Associate
Hi All. Just joined the forum yesterday and this is my first post so be gentle with me ha ha! I'm looking to build my first PC. I have done a few minor bits on PCs in the past (installing RAM, swapping HDD/SDD and OS, that kind of thing) but never build a full PC and wouldn't mind the challenge as I'm now retired and can take as long as I like doing it. I've been reading up as much as I can online and watching youtube videos on how to build a PC, and it looks doable. The scary bits I guess are:
• will the PC light up when I finally press the ON button
• will I do OK tweaking the BIOS settings, installing the OS, drivers etc.
• If I fail completely then are there builders I can take it to to get it up and running.
Other concerns are:
• the possibility of parts not fitting (for example, I've read one or two cases where the CPU cooling fan blocked access to RAM slots) and I’m not sure how you can be certain about that until parts are bought and on the assembly table
• Motherboard BIOS needing upgrade to work with CPU (I saw MSI boards have a BIOS Flash button and USB port so you can do it without a CPU, but others may need a CPU in place to do that). I don’t really want to be flashing BIOS anyway if poss as it sounds like an area where I could get it wrong
• Faulty parts and how to identify where fault lies. With this in mind, I’m thinking that buying from one source as much as possible is a good idea (I used to work in Newcastle U Lyme and see Overclockers are based there so quite like the idea of taking my business to them)
In terms of what is prompting me to build a new PC I would say:
1. Music production. I make and record music (results can all be heard at https://soundcloud.com/mobbing_it_up if interested!). I want something that is good for audio production (and I gather single core performance is relevant her as well as multiple core). I’m coming from a low baseline and my current machine is doing OK but nearing its limit at times (it’s a ?2014 Lenovo H530 PC i7-4790 3.6gb with 12gb RAM and an Nvidia 1050ti GPU, and a cheap Asenno 1tb SATA SSD for OS and storage and that seems to work well. I keep my projects synced on OneDrive as I also use a similar vintage Dell 480 laptop to work on projects at times. And I keep the Cockos Reaper DAW software on a USB stick and move it between machines (so my custom stuff moves with me – I back up the USB stick to Onedrive at intervals)
2. Oculus Rift S VR. The headset worked with the H530 for a while but then stopped playing and I’ve an ongoing (fruitless) dialogue with Oculus over that. But I think the headset is fine, its just that it for some reason no longer plays with the H530 (which is entry level for Rift S anyway, and its possible my recording stuff could be conflicting, I have a USB Audio interface going, and a pop-up Softube Console 1 app, though the Rift S failure predates the arrival of the latter). When we’re not locked down, I fly gliders and want to use Condor Soaring in VR to keep in practice. Condor is not a demanding VR app I’m advised, and it worked OK on the H530 until the Rift S started playing up (it can’t hold connection to the DisplayPort)
3. The arrival of Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 and the upcoming possibility of using VR with it (though Rift S is not at front of the queue I’m hoping it will be enabled at some pint). It is this that makes me want to move the PC spec up from things like B450 m/board, Ryzen 5 3600, GTX 1060 Super (which I think would be fine for 1 and 2 above) to something using a Zen 3 CPU and 2060 Super GPU, assuming I can buy and install a Ryzen 7 5800X on a B550 m/board without having to flash a new BIOS.
Sorry if this is a long first post! I reckoned it was best to all out all the thoughts in one post than do it in bits. I’d welcome any thoughts and advice you might have as I’m just plucking things out of the air at present! Thanks in hope.
Mike
My current shopping list, for comment/advice:
• will the PC light up when I finally press the ON button
• will I do OK tweaking the BIOS settings, installing the OS, drivers etc.
• If I fail completely then are there builders I can take it to to get it up and running.
Other concerns are:
• the possibility of parts not fitting (for example, I've read one or two cases where the CPU cooling fan blocked access to RAM slots) and I’m not sure how you can be certain about that until parts are bought and on the assembly table
• Motherboard BIOS needing upgrade to work with CPU (I saw MSI boards have a BIOS Flash button and USB port so you can do it without a CPU, but others may need a CPU in place to do that). I don’t really want to be flashing BIOS anyway if poss as it sounds like an area where I could get it wrong
• Faulty parts and how to identify where fault lies. With this in mind, I’m thinking that buying from one source as much as possible is a good idea (I used to work in Newcastle U Lyme and see Overclockers are based there so quite like the idea of taking my business to them)
In terms of what is prompting me to build a new PC I would say:
1. Music production. I make and record music (results can all be heard at https://soundcloud.com/mobbing_it_up if interested!). I want something that is good for audio production (and I gather single core performance is relevant her as well as multiple core). I’m coming from a low baseline and my current machine is doing OK but nearing its limit at times (it’s a ?2014 Lenovo H530 PC i7-4790 3.6gb with 12gb RAM and an Nvidia 1050ti GPU, and a cheap Asenno 1tb SATA SSD for OS and storage and that seems to work well. I keep my projects synced on OneDrive as I also use a similar vintage Dell 480 laptop to work on projects at times. And I keep the Cockos Reaper DAW software on a USB stick and move it between machines (so my custom stuff moves with me – I back up the USB stick to Onedrive at intervals)
2. Oculus Rift S VR. The headset worked with the H530 for a while but then stopped playing and I’ve an ongoing (fruitless) dialogue with Oculus over that. But I think the headset is fine, its just that it for some reason no longer plays with the H530 (which is entry level for Rift S anyway, and its possible my recording stuff could be conflicting, I have a USB Audio interface going, and a pop-up Softube Console 1 app, though the Rift S failure predates the arrival of the latter). When we’re not locked down, I fly gliders and want to use Condor Soaring in VR to keep in practice. Condor is not a demanding VR app I’m advised, and it worked OK on the H530 until the Rift S started playing up (it can’t hold connection to the DisplayPort)
3. The arrival of Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 and the upcoming possibility of using VR with it (though Rift S is not at front of the queue I’m hoping it will be enabled at some pint). It is this that makes me want to move the PC spec up from things like B450 m/board, Ryzen 5 3600, GTX 1060 Super (which I think would be fine for 1 and 2 above) to something using a Zen 3 CPU and 2060 Super GPU, assuming I can buy and install a Ryzen 7 5800X on a B550 m/board without having to flash a new BIOS.
Sorry if this is a long first post! I reckoned it was best to all out all the thoughts in one post than do it in bits. I’d welcome any thoughts and advice you might have as I’m just plucking things out of the air at present! Thanks in hope.
Mike
My current shopping list, for comment/advice:
- LANCOOL II MESH PERFORMANCE MIDI-TOWER CASE - BLACK
- Seasonic Focus GX 650W Power Supply, Full Modular, 80 Plus Gold, 90% Efficiency, Cable-Free Connection, Hybrid Silent Fan Control, 10 Years Warranty, Power and Performance | Black
- ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING (WI-FI) (AMD AM4) B550 ATX MOTHERBOARD
- RYZEN 7 5800X EIGHT CORE 4.7GHZ (SOCKET AM4) PROCESSOR - RETAIL
- Scythe Scmg 5PCGH CPU Cooler Mugen 5 PCGH Edition
- VENGEANCE LPX BLACK 32GB (2X16GB) 3200 MHZ AMD RYZEN TUNED DDR4 MEMORY DUAL KIT
- GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER GAMING X 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-EXPRESS GRAPHICS CARD (would like more - maybe 2070 SUPER - as it's been suggested 2060 might struggle with MS Flight Sim thought online advice suggests it should be OK, and I have to limit budget somewhere!)
- Crucial P1 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-E 3.0 X4 NVME SOLID STATE DRIVE
and my current proposed spec (for comments) is: