First PC build for over 20 years! I could use some help...

Mat

Mat

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My last build was back in '99, or thereabouts, and consisted of a 1GHz AMD Athlon (which I overclocked to 1.2GHz!) which sat under a single 60mm fan on a 'Hedgehog' all copper cooler. The whole thing was very noisy. A Voodoo 5500 powered the cutting edge graphics, along with some PC133 RAM, and my enormous 19" Iiyama CRT monitor topped off the Win98/Win2k beauty!

I'm well out of touch with current components, so don't know what best to go for or avoid, but have a list for a new build, if someone would be kind enough to cast their eye over it (all parts are from OcUK and the prices are what I could see at the time I made the list). It's not bleeding edge, and I don't care for looks or RGB features, but some decent gaming capability would be nice...

MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 ATX Motherboard - £209.99
(It will need the wireless feature for the time being...)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail - £319.99
Scythe SCFM-2000 FUMA 2 Dual Fan CPU Cooler - 2x120 mm - £49.99
Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 MBA 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £599.99
Corsair RM Series RM650 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply - £87.95
Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-35200C19 4400MHz Dual Channel Kit - £149.99
WD Black 1TB SN750 M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive - £119.99
Kolink Tranquility Silent Midi Tower Case - Black Noise Dampened - £34.99
OcUK Value Blu-ray / DVDRW combi SATA - OEM - £62.99

Total: £1635.87

Any thoughts or recommendations gratefully received.
Many thanks.
 
Last edited:

turbot1984

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Only suggestion is save £50 and go for 16GB 3600 kit or get 32GB 3600 Patriot RAM kit for same price.
I have seen 22GB of RAM used in certain new games at 4K.
 

Kurgen

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i understand your not worried about the case. but the one you have picked is a bit garbage, especially considering the value of your other components. (think of kolink as unbranded stripey label) Its worth the offer price, but not its normal retail price. you have also selected an optical drive which this case doesnt have a bay for (you dont need an optical drive to install windows). that cooler is going to be cosey too with only about 5mm to spare on the side of the case.

there are plenty of other cases but most have a glass window and RGB (which can be turned off)

heres a couple of no RGB fancy stuff cases below. both are excellent quality. the Phanteks is about 5 years old now, but it has optical bays i bought one for a retro build recently to house a DVD drive/floppy drive and Zip drive !

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £241.14 (includes shipping: £13.20)
​
 

EsaT

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Mat said:
MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 ATX Motherboard - £209.99

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail - £319.99
Scythe SCFM-2000 FUMA 2 Dual Fan CPU Cooler - 2x120 mm - £49.99

Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-35200C19 4400MHz Dual Channel Kit - £149.99
Click to expand...
X570 Tomahawk is top choise, if you're intending to upgrade CPU to higher core count model and then keep PC for half dozen years.
But for basic six core and CPU upograde B550 board would do perfectly.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...i-amd-am4-b550-atx-motherboard-mb-35b-ms.html
For scale new consoles have 8 core CPU of previous year architecture, with 8 cores being only mid model on AM4 with high end starting from 12 cores and top being 16 cores.

And for basic 6 core this would be really good.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-brocken-eco-advanced-cpu-cooler-120-mm-hs-05j-al.html
And Brocken 3 would be good for upgrading CPU to high core counts.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-brocken-3-cpu-cooler-140mm-hs-05a-al.html
Though with too big height to fit into that Kolink cheapo case, which like said also fails in fitting of optical drive. (or any 5.25" devices)

While Scythe Fuma 2 and Mugen 5 are extremely good coolers for the price, their Intel optimized convex is potential risk of problem with modern Ryzens.
That convex base simply gives only small area of good contact with AMD's convex heatspreader, while heat producing silicon dies are outside of center.
https://www.igorslab.de/en/kuehlerb...amd-and-conkav-reader-test-and-picture-story/
https://www.igorslab.de/en/cpu-heat...asures-now-at-amd-and-intel-rethink-basics/3/
This was probably about that problem.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/foru...-matching-or-beating-scythe-mugen-5.18902588/

Though if you can be bothered to "lap"/grind heatsink's base flat that problem is easy to solve.
And especially Mugen 5 would be superb for its reasonable dimensions.


That memory would be pretty much waste of £50.
Would need some golden sample Ryzen to push InfinityFabric to just 4000MHz and 3600MHz is that point of diminishing returns.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/patr...dual-channel-kit-pvs416g360c7k-my-104-pa.html

That £150 would give lot more value in future proof 32GB amount.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/patr...dual-channel-kit-pvs432g360c8k-my-107-pa.html
 

Mat

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Thanks for those suggestions, they're very helpful.

