Building My First PC

Jerricho28

n00b
Joined
May 23, 2020
Messages
25
Hello there, as the topic says, I'm building my first PC and appreciate any help. I have been mostly using PCPartPicker and found an outline of a build which I really like and is within my budget. However, as I am not experienced I am asking for help to see if I can getting everything at efficient cost. I'm looking at a $1,500 budget which can be flexible to $1,600-1,700 although keeping 1,500 if my preference. I am also looking into streaming as a capability for the PC as I am interested in it.

The games I expect to play are as follows:
Destiny 2
Apex Legends
League of Legends
Sea of Thieves
COD:MW(Warzone)
Cyberpunk 2077
Rust
CSGO
Valorant
and some other games

I'm looking to run at high settings hopefully peak and also looking to convert this also into streaming.

The build is AMD and these are the parts

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor


-I heard the Noctua is overpriced and overhyped



GeIL EVO POTENZA 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory



Team GX2 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive






I should note, I already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I appreciate the help again and would thank you greatly if you can also teach me a bit on how certain things work as I'm extremely interested in the computers and want to delve myself deeper.
 
Three recommendations.

Firstly, better memory. The sweet spot for Ryzen 3000 series is DDR4 3600 with decent timings. So I would try for 3600 with CL16 timings or better if you can get it in budget.

Secondly, the CPU cooler. If you're not going to OC, I would give the stock cooler a shot before spending any money. On the 3600 it's not particularly amazing or anything, but it *will* keep the CPU stable assuming you've got ventilation in the case. If you find yourself needing more cooling than the stock fan, there are less expensive options than the Noctua. I say this as someone running a 3700X who has that exact Noctua cooler.

Lastly, your storage. While there's nothing exactly wrong with your chosen SSD, if it was me I would spend a few dollars more to get something that has at least one actual professional review online. If it was me, I would say forget about the 2TB hard drive and 512GB SSD and instead spend ~$100 on a 1TB SSD from a name brand.
 
Three recommendations.

Firstly, better memory. The sweet spot for Ryzen 3000 series is DDR4 3600 with decent timings. So I would try for 3600 with CL16 timings or better if you can get it in budget.

Secondly, the CPU cooler. If you're not going to OC, I would give the stock cooler a shot before spending any money. On the 3600 it's not particularly amazing or anything, but it *will* keep the CPU stable assuming you've got ventilation in the case. If you find yourself needing more cooling than the stock fan, there are less expensive options than the Noctua. I say this as someone running a 3700X who has that exact Noctua cooler.

Lastly, your storage. While there's nothing exactly wrong with your chosen SSD, if it was me I would spend a few dollars more to get something that has at least one actual professional review online. If it was me, I would say forget about the 2TB hard drive and 512GB SSD and instead spend ~$100 on a 1TB SSD from a name brand.
The better memory can be done easily I can make that switch easily no worries, for the cooler your recommending ditching the Noctua(for the moment) altogether? Just making sure I'm not reading it wrong. As for the storage I'm looking for an average of 1TB and that's it correct?
 
for the cooler your recommending ditching the Noctua(for the moment) altogether?
If you're not going to OC, I would at least give the stock cooler a shot. So yes, don't get the Noctua at all for now and see if the results agree with you.

As for the storage I'm looking for an average of 1TB and that's it correct?
That's what I would do at least. I would buy the biggest SSD you can afford, rather than trying for the mix of drives boot and storage.
 
If you're not going to OC, I would at least give the stock cooler a shot. So yes, don't get the Noctua at all for now and see if the results agree with you.


That's what I would do at least. I would buy the biggest SSD you can afford, rather than trying for the mix of drives boot and storage.
So, for the SSD if the money is flexible should I try to look for the biggest possible storage?
 
So, for the SSD if the money is flexible should I try to look for the biggest possible storage?
I would, though I would also stick to a 'reputable' brand. In my definition, reputable would me someone who has been around a bit, preferably whose name you know, and who gets their stuff reviewed by the tech media. I do this crap for a living and I don't really know who Team Group are. I mean, I know their name, but their company literally doesn't even have an entry on Wikipedia. In no particular order - Sabrent, Sandisk (which is WD), Samsung, HP, Crucial, WD, Micron, Kingston, Intel, XPG, Seagate, probably more but those are just the ones I know off the top of my head.

