The PC Builders Thread ("I Need a New PC") v2

GeezyAF · Feb 16, 2020

Shadownet said:
What did you find better in using two 16:9 vs one 21:9?

Actual separation of monitors. Yes, you get the workspace of two in a UW, but that's if you don't want to run anything full screen.

Same thing in gaming if you needed like a guide or video up, or just wanted to multitask. I was not going to play a game in windowed mode.

GeezyAF · Feb 16, 2020

ABeezy1388 said:
So I started to actually buy the components for not only my first build but my first ITX build! this is what I got from micro center so far:

Power Supply: EVGA 650GM 80+G FM SFX PSU - $134.99***
Memory: G. SKILL 32GB 2X16 D4 3200 RIPJAWS $138.99
Storage: IPSG 256GB I PREMIUM NVME SSD $44.99
Storage: IPSG 1TB I PREMIUM NVME SSD $134.99
CPU: AMD AMD RYZEN 5 3600X WRAITHS $179.99
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B450-I GAMING $114.99
GPU: See text below
Cooler: See text below
Case: See text below

TOTAL COST OF PURCHASED PARTS: $745.11

so with micro center having the sale on the Ryzen CPUs I decided to bite. They also were giving $20 off with a combo with a mother board dropping the B450 from $134 to 114. I previously had different storage brand and sizes but the guy who helped me suggested a small 256 for the boot drive with really good read and wrote speeds. this mobo has 2 NVME slots so i picked a 1TB however I'm wondering if I should swap it for a 2TB. I also have a 3TB sata drive and a 500GB 850 Evo SSD I could add if need be.

*** So all these prices were either the same or cheaper with the deals then amazon which is why I went with Micro center. However the PSU listed above was $108.98 on Amazon and he said he would price match. He fudged the price and actually sold me it for only $88.98 which is awesome. On top of that it comes with a $20 mail in rebate dropping the price to $68 for a 650GM gold fully modular PSU lmao!

I was so close to biting on buying the EVGA RTX 2080 Super Black on sale for $689 but I am still undecided if I want to wait for the 3000 series or not.

I also will need a cooler and being a SSF build I'm thinking of going with the Noctua NH-L9a after most of the build videos I've watched.

Lastly for the case I cannot decide which I want to get. Right now I'm considering several options. They are:

fractal node 202

Silverstone Rvz03

Dan Case A4-SFX v4.1

Phanteks evolv x

Geeek A50 Mini

Nouvolo Steck

LOUQE Ghost S1

Modivio xCase L

this will mostly be tucked away so I want something console like which eliminates a few of the above if I go that route so I am kind of leaning towards the RV03 at the moment. Hopefully I've made some good choices :)

SFX tax for PSUs is ridiculous, since $68 would get you that in a normal ATX size on a good sale.
I own the SF750, and it's overpriced but it's the SFF king.

Lots of good case choices you list. Out of your case list, I would choose the ghost s1. I have a ncase M1 myself.

PapaGoob · Feb 16, 2020

Should a 8700K and 2060 Super be play for 1080p/60 for the next 3-4 years? Helping my friend assemble a PC with some of my spare parts and that's his resolution/FPS goal

Beer Monkey · Feb 16, 2020

Giggzy said:
Should a 8700K and 2060 Super be play for 1080p/60 for the next 3-4 years? Helping my friend assemble a PC with some of my spare parts and that's his resolution/FPS goal

That should be solid IMO. There will always be outliers on performance. That rig can run most current stuff at 1080p HFR.

ABeezy1388 · Feb 16, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
Depends on your needs, really. The downside of 2TB is its usually slightly less or slightly more than buying 2 1TB drives...therefore it's very expensive. Sure, it gives you a 2TB to use in builds down the road, but you can arguably also just go smaller and wait for bigger/faster drives down the road (PCIe 4.0 second gen chipsets are coming this year, for instance). And since you have the 3.5 and 2.5" drives, it's basically a luxury decision.

All of that being said, if you're going ITX, you definitely need to decide *now* on if you want 2 NVMe or not, because that second slot is on the back of the motherboard, and it's going to be a nightmare to access it after you've built the system.