One question re the CPU; would I be better off going for the Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (£319.99) or the Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (£289.99)?

I'm not sure what the difference would be given the disparity between the performance numbers and price tag.
 

Quartz

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Mat said:
Any thoughts or recommendations gratefully received.
Click to expand...

You don't need an optical drive these days. If you insist on one, get an external USB one.

I don't like that Kolink Tranquility case from an airflow POV. Look instead to the Fractal Design Meshify cases.

Don't limit yourself to wifi motherbnoards when USB wifi is readily available.

Mat said:
One question re the CPU; would I be better off going for the Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (£319.99) or the Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (£289.99)?
Click to expand...

8 cores will be better for work. Games will expect 8 cores too in a couple of years.
 

Mat

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Quartz said:
You don't need an optical drive these days. If you insist on one, get an external USB one.

I don't like that Kolink Tranquility case from an airflow POV. Look instead to the Fractal Design Meshify cases.

Don't limit yourself to wifi motherbnoards when USB wifi is readily available.



8 cores will be better for work. Games will expect 8 cores too in a couple of years.
Click to expand...

The optical drive was just for watching DVDs really but I probably wouldn't even do that very often. USB sounds right in that case.

USB Wifi is also something I hadn't considered. Are there any go-to motherboard brands I should start with?

This is all good advice. Sounds like I'll have to come up with a whole new list!
 

lee32uk

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The Phanteks case as suggested above has much better airflow. If you don't need a 5.25" bay for a DVD/BluRay then the Fractal Meshify C is also a good airflow case. You also have the Phanteks P400A and P500A etc although these have tempered glass side panels.

Swapped the board to the MSI B550 Gaming Edge Wifi. Really solid VRM (Unlike the X570 version) and it has wifi 6 onboard. Out of stock at the minute though.

A 750W psu gives you a bit more headroom. The psu is RGB but you don't have to connect the RGB and it won't be seen anyway.

I would go with 32GB 3200MHz CL16 over a 16GB 4400MHz kit. Highly unlikely you will be able to run it at that speed anyway unless you get really lucky.

The WD Blue SN550 saves a bit over the SN750. Perfectly good enough for a gaming pc.

Good budget air cooler.

You would just need to add the gpu to the list.



My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £958.59 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
 

Mat

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Thanks for all the help. I've revised my basket (and also found out how to reference it directly!):

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £999.20 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​

All I need to add is the GFX card, which will be the same as the OP, and a motherboard (Also other peripherals but I wanted to get the main parts sussed first).

Which brand of motherboard would be a decent place to start bearing in mind I'll probably ditch the onboard wifi for USB wifi if it's cheaper for the same board?
 

EsaT

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Mat said:
Which brand of motherboard would be a decent place to start bearing in mind I'll probably ditch the onboard wifi for USB wifi if it's cheaper for the same board?
Click to expand...
In X570 you don't really save anything by going for USB Wifdi considering price of X570 Tomahawk
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite would be about the cheapest well designed X570 board.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...4-x570-chipset-atx-motherboard-mb-57w-gi.html
Lower Gigabytes have old design CPU VRMs and VRMs of other MSIs are copypastas from £100 B450 boards.
Asus again has lousy X570 chipset cooler design, which is risk for long time durability.
(I assume you would want 5+ year usage life)

In B550 there's lot better choise in good price level.

And for that long usage life with minimum maintenance/no worries just forget waterpipes.
Heatpipe coolers are inherently vastly more reliable and can't fail completely. (even if fan stops there's some cooling)
Brocken 3 would be very good cooler for £43.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-brocken-3-cpu-cooler-140mm-hs-05a-al.html
 

Mat

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I decided to stick with the MSI X570 but I'll investigate the other cooler.

Would there be much difference in noise level between the all-in-one water cooler and that Brocken?
 

EsaT

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Mat said:
Would there be much difference in noise level between the all-in-one water cooler and that Brocken?
Click to expand...
In continuous cooling that Brocken is likely better in coolnig per noise than average waterpipe cooler.
Whose slim radiators actually don't have that huge surface area for dissipating heat into air, while having more noise sources.
And absolute top heatpipe coolers beat most waterpipe coolers.
Only area where waterpipe has automatic advantage, is water's ability to slow temperature rise in short load spikes.
 

Mat

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Thanks for the help everyone.

Final list (the Radeon RX6800 MBA 16GB GDDR6 will be added and I believe it will all fit in the case!):

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,173.05 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
​
 

Leww

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@Mat this has been really useful to follow the conversation as I want to build something extremely similar! Although who knows when we can get a 6800/3080 put in there! Curious as to how you came to your gpu decision?
 
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