Building gaming PC - any specific tips?

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Hi all,

I previously posted asking for recommendations to achieve a budget gaming PC for my son, who solely plays Fortnite, currently. The loud and clear advice was the lower budget was going to be hard and will compromise. As such, I've worked with him to save more and up the budget (and do more chores around the house!) over a number of months. This is where I have landed:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Mobo: MSI MPG B550 Gaming plus ATX (B-grade from OCUK)
RAM: Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 C16 3200MHz
SSD: 1TB Kingston NV3 M.2-2280 PCIe4.0
PSU: be quiet! System Power 11 650W
Case: Kolink Observatory MX Glass ARGB Midi Tower
GPU: Intel ARC B580 Guardian 12GB

I wasn't planning to get an additional CPU fan and just use the stock one with the 5600X, given this will not be used firstly in highly stressed settings (leaning towards performance mode will be his preferred use for Fortnite).

As we assemble this, are there any potential issues with this setup anyone sees? Anything else we should consider here? For reference, I built my own gaming PC last year, was the first I've properly done it (thankfully it all worked), but would thus say I'm quite the uninformed amateur.

Many thanks!
 
As we assemble this, are there any potential issues with this setup anyone sees?
Once built, make sure that rebar is enabled and working, since the B580 needs it.

If the B550 is very old stock, there's a small chance it will need a BIOS flash.
 
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Hi all,

I previously posted asking for recommendations to achieve a budget gaming PC for my son, who solely plays Fortnite, currently. The loud and clear advice was the lower budget was going to be hard and will compromise. As such, I've worked with him to save more and up the budget (and do more chores around the house!) over a number of months. This is where I have landed:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Mobo: MSI MPG B550 Gaming plus ATX (B-grade from OCUK)
RAM: Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 C16 3200MHz
SSD: 1TB Kingston NV3 M.2-2280 PCIe4.0
PSU: be quiet! System Power 11 650W
Case: Kolink Observatory MX Glass ARGB Midi Tower
GPU: Intel ARC B580 Guardian 12GB

I wasn't planning to get an additional CPU fan and just use the stock one with the 5600X, given this will not be used firstly in highly stressed settings (leaning towards performance mode will be his preferred use for Fortnite).

As we assemble this, are there any potential issues with this setup anyone sees? Anything else we should consider here? For reference, I built my own gaming PC last year, was the first I've properly done it (thankfully it all worked), but would thus say I'm quite the uninformed amateur.

Many thanks!
whtas the budget you ended up with? It's hard to judge whether great buy or not depending on the price of the components, so to speak.
I'd go 32gb of ram, not 16gb...quite a few of the new games will used over 16gb now. if you look at HU below, and go to 4mins 35 sec, you'll see ram useage in 30+ games..Fortnite was up at 17.6GB which is relevant as thats your sons game of choice...I think you'll find once the ram useage max's out you see stutter creep into the gameplay...actually he demonstrates at the 6 min mark...also see 1% low fps drop as well as stutter etc

 
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looks decent, but as per previous posts (and also in your last thread), pony up the extra for 32gb ram. 16gb is so 2021.
 
Thanks for the responses, very helpful.

Tetras - on the rebar, thanks, I know very little on this so will follow Dr Google to ensure it is enabled.

Craig_d1 and tamzzy - thanks for that on the RAM. Would adding an additional 2 x 8GB be suitable to address this, i.e., total of 4 x 8GB RAM rather than 2 x 16GB?

In terms of budget, here are the prices paid:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X - £100
Mobo: MSI MPG B550 Gaming plus ATX (B-grade from OCUK) - £90
RAM: Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 C16 3200MHz - £23
SSD: 1TB Kingston NV3 M.2-2280 PCIe4.0 - £43
PSU: be quiet! System Power 11 650W - £55
Case: Kolink Observatory MX Glass ARGB Midi Tower - £30
GPU: Intel ARC B580 Guardian 12GB - £240

Total: £581
 
Thanks for the responses, very helpful.

Tetras - on the rebar, thanks, I know very little on this so will follow Dr Google to ensure it is enabled.

Craig_d1 and tamzzy - thanks for that on the RAM. Would adding an additional 2 x 8GB be suitable to address this, i.e., total of 4 x 8GB RAM rather than 2 x 16GB?

