Last Minute SFF AM4 build check!

PaulW

PaulW

PaulW

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Joined
6 Jun 2005
Posts
874
Location
Plymouth / Cambridge
Hi All,

it’s almost BF and so I’ll be buying things over the weekend / this evening for my SFF build while they are cheaper, below is my current build. As a last-minute check could someone with a greater mind please check this for me, so I don’t buy anything I regret.
I have a few wild things in here for future proofing and some I have upgraded on as they are a great deal right now.

Thank you very much :)

Ssupd Meshlicious Mini ITX Case - Full Mesh - Black - PCIE 3.0 -- BOUGHT
Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey
Gigabyte AMD Ryzen A520 AM4 Mini-ITX Motherboard
Thermalright AXP90 X47 Black Low Profile CPU Cooler --BOUGHT
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
ARCTIC MX-6 paste
Noctua A9x14 HS PWM chromax (replacemnet CPU fan)
Corsair SF1000L Fully Modular Low-Noise SFX Power Supply - ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 Compliant -- BOUGHT
MSI GTX 1070 -- Pre owned
 
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wanted a cheap "tide me over" system for an eventual media TV PC or somthing i could transport. planning on a 3 grand system next year to replace my 10 year old system.

I could go for AM5 or as you say but it is a bit over my budget atm. i am only £50 over right now, where as a current gen system would probably be and extra £200 - £300.

crazy to think i can get a SFF pc from about £600 which is even less than one component in current gen.

orginally i was going to recycle some parts like the PSU and old SSD but decided to give the parents my old PC for them to use.
 
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I think you're over-spending on the power supply. You don't need ATX 3.0 or PCIe 5.0 for that system, and (although I don't know the power draw of a 1070) I'm guessing you're not using much more than 350W in that system. The Corsair SF-L Series SF850L PSU is £30 cheaper and still way over-specced for your build.

How is your cooling? You don't list any fans except for a replacement for the one on the CPU cooler. Do you have a parts bin with a supply of fans you can use?
 
GilesGuthrie said:
SF-L Series SF850L PSU is £30 cheaper
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True!, but i got it at a very good price £160 OCUK a few weeks ago and saved about that much so thought why not ( about £10 diff curently), the way things are going i could use it again maybe in a later build

will probbaly get 2 noctua fans eventually or some cheap arctic p12s
 
PaulW said:
wanted a cheap "tide me over" system for an eventual media TV PC or somthing i could transport. planning on a 3 grand system next year to replace my 10 year old system.

I could go for AM5 or as you say but it is a bit over my budget atm. i am only £50 over right now, where as a current gen system would probably be and extra £200 - £300.

crazy to think i can get a SFF pc from about £600 which is even less than one component in current gen.

orginally i was going to recycle some parts like the PSU and old SSD but decided to give the parents my old PC for them to use.
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Your tide me over spec locks you in to a dead end platform with on the 5800X3D has the best upgrade, DDR4 and not a great motherboard.

I'd spend the £300 more and get an AM5 build. Long term you could then get a 7800X3D or the next gen of AM5 CPUs.

Then you also have DDR5.

You don't need a 990 Pro. Nobody does. Get something like the below and I'd agree that that PSU is overkill and a waste of money.

Edit: need to make it ITX.

ITX build

1 X AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail - £194.99
SKU: CP-3DW-AM
1 X Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - £109.99
SKU: MEM-CRS-00996
1 X WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3 - £53.99
SKU: HD-58F-WD
1 X MSI MPG B650I Edge WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 Mini ITX Motherboard - £249.95
SKU: MB-374-MS
Grand Total: £608.92
​
 
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PaulW said:
@JollyJamma How is that ATX board going to fit in my Meshlicious Mini ITX Case?
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IT's not. Speccing an ITX build now.

Edit: One thing that occurs to be is that budget and ITX don't really belong in the same sentence.

ITX components are usually far more expensive.
Adding the Gamers Nexus best CPUs of 2023 video to this as they also don't suggest buying into AM4 as a newbuild.

www.youtube.com

Best CPUs of 2023 (Intel vs. AMD): Gaming, Video Editing, Budget, & Biggest Disappointment

Sponsor: Thermaltake SWAFAN EX 120 3-Pack on Amazon https://geni.us/ardZRWe're talking about the best CPUs of 2023 to recap the year. Between new prices and ...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
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ok thanks, tbh an AM4 system will be fine for me right now. coming from a ten year old system everything will be lighting by comparison.
i dont really want this to be super expensive or be top of the line. the only reason i an spending a bit more on some components is because i can get them right now at a decent price on Black friday and could reuse them later in my bigger AM5 systen when i build that.

so i think i'll stay AM4, apprciate your advice but its not my goal for this one. what i'd really like to know is if my original list is all going to work together. happy to hear some like for like component suggestions though.
 
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PaulW said:
ok thanks, tbh an AM4 system will be fine for me right now. coming from a ten year old system everything will be lighting by comparison.
i dont really want this to be super expensive or be top of the line. the only reason i an spending a bit more on some components is because i can get them right now at a decent price on Black friday and could reuse them later in my bigger AM5 systen when i build that.

so i think i'll stay AM4, apprciate your advice but its not my goal for this one. what i'd really like to know is if my orginal list is all going to work together. happy to hear some like for light component suggestions though.
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That's fine, as long as you know what you're buying, all good.
 
AM4 is an ideal way to make MITX a normal price build :) which suits your situation ideally. I think a X3D will pack enough punch for long enough for you not to care, considering you're getting what would be expensive mitx parts cheap due to a dead platform. By the time it matters you can always turn it into a ryzentosh mac like I've done with my MITX AM4 2nd rig.