Personally, I would be trying to save as much money as possible towards your graphics card. These days its ultimately whats determining your FPS, to the point that it can be half the cost of the PC. But it depends what kind of gaming you want to do on the SFF build.

that is what I originally had was 2 1TB drives and he questioned why I wanted to spend all that money if one was just a boot drive. He suggest dropping to the 256gb with much higher read and write speeds so I agreed. Mainly I'm going to be just gaming on this. I have a macbook pro and iPad Pro that I use for photoshop illustrator etc. so I don't think I need insane storage. However in a huge retro gaming fan and that alone takes up quite a bit of room. I thought about maybe using my 500gb SSD strictly to store my retro collection and then the 1TB NVME for current games and saves that will be delisted once I'm done playing them.

so yeah if I go the route I am going now I should be good and using both NVME slots and my 50pgb SSD. I just have to decide to buy a graphics card now or wait for the 3000 series. I find it hard to believe the cost is not going to be inflated As many people seem to think the prices will cost what the current cards cost.

GeezyAF said:
SFX tax for PSUs is ridiculous, since $68 would get you that in a normal ATX size on a good sale.
I own the SF750, and it's overpriced but it's the SFF king.

Lots of good case choices you list. Out of your case list, I would choose the ghost s1. I have a ncase M1 myself.

yeah the tax on all the SFF stuff seems to be high which sucks but I'm willing to pay it as I don't want s monstrous rig lol. one thing I realized though is if I go with the RVZ03 case it supports full size ATX PSU's. My current gaming pc my buddy built me in 2016 has a EVGA Supernova 850G2 80G FM PSU, so I could return this one and use that. However I wanted to try and kind of sell my current pc to make a little money on it so If I did that I couldnt sell it as a compete unit. Decisions decisions.

I do like the ghost it's a nice case! My biggest thing with all the cases I listen is temps and I'd like it to be as silent as possible. I hate hearing computers ramp up under load. But I'm not sure if thsts 100% possible to accomplish with an itx build...

SaberVS7 · Feb 16, 2020

Just need a quick opinion check: How worthwhile of an upgrade is the Ryzen 3600x from the 1600x?

I'm not having any performance issues with my 1600x as it stands with any games I play or software I run, but how much of a risk is there of Next Gen consoles rendering the 1600x irrelevant?

EDIT: Or should I wait for Zen 3 CPUs?

Vulcano's Assistant · Feb 16, 2020

SaberVS7 said:
Just need a quick opinion check: How worthwhile of an upgrade is the Ryzen 3600x from the 1600x?

I'm not having any performance issues with my 1600x as it stands with any games I play or software I run, but how much of a risk is there of Next Gen consoles rendering the 1600x irrelevant?

EDIT: Or should I wait for Zen 3 CPUs?

If you don't need it just wait. Worst case scenario you need to upgrade in some months, but the 3600 may be cheaper then.

Dave. · Feb 16, 2020

WillJoe said:
they make 128GB ddr4 modules which means you can have up to 2TB RAM.

sure it's expensive as hell, for servers, and ridiculous for most people but you can buy it. i just watched this video the other day:

Lol yes this video was great. I'd like to see this same test on Linux or MacOS since the behaviour was quite odd, like it was forcing swap usage or something - it appeared like the "disk thrashing" common in the olden days. Though those 128GB modules aren't "normal", our x570 /z390 motherboards won't take them. I believe currently 32GB are the largest unbuffered DDR4 DIMMS.

Zerokku · Feb 16, 2020

Vulcano's Assistant said:
I'm thinking a Ryzen 5 3600 with a 2070 Super.

This is only using parts available at Best Buy (at the top you can change from "Overview" to "Prices by Merchant")
This is using all stores available (with some minor changes to SSD, RAM, case, and 2070 Super model)

Depending on how much credit you have at Best buy, I'm guessing the sweet spot is getting only the CPU, Mobo, and GPU there, and most of the parts elsewhere.

You don't need the CPU cooler I added, the 3600 comes with one in the box. And you also might not need that additional HDD I added to the all merchants build, so feel free to switch those for something you prefer.

So I built the first one you posted as is last night and am running into a snag and I'm afraid its the motherboard itself.

When I try and power it on, the red DRAM light turns on on the motherboard. If I have a monitor plugged in, nothing shows, it doesn't post or anything. Everything appears to turn on just fine inside, the fans on everything including the GPU, and the rgb lights on the motherboard. It also coicidentally does *not* beep at all, which Im used to doing if it would fail due to ram issues. Sticks moved, sticks missing, etc. no sound whatsoever. Reading online I've tried reseating multiple parts, including the CPU itself and still nogo. Any thoughts or did I get a bum mobo?

