What's wrong with this build?

Chris Beard

Chris Beard

Chris Beard

Associate
Joined
17 Apr 2006
Posts
2,240
Location
Hampshire
Hi there,

Been a while since I looked at building a new system. My boss wants a new box to power his racing simulator and, as the geekiest person he knows (I'm choosing to take it as a compliment), asked me for help.

Any feedback is welcome!

Thanks,
Chris

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Ryzen benefits from faster RAM, Something around 3000mhz+.. I'm not to sure about the PSU never used anything from the Corsair TX range
 
Budget is 1500 (preferably some room for OCUK to build it for him :) )

New basket after feedback:

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Last edited:
*Just noticed your revised build - the LPX memory isn't guaranteed to run at 3200MHz at present - it usually maxes out at 2933/3066Mhz. It may eventually run at 3200MHz with future AGESA/BIOS updates but at present it's very much a lottery.

Ideally 3000MHz memory minimum as has been mentioned but 3200 is the sweetspot - GeiL do AM4 approved 3200MHz sets.

Do you need an optical drive bay? If not you could have a sleeker designed case plus you can use an external drive if necessary when required.

Here's an example build with a better quality GFX card, Gigabyte Mobo (Gigabyte have great after care and UK RMA), 3200 AM4 memory, a Corsair silent case and a quality fully modular 650W PSU (7 year warranty) - near your original budget:

* i threw in a micro ATX as you had one in your original build spec - obviously you could swap this out for a full ATX Mobo.

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My preferred PSU for £10 more:

My basket at Overclockers UK:


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Last edited:
Chris Beard said:
Is the AMD quad channel with ram (sorry, been out the game for a while!)?
Click to expand...
It's dual channel.

EDIT: *Just noticed your revised build - the LPX memory isn't guaranteed to run at 3200MHz at present - it usually maxes out at 2933/3066Mhz. It may eventually run at 3200MHz with future AGESA/BIOS updates but at present it's very much a lottery.
 
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As someone said above, get the 8Pack TeamGroup 3200 RAM as you'll get better timings and speeds from it (3333 on some boards). Ryzen speed scales with RAM speed due to infinity fabric. Also look at the Asrock MATx boards like the Pro4. It's a solid board and again 8Pack said the Asrock was the best matx B350 board he'd tested. Finally, why get a 2.5" SSD when the B350/X370 boards all have NVMe slots for six times faster read speeds and four times faster writes? Look at the M.2 NVMe Evo 960 or similar. Those are my top 3 suggestions.

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The Fractal Design Define C is a good alternative to the Corsair and Lian-Li. Has sound dampening material on the panels.

The 8Pack Ram uses Samsung B die so there should be no issues with it running at 3200MHz.

A 550W psu is fine for a single gpu setup. The new Seasonic Focus is a solid unit and has a 10 yr warranty.

Slightly more warranty with the Gigabyte gpu as well (3 years). Nothing wrong with the Palit though if you want to save a bit more.


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Thank you all for your replies!

Memory
Plec said:
Ideally 3000MHz memory minimum as has been mentioned but 3200 is the sweetspot - GeiL do AM4 approved 3200MHz sets.
Click to expand...
Plec said:
It's dual channel.
EDIT: *Just noticed your revised build - the LPX memory isn't guaranteed to run at 3200MHz at present - it usually maxes out at 2933/3066Mhz. It may eventually run at 3200MHz with future AGESA/BIOS updates but at present it's very much a lottery.
Click to expand...
Rainmaker said:
As someone said above, get the 8Pack TeamGroup 3200 RAM as you'll get better timings and speeds from it (3333 on some boards). Ryzen speed scales with RAM speed due to infinity fabric.
Click to expand...
lee32uk said:
The 8Pack Ram uses Samsung B die so there should be no issues with it running at 3200MHz.
Click to expand...

Okay, okay! I get it, select the 8Pack Ram. I've updated the spec :)

SSD

Rainmaker said:
Finally, why get a 2.5" SSD when the B350/X370 boards all have NVMe slots for six times faster read speeds and four times faster writes? Look at the M.2 NVMe Evo 960 or similar.
Click to expand...

Excellent point! Now updated in new spec.

Motherboard

Plec said:
Gigabyte Mobo (Gigabyte have great after care and UK RMA) [...]
* i threw in a micro ATX as you had one in your original build spec - obviously you could swap this out for a full ATX Mobo.
Click to expand...
Rainmaker said:
Also look at the Asrock MATx boards like the Pro4. It's a solid board and again 8Pack said the Asrock was the best matx B350 board he'd tested.
Click to expand...

Only selected the Motherboard because it was cheap :). I've updated the spec to a full ATX board, Gigabyte branded, with 3 x PCIx16 for the GFX, SSD & potential upgrades in future.

Case

lee32uk said:
The Fractal Design Define C is a good alternative to the Corsair and Lian-Li. Has sound dampening material on the panels.
Click to expand...

I love Fractal Design! Don't know how I missed that. Spec updated.

Others

Plec said:
Do you need an optical drive bay? If not you could have a sleeker designed case plus you can use an external drive if necessary when required.
Click to expand...

