New System Build - Decided on AMD but lost the plot now!

Andy Tate · 16 Oct 2019 at 01:03

Hi Folks after a bit of advice on a new system build as the system I built back in 2012 with additions over time has started to chug a bit!

Presently running
CPU: AMD FX 8120 3.1GHz (Corsair Liquid CPU Cooler Single Fan)
Motherboard: Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AMD Socket AM3+
RAM: 16GB 1333MHz
Drive 1: Crucial M4 128GB mSATA SSD
Drive 2: Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 630
OS: Windows 10
Display: 2 x Dell U2412M

I would like an all round system that can cope with editing (using DaVinci Resolve) a bit of 4K video from my GOPRO Hero 7 Black as well as having multiple tabs open in Chrome and at the same time running MS Excel and Affinity Designer/Photo

I am not a gamer as the wife would kill me if I spent anymore time on the computer!

Being a Yorkshireman I want to try and keep my budget down, but I do fancy a bit of Threadripper action to keep ahead of my son's computer (Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6gb - Samsung SSD 970 EVO 250GB - RAM HyperX FURY 2 x 8GB)

I am looking at the following CPU's amd MB's together with a list of stock items.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

CPU & MOTHERBOARD
====================================================
1. Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz with Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE Motherboard
2. Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz (Zen2) with Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE Motherboard
3. Threadripper 1920X 3.5GHz with Gigabyte X399 DESIGNARE EX Motherboard
4. Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz with Gigabyte X399 DESIGNARE EX Motherboard

ALL THE OTHER BITS
====================================================
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) Memory Kit PC4-25600 3200MHz DDR4
GPU: XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX (8GB) OC (Not a clue on this did not want too expensive!)
Drive 1: Samsung 970 EVO (500GB) SSD
Drive 2: Seagate FireCuda (2TB) 3.5 Inch SATA Internal Solid State Hybrid Drive
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100x (240mm) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
PSU: Corsair RM Series RM650 650W 80 PLUS Gold (Powerful Enough??)
CASE: Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case (I can no longer fit into anything small!!!)

==============================

Regards from Sunny Yorkshire!!!

Andy Tate · 16 Oct 2019 at 23:21

ExRayTed said:
The Ryzen 3600 is such a fantastic all-round cpu I'd buy that to be honest, although perhaps pair it with a good B450 motherboard instead that's Ryzen 5 ready - the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max springs to mind, unless you absolutely want/need PCIe 4.0 functionality? The X570 motherboards are horribly overpriced at the moment. Also, and perhaps more importantly, it will handily beat your son's Ryzen 1600 setup

The RX580 is an ok gpu at 1080p providing you don't want gaming at max details, but as you won't be gaming it will do admirably. Never hurts to have the option to game though, and you'll be able to.

Look at Crucial Ballistix Sport LT ram - cheap as chips and performs like a champ. Plenty of threads on here regarding these sticks.

That power supply is a good one and although it's a bit over-kill for your needs (a good 550w would suffice) is cheap enough to happily recommend. You could save a couple of quid maybe but to be honest, it's a good unit that should last years. Reviews are good too and it has a 10 year warranty.

If you're after a good cube style case check out the Lian Li PC011-D. The 540 is getting a bit long in the tooth now. Some of the plastics are a bit rubbish and it only has a plastic window whereas the Lian Li has tempered glass. Plus it's cheaper

Those are my thoughts - the rest looks ok to me. Good luck with the build

ExRayTed Many thanks for taking the time to type that out and explain it all. I will take note of your comments

Andy Tate · 16 Oct 2019 at 23:29

tamzzy said:
that's a crap build, if truth be told.
davinci resolve is heavily GPU reliant, so you'd want the beefiest GPU you can afford within your budget...
affinity is mostly dependent on CPU performance, so again, you'd want something decent as well...

looking at your budget...it appears it's around £1200?

if so, then a 3700x + msi b450 max + 32gb ram + 5700xt would make the most sense

tamzzy thanks for taking the time to comment.

In relation to the "crap build" were you just talking about the CPU, MD & GPU or did you have some thoughts on the SSD, HDD & Memory as well?

Andy Tate · 16 Oct 2019 at 23:52

tamzzy said:
@Andy Tate what exactly is your budget? It'll help immensely to tailor an appropriate build

@tamzzy I was probably dreaming at £1150, but I suppose £1350 would be more reasonable to get something that could last a a fair while!
Don't tell the wife though!!!!

Andy Tate · 17 Oct 2019 at 07:45

@tamzzy
Thanks for the time, effort and thought you have taken in identifying these items.

Andy Tate · 20 Oct 2019 at 22:17

tamzzy said:
msi b450 tomahawk max
powercolor radeon RX 5700 XT dual fan

@tamzzy I'm just beginning to get a slight understanding of some of these components.
I see that as somebody mentioned that the "b450 tomahawk max" is PCIe 3.0 and the "Powercolor Radeon RX 5700 XT" is PCIe 4.0 so it could potentially restrict the full use of the GPU (I think)
Can you suggest a motherboard that is PCIe 4.0 and worthwhile?

Many thanks.

Andy Tate · 20 Oct 2019 at 22:37

tamzzy said:
yeah see above.
the best value mobo is one without pcie4

Brilliant!! Thanks for the swift reply.