Need help with building a PC

Lucyrawr94

Lucyrawr94

Lucyrawr94

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9 Nov 2020
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Leicester
I need help with parts for a PC that me and my son will build. His dad passed away recently and it's something they would have done together but I am going to try and do it with him.

He wrote down some parts but we don't know if they would be compatible. He will mainly be using this for playing a flying simulator and eve and streaming to twitch.

He is autistic and is adamant we get a ryzen. The parts he wrote down are, ryzen 7 370x, asus rogstrix b450, corsair lpx 32gb, corsair bronze 750w power, 4tb barracuda hard drive and 1tb m.2(?) do we need both?

Case?, graphics card? cooler?

Budget is around £1300 but can stretch to more if needed. We don't need a monitor or keyboard and mouse.

Someone advised me to add these parts to pc part picker but when I added the rogstrix card I got an error about a bios update. How easy is this to do? Sorry for all the questions. Any help would be so appreciated.

Lucy
 
I'm sorry to here about his father.

Here's the build (Note: edited to remove competitors):
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£280)
CPU Cooler: Scythe FUMA 2 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£50)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard (£185)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory (£140)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£90)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB EAGLE Video Card (£600)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case (£70)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£100)

If you get the correct parts, it is really easy to build - a bit of plugging in and simple screwdriver usage.

For compatibility, for any Ryzen 3000-series CPU, you would want a X570 or B550 motherboard so you would not need any bios update - if you pick a X470 or B450 one, you may need to update it using an older 2000-series CPU before you can install a 3000-series CPU, but if you're lucky it may already come with the latest bios so you wouldn't need to update it using an old CPU.

I expect the 3700X to go down below £250, since the new 5000-series is out and AMD probably want to shift the old stock.

For the GPU, the latest card released that would suit your needs is the Nvidia's RTX 3070, right now it's a bit overpriced since there is a supply issue but if you wait it out a few months the prices should be around £500 (actual retail price), right now it's around £550 - £700, if you want to pay the premium.

The Ryzen CPUs come with a cooler but it's a bit loud so I included an aftermarket one which is much quieter.

If you have any questions about the build, please don't hesitate to ask, I didn't explain fully why each part was chosen as that would take a bit more time.
 
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Hi Lucy,

I'm no expert, but I just built my first new PC in 10 years this week, which included the Ryzen 7 3700x processor which your son wants. I have a couple of comments, and questions which may help other people to give you appropriate suggestions.

1) Does your son have his heart set on all of the components you listed, or only that it should be a Ryzen processor?

2) Do you think your son will be interested in "tinkering" with the PC, for example overclocking the graphics card and processor for extra performance? You said he already had a CPU in mind, so I guess he must be interested in computers? If he won't be doing that sort of thing, then you don't need to worry so much about getting the right RAM, CPU cooler etc (as long as they're all compatible!)

3) How soon do you need to get this PC built? As Meteoric said above, the Nvidia RTX 3070 is looking like the best fit for the games your son is interested in, but it's just been released and right now it would blow your budget.

4) Will it be a problem if any parts of the PC are quite difficult to fit, and maybe you won't be sure if you've done it "right" or not? For example, the PC I built this week used the Scythe FUMA CPU cooler that Meteoric recommended in his list of parts. I'm sure it's a good cooler, but it's very big, and fitting it to the CPU was easily the most difficult part of the whole build. If you aren't going to overclock the processor, you could probably get away with a smaller cooler, but wait to see what other people say :)

5) It's probably best to go for a B550 or X570 motherboard if you're unsure about updating the BIOS. These will also be more future-proof for upgrades.

6) Do you need both the 4TB hard drive and the 1TB m.2? Well, you definitely want an SSD or m.2 drive for fast storage, and m.2 drives don't take up extra space in the case because you fit them right into the motherboard, so I'd get one of those. Might as well make it a 1TB because the price difference isn't huge, but you can go for a smaller one if you need to keep the budget down. For a secondary drive, 4TB is a big drive, but it depends what you're going to be storing!

Cheers, and hopefully more folks will be able to weigh in with more valuable advice than I can provide!

Robin
 
Lucyrawr94 said:
He is autistic and is adamant we get a ryzen. The parts he wrote down are, ryzen 7 370x, asus rogstrix b450, corsair lpx 32gb, corsair bronze 750w power, 4tb barracuda hard drive and 1tb m.2(?) do we need both?
Click to expand...

That would be a Ryzen 3700X. The 3700X has been replaced by the 5800X and the B450 motherboard by the B550. For storage, the 1 TB M.2 drive should be sufficient on its own; you can always add the hard drive later. The Ryzen 5800X is £200 more than the 3700X and the gains aren't worth that much. I've included a B550 board to allow for an upgrade later.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £900.04 (includes shipping: £11.10)​
​

Cases are very much a matter of personal taste and OCUK have a large range here. there are some which are sub-optimal choices - get your son to check the reviews.

you'll want a cheap license of windows. this is best purchased elsewhere.

given your budget, likely gpus is the forthcoming geforce rtx 3060 ti.

you might also consider adding an external usb hard drive for backing up the pc. accidents happen.

my basket at overclockers uk:
Total: £65.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)​
​
 
Quartz said:
1 x Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (Wi-Fi) (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £184.99
Click to expand...