Don't need an optical drive - thanks for the double-check!

Plec said:
Here's an example build with a better quality GFX card, Gigabyte Mobo (Gigabyte have great after care and UK RMA), 3200 AM4 memory, a Corsair silent case and a quality fully modular 650W PSU (7 year warranty) - near your original budget:

* i threw in a micro ATX as you had one in your original build spec - obviously you could swap this out for a full ATX Mobo.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Take the point on the GFX card, but I think it's out of stock right now? I agree with you on a Gigabyte board and the memory. I'm settled on the Fractal Design case and the Corsair power supply, but thank you for the alternatives!

lee32uk said:
A 550W psu is fine for a single gpu setup. The new Seasonic Focus is a solid unit and has a 10 yr warranty.

Slightly more warranty with the Gigabyte gpu as well (3 years). Nothing wrong with the Palit though if you want to save a bit more.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Agreed on the 550W PSU, but it's nice to have headroom in case of upgrade. Isn't Corsair the same as Seasonic these days? I don't think the card will be worth enough in two years to really value the extra warranty - I recognize this is more opinion than fact. Thank you for the alternative opinion!

New Spec

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,405.53
(includes shipping: £12.60)



​
 
Chris Beard said:
Thank you all for your replies!

Thank you. Agreed on the 550W PSU, but it's nice to have headroom in case of upgrade. Isn't Corsair the same as Seasonic these days? I don't think the card will be worth enough in two years to really value the extra warranty - I recognize this is more opinion than fact. Thank you for the alternative opinion!

New Spec

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,405.53
(includes shipping: £12.60)



​
Click to expand...

The 8Pack Ram just means it is guaranteed to run at 3200MHz. Not all 3200MHz kits will run at that speed without a bit of messing in the bios. You might end up with a 3200 kit running at 2933 or even slower for example. Of course you can ask ocuk to try with a cheaper 3200 kit if you want seeing as they are building it.

The Corsair TX is fine if you want 650W. Seasonic used to make units for Corsair but they mainly use Channel Well (CWT) these days. The Corsair AX and a few others were Seasonic built.

An NVMe SSD doesn't make a huge difference in most scenarios. Things like boot times and loading games etc will be about the same as the 850 EVO. No harm in having keeping it though if it fits the budget.
 
Looks a solid build - the original Samsung Evo you specced would be fast enough for intended use if you wanted to save some money. I've, personally, noticed very little real world performance difference. The M.2. is faster but i wouldn't put myself out of pocket for the minor boost. But if it's within budget it's a nice felling having the best...

And if you needed to save a bit more the GeiL are b-die memory too and will hit 3200MHz - but slightly looser timings. Again - speed differences in real world terms wouldn't be noticed. But if you can afford the 8 Pack set it does have success in higher clocks above 3200MHz.

And, i've owned the 2 Fractal cases (My son still uses my last one) - you won't be disappointed - very solid and great to work on.

EDIT: Lee Ninja'd me. :D
 
Spec looks much better. Personally I'd avoid Gigabyte Ryzen boards like the plague (recent BIOS throwing 1.7v :eek: through the CPU for example, and lacking overclocking features compared to others). For me it'd be Asrock or Asus. YMMV.
 
Rainmaker said:
Spec looks much better. Personally I'd avoid Gigabyte Ryzen boards like the plague (recent BIOS throwing 1.7v :eek: through the CPU for example, and lacking overclocking features compared to others). For me it'd be Asrock or Asus. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Is that for the B350's too? i thought that was hitting the gaming x370 gaming 5 boards (it is nuts)?

Asus are having some issues too with their latest BIOS (on a particular board) - it seems recent updates on some boards haven't been rigorously tested before release :/ (they give with one hand and smack you in the face with the other :))
 
Plec said:
Is that for the B350's too? i thought that was hitting the gaming x370 gaming 5 boards (it is nuts)?

Asus are having some issues too with their latest BIOS (on a particular board) - it seems recent updates on some boards haven't been rigorously tested before release :/ (they give with one hand and tale away with the other :))
Click to expand...

Ah, now that I hadn't considered (X370 vs B350 BIOS). I just know my next board will be an Asrock for the reasons you stated. They have VRM heatsinks with actual surface area (even on lower end boards), nice EFI, good support and are well built. I've discounted Gigabyte due to their lolryzen efforts, Asus for similar issues and poor support when stuff breaks, so...
 
 
You could save £20 on the Palit GPU and go for the "normal" Jetstream version for £499 - i believe its the same cooler just slightly lower out of the box clocks, but will probably boost the same as the "super" version

You could then put that £20 towards to Asus ROG Strix B350 board which has a better sound chip on too
 
 
Just to let everyone know that my boss was very happy with his new PC. The only thing he asked was why he didn't have a Ryzen 7, as his motherboard says 'made for Ryzen 7' on it, and 5 is less than 7. I told him that for his gaming the GPU was doing the real work, and the difference between Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 wouldn't make a difference as he wasn't CPU limited.

Thank you everyone!
 
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