Vulcano's Assistant · Feb 16, 2020

Zerokku said:
So I built the first one you posted as is last night and am running into a snag and I'm afraid its the motherboard itself.

When I try and power it on, the red DRAM light turns on on the motherboard. If I have a monitor plugged in, nothing shows, it doesn't post or anything. Everything appears to turn on just fine inside, the fans on everything including the GPU, and the rgb lights on the motherboard. It also coicidentally does *not* beep at all, which Im used to doing if it would fail due to ram issues. Sticks moved, sticks missing, etc. no sound whatsoever. Reading online I've tried reseating multiple parts, including the CPU itself and still nogo. Any thoughts or did I get a bum mobo?

Could there be anything on the back of the mobo like a screw or a motherboard stand that you didn't use making contact?
There could be an issue with the BIOS, the MAX is supposed to work out of the box with Ryzen 3000, but maybe doing a BIOS flashback helps.

Polyh3dron · Feb 16, 2020

Zerokku said:
So I built the first one you posted as is last night and am running into a snag and I'm afraid its the motherboard itself.

When I try and power it on, the red DRAM light turns on on the motherboard. If I have a monitor plugged in, nothing shows, it doesn't post or anything. Everything appears to turn on just fine inside, the fans on everything including the GPU, and the rgb lights on the motherboard. It also coicidentally does *not* beep at all, which Im used to doing if it would fail due to ram issues. Sticks moved, sticks missing, etc. no sound whatsoever. Reading online I've tried reseating multiple parts, including the CPU itself and still nogo. Any thoughts or did I get a bum mobo?

You need a BIOS update for that mobo to work with that CPU. Out of the box it will probably not work because of that.

EDIT: was beaten with better mobo info... Still I'd try an update.

Vulcano's Assistant · Feb 16, 2020

Polyh3dron said:
You need a BIOS update for that mobo to work with that CPU. Out of the box it will probably not work because of that.

Unless Best Buy gave the wrong product, I believe he/she got the MAX version. But I see there are plenty of people online everywhere from LLTForums to Tom'shardware forums having issues with the Tomahawk MAX as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of these are coming with corrupted BIOS directly from MSi.

Zerokku · Feb 16, 2020

Vulcano's Assistant said:
Unless Best Buy gave the wrong product, I believe he/she got the MAX version. But I see there are plenty of people online everywhere from LLTForums to Tom'shardware forums having issues with the Tomahawk MAX as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of these are coming with corrupted BIOS directly from MSi.

Yeah I was seeing the same thing when I was doing some reading to see if I could find a solution to this online. I'll try the BIOS flash thing (Though how will that work with the computer not even posting? I thought I had to get into BIOS to update it?

Alternatively and/or if that doesn't work, are there any other good motherboards that would fit the rest of those parts/that case? :(

Vulcano's Assistant · Feb 16, 2020

Zerokku said:
Yeah I was seeing the same thing when I was doing some reading to see if I could find a solution to this online. I'll try the BIOS flash thing (Though how will that work with the computer not even posting? I thought I had to get into BIOS to update it?

Alternatively and/or if that doesn't work, are there any other good motherboards that would fit the rest of those parts/that case? :(

It doesn't need to post to do the bios flashback, you only need a USB and you have to remove all components, and be careful to follow the instructions.

The x570 boards should be the safest options, but they are more expensive out of the gate, with the cheapest models starting around $150. In order to not increase the budget it would have to be another B450. I can't recall the models, but I remember a few people mentioning on this thread that they bought non-MSi mobos that also came updated.

edit. i believe one was the Asus Rog Strix-F Gaming, but that's a worse board than the tomahawk.

Crazymoogle · Feb 16, 2020

Vulcano's Assistant said:
It doesn't need to post to do the bios flashback, you only need a USB and you have to remove all components, and be careful to follow the instructions.

Bingo. Though if Zerokku is still having problems the next step should be pulling the motherboard out of the case, plop it on top of the motherboard box, and disconnect everything except for the CPU, cooler, and power. (Or go in reverse, and just remove components one by one?) Sorry to say but in the past I've seen dumb things like failed RAM or worse - failed RAM slots - where there was just no way to troubleshoot it short of pulling everything out. Your idea about a possible short is also a good reason to pull the board out. Would try to exhaust everything before looking into new boards...