In terms of budget, here are the prices paid:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X - £100
Mobo: MSI MPG B550 Gaming plus ATX (B-grade from OCUK) - £90
RAM: Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 C16 3200MHz - £23
SSD: 1TB Kingston NV3 M.2-2280 PCIe4.0 - £43
PSU: be quiet! System Power 11 650W - £55
Case: Kolink Observatory MX Glass ARGB Midi Tower - £30
GPU: Intel ARC B580 Guardian 12GB - £240

Total: £581
2x16 would be preferable imho, having 4 sticks is just adding extra strain to the memory controller..that being said ddr4 isn't as bad as bbr5 where having 4 sticks really struggles

nice you put prices up..am4 is long in the tooth now..I wouln't pay £100 for a 5600x...they can be had for £50 readily enough 2nd hand (difference more than enough to go to 2x16gb ram). For £104 you can ship a 7500F in from abroad and be on the am5 platform(just checked with delivery 7th-10th july), which will give you a true upgrade path
 
I'd go 32gb of ram, not 16gb...quite a few of the new games will used over 16gb now.
Sorry to highjack the thread, but, I have 32gb ram, and have never seen a game use over 16GB? I've played pretty much every triple AAA release in the last 3-5 years, other than BG3/Final Fantasy's and sport related games?
Is this something that you've experienced personally?
I seem to find as with the '12GB is not enough VRAM' that this is simply not the case in the real world currently with gaming.
Do you think it's because I play everything at 4K with DLSS? Or would that not make any difference to system ram usage?
Don't get me wrong I'm glad I still have 32GB 'if' I need it,but at this point in time it's been a waste of money since buying it, and I did have 16GB and haven't noticed any better performance replaying games that I have completed previously when I had half the ram?
 
Sorry to highjack the thread, but, I have 32gb ram, and have never seen a game use over 16GB? I've played pretty much every triple AAA release in the last 3-5 years, other than BG3/Final Fantasy's and sport related games?
Is this something that you've experienced personally?
I seem to find as with the '12GB is not enough VRAM' that this is simply not the case in the real world currently with gaming.
Do you think it's because I play everything at 4K with DLSS? Or would that not make any difference to system ram usage?
Don't get me wrong I'm glad I still have 32GB 'if' I need it,but at this point in time it's been a waste of money since buying it, and I did have 16GB and haven't noticed any better performance replaying games that I have completed previously when I had half the ram?

I frequently see over 16gb in games, not all of which are AAA, often even more than 20gb.

This is with a range of resolutions from 2560x1080 to 4K.

Hold in mind it isn't just the game using your RAM either, Windows and other background processes will use a certain amount.

12gb of VRAM is also a limiting factor in some situations with the aforementioned resolutions.
 
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I frequently see over 16gb in games, not all of which are AAA, often even more than 20gb.

This is with a range of resolutions from 2560x1080 to 4K.

Hold in mind it isn't just the game using your RAM either, Windows and other background processes will use a certain amount.

12gb of VRAM is also a limiting factor in some situations with the aforementioned resolutions.
What games?
Do you have loads of stuff running in the background then?
I just have the Nvidia display app (not the optional one you can choose to install), the bluetooth service if I'm using earphones, Afterburner/Riva, and Steam...

What games have you seen 12GB of VRAM limit any games? I've seen none go above 11.1GB at max settings 4K DLSS, be it UE5 engine games, COD, CS2, Resident Evil series, Dead Space/The Callisto Protocol, Doom series, Star Wars series, Alan Wake 2, TLOU1/2?
I'd be intrigued to know what games go above what I've witnessed, as I've played a lot of games since their release and never encountered an issue? Not trolling, I'd just love to actually see it myself, versus it be scaremongering on Youtube etc...
 
What games?
Do you have loads of stuff running in the background then?
I just have the Nvidia display app (not the optional one you can choose to install), the bluetooth service if I'm using earphones, Afterburner/Riva, and Steam...

What games have you seen 12GB of VRAM limit any games? I've seen none go above 11.1GB at max settings 4K DLSS, be it UE5 engine games, COD, CS2, Resident Evil series, Dead Space/The Callisto Protocol, Doom series, Star Wars series, Alan Wake 2, TLOU1/2?
I'd be intrigued to know what games go above what I've witnessed, as I've played a lot of games since their release and never encountered an issue? Not trolling, I'd just love to actually see it myself, versus it be scaremongering on Youtube etc...

Almost any UE5 game will, and no I don't have much running in the background.

I have MSI Afterburner set up to display CPU/GPU/RAM/VRAM usage on the fly via a toggleable OSD. You seem to be the odd one out here as I know multiple people that run into the same problems at 1440P or above, let alone at 4K.