*edit*
My favorite three right now are Samsung, Sabrent, and HP.
 
Also I found

this as the memory, what are your thoughts?
Looks fine to me! I'm not a memory expert by any means, since I tend to stick to the 'stock' settings for memory, so I can't talk about what specific dies are better than others or sub-timings and things like that. I'm sure on the totem pole of memory superiority this $83 kit isn't at the very top, but I can assure you it's better than the sticks you picked out the first time :)
 
I would, though I would also stick to a 'reputable' brand. In my definition, reputable would me someone who has been around a bit, preferably whose name you know, and who gets their stuff reviewed by the tech media. I do this crap for a living and I don't really know who Team Group are. I mean, I know their name, but their company literally doesn't even have an entry on Wikipedia. In no particular order - Sabrent, Sandisk (which is WD), Samsung, HP, Crucial, WD, Micron, Kingston, Intel, XPG, Seagate, probably more but those are just the ones I know off the top of my head.

*edit*
My favorite three right now are Samsung, Sabrent, and HP.
Looking at Samsung, it is a bit steeper in price but is it worth going that extra bit? Sabrent has the Sabernt Rocket/Rocket Q which are both "cheaper" and stick around that 1TB range. But I think if i go more expensive for the storage might aswell go full on get the largest, especially if I'm dropping the Noctua I can afford to.
 
Samsung is what I would consider the most premium consumer oriented brand. Sabrent is great, and I've personally tested a drive from all three of their lines (Rocket Q, Rocket NVME, and Rocket NVME 4.0) and they are all good drives. And I've also installed at least 10 HP EX920 and EX950 SSDs and been happy with all of them. When looking for a 'value' purchase, I would probably pick between the HP and the Sabrent and find the biggest drive you can afford from either vendor. You should be happy with whatever you end up with!
 
Looks fine to me! I'm not a memory expert by any means, since I tend to stick to the 'stock' settings for memory, so I can't talk about what specific dies are better than others or sub-timings and things like that. I'm sure on the totem pole of memory superiority this $83 kit isn't at the very top, but I can assure you it's better than the sticks you picked out the first time :)
Alright those DDR4 3600 will do the trick then!
 
Samsung is what I would consider the most premium consumer oriented brand. Sabrent is great, and I've personally tested a drive from all three of their lines (Rocket Q, Rocket NVME, and Rocket NVME 4.0) and they are all good drives. And I've also installed at least 10 HP EX920 and EX950 SSDs and been happy with all of them. When looking for a 'value' purchase, I would probably pick between the HP and the Sabrent and find the biggest drive you can afford from either vendor. You should be happy with whatever you end up with!
So I've chosen one from each of Samsung/Sabrent/HP.
The HP is the EX950 2TB (269.99)
Sabrent however I found the Rocket/Rocket Q 2TB both at the same price of 279.99 and confused on which of the two is better to choose.
And the Samsung 860 EVO at 2TB (299.99)
 
Pre warning if “Keljian” replies to this forum post please dn not listen to this guy has no clue what hes talking about
 
Looks fine to me! I'm not a memory expert by any means, since I tend to stick to the 'stock' settings for memory, so I can't talk about what specific dies are better than others or sub-timings and things like that. I'm sure on the totem pole of memory superiority this $83 kit isn't at the very top, but I can assure you it's better than the sticks you picked out the first time :)
Gskill is pretty decent and reliable nowadays
 
So I've chosen one from each of Samsung/Sabrent/HP.
The HP is the EX950 2TB (269.99)
Sabrent however I found the Rocket/Rocket Q 2TB both at the same price of 279.99 and confused on which of the two is better to choose.
And the Samsung 860 EVO at 2TB (299.99)
I would pick either the Rocket (non-Q) or the HP. I could go either way, they'll be like 99% the same.
 
So I've chosen one from each of Samsung/Sabrent/HP.
The HP is the EX950 2TB (269.99)
Sabrent however I found the Rocket/Rocket Q 2TB both at the same price of 279.99 and confused on which of the two is better to choose.
And the Samsung 860 EVO at 2TB (299.99)
Id go with the 860 evo ive got a post up bout my new pc and someone suggested it looked it up and its pretty good have u had a look at any of the firecuda ssds?
 