(Apologies if Zerokku already tried...)

EDIT: Not the same topic, but did any X570 boards even ship without 3600+ support? Or was that a B450m thing?

Vulcano's Assistant · Feb 16, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
Bingo. Though if Zerokku is still having problems the next step should be pulling the motherboard out of the case, plop it on top of the motherboard box, and disconnect everything except for the CPU, cooler, and power. (Or go in reverse, and just remove components one by one?) Sorry to say but in the past I've seen dumb things like failed RAM or worse - failed RAM slots - where there was just no way to troubleshoot it short of pulling everything out. Your idea about a possible short is also a good reason to pull the board out. Would try to exhaust everything before looking into new boards...

(Apologies if Zerokku already tried...)

EDIT: Not the same topic, but did any X570 boards even ship without 3600+ support? Or was that a B450m thing?

All X570 boards support it. It is a thing for previous chipsets, so that includes X470 too.

Cheesy · Feb 17, 2020

Okay so need a little help. I complained awhile ago that my PC seemed to be underperforming. I never figured out why this is and essentially gave up. In the past day or so I've had my performance degrade more. Doom 2016 would in some cases hit lower than 60fps, same with Siege, however it seemed kinda random. Now I figured I'd run the 3dmark fire strike test to see if it would do worse in that. Thing is, I had taken my PC in to a repair place to see if they could figure out my issues, they couldn't, and the guy installed his paid version of 3dmark, however when I run the demo version I have, it still thinks I have the advanced version, probably because of the repair guys installation, steam won't redownload the fire strike benchmark, and despite removing any 3dmark files I can find it won't fix it, so I can't do the benchmark I want to see if I have had an overall degrade in performance. Is there like some kind of license file buried in some directory I may not know about?

Kaiken · Feb 17, 2020

About ready to dip my toes into the world of PC gaming. Building a Mid-Low end PC that kicked off with the Ryzen 5 2600X being on sale for $80 last week. My build will be as follows:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Paid $79.99)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($73.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB GAMING AMP Video Card ($Paid $229.99)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case (Paid $49.99)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $696.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-17 11:17 EST-0500

Already purchased the CPU, GPU and Case. Waiting on a few other things to go on sale within the next month before I bite the rest of the purchases. Will probably indulge in some RGB flare as well. Any advice/tips is appreciated!

CorpseLight · Feb 17, 2020

Kaiken said:
About ready to dip my toes into the world of PC gaming. Building a Mid-Low end PC that kicked off with the Ryzen 5 2600X being on sale for $80 last week. My build will be as follows:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Paid $79.99)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($73.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB GAMING AMP Video Card ($Paid $229.99)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case (Paid $49.99)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $696.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-17 11:17 EST-0500

Already purchased the CPU, GPU and Case. Waiting on a few other things to go on sale within the next month before I bite the rest of the purchases. Will probably indulge in some RGB flare as well. Any advice/tips is appreciated!

With that GPU, you won't be in the mid to low tier PC gaming. I have essentially the same set up as you with a Rx 570, and I am able to pull about 80 frames consistent at medium /high in the new games ive tried, at 1080p / 75hz.
By all means, get the nicer GPU! But if you wanted to save a little money, you could spend a little less on the GPU and maybe get higher storage. I have a 128gb strictly Windows boot drive and i also have a 1 TB SSD and it fills up really fast.

Kaiken · Feb 17, 2020

Ch3m61_ said:
With that GPU, you won't be in the mid to low tier PC gaming. I have essentially the same set up as you with a Rx 570, and I am able to pull about 80 frames consistent at medium /high in the new games ive tried, at 1080p / 75hz.
By all means, get the nicer GPU! But if you wanted to save a little money, you could spend a little less on the GPU and maybe get higher storage. I have a 128gb strictly Windows boot drive and i also have a 1 TB SSD and it fills up really fast.

You're saying this would be higher? That works for me! Also plan on buying a SSD down the road. Rocking the M.2 to get me started. Won't be heavy gaming but wanted to have something to play a lot of missed gems on PC and have something to dab into the MS exclusive portfolio.

Nothing · Feb 17, 2020

catpurrcat said:
Wow. Can anyone confirm what they're saying here?