Totally agree with @JollyJamma 's points though :)
 
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Removed User 345456 said:
AM4 is an ideal way to make MITX a normal price build :) which suits your situation ideally. I think a X3D will pack enough punch for long enough for you not to care, considering you're getting what would be expensive mitx parts cheap due to a dead platform. By the time it matters you can always turn it into a ryzentosh mac like I've done with my MITX AM4 2nd rig.

Totally agree with @JollyJamma 's points though :)
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oh i tottaly agree with Jolly's points, but i dont want things to snowball an AM5 system will be overkill for what i currently need for what eventually will be a system that will be a Media PC in 6 months to a years time.
 
PaulW said:
yes, its like the Samsung 990 Pro 1TB i was going to get a 980 evo plus but for £10 more i can get a Samsung 990 Pro today so why not.
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I see that the 990 Pro 1tb is £73. That's so stupidly low that you'd be an idiot not to get it.

Also, consider spending a little bit extra and getting the AMD R7 5700. Unless you're getting the 5600X for nothing, the 5700 non X is 8 cores, 16 threads and brilliant. 8 cores 16 threads is what most consoles run these days so you'll have a lot of games and applications optimised for that CPU spec rather than a 6 core 12 thread which will become less useful over time.

I do agree that if it's going to be a media PC eventually, 6 cores 12 threads should be fine but it's still probably worth the tiny extra price of the 5700.
 
PaulW said:
wanted a cheap "tide me over" system for an eventual media TV PC or somthing i could transport. planning on a 3 grand system next year to replace my 10 year old system.

I could go for AM5 or as you say but it is a bit over my budget atm. i am only £50 over right now, where as a current gen system would probably be and extra £200 - £300.

crazy to think i can get a SFF pc from about £600 which is even less than one component in current gen.

orginally i was going to recycle some parts like the PSU and old SSD but decided to give the parents my old PC for them to use.
Click to expand...
Oh and FWIW macos makes a wicked os for media consumption, this rig in question was used for just that under the tv with a logitech k400r keyboard/touchpad combo, and was the height of BSD unix stability/reliablity/laziness.
I've since manned up and put the gaming rig under the tv for 65" snobbery and put the MITX ryzentosh at the desk as it is silent/takes up no space/barely gives off any heat and makes for a killer desktop machine too that'll do pretty much anything thanks to being a mac in a cheap dress ;)
Mines in a silly cheap wicked little Silverstone SG-13 - IIRC like £65 posted elsewhere... Looks like one of those 70's conference room call speakers or a lil sub. could take it anywhere easily being a cube.

mickyflinn said:
£135 for the Gigabyte AMD B550 AORUS B550I PRO AX WiFi seems a good buy if you fancy pushing your budget.

and will also give you pcie 4.
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This is a decent board, IIRC it's what my mate got to replace the B450i MITX I bought off him, decent featureset.
 
JollyJamma said:
I see that the 990 Pro 1tb is £73. That's so stupidly low that you'd be an idiot not to get it.

Also, consider spending a little bit extra and getting the AMD R7 5700. Unless you're getting the 5600X for nothing, the 5700 non X is 8 cores, 16 threads and brilliant. 8 cores 16 threads is what most consoles run these days so you'll have a lot of games and applications optimised for that CPU spec rather than a 6 core 12 thread which will become less useful over time.

I do agree that if it's going to be a media PC eventually, 6 cores 12 threads should be fine but it's still probably worth the tiny extra price of the 5700.
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I purposely chose a 5700x over a 5800x as it's literally 6% slower and no-one is going to notice that in reality, and it's stupidly cheap... Also chose it as it's 65w over a 95w how running X3D and I was after building a silent/cool running/efficient low energy gaming build - which I achieved. Mine never goes above 65c and my PA120SE is barely set to spin, I have a super mesh tastic case though and 2 140mm front and 120mm BeQuiet's running at a pathetic fixed 550rpm, cant beat a silent build that's cost nothing case/fan/hsf wise and doesn't require air.

The MITX build uses another 120mm, and a 92mm version of the same cheap BeQuiet fans which I McGyver'ed onto the cheap random no name brand hsf that it had on before with a loud fan, again barely doing makes a noise if at all, this only has a 3600 non X in granted but I can only hear it ramp up if I really kick it's head in, to which is still near silent due to the config, thus making ideal cheap non air required MITX silence/form factor.

The beauty is when the 5700X no longer cuts the mustard I'll simply replace the MITX's 3600 non X with it and go X3D in the main rig. Can't loose.

TLDR try for a 5700X if you can, awesome bang per buck as me and @JollyJamma will confirm.
 
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JollyJamma said:
I see that the 990 Pro 1tb is £73. That's so stupidly low that you'd be an idiot not to get it.
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yep

i'll look at the 5700 the cooler i have Thermalright AXP90 X47 is for 65W so dont really want to go above that,

i'll look at the Gigabyte AMD B550 AORUS B550I PRO AX WiFi mobo too. probably a good shout

As long at it all fits and is compatible with the Meshlicious PCI 3 riser cable. with the 1070 that is all i need for now but might be good for head room later if i replace the GPU.
 
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What's nice about the 5700 non X is that with a bit of tweaking and an undervolt, you drop the wattage use and improve the performance which is great with an ITX build whilst not spending as much money as the 5800X.

I think I'm running a -0.1v offset but don't quote me on that.
 
PaulW said:
i'll look at the Gigabyte AMD B550 AORUS B550I PRO AX WiFi mobo too. probably a good shout

As long at it all fits and is compatible with the Meshlicious PCI 3 riser cable. with the 1070 that is all i need for now but might be good for head room later if i replace the GPU.
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Any problems with the riser set the pcie speed in the bios from 4 to 3 on a b550 motherboard.
 
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