Building The A.M.D. Endeavour

[TechRush]

Below are my notes as I progress towards completing my build, definitely feel free to leave your thoughts in the thread.

 

I've been intending to get a PC for content I've wanted to put out for awhile now. Opted to build a PC to get more for my moneys worth and ensure quality/longevity of components.

Currently, however, I'm on a tight budget for the time being, so decided to just the basic spec of the PC up and running so I can get to work now, then add remaining components later when budget is no longer an issue.

As a result, I decided to proceed with this build with two aspects in mind - an incomplete immediate system, and the later additions to complete the build.

 

Purpose -

1> Creating video content in 1080p 60fps and 4k for YouTube - mostly non gaming / gaming vlog, but will include some of that variety also.

- intending 3 to 5 ,3-5 min videos a day, to begin with.

2> Motion Graphics - which would be used in aforementioned videos.

3> Basic 3D work,mostly (if not all) with Blender

4> Video Gaming whilst Streaming at Max Settings at 1080p 60fps

5> Image editing - likely a dozen or so a day to begin with

 

Later on -

6> 4k Gaming at around144 fps ideally.

 

length of time of use as main computer for the purpose outlined above - 4-5 years.

 

Current Budget - ≤ £1000.

 

Mood - anxious but optimistic.

[TechRush]

What exactly do i want to do with the build?

 

Realized this question needed answering if I'm to build a PC that can handle my needs, and not have strengths I wont use or weaknesses I cant avoid.

 

videos/motion graphics/3D work -

Adobe Suite - in particular

- Premier Pro

- Animate

- Illustrator

- Photoshop

- After Effects

Davinci Resolve

Blender

 

for gaming whilst streaming at 1080p 60fps -

- some FPS/3rdPS such as Battlefield 5, Fortnite

- a lot of beat em ups, such as SF5, T7, SC6.

- some 2d axis games, e.g. hack and slash, MOBA, totalwar or EU series games

- whatever is coming out in the next few years, e.g. Cyberpunk 2077.

- indie titles

 

later on -

may consider Cinema4D and other industry standard software on a student license.

 

[TechRush]

Current Build as of 27-10-2018

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor  (£287.99 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Patriot - Viper 4 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£145.39 @ More Computers)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£125.94 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£29.39 @ Aria PC)
Total: £588.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-27 19:42 BST+0100

 

Rationale -

 

Only partial system? - I've decided to buy parts at a time so I can get the best value for money and spend as little as possible, I'm hoping to use as much of my current system as a placeholder until my budget allows for up to date components, however some parts, such as those I've purchased cannot be substituted with older parts given my usage goals.

 

No GPU? - I decided to forego the GPU for whilst the budget is tight, I can purchase an up to date GPU when things becomes less stringent, in the mean time I can spend time identifying what sort of spec would fulfill my needs for the time period I need it for (next 4-5 years) and price watch/bargain hunt for when I'm ready to make the purchase. This means no gaming whilst streaming for now, though less demanding titles are still fine with the 7870, which is ok with me as that's exactly what im playing regularly at the moment and should hold me down until I can get a modern gpu.

 

CPU - Generally I prefer Intel - they're a lot less of a headache when it comes to compatibility/optimization for software, but while I'm on this budget I cant afford the price jump on the 8700k or the absurd pricing on the 9 series. Apart from out of my price range, going by benchmarks for my usage needs the 8 and 9 series Intel CPU's are simply not value for money when compared to the 2700x, which either did superbly on its own merit, matched or exceeded the performance of the 8700k in various benchmarks. I doubt I would feel the 9900k was worth the money even if I didn't have the current budget constraints.

 

One big concern was the 2700x v 8700k performance for Premiere Pro, but when hardware acceleration using a GPU, is put into the picture the difference from the UHD 630 IGPU becomes a minor, which swings things in favor for the 2700x as I can just plug in Radeon HD 7870 for free, from my current (outdated) system just for that.

 

For streaming, the 2700x, especially in terms of viewer side quality/fps was the clear victor, and it was more then adequate for the Adobe suite, Resolve and Blender, iirc it was mostly a match or superior for content creation vs the 8700k whilst being cheaper and hence more value for money (vfm).

 

RAM - AMD CPU's perform better with Samsung B-Die ram is something I came to find out fortunately before picking up any sticks, The Patriot Viper 4 3.2K Mhz was by far the cheapest confirmed Samsung B-Die I could find that had appropriate CL ratings to match its speed. Fortunately the Viper 4 also happens to be on the QVL for the MoBo (found out after purchase!) I'm intending to get to so hopefully there are no issues come build time.