Love Hardware Unboxed and their opinion matters alot to me...

There appears to be a reddit thread about it too

Yup. Very informative video, catpurrcat. Thanks for sharing it.

That guy owns several 5700 series cards so he's obviously not biased in any fashion. There were a few alarming comments in that video, specifically the one about retailers seeing 5X the return rate on AMD GPUs as opposed to Nvidia cards.

This is why I pay the Nvidia tax.

Bruceleeroy · Feb 17, 2020

I bought all this stuff and have no idea what I'm doing. Wish me luck

Dreams-Visions · Feb 17, 2020

Crazymoogle · Feb 17, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
I bought all this stuff and have no idea what I'm doing. Wish me luck

CPU: Core i9

MB: ASUS ROG Strix II

Cooler: H100i Platinum RGB SE

Case: Corsair 680X

Corsair RGB Vengeance PRo

6x M2 SSD (thanks to PCIe adapter card)

2x Barracuda HDD

2080 Ti Hybrid

Monitor: 2x 27" KG1 (WQHD)

PSU: EVGA G3 1000w

That's quite the house payment. You're going to run the M2s in RAID I suppose?

Bruceleeroy · Feb 17, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
That's quite the house payment. You're going to run the M2s in RAID I suppose?

Yeah exactly. I need really fast scratch disks so 1TB at 12GB writes is going to be glorious for video editing

asmith906 · Feb 17, 2020

Is it worth upgrading my tx850 bronze psu to a gold psu to save power

ABeezy1388 · Feb 17, 2020

Wow that's fucking wild. Here I am feeling some buyers remorse spending money on a build and then I see that! ^^^

TaySan · Feb 17, 2020

New Build is here! Everything is working as promised. :)

daegan · Feb 17, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
I bought all this stuff and have no idea what I'm doing. Wish me luck

my god. looking forward to your finished photos. I love love love that case.

Dreams-Visions · Feb 17, 2020

TaySan said:
New Build is here! Everything is working as promised. :)

grats!

Duxxy3 · Feb 17, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
I bought all this stuff and have no idea what I'm doing. Wish me luck

Not really that into high end workstations, but wouldn't a threadripper setup with its 5 billion PCI-E lanes be better?

catpurrcat · Feb 17, 2020

TaySan said:
New Build is here! Everything is working as promised. :)

very nice!

Nothing · Feb 17, 2020

Kaiken said:
About ready to dip my toes into the world of PC gaming. Building a Mid-Low end PC that kicked off with the Ryzen 5 2600X being on sale for $80 last week. My build will be as follows:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Paid $79.99)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($73.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB GAMING AMP Video Card ($Paid $229.99)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case (Paid $49.99)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $696.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-17 11:17 EST-0500

Already purchased the CPU, GPU and Case. Waiting on a few other things to go on sale within the next month before I bite the rest of the purchases. Will probably indulge in some RGB flare as well. Any advice/tips is appreciated!

Looks like an awesome budget build. The only thing I'd change is that I wouldn't get a Zotac GPU. It's not a reputable brand; they have problems often, get returned frequently, and the company sells a ton of returned/refurbished models online. You should be able to get one from ASUS, EVGA, or MSI right in that same price range or +$10-20.

Smokey · Feb 17, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
I bought all this stuff and have no idea what I'm doing. Wish me luck

This is obviously a workstation...why not go with Threadripper? Unless you have something that simply runs better on Intel?

Infinite Justice · Feb 18, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
I bought all this stuff and have no idea what I'm doing. Wish me luck

all those SSDs...

Bruceleeroy · Feb 18, 2020

Duxxy3 said:
Not really that into high end workstations, but wouldn't a threadripper setup with its 5 billion PCI-E lanes be better?

We have 5 workstations for video editing currently that we have Ryzens on and 1 with Intel and Performing much better which is above my pay grade to understand why but when building a work / half life station our builder said for sure Intel soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Polyh3dron · Feb 18, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
We have 5 workstations for video editing currently that we have Ryzens on and 1 with Intel and Performing much better which is above my pay grade to understand why but when building a work / half life station our builder said for sure Intel soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Those Ryzens definitely weren't current gen Threadrippers then, or even 3950X. Those would all run circles around anything in the same price range of Intels.

