS. And I guess the storage as well if I can look up how to clean that up. I guess I could try to sell as a whole and if that doesn't work just individual components and if that doesn't work then 

[Jonathan Lee]

Yes, it would generally be easier to sell a whole system. I would build the new system first, so you have the components to test with if anything doesn't work.

[uwshirk]

I think I will be able to get ahold of a 3060 ti. I do not think I have the budget to go up to something like an i9 or the 5950X unless a good deal shows up for those. So my next question I guess would be if a 5600X or i7 11700k would be good to go with a 3060 ti? Also, when looking at benchmarks, which ones are best for processors used for mainly gaming. For instance, one site shows the Ryzen 7 5800X with a better score than the i7 11700K but another site has it reversed.

[uwshirk]

Bumping my post because I now has part lists. I hope this is okay!
 

I have an Intel build list and an AMD build list because I think upcoming sales will determine that part, all other parts are the same between the lists.

I got the SSD and PSU from the tier lists and I believe both are in the top tier.

[Jonathan Lee]

For the intel build, I would go with a 10900k/10850k (10 cores). The 11th gen i9 is not really good value due to losing 2 cores. Also, I would recommend getting the Z series boards for intel k chips (B-series intel boards can't be overclocked).

 

For AMD, I would go for a B550 Tomahawk. It has better power delivery so the CPU can stretch its legs better.

 

You can go with a higher end GPU if you like. The CPU's you chose should handle any GPU in the market right now. If you're playing at 1080p though, the 3060ti will be plenty. You can also consider the RX 6700XT which is similar in performance