 

Intending to add 16GB more of these in the future.

 

see this thread for more insight -

 

SSD - Samsung from what Ive come to know has pretty much the best consumer grade SSD on the market, decided to to get the latest version m.2 of their brand I could find that was affordable and value for money, i went for the 500GB to ensure the SSD never slowed down too much and to be able to accommodating space for apps over time.

 

HDD - Considered WD Blue at first, but noticed Seagate Barracuda was cheaper at same storage volume, when I compared specs and benchmarks the Barracuda became the obvious choice.

Will also be adding my current 1TB HDD to the storage space as I may as well put it to use.

 

Intend to add more storage space in the future (4TB or more) as well as external storage, at this point I will likely switch out the single 1TB drives with a single SATA SSD drive as my intended MoBo is not compatible with more then 2 SATA drives when using a M.2 SSD.

 

Previous System -

I'm coming from a 2012 prebuilt system from cyberpowersystems.co.uk, which by now is quite outdated. I want to get started with my intended usage asap, so waiting around to get started or for newer/better tech, or a more lenient budget doesn't make sense if the current tech/price is good enough.

I'm hoping to make use of the GPU - Radeon HD 7870 2GB - until i get an up to date GPU, the HDD - 1TB, and possibly the PSU and the Case, which should help cut down prices

[TechRush]

Current Research To Do list -

Current (Old) PSU? Figure out if current PSU (iirc its a Corsair 550W) from this 2012 machine, will suffice with my new build prior to adding in a modern GPU, would save me some money.

Current (Old) Case? Figure out if the case will be fine with my components, no its not TG, nor does it have a separate area for the PSU but it just needs to hold out until I get a new case.

Which PSU? I should probably look for a PSU for my very final iteration of this machine so I don't have to keep buying new PSU's

Which Case? I'm smitten by the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv X. its the Lamborghini of PC Cases, so that's what I have in mind for now, who knows what Ill go for come purchase time.

Which GPU? I need to find out which GPU's are better for editing/motion graphics/3D work. Definitely wont purchase a GPU before seeing what RX 590 has to offer for performance and price, as well as upcoming 1060 refresh.
Going by my current budget vs currently available cards - I'm inclined to the RX 580 over the GTX 1060 due to it having more ram, which I'm assuming for the time being would be better suited for my needs (something I'll have to check).

 

 

[TechRush]

PSU update -

 

Seems like my current PSU could actually see me through until I get a new PSU, going by whats in this thread -

Having said that, I will try to ID the actual PSU model, most likely tomorrow and then update the PSU thread above.

[TechRush]

It's dawned on me that its about time I sought a final spec review, and I have to really figure out how, when and what exactly I'm going to go about 4k YouTube videos - could use proxies at 1080p if my specs will hold  up to the task or maybe ill have to just consider 4k video making at a later date.

[Thiago Cabral]

Nice, i recently bought myself one R7 1700 + Asus Prime x370-A + 8GB HyperX 2400MHz.
I will pair it with my old parts until i can afford for some new parts.
 

[TechRush]

On 10/28/2018 at 12:53 AM, 2018amdbuild said:

PSU update -

 

Seems like my current PSU could actually see me through until I get a new PSU, going by whats in this thread -

Having said that, I will try to ID the actual PSU model, most likely tomorrow and then update the PSU thread above.

turn out i definately CANNOT use my old PSU, will need to get some feedback on my new PSU of choice - considering the SeaSonic FOCUS plug gold 650w 80+ gold fully modular PSU

 

Final build is looking like this currently -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700 3.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£252.76 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£99.59 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot - Viper 4 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£138.97 @ More Computers)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£112.74 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£35.29 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£31.79 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB Video Card  (£449.99 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Phanteks - ENTHOO EVOLV X GLASS (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£199.00 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£85.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1405.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-08 02:17 GMT+0000

 

Hoping financial restraints last much longer, would ideally like to get my case of choice and a modern gpu asap.

[TechRush]

b450 listed on amazon again for 99 gbp - should probably order it though its not in stock yet, there is a tempttion to wait till black friday/cyber monday, may end up regretting if pass on it now and wait it out though.

