5800x Build - Advice Appreciated

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Hey all,

After ~8 years of using a i5 2500k, I've finally decided to upgrade to a Ryzen 5800x build.
I managed to get lucky (after several hours of refreshing) to get a 5800x which will be here tomorrow, so now have to order the rest of the build. Build is for gaming mainly, currently 1080p 180hz panel.

I have a Gigabyte GTX 1080 that I will be using for a little while, until I can get my hands on a RTX 3080, so I just need the rest (also have 2 Sata SSDs). Ideally, I would prefer to go with X570 as I don't intend on upgrading the Mobo again for another a long time and would like to have access to PCI Gen 4 etc.

So far I am looking at (roughly) the following, but am undecided/confused when it comes to the MoBo/PSU/RAM etc. Here's what I've pieced together so far with a few questions after:-
  • AMD Ryzen 5800X (already have)
  • Gigabyte X570 Elite (really not sure on this, but as mentioned above, would prefer X570) I do not need WiFi, so was also looking at the ROG Strix-F?
  • 16/32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB 3600mhz (CL 18?) OR
  • 16GB/32GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200mhz CL 16?
  • Was going to go with Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black, but realised it's huge and might have clearance issues with the RAM/would like to be able to see the RAM ;)? Open to AIO instead, maybe NZXT Kraken X53?
  • Was looking for 1x M.2 for now (PCI 4?) and have seen Adata & Sabrent one recommended a lot.
  • PSU's seem to be in short supply at the moment, but managed to find a Corsair RM850W, which is Gold and would be enough.
  • Case wise was leaning for the Phanteks P500A, but seems to be OOS for now.
Question Time:-
  • Is 16GB or 32GB of RAM recommended? I've read that 3600MHZ CL16 is the sweet spot for Ryzen, but am having trouble finding such kits. Seems like people mention the Corsair Vengence Pro RGB, but they are CL 18 (only CL 16 @ 3200MHZ)?
  • Are the 2 MoBo's good? Should I be looking at something else (read so many reviews/top lists, and they all say different boards).
Budget wise I'd like to keep it under 1000 if possible. I've been out the loop for years, so am just looking for any advice/help to choose the last parts, and any recommendations.

Thanks in advance!
 
Thanks for the reply, but that doesn't really help sadly. I mentioned that I'm looking for a X570 board, not b550, and also asked about an AIO, and you linked an air cooler?
Thanks though.

Anyone else have any ideas please?
 
Thanks for the reply, but that doesn't really help sadly. I mentioned that I'm looking for a X570 board, not b550, and also asked about an AIO, and you linked an air cooler?
Thanks though.

Anyone else have any ideas please?

Why do you want X570 ? Unless you want to use both M.2 slots with a pcie 4.0 SSD then B550 should be fine. You still get pcie 4.0 for the gpu.

As for the cooler, an air cooler is cheaper and has less potential to go wrong. Some coolers are also offset, so they don't block the Ram slots i.e Alpenfohn Brocken 3 or the Scythe listed above. If you want an AIO then the Arctic Liquid Freezer ones are good if you don't mind no RGB.
 
Why do you want X570 ? Unless you want to use both M.2 slots with a pcie 4.0 SSD then B550 should be fine. You still get pcie 4.0 for the gpu.

As for the cooler, an air cooler is cheaper and has less potential to go wrong. Some coolers are also offset, so they don't block the Ram slots i.e Alpenfohn Brocken 3 or the Scythe listed above. If you want an AIO then the Arctic Liquid Freezer ones are good if you don't mind no RGB.
Thanks very much for the reply, and the suggestions!

Yep, I'll be getting another M.2 down the line, so would ideally prefer the X570.
I've spent so much time watching/reading about the different X570's that I've confused myself. I think I prefer the ROG Strix-F but seems like I might as well get the E, as they are so close in price (added Wifi, if I end up need it). I've also taken a look at the X570 Tomahawk which seems to have been released later than the rest, thus is missing from a lot of the earlier recommendations/videos. I guess at this point, it just comes down to I/O preference as the performance of these boards is rather similar?

I'm still very confused about the ram situation and cannot find any 3600mhz CL 16 kits? They all seem to be CL 18 3600mhz, or CL 16 3200mhz?

When it comes to the cooler, I've seen that you can raise the Noctua's right fan up slightly higher to allow clearance for the ram, so that shouldn't be a problem. At the same time, I originally wanted to go with the Phanteks P500a, and was going to get a AIO with a rad in the top, but it's currently sold out everywhere, thus started to lean towards the P400a and an air cooler (as you can't mount a rad in the top on the P400a).

Thanks once again!
 
Thanks very much for the reply, and the suggestions!

Yep, I'll be getting another M.2 down the line, so would ideally prefer the X570.
I've spent so much time watching/reading about the different X570's that I've confused myself. I think I prefer the ROG Strix-F but seems like I might as well get the E, as they are so close in price (added Wifi, if I end up need it). I've also taken a look at the X570 Tomahawk which seems to have been released later than the rest, thus is missing from a lot of the earlier recommendations/videos. I guess at this point, it just comes down to I/O preference as the performance of these boards is rather similar?