Crazymoogle · Feb 18, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
We have 5 workstations for video editing currently that we have Ryzens on and 1 with Intel and Performing much better which is above my pay grade to understand why but when building a work / half life station our builder said for sure Intel soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe not your...specific...answer, but there was a good Jayztwocents video about this, where the Intel CPU is using Quicksync hardware encoding in (Premiere, I think?) whereas the AMD Threadripper was brute-forcing on 64 threads. Threadripper won quite handily at that huge threadcount, but obviously Intel did extremely well with the hardware encoding advantage.

inner-G · Feb 18, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
We have 5 workstations for video editing currently that we have Ryzens on and 1 with Intel and Performing much better which is above my pay grade to understand why but when building a work / half life station our builder said for sure Intel soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It can depend on the specific software and workloads. Most "video editing" CPU benchmarks just measure export times. Depending on the codecs, software, etc., it could be using quick sync or just prefer raw frequency over multithreading for whatever it does.

Deleted member 2172 · Feb 18, 2020

ABeezy1388 said:
So I started to actually buy the components for not only my first build but my first ITX build! this is what I got from micro center so far:

Power Supply: EVGA 650GM 80+G FM SFX PSU - $134.99***
Memory: G. SKILL 32GB 2X16 D4 3200 RIPJAWS $138.99
Storage: IPSG 256GB I PREMIUM NVME SSD $44.99
Storage: IPSG 1TB I PREMIUM NVME SSD $134.99
CPU: AMD AMD RYZEN 5 3600X WRAITHS $179.99
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B450-I GAMING $114.99
GPU: See text below
Cooler: See text below
Case: See text below

TOTAL COST OF PURCHASED PARTS: $745.11

so with micro center having the sale on the Ryzen CPUs I decided to bite. They also were giving $20 off with a combo with a mother board dropping the B450 from $134 to 114. I previously had different storage brand and sizes but the guy who helped me suggested a small 256 for the boot drive with really good read and wrote speeds. this mobo has 2 NVME slots so i picked a 1TB however I'm wondering if I should swap it for a 2TB. I also have a 3TB sata drive and a 500GB 850 Evo SSD I could add if need be.

*** So all these prices were either the same or cheaper with the deals then amazon which is why I went with Micro center. However the PSU listed above was $108.98 on Amazon and he said he would price match. He fudged the price and actually sold me it for only $88.98 which is awesome. On top of that it comes with a $20 mail in rebate dropping the price to $68 for a 650GM gold fully modular PSU lmao!

I was so close to biting on buying the EVGA RTX 2080 Super Black on sale for $689 but I am still undecided if I want to wait for the 3000 series or not.

I also will need a cooler and being a SSF build I'm thinking of going with the Noctua NH-L9a after most of the build videos I've watched.

Lastly for the case I cannot decide which I want to get. Right now I'm considering several options. They are:

fractal node 202

Silverstone Rvz03

Dan Case A4-SFX v4.1

Phanteks evolv x

Geeek A50 Mini

Nouvolo Steck

LOUQE Ghost S1

Modivio xCase L

this will mostly be tucked away so I want something console like which eliminates a few of the above if I go that route so I am kind of leaning towards the RV03 at the moment. Hopefully I've made some good choices :)

Don't know if you've purchased yet but bare in mind the second M.2 slot, which is on the back of the motherboard shares bandwidth with your GPU slot, turning it from an x16 to an x8. See image from manual and bolded wording:

Might not be a problem with current GPU's but that could very well change as we move into next gen gpu's. I actually own this motherboard and what I did was use my 1tb nvme drive as the boot drive + a 1tb or 2tb SSD.

ABeezy1388 · Feb 18, 2020

Chaz said:
Don't know if you've purchased yet but bare in mind the second M.2 slot, which is on the back of the motherboard shares bandwidth with your GPU slot, turning it from an x16 to an x8. See image from manual and bolded wording:

Might not be a problem with current GPU's but that could very well change as we move into next gen gpu's. I actually own this motherboard and what I did was use my 1tb nvme drive as the boot drive + a 1tb or 2tb SSD.

Thank you for the heads up. Ugh that's aggravating. Yes I purchased it all and did not know this. Would you recommend doing what you did or swapping the motherboard for something else? I picked this one specifically for the two M.2 slots.

Few more questions as I'm green with this... your 1TB boot drive, do you put anything else on it being you have all that room?

here's the other motherboard I was looking at if I swapped it. Naturally it's more money lol:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07T9PC9ZZ/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Would I have the same issue here using the two M.2 slots?