If it's over £150, I'd recommend a X570 motherboard like the Gigabyte Aorus Elite, X570 motherboards have more features at this price range, been around longer so more stable (I think you should only buy B550 motherboards for around £100 as B-series motherboards are meant to be affordable with okay specs).

Quartz said:
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit= £158.99
Click to expand...

Ah yes, I glossed over this in my initial build, I had 16GB (2x8GB) kit instead of the 32GB. I definitely recommend the 32GB one as flight sim games tend to use a lot of RAM, so 32GB is much better than 16GB (you'll get less stuttering in parts). Plus this kit is rated for 3600Mhz, Ryzen CPUs perform better with RAM which is over 3000Mhz - also make sure to correctly set the RAM settings in the motherboard BIOS after installation.

Quartz said:
Cases are very much a matter of personal taste and OCUK have a large range here. There are some which are sub-optimal choices - get your son to check the reviews.
Click to expand...

I recommend most things from Fractal Design that have mesh (mesh cases generally have better airflow so quieter machine), plus Fractal Design cases are very easy to build in and their support is very good.

Quartz said:
Given your budget, likely GPUs is the forthcoming Geforce RTX 3060 Ti.
Click to expand...

I'm guess the launch date will be sometime in Jan, with general availability Feb/March, with 1080Ti/2070S performance. Plus, I suspect Nvidia will price it in such a way (£300-£375) to push you to buy the RTX3070 as they get more profit on higher priced items. So probably not worth the wait.
 
Quartz said:
1 x Crucial P1 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £104.99
Click to expand...

Also, I forgot to mention. Don't buy the P1, or any other QLC-based SSDs (so the Intel 660p/Sabrent Q), the performance and endurance is bad for the price; the price difference from TLC-based ones is not big enough to make it worth it.

So buy any Phison E12-based NVME SSDs like the Corsair MP510 960GB, Silicon Power P34A80 1TB, VIPER VPN100 1TB, Sabrent 1TB. Or the ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB, SN750 1TB, or 970 EVO 1TB. Those all have DRAM so perform very well, the SN550 I recommended doesn't have DRAM but WD's controller is custom and very good so the performance difference isn't that significant.
 
Hey Lucy and welcome to the forum. :)

Your lad has the right idea with AMD Ryzen processors! :D But I'd recommend the 5600X processor now, which is AMD's new Ryzen processor released just last week. Best performance for ££ when gaming. But stock is hard to find.

Here's a basket idea from OcUK (don't worry, it'll be much less). Just make sure you shop around for most of the parts to get the best price!! We can't name competitor retailers around here as OcUK are a retailer themselves.
  • The 5600X processor will be the hardest to find due to stock issues, but keep an eye out and shop and can be had £10-20 cheaper too.
  • But if you keep an eye out for the graphics card, I think your best bet is to get a NVIDIA 3070 Founders Edition - you can get this for £469 (so -£100 on the basket below)
  • The RAM kit is about £50 cheaper elsewhere too, some nice RGB and well reviewed.
  • The cooler I've listed is a good performer and thought your lad would like some extra RGB with the rig.
  • The case is very well reviewed and has good airflow so will keep his part temperatures down.
  • The motherboard I picked as it's a great board and I often find kids need WiFi, as they don't think about using Ethernet to the router directly?
  • The 2 drives are the 1TB NVME which will slot onto his motherboard, this is the one he should install Windows and his games onto. The 4TB hard drive he should use for storage (videos/photos etc) and his Twitch recordings or videos he makes at a guess. But I'm sure he knows all this! Lol
All in all, this would probably come in around £1500 as an idea - which hopefully ticks all his boxes and within your budget if stretched comfortably? If not let us know as you've had some other good ideas above as well.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,676.87 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​
 
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Hey Lucy, I'm guessing from your post that you aren't really into computers yourself, at least in terms of building them?

If that's the case, and you don't understand what any of us are talking about, just say so! I'm sure people will be happy to explain in layman's terms :D
 
I'm so grateful of all the help and advice you've all given me. It's so kind of you. A lot of the words used have gone over my head lol but I do have some questions.

Regarding the Asus rtx 3070 graphics card recommended above, it says pre order so I assume I pay now and then when they go in stock they send it. What if this takes months, cos we really need something sooner. If its a couple of weeks that isn't too bad.

The fancy lighting options listed above are really cool and he'll definitely love that!
 
Lucyrawr94 said:
I'm so grateful of all the help and advice you've all given me. It's so kind of you. A lot of the words used have gone over my head lol but I do have some questions.

Regarding the Asus rtx 3070 graphics card recommended above, it says pre order so I assume I pay now and then when they go in stock they send it. What if this takes months, cos we really need something sooner. If its a couple of weeks that isn't too bad.

The fancy lighting options listed above are really cool and he'll definitely love that!
Click to expand...