 

Trying to decide on the PSU, want to get it asap-

ideally don't want to get more wattage then I need to save on electricity and psu cost

what ive learned is -

jonnyguru is the place to go for cpu reviews

multirail is safer

single rail can be safe enough

most modern psu are safe enough

there can be some disparity in trerms of psu fan sound

that perhaps i dont need as much Watts as i thought i did

looking at numerous PSU's at the moment going to list them here for my reference for now -

Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W £82 single rail semi modular (9.6)

performance - 10 functionality - 9 value - 9  build quality - 10 total score - 9 .6

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/JfBrxr/corsair-txm-gold-750w-80-gold-certified-semi-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020131-na

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=528

https://www.cclonline.com/product/228831/CP-9020131-UK/Power-Supplies/Corsair-TX-M-Series-TX750M-750W-Power-Supply-Unit-80-Plus-Gold-Certified-/PSU1419/?siteID=8BacdVP0GFs-LS0Kzb_EsYOyT2ULNhrKVA

 

BitFenix - Formula Gold 750 W £81.3 multi rail non modular (9.2)

performance - 9.5 functionality - 8 value - 9  build quality - 10 total score - 9 .2

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/Tsbkcf/bitfenix-formula-gold-750w-80-gold-certified-atx-power-supply-bp-fm750ulag-7r

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=535

https://www.cclonline.com/product/255207/BP-FM750ULAG-8R/Power-Supplies/Bitfenix-Formula-Series-750W-80-Plus-Gold-Certified-ATX-Power-Supply/PSU1574/

Corsair - TXM Gold 650 W £75 single rail semi modular (9.3?)

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/PVzZxr/corsair-txm-gold-650w-80-gold-certified-semi-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020132-na

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06WVWXPVZ/?tag=pcp0f-21

 

SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650 £85.47 single rail fully modular (<9.6)

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/WrNypg/seasonic-focus-plus-gold-650w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-ssr-650fx

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073H33X7R/?tag=pcp0f-21

 

I think that's it for my selection

 

keep on thinking twice about 550w units so may possibly be updating the post with some of those.

[TechRush]

Been awhile since ive updated this but at this point, I've actually bought everything, the final build looks like this -

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£289.20 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£95.62 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Patriot - Viper 4 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£139.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  (£111.80 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£35.55 @ PC World Business)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8 GB Video Card  (£404.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair - Carbide Series 275R (White w/Tempered Glass) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£63.49 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£79.99 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £1220.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-28 17:38 GMT+0000

 

I acutally managed to get discounts and cash backs on a number of items so the total money is actually a bit off, from my current calculations I've got it for a little above £1000.

 

I'm glad I was able to pick up a 1070 ti now, as I was going to get it sooner or later and being able to get it to stock 1080 performance means huge value for money, especially when I payed around £350 for the card after discounts are added - a good amount less then your average stock gtx 1080 (£450 if your lucky but mostly above £500) which itself is only around 8% on userbench performance score vs a rtx 2070. I think it would be worth trying to go 4k with certain games where turning down settings doesn't affect visual fidelity too much, surprisingly BF5 may be one of those games despite it focusing on photo realism.

 

Same with the 275r case - clean sensible case that sits well among furniture and has all the features of a good quality case. The TX 650M was also the right choice to allow room for future hardware updates. the 3.2k Mhz ram ended up costing only a little more then the 3000 mhz ram, though its cl16 is better suited at the higher speed i got it for, and serves as the cheapest samsung b-die ram available for my mobo.

 

The Mobo seems legit, and especially for its quality vs age being a recent release - hopefully it can handle lite OCing on the cpu, gpu and ram.This is probably the weakest point in my build but its not rly a weak point, I managed to swag the mobo and case on an ebay sale using a coupon which brought the items lower then their second hand cost..

 

Next up is Win 10 OEM key and installer USB,

In the future I would consider swapping out all HDD's with SSD's, though would still use the HDD for external storage. At some point I will need to swap out the gpu, though for now its fine.

 

[TechRush]

I think i will need to figure out how to go about setting up my PC and OCing, as its new to me.