I'm still very confused about the ram situation and cannot find any 3600mhz CL 16 kits? They all seem to be CL 18 3600mhz, or CL 16 3200mhz?

When it comes to the cooler, I've seen that you can raise the Noctua's right fan up slightly higher to allow clearance for the ram, so that shouldn't be a problem. At the same time, I originally wanted to go with the Phanteks P500a, and was going to get a AIO with a rad in the top, but it's currently sold out everywhere, thus started to lean towards the P400a and an air cooler (as you can't mount a rad in the top on the P400a).

Thanks once again!

You can still run a pcie 4.0 SSD in a B550 board. The B550 Tomahawk listed above is good if you want to save a bit of cash. If you still want X570 then the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro and MSI X570 Tomahawk are both £209.99. Both are solid options. The X570 Aorus Elite is also fine for £199.99. A wifi adapter can always be added in the future should you need it. The X570 Tomahawk Wifi obviously wouldn't need it.

A 3200MHz CL16 kit is good enough for the Ram. You can always tweak it with the Ryzen Dram calculator if you want to try and get it to 3600MHz. Hardware Unboxed have a video showing how to do that.



I personally prefer air coolers as there is less things to go wrong. If the fan dies then you can swap it out. With an AIO you have the pump that can fail, as well as potential leaks etc. Not saying it is a common occurrence, but it is still something to bear in mind.

For a 5800X even something like an Arctic Freezer 34 esports duo would be fine. The Alpenfohn Brocken 3 is also a nice cooler and you can get a Black dual fan version which looks a bit nicer than the single fan version imo.

The TeamGroup 3200MHz CL16 32GB kit for £109.99 is also good value. I have seen it for under £100 on here as well so worth looking at the weekly offers if not buying straight away.

You can also use Tall Ram with the coolers below as they don't block the Ram slots. Just be aware of the cooler height though, as the Brocken 3 is 165mm tall so it won't fit in some cases. The Phanteks P400 Air for example states 160mm max for the cooler.



My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £286.81 (includes shipping: £9.90)
 
Yep, I'll be getting another M.2 down the line, so would ideally prefer the X570.
I've spent so much time watching/reading about the different X570's that I've confused myself. I think I prefer the ROG Strix-F but seems like I might as well get the E, as they are so close in price (added Wifi, if I end up need it). I've also taken a look at the X570 Tomahawk which seems to have been released later than the rest, thus is missing from a lot of the earlier recommendations/videos. I guess at this point, it just comes down to I/O preference as the performance of these boards is rather similar?

I'm still very confused about the ram situation and cannot find any 3600mhz CL 16 kits? They all seem to be CL 18 3600mhz, or CL 16 3200mhz?
NVMes work fine also in PCIe v3 M.2 slot.
In fact in curent games there's only little loading time difference between SATA and NVMe, so any NVMe has lots of unutilized potential.
And probably takes quite a long time for most games to get full benefit from NVMe.
Assuming you're not short on RAM, which is always lot faster in bandwidth and magnitude faster in latencies than any SSD.
Where PCIe v4 has advantage is if you want to avoid SATA SSDs and keep adding NVMes over the years:
Even x1 slot would give very nice 2GB/s bandwidth with PCIe v4.

True quality of Asus X570 boards doesn't match price and hype.
Weak spot of X570, active chipset cooler with fan, is straight from anus of marketroids:
Actual heatsink under marketing excrement covers is small or miniscule.
And pretty much relies on constant airflow from constantly running fan.
With whole crud in the worst place directly under graphics card to be bathed in its heat.​
So with higher end graphics card chipset can run really warm in gaming sessions.
And should be easy to guess what happens if/when that fan fails.

For comparison Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite and MSI X570 Tomahawk have chipset coolers with good size heatsinks farther from heat of graphics card and operate mostly passively.
(assuming you have proper case cooling)
So even failure of that chipset fan wouldn't be automatic catastrophe.


CAS latency of 16 clock pulses at 3600MHz is fast (16-19-19 latencies) or top level (16-16-16) memory and hence those are more expensive
CL18 is that normal good level with lot better pricing.
For 3200MHz's longer clock pulses that normal good level is CL16 and expensive top level CL14(-14-14).
3200MHz 14-14-14 has actually smidge faster absolute latency values and hence likely easily overclocks to 3600MHz 16-16-16
 
I personally prefer air coolers as there is less things to go wrong. If the fan dies then you can swap it out. With an AIO you have the pump that can fail, as well as potential leaks etc. Not saying it is a common occurrence, but it is still something to bear in mind.

For a 5800X even something like an Arctic Freezer 34 esports duo would be fine. The Alpenfohn Brocken 3 is also a nice cooler and you can get a Black dual fan version which looks a bit nicer than the single fan version imo.

The TeamGroup 3200MHz CL16 32GB kit for £109.99 is also good value. I have seen it for under £100 on here as well so worth looking at the weekly offers if not buying straight away.