Oh no don't get the ASUS 3070 in my basket, it was just a place holder to show you the sorta system and rough price. Most 3070 models are over priced unless you get the Founders Edition which is the only model sold at the proper RRP of £469.

I suggested you should look for the NVIDIA RTX 3070 FOUNDERS EDITION which is £469 (so saves £100 compared to the ASUS) so you get the same graphics card basically for less ££ than the ASUS model I mentioned.

Only one retailer sells it in the UK, but we can't name competitors here. But have a look you'll find it, stock only drops once a week so you'd have to keep checking or get alerts. It sold out in about an hour last week. :)
 
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Only one retailer sells it in the UK, but we can't name competitors here. But have a look you'll find it
Click to expand...
I guess this must be one of those "if you know, you know" things, because searching online turns up nothing for me - lots of reviews, but no UK sites selling the founders edition, even out of stock, so I doubt Lucy will have any more luck :confused:

@Lucy, it's not the best time to be building a new PC in a hurry, unfortunately. The new Nvidia graphics cards are a big improvement on anything else you can get right now, in terms of performance combined with value for money. But they're in very short supply, so if you really need to get this PC built in the next couple of weeks, I think you might have to settle for a cheaper card now, and maybe upgrade next year when things have settled down.

When you say your son will be playing a flight simulator, do you know which one? If it's the new Microsoft Flight Simulator, that will certainly need a pretty good graphics card.

If you can give a bit more detail about how soon you need the PC built, and what programs you really need to work well on it from day one, maybe people here can suggest some alternatives :)
 
@rgrocott it does come up if you read up for it, but they do take down the product page each time stock runs out as well... As bots, scripts and people just constantly F5 and DDoS the website in effect.

Sorry I can't be much more helpful without getting banned again :D
 
Lucyrawr94 said:
He will mainly be using this for playing a flying simulator and eve
Click to expand...

I didn't address this the first time around. You can generally use keyboard controls but it's not good. Be aware that a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick - the flight controls) can be quite expensive. You can spend many, many, hundreds of pounds - and I've probably spent over a thousand over the decades - but here's a cheaper setup for combat-oriented games, still over £100, though:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £148.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)​
​

For civilian sim games:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £150.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​

Rudder pedals can be added later and will cost around £100.
 
Lucyrawr94 said:
4tb barracuda hard drive and 1tb m.2(?) do we need both?

Lucy
Click to expand...

Hi Lucy,

I didn't see anyone address this specific point so I'll chip in here.

Streamers generally have a use case for saving the stream to local storage at the same time as streaming live. This allows the streamer to do after stream edits - think picking out the best bits and editing them together or commenting on gameplay from the stream, and then uploading to something like a YouTube channel or social media later on.

In this scenario a second (larger) local storage drive is almost a must - because video data takes up much more disk space than most other things. Additionally, your lad will be able to tinker and re-install Windows without losing his local video archive.

The 1 Terrabyte m2 storage is a fast drive where Windows, applications and the games are installed to. The 4 Terrabyte drive is slower, but much more suited to video storage and editing. It can also provide additional space for more games if necessary (games these days can use hundreds of gigabytes of space once installed).
 
Thank you everyone for the replies and the advice. It's really appreciated and we now have a starting point where as before I had no clue. This forum has some really knowledable people. It's great!

One more question though....

Someone told me I don't have to spend £150 on Windows. Is this true and how do I go about getting it cheaper, and also can you tell me a reputable site so I don't get scammed. Thank you :)
 
Hi Lucy,

You don't even have to pay for Windows, if you don't mind having limited functionality! You can run a "non-activated" version for free, but you can also buy a product key to activate it for much less than £150, so that's probably the better option.

Do you have a Windows PC already? If so, you can download the Windows 10 installer onto a USB flash drive (e.g. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...flash-drive-black-tc175332gb01-fl-026-tg.html) and use that to install Windows on the new PC.

The download is under "Create Windows 10 installation media" at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

You have a few options for getting a Windows licence:

1) If your son's new PC is going to replace an old Windows PC then you might be able to transfer the licence from the old machine for free, depending what sort of licence it is. You need to have a Microsoft account, and you will need to link the account with your Windows digital licence before you try to activate it on the new PC.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-link-your-windows-10-product-key-microsoft-account

Once you've done that, you just enter your MS account details during the installation of Windows on the new PC, and you're all set.

2) If you need a new Windows licence, there are lots of places that sell them. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable using the "well known auction site" myself, but this article discusses some options: https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/get-windows-10-free-or-cheap,5717.html

However, these cheap licence keys are what's called "OEM" licenses, and you can't transfer them to a new system. So in the future, if you upgrade the motherboard for example, you'd have to buy a new Windows licence.

3) Buy Windows 10 Retail from Microsoft. I doubt this is your best choice, since you wouldn't be planning to upgrade anything except maybe your graphics card (if you can't get the RTX3070 right now), and you wouldn't need to reactivate Windows for that

I hope that all made sense :D
 
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I am so out of touch when it comes to software like Windows and Adobe now charge a monthly fee! My old workplace used to buy Photoshop C6 for like £500 or something and you owned it forever.

Thank you again for the advice :)
 
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