What's wrong with this build?

[Chris Beard]

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

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Asus Prime B350M-K AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £71.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Super Jetstream 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £518.99
• 1 x OcUK Tech Labs - Pre Noise Dampened Case - Lian Li PC-A55B Case= £89.99
• 1 x Kingston Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX424C15FB2K2/16)= £131.99
• 1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)= £188.99
• 1 x Corsair TX650M 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020132-UK)= £83.99

Total: £1,286.63
(includes shipping: £11.70)



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[Chris Beard]

Budget is 1500 (preferably some room for OCUK to build it for him )

New basket after feedback:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Asus Prime B350M-K AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £71.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Super Jetstream 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £518.99
• 1 x OcUK Tech Labs - Pre Noise Dampened Case - Lian Li PC-A55B Case= £89.99
• 1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)= £188.99
• 1 x Corsair TX650M 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020132-UK)= £83.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32= £158.99

Total: £1,313.63
(includes shipping: £11.70)



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[Chris Beard]

Thank you all for your replies!

Memory

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

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.

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.

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

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

SSD

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.

Excellent point! Now updated in new spec.

Motherboard

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.

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.

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

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

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

Others

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Super Jetstream 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £518.99
• 1 x Corsair TX650M 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020132-UK)= £83.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/= £188.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £229.99
• 1 x Fractal Design Define C Midi Tower Case - Black= £79.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £101.99

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



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[Chris Beard]

Final tweaks to mobo and power supply:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Super Jetstream 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £518.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/= £188.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £229.99
• 1 x Fractal Design Define C Midi Tower Case - Black= £79.99
• 1 x Asus Prime B350-Plus AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £98.99
• 1 x Seasonic Focus Plus 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £94.99

Total: £1,413.53
(includes shipping: £12.60)



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[Chris Beard]

Thank you ljt. I agree with your suggestions.

New spec:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/= £188.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £229.99
• 1 x Fractal Design Define C Midi Tower Case - Black= £79.99
• 1 x Seasonic Focus Plus 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £94.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Jetstream 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £499.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B350-F AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £117.95

Total: £1,413.49
(includes shipping: £12.60)



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[Chris Beard]

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!