You can also use Tall Ram with the coolers below as they don't block the Ram slots. Just be aware of the cooler height though, as the Brocken 3 is 165mm tall so it won't fit in some cases. The Phanteks P400 Air for example states 160mm max for the cooler.
Awesome! Thank you very much for this! I'll take a look into these if I settle on the P400a and go with an air cooler.

NVMes work fine also in PCIe v3 M.2 slot.
In fact in curent games there's only little loading time difference between SATA and NVMe, so any NVMe has lots of unutilized potential.
And probably takes quite a long time for most games to get full benefit from NVMe.
Assuming you're not short on RAM, which is always lot faster in bandwidth and magnitude faster in latencies than any SSD.
Where PCIe v4 has advantage is if you want to avoid SATA SSDs and keep adding NVMes over the years:
Even x1 slot would give very nice 2GB/s bandwidth with PCIe v4.

True quality of Asus X570 boards doesn't match price and hype.
Weak spot of X570, active chipset cooler with fan, is straight from anus of marketroids:
Actual heatsink under marketing excrement covers is small or miniscule.
And pretty much relies on constant airflow from constantly running fan.
With whole crud in the worst place directly under graphics card to be bathed in its heat.​
So with higher end graphics card chipset can run really warm in gaming sessions.
And should be easy to guess what happens if/when that fan fails.

For comparison Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite and MSI X570 Tomahawk have chipset coolers with good size heatsinks farther from heat of graphics card and operate mostly passively.
(assuming you have proper case cooling)
So even failure of that chipset fan wouldn't be automatic catastrophe.

CAS latency of 16 clock pulses at 3600MHz is fast (16-19-19 latencies) or top level (16-16-16) memory and hence those are more expensive
CL18 is that normal good level with lot better pricing.
For 3200MHz's longer clock pulses that normal good level is CL16 and expensive top level CL14(-14-14).
3200MHz 14-14-14 has actually smidge faster absolute latency values and hence likely easily overclocks to 3600MHz 16-16-16

Ahh the chipset fan/heatsink on the X570 issue is something that I haven't read about yet and is very interesting. I've just found a thread that groups the boards into tiers in relation to their fan/heatsink distance from the GPU. I'll take this into consideration.

Thank you for the RAM explanation, that now makes a lot more sense. I've found a 2x16gb kit of 3600mhz CL 16 Crucial Ballistics that I think I'll go with (hoping that it will be dual rank and will return if not).

In terms of NVMe and X570, I understand that it's probably a bit of a waste of money to go with it over a B550, but my previous build lasted me ~8 years, and hopefully this will too (-GPU upgrades etc). Therefore, I'd prefer to have access to gen 4, as I assume (with the read speeds of the new consoles) that games will utilise it by then. I'm still reading up about the NVMe, but looks to be between the 980 pro, Sabrent and Adata?

Thanks everyone once again for the replies!
 
Ahh the chipset fan/heatsink on the X570 issue is something that I haven't read about yet and is very interesting. I've just found a thread that groups the boards into tiers in relation to their fan/heatsink distance from the GPU. I'll take this into consideration.

Thank you for the RAM explanation, that now makes a lot more sense. I've found a 2x16gb kit of 3600mhz CL 16 Crucial Ballistics that I think I'll go with (hoping that it will be dual rank and will return if not).

In terms of NVMe and X570, I understand that it's probably a bit of a waste of money to go with it over a B550, but my previous build lasted me ~8 years, and hopefully this will too (-GPU upgrades etc). Therefore, I'd prefer to have access to gen 4, as I assume (with the read speeds of the new consoles) that games will utilise it by then. I'm still reading up about the NVMe, but looks to be between the 980 pro, Sabrent and Adata?
From Gigabytes "lowly" Aorus Elite actually has the best chipset cooler design.
The more marketroids have been involved in design, the worser it is:
Aorus Pro moves HSF couple cm closer to graphics card compared to Aorus Elite and Aorus Ultra craps marketing excrement to constrict fan.


Earlier basically all 16GB DIMMs were dual rank, because of server and datacenter markets swallowing all available larger than 8Gbit chips.
But now there are higher capacity DRAM chips also sold on consumer markets and only 100% guaranteed dual rank DIMMs are those with Samsung B-die.
And only very expensive 3200MHZ CL14 and 3600MHz 16-16-16 kits are 100% certainly with B-die.

Micron again has also larger than 8Gbit chips and it's hard to know what current memories use.
4x8GB would be guaranteed way for two ranks per channel.


B550 has PCIe v4 for CPU connected slots and with competition back, GPUs likely start gaining some benefit from it in few years.
(of faster if there are changes in how GPU is used by gaming)
Mass storage again won't be giving anymore fps.
Consoles are hyping that one the fly streaming of data from SSD because of lousy small generational memory increase.
I mean AMD cards have as much VRAM as whole memory of new consoles!
And 32GB RAM would have plenty of room for extra buffer for even faster access than from any SSD.

Anyway Samsung drives are usually more or less badly brand overpriced.
 
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