Id go with the 860 evo ive got a post up bout my new pc and someone suggested it looked it up and its pretty good have u had a look at any of the firecuda ssds?
I would also go with the 860 but how much will a 20-30 dollar price change do? Might be better to play it safer. I'm looking for around a 2TB and the firecuda, although it has them goes way out of the price I'm looking for.
 
Thing is with the drives these are something u can always upgrade as you go my pc for example shown below i have 3ssds and 1 hdd people dont understand why but i used to have the same hd / ssd setup and works really well

500GB FIRECUDA SSD FOR WINDOWS ETC

1TB FIRECUDA SSD FOR GAMES

1TB SSD FOR 3D MODELLING AND RENDING SOFTWARE

2TB HDD FOR PICS, VIDEOS, MUSIC, GENERAL DOCUMENTS

CFCAA258-DEA3-4FF1-9DB4-FA8EE1AE8B5D.jpeg
 
Thing is with the drives these are something u can always upgrade as you go my pc for example shown below i have 3ssds and 1 hdd people dont understand why but i used to have the same hd / ssd setup and works really well

500GB FIRECUDA SSD FOR WINDOWS ETC

1TB FIRECUDA SSD FOR GAMES

1TB SSD FOR 3D MODELLING AND RENDING SOFTWARE

2TB HDD FOR PICS, VIDEOS, MUSIC, GENERAL DOCUMENTS

View attachment 249368
So, should I just keep the Firecuda's for later if more storage is needed you recommend upgrading with Firecuda's?
 
So, should I just keep the Firecuda's for later if more storage is needed you recommend upgrading with Firecuda's?
If u want say fast windows boot up or fast game loading rhen 100% with the firecudas u can even get the one 1tb and have windows and games on if u didnt want to buy 2 they are insane for speed
 
So, should I just keep the Firecuda's for later if more storage is needed you recommend upgrading with Firecuda's?
Me personally i dnt mind windows taking a few mins to load up but when im doing my rendering etc in the background i know everything else is keeping up and running quick
 
You have a pretty decent system build at the top i would agree with the other gentleman try going 3600 i mad ethe mistake of doing 3200 dnt get me wrong will work fine but overall it does favour 3600 which is why i changed mine over with the harddrives and ssds the ones u have no will do just fine as i said earlier u can simply buy and add these at any point in the future but otherwise id say ur good to go
 
U also dont really need more then 16gb ram but this is something you can always add later you can just buy the same sticks you have done the right thing at 2x8gb rather then 4x4 sticks but i think you will be ok with the games u play wish you the best of luck
 
So, should I just keep the Firecuda's for later if more storage is needed you recommend upgrading with Firecuda's?

For gaming, there is currently no benefit to SSDs faster than SATA. I certainly wouldn't pay extra to go to PCIe 4.0 over 3.0, when neither is appreciably better than SATA for your intended purpose. There *are* use cases where SATA SSDs, PCIe 3.0 SSDs, and 4.0 SSDs can differentiate themselves, but gaming isn't one of them.
 
For gaming, there is currently no benefit to SSDs faster than SATA. I certainly wouldn't pay extra to go to PCIe 4.0 over 3.0, when neither is appreciably better than SATA for your intended purpose. There *are* use cases where SATA SSDs, PCIe 3.0 SSDs, and 4.0 SSDs can differentiate themselves, but gaming isn't one of them.
That is correct But on the plus side games will load quicker thats always a Good thing
 
games will load quicker
They really don't.
It's been tested.
In a few places.
Repeatedly.

In today's games, storage faster than a SATA SSD has zero impact, both on the ingame experience and the load times.

That may or may not change in the future, so if it's the same cost I would recommend a faster storage solution. But if you are paying extra for it - as you currently do to get PCIe 4.0 over 3.0 - then 100% no way.
 
They really don't.
It's been tested.
In a few places.
Repeatedly.

In today's games, storage faster than a SATA SSD has zero impact, both on the ingame experience and the load times.

That may or may not change in the future, so if it's the same cost I would recommend a faster storage solution. But if you are paying extra for it - as you currently do to get PCIe 4.0 over 3.0 - then 100% no way.
Alright, so the Firecuda's are way more expensive, so I won't consider those yet. But it looks as for now the build is pretty good, I like all my options and I'm sitting exactly at my budget. Is there anything else you recommend? I again thank you for all the help.
 
