Black & White All-Rounder

Phil Smith · 29 Jun 2019 at 22:55

I'm just getting together the outline for a build for a friend and wanted to gather your thoughts. It's mostly going to be used for programming and software development, but nothing particularly demanding, and some gaming. The budget is £650 so obviously this is a factor.

https://uk.************.com/user/pxdphil/saved/#view=CZK27P

If it were me I'd fork out the extra for RGB RAM and fans, but I guess I could achieve a nice effect with a lighting strip?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

Space Monkey · 29 Jun 2019 at 23:00

Hi and welcome,

Someone will no doubt be along soon to help out, but I just wanted to advise that your link won't work here, this forum is run by and paid for by Overclockers UK PC retailer so if you need to list specs please either use their shop links or the manufacturers website links, thanks

orbitalwalsh · 1 Jul 2019 at 10:23

@Phil Smith

wait till after the 7th !

Phil Smith · 2 Jul 2019 at 21:15

This is what I should have posted:

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC - Freezer 33 eSports ONE (Black/White) CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI - Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card
Case: NZXT - H500 ATX Mid Tower Case
Custom: Corsair CP-9020102-UK CX Series CX550M ATX/EPS Semi-Modular 81 Plus Bronze 550 W Power Supply Unit

I think @orbitalwalsh is right - I'll wait until the Ryzen 5 3600 comes out - but will I be able to flash a B450 Pro Carbon or Tomahawk with no CPU installed?

CuriousTomCat · 2 Jul 2019 at 22:06

Phil Smith said:
will I be able to flash a B450 Pro Carbon or Tomahawk with no CPU installed?

Yes the MSI B450 Tomahawk features BIOS Flashback so the BIOS can be flashed from a USB stick without a CPU, memory or graphics card.

I dont think the MSI X470 Pro Carbon has the BIOS Flashback feature. Although the Carbon does have better VRMs than the Tomahawk because it supports the 16 cores Ryzens while the Tomahawk only supprots up to the 12 core Ryzen.

Phil Smith · 2 Jul 2019 at 22:09

CuriousTomCat said:
I dont think the MSI X470 Pro Carbon has the BIOS Flashback feature. Although the Carbon does have better VRMs than the Tomahawk because it supports the 16 cores Ryzens while the Tomahawk only supprots up to the 12 core Ryzen.

It was the B450 Pro Carbon I was looking at which apparently does. Is the improved VRM only the case for the X470?

CuriousTomCat · 2 Jul 2019 at 22:55

Phil Smith said:
It was the B450 Pro Carbon I was looking at which apparently does. Is the improved VRM only the case for the X470?

According to this chart, the MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is the only B450 board that supports the Ryzen 3950X 16 core

https://i.redd.it/jns90zhx3o731.png

Phil Smith · 2 Jul 2019 at 23:45

CuriousTomCat said:
According to this chart, the MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is the only B450 board that supports the Ryzen 3950X 16 core

https://i.redd.it/jns90zhx3o731.png

I'm not really looking at that chip to be honest, just the 3600. Am I making a big mistake by not really considering the 3600X?

an0nym0us · 3 Jul 2019 at 02:14

Phil Smith said:
I'm not really looking at that chip to be honest, just the 3600. Am I making a big mistake by not really considering the 3600X?

At the moment, there aren't any reviews out, so it's anyone's guess. At stock, out of the box settings, the 3600X it's pretty much guaranteed to outperform the 3600 (non X). But when overclocked on all cores, we just don't know.

I'd wait for reviews before deciding. You may even find that the premium vs the discounted 2nd gen Ryzen CPUs isn't worth it for your friend's use case.