Here's FF7 Rebirth running at 4K with DLSS, resolution scaling at 66%, mixture of medium-high settings:

Z81huSw.jpeg

That's over 17gb of RAM and close to 11gb of VRAM being used.

I could easily push over 12gb of VRAM with one or two settings changed, and that's an UE4 title.
 
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Almost any UE5 game will, and no I don't have much running in the background.

I have MSI Afterburner set up to display CPU/GPU/RAM/VRAM usage on the fly via a toggleable OSD. You seem to be the odd one out here as I know multiple people that run into the same problems at 1440P or above, let alone at 4K.

Here's FF7 Rebirth running at 4K with DLSS, resolution scaling at 66%, mixture of medium-high settings:

Z81huSw.jpeg

That's over 17gb of RAM and close to 11gb of VRAM being used.

I could easily push over 12gb of VRAM with one or two settings changed, and that's an UE4 title.
Thanks for getting back to me, it's nice to see someone basing this on personal experience.

That's strange with UE5, do you think it's because I use 4K DLSS and often frame generation?
I run the graphics at max settings and only enable frame generation if I can't get 60FPS (UE5 life :cry:) - I lock my maximum FPS to 60 for all SP games via the Nvidia control panel, as I like a silent PC/the room to be cool, for MP I'll play uncapped - but I only play COD and CS2, and they'll pretty much run on a toaster :cry:

Yeah I use Afterburner/Riva, and check it often in each new area and leave it running for ages, genuinely never seen anything over something like 16.4GB IIRC? 11.1GB or 11.8GB for VRAM.

Ah FF games, I did say they're one of the few along with sport games, that I don't/haven't played :D correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the FF ports known to be pretty resource hungry, so that would make sense.

Older UE4 titles such as Spyro Reignited Trilogy maxed out in native 4K no issues, along with many others, I still haven't seen that kind of usage. Strange! Is there any UE4 games that spring to mind, I might have to reinstall some stuff and show your what my usage is like?

I mainly play SP games, and just work my way through everything as soon as it releases, then play anything I've missed from the last X years, then go back and replay the recent stuff again, and I've honestly never noticed any benefits or losses when it comes to pre and post patching regarding ram/vram usage, I certainly haven't seen anything groundbreaking optimisation wise post patch be that FPS gains or ram optimisation...

The only game that springs to mind was how bad STALKER2 was in general, but you could play around it by saving frequently and re-opening it :cry: I played that with both 16GB and 32GB... 16GB at 1440P then 32GB at 4K DLSS with frame generation.
 
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Thanks for getting back to me, it's nice to see someone basing this on personal experience.

That's strange with UE5, do you think it's because I use 4K DLSS and often frame generation?
I run the graphics at max settings and only enable frame generation if I can't get 60FPS (UE5 life :cry:) - I lock my maximum FPS to 60 for all SP games via the Nvidia control panel, as I like a silent PC/the room to be cool, for MP I'll play uncapped - but I only play COD and CS2, and they'll pretty much run on a toaster :cry:

Yeah I use Afterburner/Riva, and check it often in each new area and leave it running for ages, genuinely never seen anything over something like 16.4GB IIRC? 11.1GB or 11.8GB for VRAM.

Ah FF games, I did say they're one of the few along with sport games, that I don't/haven't played :D correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the FF ports known to be pretty resource hungry, so that would make sense.

Older UE4 titles such as Spyro Reignited Trilogy maxed out in native 4K no issues, along with many others, I still haven't seen that kind of usage. Strange! Is there any UE4 games that spring to mind, I might have to reinstall some stuff and show your what my usage is like?

I mainly play SP games, and just work my way through everything as soon as it releases, then play anything I've missed from the last X years, then go back and replay the recent stuff again, and I've honestly never noticed any benefits or losses when it comes to pre and post patching regarding ram/vram usage, I certainly haven't seen anything groundbreaking optimisation wise post patch be that FPS gains or ram optimisation...

The only game that springs to mind was how bad STALKER2 was in general, but you could play around it by saving frequently and re-opening it :cry: I played that with both 16GB and 32GB... 16GB at 1440P then 32GB at 4K DLSS with frame generation.

DLSS will lower resource usage as you're effectively playing at a lower resolution than native, and that'll vary depending on which settings you use for it (quality/balanced/perf etc).

