New PC build, sanity check please

Gredawarha

Gredawarha

Gredawarha

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Joined
22 Nov 2017
Posts
349
Dear all

I have been a long term lurker but I am now int he position to build a new PC. Been out of the PC scene for about 7 years as moved to Mac when my son was born. Would like to upgrade and the Mac is no longer appealing and as my son is starting to get into games a machine that can be upgraded for gaming int he new year is on my mind.

It will be a family machine so will do day to day stuff, I use the machine also for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Now I undertand that intel with their higher clock speed is generally considered better for Adobe products but I cannot ignore the price/performance of Ryzen. So here is my basket:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £802.45 (includes shipping: £12.60)​
​

My thinking is the 6 core Ryzen is a good balance in the Ryzen line up for my intended use.

The 8 pack RAM is well received on the forum and the 3600mhz is only a tenner more so I plumped for that over the 3200mhz. It's Samsung B die so no worries there.

Hard drive i've gone for the 250gb SSD. My mac currently is half that so should be fine for programs, I have network storage for all my photos and can drop in a secondry drive at a later date when my son and I start to look at gaming.

I have had the biggest headache with motherboards, I knew I wanted to go B350 but which was a struggle. I'm not going with glass side panels so how it looks was not an issue, the strix seems well recevied so gone with this.

PSU seems well received and a sensible amount of Watts/efficiency. Is it enough, should I later go for a Vega56 and Freesync monitor upgrade?

Case personal choice. Seems well reviewed.

GPU, should be sufficient for my current needs until we look at gaming again.

So sanity check please. Any issues that you can see or anywhere I could be potentially better off with a different choice.

Many thanks

Darren
 
I would probably have gone with this motherboard. In a case with no window the Strix with it's lighting is wasted.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £100.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​


The psu isn't particularly good and has a noisey fan. This would be a better choice. It's cheaper plus it's platinum rated and has a longer warranty at 5 years. The downside is that the cables are fixed.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £70.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​


If you want fully modular the Superflower Leadex Gold 550w is on offer at the moment. Gold rated, fully modular, 5 year warranty and still cheaper than the inferior bronze rated Seasonic.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £80.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​


My choice though would be the excellent Seasonic Focus Plus 550w. Gold rated, fully modular and it has a 10 year warranty.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £95.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​
 
 
pastymuncher said:
I would probably have gone with this motherboard. In a case with no window the Strix with it's lighting is wasted.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £100.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​


The psu isn't particularly good and has a noisey fan. This would be a better choice. It's cheaper plus it's platinum rated and has a longer warranty at 5 years. The downside is that the cables are fixed.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £70.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​


If you want fully modular the Superflower Leadex Gold 550w is on offer at the moment. Gold rated, fully modular, 5 year warranty and still cheaper than the inferior bronze rated Seasonic.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £80.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​


My choice though would be the excellent Seasonic Focus Plus 550w. Gold rated, fully modular and it has a 10 year warranty.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £95.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​
Click to expand...

Wow lots of info there Pasty, many thanks. I think with having not case window I could cope with non modular but that final PSU with the 10 year warranty looks appealing.

Yes agreed the lighting is wasted on me. How is the gigabyte in terms of VRM's and overclocking? Any particular reason that board?
 
stulid said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £633.50 (includes shipping: £12.60)
​


Then add a gfx card.
Click to expand...

Hi Stulid, thanks for your suggestion, again you've chosen the Gigabyte board, any reason why this board in particular?

Also I appreciate that the ram you've chosen is cheaper but budget aside is 3200mhx samsung b die not the "sweet spot" for Ryzen?
 
Gigabyte support for one thing, might be the best in the buisness.

Are you going to be overclocking the RAM and tweaking all the timings? or will it be (like 99% of users) go into BIOS, set XMP, save+exit.
 
I think you are just paying a premimum, do you benchtest and need extra points to justify RAM with certain dies.
 
Thinking that I will change the ram to 3200mhz, the PSU to the Seasonc Focus Plus 550W 80 Plus GOld Modular and the board to the Gigabyte board that you have all recommended.

Got a bit longer to contemplate before ordering for next day delivery with DPD so will see if anyone else has any other opinions.

Thanks you have all been very helpfull
 
Gredawarha said:
No I don't bench test.
Click to expand...
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £771.84 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​

Decent case with a window, so you can see the RGB on the motherboard. That ASUS motherboard bundle also comes with 3 free games (2 of which are new AAA games). This could easily save you £80 buying them seperately:

https://promotion.asus.com/en/uk/Ryzen

https://uk.gamesplanet.com/promo/rog-ryzen-reloaded


Good RAM, Samsung B-die as you pointed out. Ryzen is quite fussy with RAM comparability, but B-die consistently runs well on the platform.

Very fast storage.

Well reviewed, efficient PSU. Would accommodate GPU upgrades up to a GTX 1080/VEGA 56.

The AM4 platform allows for CPU upgrades until ~2020. So if you decide within 2 years that Ryzen's low clock speed isn't enough, you could upgrade to Ryzen+ or Ryzen 2. Great upgrade path.
 
Last edited:
Gredawarha said:
Thinking that I will change the ram to 3200mhz, the PSU to the Seasonc Focus Plus 550W 80 Plus GOld Modular and the board to the Gigabyte board that you have all recommended.

Got a bit longer to contemplate before ordering for next day delivery with DPD so will see if anyone else has any other opinions.

Thanks you have all been very helpfull
Click to expand...

No problem.

Ive just been looking around and you need to spend way more on a board to get one that takes RAM over say 3200Mhz.
 
It could be a bit late for them to get it all boxed up, busy time of the year also.


But!! I think i remeber last year and they said they had special late collections of parcels late intot eh night to deal with it, maybe they are doing the same.
 
Panic over, it was my over zealous bank. A short while ago they called me, an automated message to ensure this and a couple of other transactions where legitimate, since then they order has gone to processing and I have the automated email.
 
As listed but changed the motherboard to the Gigabyte board recommended here, and changed the PSU to the Seasonic Focus Plus 550w.

Looking forward to getting it all and building it. My last build was ten years ago, going to build this with my son, teach him a little about building a machine. Will then perhaps look at a GPU upgrade and a gaming monitor to sit alongside my Dell in the new year.

Thanks for everyone's help, been lurking for a while and have found this forum very helpful.
 
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