First Build Planning, Round 2!

[Athenyx]

So 2 months later I return with the planning of my build. The intended use for the build remains the same, gaming at 1080p in games like LoL, Overwatch, Rocket League, F1 2018, XCOM 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Also some light video and photo editing in Premiere and Photoshop, and programming both in Windows and Linux.

 

Budget is around 1000€ and I can buy parts in both Spain and Germany. This is the planned build for the moment but is subject to any changes you suggest.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor  (€159.90 @ Alternate)
Motherboard: *Asus - PRIME B450-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€104.90 @ Caseking)
Memory: *G.Skill - Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (€127.99 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: *Kingston - A400 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (€39.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: *Hitachi - Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€39.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: *Palit - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Dual Video Card  (€264.99 @ Mindfactory)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  (€52.98 @ Alternate)
Power Supply: Cooler Master - MasterWatt 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (€67.70 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  (Purchased For €0.00)
Monitor: BenQ - GW2470H 23.8" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor  (€112.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €971.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-10 00:12 CEST+0200

 

Here I discuss every part and I make my questions on each of them.

 

CPU: I think I'm in the right spot here as Intel CPU's are getting more expensive and this is still one of the best CPU's for my situation.

Motherboard: People suggested a B350 but after seeing compatibility issues and having to update BIOS with a 1xxx CPU, I think I should go with a B450 mobo. I'm mainly between the Asus Prime B450 PLUS and the MSI Tomahawk.

Memory: I read in some other forum topics that along with a Ryzen CPU, it's important to have a fast ram, so I'm selecting from parametric filter the cheapest DDR4 3000MHz+ RAM. What I'm still not 100% sure is if I should go for 8 or 16GB RAM, but for the moment I'm sticking with the 16GB.

Storage: I'm pretty sure I need an SSD even if it's just a 250GB one, so I'm adding that to the build. The other alternative I have in my head is buying only a 500GB SSD and buy a HDD later, but I don't want to start spending again on components for the PC too soon and I'm worried I might need more space than 500GB, so the combination of 250GB SSD + 1TB HDD should do.

Video Card: As I'm going for 1080p gaming, my first thought was going for a 1060 6GB or even a 1070 if it went down to a 300-350€ range, but right now the cards have not went down that much. I also have I'm mind picking a RX 580 if I pick a monitor with Freesync as I will discuss later. What I don't know is how comparable to the 1060 6GB, 1070, RX580 4GB and RX580 8GB are. In my mind they are RX580 4GB < 1060 6GB = RX580 8GB < 1070, but I could be wrong.

Case: I'm looking for a nice looking white case, with good airflow to keep the thermals right. I was thinking of the NZXT H500, but maybe it has bad thermals, the Silverstone RS06 Pro or Meshify C, but maybe too expensive. User @Streetguru suggested this Fractal Design Focus G and it might be okay, but I need suggestions.

Power Supply: Here I'm just going for one at least Bronze rated, with 500+ Watts and if I can at least Semi-Modular so I can manage the cables a little better.

OS: I have a Windows 10 Student Key from the university so it should be no problem.

Monitor: Here comes another problem. Originally I thought of picking a 60Hz monitor, which if I end up picking, I need suggestions if that BenQ is good or there is another better monitor. I posted something some hours ago and users suggested me to look into the 144Hz market, and if that's the case, I should look too into picking an AMD card and Freesync. This was the monitor that was suggested, a Viewsonic XG2401.

 

Sorry for the long post but I want to clear the doubts I have, TLDR is that I want a 1000€ computer (monitor included) for gaming and programming.

[r2724r16]

Sorry I'm too lazy to read your essay but here's what I'd change from your part list:

- Get a RX 580 8GB instead of the 1060 6GB

- Get a MX500 250GB isntead of a crappy Kingston A400

- Get a CX550M PSU

[Athenyx]

13 minutes ago, r2724r16 said:

Sorry I'm too lazy to read your essay but here's what I'd change from your part list:

- Get a RX 580 8GB instead of the 1060 6GB

- Get a MX500 250GB isntead of a crappy Kingston A400

- Get a CX550M PSU

Yes, I think I'll get the Crucial one, that one is there because of the parametric filter. Thanks ^^.

[brob]

It's good practice for Ryzen cpu to check that selected memory is on the motherboard's memory QVL. Or that the motherboard is on the memory's motherboard QVL.

 

Otherwise, it looks like a decent build.

 

[lmeneses]

Between those 2 mobos, honestly whichever is cheaper, and I'm guessing the tomahawk is because Asus components are often pricier solely because of the brand name 

[Athenyx]

8 minutes ago, brob said:

It's good practice for Ryzen cpu to check that selected memory is on the motherboard's memory QVL. Or that the motherboard is on the memory's motherboard QVL.

 

Otherwise, it looks like a decent build.

 

Yes you are right. Those cheap G.Skill RAM sticks aren't compatible with the ASUS Prime board for example. I think I'll take the Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz, which are only 14€ more.

[Athenyx]

6 minutes ago, lmeneses said:

Between those 2 mobos, honestly whichever is cheaper, and I'm guessing the tomahawk is because Asus components are often pricier solely because of the brand name 

Surprisingly in both Spain and Germany the Asus one is cheaper right now.

[Jurrunio]

MSI's the better board for any overclocking. The mosfets (in the VRM part) are better and heatsink is a heatsink, not a decorative piece like the one on the Asus.

[lukart]

11 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

MSI's the better board for any overclocking. The mosfets (in the VRM part) are better and heatsink is a heatsink, not a decorative piece like the one on the Asus.

 

Shame MSI bios are not that good for overclocking... VRMs matter but mostly for high overclocks with extreme cooling, if you buy any decent motherboard will have decent VRMs and a bios would be more helpful than a top end VRMs.

 

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, lukart said:

 

Shame MSI bios are not that good for overclocking... VRMs matter but mostly for high overclocks with extreme cooling, if you buy any decent motherboard will have decent VRMs and a bios would be more helpful than a top end VRMs.

 

Msi's new design is much better than it used to be, though I did manage to get the old design work as well so I'm not in the best position to claim this.

 

In this case though the Asus's weak VRM cooling is a deal breaker. The older B350-Plus managed to hold a 1600 at 1.4V at about 80C above ambient, which isnt great but at least within spec of the mosfets. The B450-Plus though gets worse heatsink and the 2600 is a more power hungry CPU. Whether it throttles or not prett much relies on how cold the room is.

[Athenyx]

4 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Msi's new design is much better than it used to be, though I did manage to get the old design work as well so I'm not in the best position to claim this.

 

In this case though the Asus's weak VRM cooling is a deal breaker. The older B350-Plus managed to hold a 1600 at 1.4V at about 80C above ambient, which isnt great but at least within spec of the mosfets. The B450-Plus though gets worse heatsink and the 2600 is a more power hungry CPU. Whether it throttles or not prett much relies on how cold the room is.

Welp I live in Spain so hot summers and I have temperature issues with my laptop when playing (but maybe it's just because is a laptop haha).