The only other recent UE4 title I'm aware of is Clair Obscura, but I don't remember that being particularly heavy on RAM or VRAM. Space Marine 2 I'm almost certain used in excess of 16gb of RAM, although it used very little in the way of VRAM. If you ever get into certain titles with mods your RAM use can skyrocket too, Cities Skylines will take up as much as you're willing to throw at it and I'm aware of a few sims that will do similar.

The engine used in recent RE games scales pretty well, but you can quite easily punt it into using over 12gb of VRAM in The Village and RE4R.

Unfortunately Rebirth is the most graphically intensive title I currently have installed or I'd grab a few more screens as examples, and hold in mind that my Windows/background usage in the screen I listed was around the 4-5gb mark.
 
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DLSS will lower resource usage as you're effectively playing at a lower resolution than native, and that'll vary depending on which settings you use for it (quality/balanced/perf etc).

The only other recent UE4 title I'm aware of is Clair Obscura, but I don't remember that being particularly heavy on RAM or VRAM. Space Marine 2 I'm almost certain used in excess of 16gb of RAM, although it used very little in the way of VRAM. If you ever get into certain titles with mods your RAM use can skyrocket too, Cities Skylines will take up as much as you're willing to throw at it and I'm aware of a few sims that will do similar.

The engine used in recent RE games scales pretty well, but you can quite easily punt it into using over 12gb of VRAM in The Village and RE4R.

Unfortunately Rebirth is the most graphically intensive title I currently have installed or I'd grab a few more screens as examples, and hold in mind that my Windows/background usage in the screen I listed was around the 4-5gb mark.
Ah so my theory was right then, I'm lucky due to DLSS, but hey, if it works it works :)
FWIW, I set it to quality, and everything maxed out graphically, use reflex where possible, and frame generation as needed.

Ah I've heard Cities Skylines is a bit of a hog, that one I did forget, but you've jogged my memory now - it's not a game I play but that does ring a bell, I remember that and rumours the FF ports were a bit resource hungry.
I haven't played Clair Obsura or Space Marine 2.

Yeah the RE Engine is great. I see you can set it over what it claims it'll use, but I've never seen it actually max it out when ignoring the warning?

BTW, thank you for your insight with this, it's nice to see actual evidence versus people jumping on the bandwagon and not backing it up.
 
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2x16 would be preferable imho, having 4 sticks is just adding extra strain to the memory controller..that being said ddr4 isn't as bad as bbr5 where having 4 sticks really struggles

nice you put prices up..am4 is long in the tooth now..I wouln't pay £100 for a 5600x...they can be had for £50 readily enough 2nd hand (difference more than enough to go to 2x16gb ram). For £104 you can ship a 7500F in from abroad and be on the am5 platform(just checked with delivery 7th-10th july), which will give you a true upgrade path
Appreciate the suggestions. Unfortunately, all of the components my son has bought now, based on previous advice where we were trying to keep the budget down but then balancing not wanting to take a risk on 2nd hand in case of any problems it is harder to return. All of the aforementioned items are new and come with warranties (exception is B-grade Mobo from OCUK). I hadn't heard of shipping in things from abroad at comparable prices for AM5 platform.

As such, being "stuck" for now with the 5600X and the 2x8GB RAM, I'm assuming that adding 2 x 8GB to have 4x 8GB is still better than just having 2x8GB alone...and less pennies for his savings than having to try and sell the 2x8gb and buying in 2x16Gb.
 
Appreciate the suggestions. Unfortunately, all of the components my son has bought now, based on previous advice where we were trying to keep the budget down but then balancing not wanting to take a risk on 2nd hand in case of any problems it is harder to return. All of the aforementioned items are new and come with warranties (exception is B-grade Mobo from OCUK). I hadn't heard of shipping in things from abroad at comparable prices for AM5 platform.

As such, being "stuck" for now with the 5600X and the 2x8GB RAM, I'm assuming that adding 2 x 8GB to have 4x 8GB is still better than just having 2x8GB alone...and less pennies for his savings than having to try and sell the 2x8gb and buying in 2x16Gb.
I might be wrong, but you're probably better off just upgrading in the future to 2X16GB? It's cheap enough now so when you actually need it, it wont be a big deal to sell on the 2x8GB or make a small loss?
 
Unfortunately ddr4 is end of life. New sticks are nearly as expensive or more expensive than ddr5 in the last few weeks
Oh really? I didn't know that! Last time I looked, was when it was reasonable for 32GB, and then I bought it and figured it'd be pennies by now :( DDR5 was expensive when I last looked.
 
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