First PC Build - Warning, thread will have blunders.
- Thread starter NathanL
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- help newbie pc build upgrade advice
Soldato
A good X370 board would be something like the Asus X370 Prime Pro for £130 or so. Some of the X370 boards have better/beefier VRM so if you are going to stick an 8 core R7 in there anytime then it is a better option especially if you decide to overclock. If you wanted high end X370 then the ASRock Taichi would be my choice. A bit more expensive though.
The 8700K is the faster cpu especially at lower resolutions, but the AMD Ryzen offers way better value and it is still a very good cpu in it's own right. You also have an upgrade path with the 8 core R7 or the upcoming refresh. If you are not in a rush then wait for the next Ryzen cpu's and boards to launch later this month I believe.
My basket at Overclockers UK:
- 1 x Asus Prime X370-Pro AMD X370 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £139.99
- 1 x Asrock X370 Taichi AMD X370 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £187.99
Total: £339.08 (includes shipping: £11.10)
Don't be ashamed:
There really hasn't been much reason to know about AMD CPUs for long time.
Their performance has been from struggling to badly struggling, while consuming metric ****-ton of electricity:
https://techreport.com/review/24879/intel-core-i7-4770k-and-4950hq-haswell-processors-reviewed/7
Reminds me about one humorous line: I may be slow, but I do poor work.
That's why AMD didn't even release new higher end CPUs for many years.
Release of new design from scratch Ryzen year ago changed that.
In most games Intel has advantage, but it's not major and in power efficiency Ryzen is equal.
And with Intel you'll be basically stuck with that CPU, until you're willing to buy whole new motherboard, CPU and likely also new RAM.
Zen+/Ryzen 2 CPUs, which are released in couple weeks (if you can wait little) increase clock speeds little and along with cache/memory latency improvements that should narrow down Intel's advantage.
While you get option of upgrading just CPU in two years.
And unlike Intel's one or two percent faster CPU always needing new socket, AMD has more significant performance increases scheduled.
For GTX1060 level graphics card and stock CPUs 450W PSU are well enough.
But if you'll sometime upgrade to higher level GPU or overclock, 550W PSU would have good room to spare.
And you can pretty much plan to use quality PSU upwards 10 years.
Which is warranty length Seasonic gives for Focus Plus.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-05p-ss.html
If you'll get that Thermaltake case Bitfenix Formula has fixed cables meaning unneeded cables might show from window:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/bitfenix-formula-series-550w-80-plus-gold-power-supply-ca-22y-bx.html
With modular PSU you don't have to hide those unneeded cables, you simply won't connect them to PSU.
While those who know my case taste better might doubt it I kinda like look of that Thermaltake.
Though one downside of it is that cheese grater front leaking out any slightest noise.
It simply can't muffle any noises created by parts inside it.
Which is why in case of Intel CPUs you'll want to have better than stock cooler even without any overclocking:
Intel has long used chronically under sized stock HSFs for enthusiast use.
(basically sized to work quietly in web surfing/word processing PC)
Thank you all for your help so far, it's very much appreciated.
Okay, so in a bizarre change of events, it's looking like the AMD option may be a better choice. I can of course wait for a few weeks
I was realistically waiting for a couple of month till I did this anyway!
I may just go for the R7 anyway and the more expensive motherboard as you mentioned, it still seems like it'll be around the same price as the 8700k build? No?
Then get a new PSU, keep the same cooler at the moment get the new ram and go from there. May even have some cash to finally get an SSD in there too.
Ill try and keep an eye out for the new Motherboards and CPUs coming out at the end of this month.
Okay, so in a bizarre change of events, it's looking like the AMD option may be a better choice. I can of course wait for a few weeks
I was realistically waiting for a couple of month till I did this anyway!I may just go for the R7 anyway and the more expensive motherboard as you mentioned, it still seems like it'll be around the same price as the 8700k build? No?
Then get a new PSU, keep the same cooler at the moment get the new ram and go from there. May even have some cash to finally get an SSD in there too.
Ill try and keep an eye out for the new Motherboards and CPUs coming out at the end of this month.
I had thought that, but I can't see it being any louder than mine currently. All review i've seen have said it keeps the sound well suppressed.
Soldato
You might need a bracket for the cooler. Not sure what the deal will be with the new boards but on current B350 and X370 most coolers require an AM4 bracket (Unless you get a board such as the Asus Crosshair VI Hero which has AM3 spacings to accommodate existing coolers) which you can usually request from the Manufacturer, so in your case BeQuiet.
One final query before lights out for tonight. Why would I not go with the R7 1800? Would that be a better option?
With that, thank you for your help! Tomorrow I will be setting up a sheet on each of the systems you've mentioned and do a bit of my own research on them. I may post on here again over the weekend. It would be fantastic if you could all lend a hand again as you've been a great help.
Have a great weekend!
With that, thank you for your help! Tomorrow I will be setting up a sheet on each of the systems you've mentioned and do a bit of my own research on them. I may post on here again over the weekend. It would be fantastic if you could all lend a hand again as you've been a great help.
Have a great weekend!