Duxxy3 · Feb 18, 2020

Bruceleeroy said:
We have 5 workstations for video editing currently that we have Ryzens on and 1 with Intel and Performing much better which is above my pay grade to understand why but when building a work / half life station our builder said for sure Intel soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

How much did it all cost and what video editing suite? I'm assuming Premiere.

StaffyManasse · Feb 18, 2020

The ones really keeping taps on the industry, do you think if/when the corona virus situation in Asia continues it will have an impact on component prices and availability?

I know this is a bit of a selfish thing to be thinking about given the situation, but I can't help myself.

Crazymoogle · Feb 18, 2020

StaffyManasse said:
The ones really keeping taps on the industry, do you think if/when the corona virus situation in Asia continues it will have an impact on component prices and availability?

As someone in Singapore? Yes. We're already seeing this with Apple (one of the world's biggest buyers of components in China) and even Nintendo. All of their products will continue to exist, and sell, but a lot of component production in China will basically be weeks-months behind in production, dependent on when individual factories go back to production and how staffed they will be. Certain aspects of China and SE Asia continue to be affected today.

What offsets this?

Tech has been diversifying from China for a decade now to find cheaper and secondary product sources. Cost is the big reason, but also to avoid, say, one company owning all of the component production needed, or one company (like Apple) buying up all of the supply.
The current situation in China itself has also reduced demand.
There is always a certain amount of worldwide supply, so short term gaps are masked.

So I definitely think there is truth to the reports about, say, nextgen BOM or possible Switch supply issues down the road. There *will* be an effect. But whether that means anything more than $20 more on your next PC build is really unclear.

Deleted member 2172 · Feb 18, 2020

ABeezy1388 said:
Thank you for the heads up. Ugh that's aggravating. Yes I purchased it all and did not know this. Would you recommend doing what you did or swapping the motherboard for something else? I picked this one specifically for the two M.2 slots.

Few more questions as I'm green with this... your 1TB boot drive, do you put anything else on it being you have all that room?

here's the other motherboard I was looking at if I swapped it. Naturally it's more money lol:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07T9PC9ZZ/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Would I have the same issue here using the two M.2 slots?

I had a look at the manual for that gigabyte board and it doesn't look like you would have the same issue there, which is no surprise given its the latest generation of motherboards. If you were to upgrade to that board I think it would be fine.

No wrong answer here, but its not what I did (Built my PC July last year so I had this same situation).
I couldn't justify the price difference when video games don't really reap the additional speed benefits of a M.2 NVME drive compared to a regular SSD. I installed Windows 10 on my M.2 NVME drive and created a 'Games' folder on it and directed my Steam to it so yes, you can use the M.2 NVME drive for both your OS and anything you want in it no problem!

So I would return your smaller NVME and keep the ROG B450-I. I install all my open-world/long loading time games on the NVME drive and install my other games to my 2TB SSD drive, works like a dream.

-- One more thing though, just want to make sure you are aware the ROG B450-I will likely need a BIOS update before your Ryzen 3600X can be installed? And that you'll need a Ryzen 2xxx or 1xxx chip to do that update? If you don't want to do that, get the Gigabyte X570 :)

Raiden · Feb 18, 2020

Kaiken said:
About ready to dip my toes into the world of PC gaming. Building a Mid-Low end PC that kicked off with the Ryzen 5 2600X being on sale for $80 last week. My build will be as follows:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Paid $79.99)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($73.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB GAMING AMP Video Card ($Paid $229.99)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case (Paid $49.99)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $696.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-17 11:17 EST-0500

Already purchased the CPU, GPU and Case. Waiting on a few other things to go on sale within the next month before I bite the rest of the purchases. Will probably indulge in some RGB flare as well. Any advice/tips is appreciated!

Looks pretty good, but maybe change to a higher PSU, if you ever change your GPU anything from 2070 and up requires 600W.

When i was upgrading mine i had to buy a new PSU to go with my 2080S

But i dont know maybe some other members can indulge.

ABeezy1388 · Feb 18, 2020

Chaz said:
I had a look at the manual for that gigabyte board and it doesn't look like you would have the same issue there, which is no surprise given its the latest generation of motherboards. If you were to upgrade to that board I think it would be fine.

