Building (upgrading) my current build

saure_teigtasche · November 24, 2022

So yeah I wanted someone else's input on what I chose.

Budget (including currency): 600 Euros (though preferably lower)

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: My main activity on the computer is general user stuff of course, e.g. browsing. I also do a lot of digital art in raster programs like Krita. I currently don't rely on 3D programs like Blender. I am probably also going to do a lot of programing work on it though not any heavy machine learning stuff for now because GPU power consumption and prices are too ridiculous. While I do game, I don't have very high standards as I am fine even with 720p, don't have a high refresh rate monitor, and pretty much never play new AAA games. A friend of mine wants to play Apex Legends with me, and I think most things should be able to run that as long as I turn down the graphics. I also want to use Windows 11's Windows subsystem for Android to run some android games.

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 just bought a beQuiet! Pure Power 11 500W last year that I want to keep using. I also want to keep using my current GPU, the GTX 1050 (2GB VRAM), since I don't do heavy gaming and machine learning capable cards are really power hungry and expensive. For storage I am currently using a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SATA as a boot drive and a Seagate HDD 1TB for mass storage. The 250GB SSD feels too small which is why I want to get an NVME SSD.

I could keep using my current case, but one of its fans broke and it's pretty ugly and proper cable management is kind of impossible. Peripherals-wise I'm fine.

I also still have a GT 730. Could I plug that one in as well to get my VGA ports back? (I am currently using 2 VGA monitors and have 0 actual VGA ports)

The parts I intend to buy are (pcpartpicker list):

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600, though I also considered the i5-12400F but it seems more expensive from what I've seen and is more likely to need an after-market cooler

Cooler?: I've heard that AMD's stock coolers are pretty decent, though I also do own the Coolermaster Hyper evo 212, but I don't think I can mount it to AM4 without a new mounting bracket

Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H, I think a MATX should be sufficient. Even has 4 RAM slots if it turns out I need 32GB

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 CL16

Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME; Not sure if I should go for 500GB or 1TB but my current 256GB SATA SSD definitely feels too small

Case: Fractal Design Pop Air ATX Mid Tower Case cyan; No cyan would be cheaper but I really like cyan

Miscellaneous: some ties for cable management probably, maybe some thermal paste, I should probably also get an anti-static wrist strap

I know that what I listed here is significantly under 600 euros, but I don't know if I can really make use of anything higher end.

In order to build this thing, I pretty much only need a screwdriver, right?

Let me know if I have to fill out any information.

podkall · November 24, 2022

29 minutes ago, saure_teigtasche said:

but one of its fans broke and it's pretty ugly and proper cable management is kind of impossible.

Why buy a 100$ case to replace one broken cooler that can be bought with 10$?

However it's not that bad od an idea if it has better airflow than your current case.

I'm guessing you're upgrading from some old intel CPU?

6 core Ryzen processor should be more than enough for you,

the Motherboard with the CPU is good, any Faster CPU though would be better off on a better motherboard but on 5600 and similar it's fine,

RAM looks good, any ram with ~3000Mhz is good, you could get slightly faster if you feel like,

36 minutes ago, saure_teigtasche said:

In order to build this thing, I pretty much only need a screwdriver, right?

Basicacly, and knoweledge how to connect parts,

that MB has 4 slots so it is better to look in the motherobard's manual for a dual-channel RAM configuration so you don't rob yourself from performance.

Consider if 500GB is enough storage on your additional NVME SSD.

Also almost forgot to check you want to have 2 NVME SSDs the MB does have 2 ports for NVME, so good job on that.

43 minutes ago, saure_teigtasche said:

I also still have a GT 730.

I don't know about the GT 710, it doesn't really add too much power consumption but don't you have adapters/reductions for your cables already since you have a 1050?

@RONOTHAN## anything I forgot?

jamie.three · November 24, 2022

5 hours ago, saure_teigtasche said:

I've heard that AMD's stock coolers are pretty decent

I can confirm that the AMD stock cooler is fine for the 5600. I know 3 people, 2 with the 5600x and 1 with a 5700g all using the stock cooler and thay all have decent temperatures, and there is even a bit of headroom for some overclocking so long as the case has resonable airflow (turning on PBO and also undervolting 10-20mV usually gives a decent performance boost for minimal effort if you are interested)

saure_teigtasche · November 24, 2022

4 hours ago, podkall said:

Why buy a 100$ case to replace one broken cooler that can be bought with 10$?

Yeah, I mentioned that I could theoretically keep using it (after replacing the fan), but my current case is just the cheapest one I could find back then, so it's not built that well and I always felt like the air flow is not that great. The back panel also leaves barely any space for cable management which also impacts the air flow and the aesthetics. 100 Euro case is probably overkill, but at least I feel like I can reuse this case later on.

4 hours ago, podkall said:

I'm guessing you're upgrading from some old intel CPU?

I am actually upgrading from an AMD Athlon X4 860k, so yeah... I definitely still need a new motherboard.

5 hours ago, podkall said:

the Motherboard with the CPU is good, any Faster CPU though would be better off on a better motherboard but on 5600 and similar it's fine,

I was considering the R7 3700X but I found out that apparently the mounting bracket for the Hyper EVO 212 cannot be found anymore,

4 hours ago, podkall said:

Also almost forgot to check you want to have 2 NVME SSDs the MB does have 2 ports for NVME, so good job on that.

Sorry, I don't quite seem to understand. Are you suggesting that I have to occupy both of the M2 slots? Can't I just leave one empty and pop in another one if I need it?

4 hours ago, podkall said:

I don't know about the GT 710, it doesn't really add too much power consumption but don't you have adapters/reductions for your cables already since you have a 1050?

I do have adapters for my VGA monitors, but one of them is an HDMI to VGA adapter, which seems rather unstable. Sometimes my screens just randomly go black for a short moment and it is very easy to accidentally disconnect. Not the end of the world, but if I can just put in my GT 730 I thought it might be worth it.

Also, thanks for the feedback!

saure_teigtasche · November 25, 2022

1 hour ago, jamie.three said:

I can confirm that the AMD stock cooler is fine for the 5600. I know 3 people, 2 with the 5600x and 1 with a 5700g all using the stock cooler and thay all have decent temperatures, and there is even a bit of headroom for some overclocking so long as the case has resonable airflow (turning on PBO and also undervolting 10-20mV usually gives a decent performance boost for minimal effort if you are interested)

That is great to hear, as I found out that I probably won't be able to reuse my current cooler. So, I am leaning towards just going stock.

podkall · November 25, 2022

16 hours ago, saure_teigtasche said:

I was considering the R7 3700X but I found out that apparently the mounting bracket for the Hyper EVO 212 cannot be found anymore,

mounting bracket should be shipped with brand new coolers always if they claim to support a socket

16 hours ago, saure_teigtasche said:

Sorry, I don't quite seem to understand. Are you suggesting that I have to occupy both of the M2 slots? Can't I just leave one empty and pop in another one if I need it?

you can, but if you're buying 2 NVME SSDs you will have to use both slots

16 hours ago, saure_teigtasche said:

I do have adapters for my VGA monitors, but one of them is an HDMI to VGA adapter, which seems rather unstable. Sometimes my screens just randomly go black for a short moment and it is very easy to accidentally disconnect. Not the end of the world,

adapters are very bad in such conversion, I had hdmi to vga adapter aswell, the adapter often disconnected or got lose and eventually broke

I recommend a whole cable that's HDMI to VGA, such cable is more stable, I'm not sure if 100% stable but at least my monitor doesn't go black and I have to dive under desk everytime I accidentaly move my case..