PC build list comments (spend my money!)

[grumbledoak]

I've got an itch to scratch, a three year old PC, and some Amazon vouchers. Time for a new PC!

It will be mostly a workstation but I work from the spare room so I am aiming for powerful, pretty, and quiet.
I do some casual gaming, but I have a graphics card I can slap in.

Any comments on this PCPartPicker Part List welcome -

CPU:AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor (£389.94 @ Technextday)
CPU Cooler:be quiet! Pure Rock 2 CPU Cooler (£33.03 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard:Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£86.65 @ AWD-IT)
Memory:Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£149.99 @ Corsair UK)
Storage:Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£70.89 @ CCL Computers)
Case:be quiet! Pure Base 500 ATX Mid Tower Case (£76.98 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply:be quiet! Pure Power 11 CM 500 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£94.93 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan:ARCTIC F12 PST 53 CFM 120 mm Fans 5-Pack (£8.07 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Total: £910.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-16 08:19 GMT+0000

[lastexile69]

Might not be that relevant (depending on your intended use) but I seem to recall reading the ram sweetspot for Ryzen CPUs is 3600mhz?

[grumbledoak]

lastexile69 said:

Might not be that relevant (depending on your intended use) but I seem to recall reading the ram sweetspot for Ryzen CPUs is 3600mhz?

Thank you, I will Google Duck Duck Go that!

[xeny]

lastexile69 said:

Might not be that relevant (depending on your intended use) but I seem to recall reading the ram sweetspot for Ryzen CPUs is 3600mhz?

AIUI, the faster the better, 3200MHz is the fastest officially supported speed. For Zen 2 there's a sweet spot at 3600 as that's the highest speed before you halve the frequency of the infinity fabric link between the IO die and the core die(s).

I don't believe that is an issue for Zen 3, and the larger L3 cache makes memory frequency less critical.

It's a nice spec - do you need a case that big?

[grumbledoak]

xeny said:

AIUI, the faster the better, 3200MHz is the fastest officially supported speed. For Zen 2 there's a sweet spot at 3600 as that's the highest speed before you halve the frequency of the infinity fabric link between the IO die and the core die(s).

I don't believe that is an issue for Zen 3, and the larger L3 cache makes memory frequency less critical.

It's a nice spec - do you need a case that big?

Yes, AMD here https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-7-58... says "Up to 3200MHz". Stick then.

I will look again at cases.

ETA - swapped for "Thermaltake S100 Snow Edition MicroATX Mini Tower Case"

Edited by grumbledoak on Saturday 16th January 14:13

[Baldinho]

Re the CPU most of the feedback I’ve read is that the 5800X is the worst value in the AMD range and runs hot. 5600X for less or 5900X for more is the general advice depending on your budget.

[grumbledoak]

Baldinho said:

Re the CPU most of the feedback I’ve read is that the 5800X is the worst value in the AMD range and runs hot. 5600X for less or 5900X for more is the general advice depending on your budget.

Thanks, will revisit.

[Baldinho]

PS Arctic fans - great choice!

[xeny]

Baldinho said:

Re the CPU most of the feedback I’ve read is that the 5800X is the worst value in the AMD range and runs hot. 5600X for less or 5900X for more is the general advice depending on your budget.

It's the worst value, partly because for AMD it is disproportionately expensive - you need a die with all good cores, and they all need to clock to meet the spec.

The 5600x and 5900x let them use dies where a couple of cores don't make spec. The advantage for the customer is that all the cores access the same L2, so latency is slightly better.

Because all the cores are on the same die, thermal density is higher, so it is trickier to cool if you're really pushing it.

[grumbledoak]

It's not so that easy to source those others.

It seems to be Ryzen 7 5800X, or more cores with an older Ryzen 9 3900X at the same money.

Or down a generation with a Ryzen 7 3900X for value for money and a funky cooler...


Round and round we goes...

[maffski]

grumbledoak said:

Or down a generation with a Ryzen 7 3600X for value for money and a funky cooler...

If you want quiet have you considered a 3600 and 240/280mm AIO cooler.

[Shiv_P]

Go for a better motherboard - the VRMs and power phases on that Gigabyte are not particularly good. If you overclock in the future or even for power delivery on a stock 5900/5950X in the future if you upgrade that won't be good enough

[Shiv_P]

That PSU is also massively overpriced
SEASONIC Focus 650W for £10 more - far higher quality unit - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/RzfFf7/seasoni...
10 year warranty

[Shiv_P]

Do you need 32GB RAM for your work? If not for gaming 16GB is enough at the moment with room to expand to 4x8GB = 32GB in the future

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/VNJtt6/corsair... - 16GB

[Shiv_P]

The fans you have selected are voltage controlled - go for some PWM controlled ones

Voltage controlled = 3 pin connector
PWM = 4 pin connector

[grumbledoak]

Shiv_P said:

The fans you have selected are voltage controlled - go for some PWM controlled ones

Voltage controlled = 3 pin connector
PWM = 4 pin connector

Those are 4-pin PWM and PWM Sharing Technology (PST) - i.e. inline splitters so they only use one header
https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-F12-PWM-PST-Technolo...

Will check out the other recommendations.

[grumbledoak]

Shiv_P said:

That PSU is also massively overpriced
SEASONIC Focus 650W for £10 more - far higher quality unit - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/RzfFf7/seasoni...
10 year warranty

That does look good. 550W will do -
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3H2bt6/seasoni...
Interestingly the first comment is someone else choosing between that and the beQuiet.

[FourWheelDrift]

Since you are getting a PCIe 4.0 B550 board maybe look at an even faster PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive?

The Sabrent Rocket 4.0 series are very well reviewed, it's £89.99 so £20 more than the Samsung you list but you'll have 5000 MB/s (read) and 4400 MB/s write speeds compared to the 3,500/2,500 MB/s of the Samsung.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/PMbCmG/sabrent...

Just another thing to consider.

[grumbledoak]

Shiv_P said:

Go for a better motherboard - the VRMs and power phases on that Gigabyte are not particularly good. If you overclock in the future or even for power delivery on a stock 5900/5950X in the future if you upgrade that won't be good enough

Thanks. Overclocking would probably hold my attention for five minutes or less, but I will read more about the power delivery.

[grumbledoak]

FourWheelDrift said:

Since you are getting a PCIe 4.0 B550 board maybe look at an even faster PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive?

The Sabrent Rocket 4.0 series are very well reviewed, it's £89.99 so £20 more than the Samsung you list but you'll have 5000 MB/s (read) and 4400 MB/s write speeds compared to the 3,500/2,500 MB/s of the Samsung.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/PMbCmG/sabrent...

Just another thing to consider.

Thanks. That does look impressive
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Samsung-970-...

ETA - swapped!

Edited by grumbledoak on Saturday 16th January 19:39