No wrong answer here, but its not what I did (Built my PC July last year so I had this same situation).
I couldn't justify the price difference when video games don't really reap the additional speed benefits of a M.2 NVME drive compared to a regular SSD. I installed Windows 10 on my M.2 NVME drive and created a 'Games' folder on it and directed my Steam to it so yes, you can use the M.2 NVME drive for both your OS and anything you want in it no problem!

So I would return your smaller NVME and keep the ROG B450-I. I install all my open-world/long loading time games on the NVME drive and install my other games to my 2TB SSD drive, works like a dream.

-- One more thing though, just want to make sure you are aware the ROG B450-I will likely need a BIOS update before your Ryzen 3600X can be installed? And that you'll need a Ryzen 2xxx or 1xxx chip to do that update? If you don't want to do that, get the Gigabyte X570 :)

Cool, so one option is switching to that motherboard. However it's about $85 more. Not sure if it's worth it, and what the other benefits are over the current B450-I motherboard.

if I follow your setup with the 1TB NVMe would it be beneficial to place all my programs on it? For quick loading? OS, Steam, Origins, etc etc. then all the save data and and actual games on another SSD? I guess I want to make sure I have fast quick snappy load times without bogging down the OS.

I do not have another Rzyen chip but on my motherboard box I believe they released updated boards. It says "AMD 3000 desktop ready" as well as "AMD 2000 desktop ready" so I'm hoping that means I won't have to do the bios update?

Wraith · Feb 18, 2020

asmith906 said:
Is it worth upgrading my tx850 bronze psu to a gold psu to save power

The difference between Bronze and Gold efficiency is ~5%. Even if you were running it at max power all day, every day (which you aren't), the power saved in a year won't equal the cost of a new PSU.

When the time comes that you need to buy a new PSU, consider going Gold, just don't pay an outrageous premium over Bronze models of comparable quality. To save power now, just consider turning your PC off/putting in standby more often when not in use.

Deleted member 2172 · Feb 18, 2020

ABeezy1388 said:
Cool, so one option is switching to that motherboard. However it's about $85 more. Not sure if it's worth it, and what the other benefits are over the current B450-I motherboard.

if I follow your setup with the 1TB NVMe would it be beneficial to place all my programs on it? For quick loading? OS, Steam, Origins, etc etc. then all the save data and and actual games on another SSD? I guess I want to make sure I have fast quick snappy load times without bogging down the OS.

I do not have another Rzyen chip but on my motherboard box I believe they released updated boards. It says "AMD 3000 desktop ready" as well as "AMD 2000 desktop ready" so I'm hoping that means I won't have to do the bios update?

Oh nice so they have released updated boards, thats fine then disregard what I said. You're good to go.

$85 isn't too bad I guess, I was looking at an extra £100 for the X570 board in July, just didn't make sense at the time. There is now only a £60 difference between the boards now, which is less of a pill to swallow. I guess it just depends on what your budget looks like and whether you think you will want another 1TB M.2 drive down the line? Its not worth when you are only inserting a 256GB M.2 drive imo.

Perhaps you could return the small M.2 drive and put that $$$ towards the X570? That will mean down the line you have that option to expand further with another 1TB M.2 if you like.

and yes, 1TB is a lot of space so feel free to install anything you use often & anything you have set to start-up when you log in to Windows (like Discord, Spotify or Steam) to the M.2 to maximise your speeds. I believe Windows 10 nowadays takes up like 40GB? With a 1TB drive that will leave you with about 890GB left to use as you please.

Kaiken · Feb 18, 2020

Nothing said:
Looks like an awesome budget build. The only thing I'd change is that I wouldn't get a Zotac GPU. It's not a reputable brand; they have problems often, get returned frequently, and the company sells a ton of returned/refurbished models online. You should be able to get one from ASUS, EVGA, or MSI right in that same price range or +$10-20.

Really? I've did a bit of research and found that Zotac was pretty reputable. I've already bit the bullet on the purchase so I guess we'll find out.

Raiden said:
Looks pretty good, but maybe change to a higher PSU, if you ever change your GPU anything from 2070 and up requires 600W.
When i was upgrading mine i had to buy a new PSU to go with my 2080S

But i dont know maybe some other members can indulge.

I've heard this a couple times and may want to upgrade later so maybe I will grab a higher wattage PSU. Thanks!

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