[TechRush]

Ok so got all the parts, and it feels good, but whats feels really bad is the delivery company for the case made up some complete bs excuse and tried to blame not delivering it so far on not having access to the property when there are deliveries here all the time including for the PC - they were supposed to have delivered it by Thursday morning and now I'm moving intot he following week. Build wont be complete until its actually built, so still waiting for the case, and also to test my new 4g internet, as im considering canceling my home broadband since my 4g is far superior and not data capped or speed throttled

[TechRush]

Intending to use 4g internet as my main internet, but have to see if it will suitable be enough for gaming whilst streaming. My max speed I've gotten so far is 30+ mbps down and 30 up, its on an unlimited data and unthrottled speed plan. This is because fibre is suprisngly not available a this location though it is in areas a few mins walk away from here, this is despite being in center of a major global metropolitan city. Currently getting some feedback whilst testing about best spots for the phones 4g speeds, whilst I await for the pc case to arrive - read more here -

 

don't want to start building out of the case if i don't have a case or one coming soon (as currently the delivery company has not updated me) to put it all in once everything is set up. Funny things is delivering to the address never been an issue before but this driver claims lack of access to property despite its being super easy to access to any delivery I've revived/ordered, including for all the other pc parts that came in recently. Their customer service line is also terrible and at the moment with no update on when I can expect the case to arrive - it was supposed to have been here 3-4 days ago.

[TechRush]

9 hours ago, 2018amdbuild said:

Ok so got all the parts, and it feels good, but whats feels really bad is the delivery company for the case made up some complete bs excuse and tried to blame not delivering it so far on not having access to the property when there are deliveries here all the time including for the PC - they were supposed to have delivered it by Thursday morning and now I'm moving intot he following week. Build wont be complete until its actually built, so still waiting for the case, and also to test my new 4g internet, as im considering canceling my home broadband since my 4g is far superior and not data capped or speed throttled

Need to correct myself, all the parts except for Case and GPU - but now I have the GPU. I have to say I'm really looking forward to using it, pretty much my first high/high end-ish GPU, and I'm quite please with how heavy it feels, gives me more confidence in the  heat-sink (where the weight comes from) ability to conduct heat.

 

I'm intending to run stress tests, but mainly for the making sure the systems stable, because at this point its unlikely I'm going to be upgrading any parts soon so will be sticking with the system regardless of stress test results. All that aside, can't begin building the pc until the case has an ETA or better yet is delivered. This will also be my first non cheap-as-chips case, so looking forward to seeing how it feels/looks.

[TechRush]

I should mention i managed to save a bunch on the phone, 4g, mobo and case due to the sales, ebay also had a 15% discount code, so i just went to the retailers ebay store and got a further discount from the sales price. As for the - got it manufacture refurb with no issues on phone, the camera is non issue for me and don't intend to use it for gaming though the specs are more then capable, and has a big battery - ideal for using during streaming, though it will be tethered via usb anyway. The 4G internet came down almost 30% in monthly price during the sales so i managed to get a good deal.

 

I also saved a bunch on the ram and gpu as both have cash back and were cheapest options available on the internet at the time.

 

Currently total cost is coming in just over £1000 (below £1100), when I was expecting to spend up to £1000 or  a little under for a 1060/580 system, so I'm really pleased with the system specs/build quality I've managed to get for the price. The next thing I intend to upgrade is the ram to 32gb cl16 3200 mhz or less, there are some ram brands that go on sale quite often, so one 32gb cl14 3200 mhz go on sale for £205 - cant afford right now but that's a massive bargain, I intend sell my old ram when the times comes to recoup some oft he cost.

[TechRush]

Build is complete! currently posting from it, will take pictures later on, may index all the troubleshooting posts I've made so you can get an idea of my journey here.

 

Very pleased with everything, considered getting help with building it since last time I built a computer was a decade ago (and that was with help too) but I felt I had to become more familiar with my hardware to make the most out of it as this is intended to be a workstation. Really pleased with the value for money this system has, pretty much got the optimal specs/quality for my money.

 

Currently chasing up cash back that haven't come in as well as my copy of Monster Hunter World. Also front audio ports have started/stopped working a few times, need to make sure the pin connector is firmly connected.

 

I've stuck to static white lighting for the internal LED's, I never got any of the components for LEDs and wanted to avoid them as much as possible but now that its finished it is nice to see the internals more clearly with the help of the static white light, this is probably the only form of LED usage I like.

 

Case felt very sturdy throughout, rubber gromits helped a bunch for cable management, which itself i am new to and had to rewire a couple of times to get it somewhat neat and minimal, forgot to put the IO shield in but fortunately it rests failry securely from the outside also, have no problems plugging stuff in - will probably adress in my monthly internal clean up. One thing I like about the case is that its sort of between ATX and MATX due to the lack of optical drive space and hdd bays that go under them (the hdd area is in the PSU shroud and behidn the mobo for SSD's) - this allowed the PC to fit snugly on my desktop, without taking up too much space or obstructing my desk usage, also love the clean look.

 

There is always better specs one can aim for, and better hardware around the corner, but it feels genuinely nice to have a system I am satisfied and confident in.