Soldato
The 6 core and 8 core are pretty evenly matched if you are just gaming. The 8 core is the better option if you are doing other things like streaming at the same time (Twitch etc) or content creation.
Have a good one yourself
Soldato
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FSP one of the main decent OEMs like Seasonic ,. Believe they were first to market fully modular... though couldn't quote on that model 
Ah I see, does that mean you're still recommending getting a new one? From googling it, it only seems Bronze standard, nothing above.FSP one of the main decent OEMs like Seasonic ,. Believe they were first to market fully modular... though couldn't quote on that model
I have a quick query regarding Windows and storage.
If I have any cash left over, I'm hoping to get and SSD to put windows on and possibly the games that will be on the system. I currently have two HDDs.
How easy is it going to be to get windows off the HDD and onto the a new SSD?
Soldato
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To be honest , enegery standards don't effect Gamers to much, if you doing renders or mathematical equations that takes days on end to render and your doing this 6 days of the week then yeah, higher standard saves you money specially when your running i9 .
Normally the trend is the higher the Enegery rating the better the components . Super king managed to get a cheap plat rated Unit produced which is good but most Gold standard units are funny modular and use better components jmsuch as the focus etc etc
I upgrade mine often - but have my own personal reasons for that
Google should through up some details about that unit .
Normally the trend is the higher the Enegery rating the better the components . Super king managed to get a cheap plat rated Unit produced which is good but most Gold standard units are funny modular and use better components jmsuch as the focus etc etc
I upgrade mine often - but have my own personal reasons for that
Google should through up some details about that unit .
While FSP has rarely done bad PSUs neither they've done much good PSUs.FSP one of the main decent OEMs like Seasonic ,. Believe they were first to market fully modular... though couldn't quote on that model
Actually decade ago some of their PSUs tended to exceed ATX spec ripple limits already as new. (fair 500W was actual max output)
And they've long had hard on for third tier CapXon capacitors (almost their trademark) so no sense to risk new parts with that.
Actually efficiency makes notable difference to how much waste heat PSU produces even when PC is idling.
Such stone aged junk could easily waste twice the power compared to modern PSU.
(and likely three times as much as best PSUs especially at low loads)
http://www.silentpcreview.com/A_Better_Way_to_Compare_PSU_Efficiency
This is the kind of efficiency chart such ancient PSUs have:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/2581/7
Soldato
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^^^^^ never underestimate the power of knowledge of the forum
As with cables, since your going new and is wise choice, it comes with all the powered connections to plug into the board, card, drives etc.
The mother board comes normally with Two sata cables for the Drives
We all do rate Seasonic Unit - and it's modular which would be a help to you .
Bit more costly but forth it (seems rebrand version which is carbon copy is extremely hard to find retail which is a shame, saves £20 )
As with cables, since your going new and is wise choice, it comes with all the powered connections to plug into the board, card, drives etc.
The mother board comes normally with Two sata cables for the Drives
We all do rate Seasonic Unit - and it's modular which would be a help to you .
Bit more costly but forth it (seems rebrand version which is carbon copy is extremely hard to find retail which is a shame, saves £20 )
Never underestimating! This forum has helped me an incredible amount since my first post last year!^^^^^ never underestimate the power of knowledge of the forum
Sounds good! Good to know I won't have to faff about with buying cables! Should be able to nick a few cables from my current pc anyway.As with cables, since your going new and is wise choice, it comes with all the powered connections to plug into the board, card, drives etc.
The mother board comes normally with Two sata cables for the Drives
We all do rate Seasonic Unit - and it's modular which would be a help to you .
My main issue with switching things over is my hard drive. The one that was installed when I bought the PC is a mess. It's full of program files which are no longer used, has windows installed on it (which needs to be moved over) and has game save files on it, despite the games being saved on a newer drive. I need to get that sorted but I keep putting it off!
Seen a few posts in the last couple of days about the Ryzen 7 2700X overclocking to 4.3 and people are impressed by them.
Any of you may be able to tell otherwise though as I don't know much about it!
Hard drive wise, my plan is to wipe the one with Windows on (whilst moving anything important to separate drive and external drive) and the reinstalling Windows on that drive to start a fresh when putting it in new build. I think that sounds sensible...
Any of you may be able to tell otherwise though as I don't know much about it!
Hard drive wise, my plan is to wipe the one with Windows on (whilst moving anything important to separate drive and external drive) and the reinstalling Windows on that drive to start a fresh when putting it in new build. I think that sounds sensible...
Soldato
Stick Windows on the SSD, assuming you are still buying one ? as it will boot up a lot faster. Same goes for games they should load quicker etc.
Soldato
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if you were in the camp that was on the foot to upgrade or loved Intel- Ryzen was almost there- it had core count/ thread count, price was perfect and good selection of boards. Ram speed and Bios updates held it back a little but if it had a little more speed would have been near perfect pure gaming machine against intel if you wanted the best .
I dont think many that have current ryzen will jump to new chip- that would be Zen2 core.
Intel should be paying attention Ryzen+ and then be worries for Zen 2 design the year after !
I dont think many that have current ryzen will jump to new chip- that would be Zen2 core.
Intel should be paying attention Ryzen+ and then be worries for Zen 2 design the year after !