They really don't.
It's been tested.
In a few places.
Repeatedly.

In today's games, storage faster than a SATA SSD has zero impact, both on the ingame experience and the load times.

That may or may not change in the future, so if it's the same cost I would recommend a faster storage solution. But if you are paying extra for it - as you currently do to get PCIe 4.0 over 3.0 - then 100% no way.
Also a quick question, obviously Windows will be the operating system but should I get Pro?
 
Pro's only major difference is the ability to remote desktop into it and to join it to a domain. No effect on gaming.
 
They really don't.
It's been tested.
In a few places.
Repeatedly.

In today's games, storage faster than a SATA SSD has zero impact, both on the ingame experience and the load times.

That may or may not change in the future, so if it's the same cost I would recommend a faster storage solution. But if you are paying extra for it - as you currently do to get PCIe 4.0 over 3.0 - then 100% no way.
Erm they really do tested and experienced my self why do you think ppl use them... my os and my games launch instantly
 
Sorry my apologies yeah all lks good i made the same mistake doing mine went for pro luckily somone got me to switch before it was too late just remember things may not be perfect but as long as your hsppy with it upgrades come with time
 
Pro's only major difference is the ability to remote desktop into it and to join it to a domain. No effect on gaming.
So Sinister, I am about to buy my parts over this day, I am going to start building and I would definitely need help in doing so, I don't want to mess anything up. If you can of course
 
Sure. Putting a PC together isn't rocket surgery anymore, though, since most parts only plug into places where they are compatible.

If you want a visual demonstration, I recommend this video:

Almost everything in it will be valid for your build, so if you want a visual demo you can scan through that. Only major discrepancy is there is a difference in the way AMD and Intel CPUs are packaged - for AMD the pins are on the CPU so you have to be really careful not to bend them. The video uses Intel, and for Intel the pins are on the motherboard, so that's the part you have to be careful with and the retention mechanisms are different.
 
Sure. Putting a PC together isn't rocket surgery anymore, though, since most parts only plug into places where they are compatible.

If you want a visual demonstration, I recommend this video:

Almost everything in it will be valid for your build, so if you want a visual demo you can scan through that. Only major discrepancy is there is a difference in the way AMD and Intel CPUs are packaged - for AMD the pins are on the CPU so you have to be really careful not to bend them. The video uses Intel, and for Intel the pins are on the motherboard, so that's the part you have to be careful with and the retention mechanisms are different.

I went over my parts and the

GIGABYTE X570 GAMING X AMD Ryzen 3000 PCIe 4.0 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.2 AMD X570 ATX Motherboard

Is out of stock everywhere, at an acceptable price if you can help me find it somewhere at around 160-170.
 
Sure. Putting a PC together isn't rocket surgery anymore, though, since most parts only plug into places where they are compatible.

If you want a visual demonstration, I recommend this video:

Almost everything in it will be valid for your build, so if you want a visual demo you can scan through that. Only major discrepancy is there is a difference in the way AMD and Intel CPUs are packaged - for AMD the pins are on the CPU so you have to be really careful not to bend them. The video uses Intel, and for Intel the pins are on the motherboard, so that's the part you have to be careful with and the retention mechanisms are different.

Also thanks for the video I'll follow it as best as I can, I figured it wouldn't be too hard just be careful :)
 
Erm they really do tested and experienced my self why do you think ppl use them... my os and my games launch instantly
This will be my last reply on this topic.

I am glad you feel your SSD choice has served you well. I'm not trying to discount that.

Testing simply doesn't back up the experience you are describing. I have swapped from SATA SSD to NVMe for my games as well, and cannot tell a difference, so I am not simply relying upon videos on the internet. Unlike videos on the internet though, I didn't bring a stopwatch and make before/after comparison videos, so I cited sources.

To address a different part of your reply "why do you think ppl use them"... well, that's Marketing's job - to convince people to buy a product. People have been paying extra for stuff they don't need since.. I don't know, the dawn of time? In this case, NVMe drives are not snake oil - they *are* faster - just not for games. Game loading is gated by other factors, such as shader compilation and asset decompression. Systems can only consume data at a certain rate, so the ability to provide it faster is lost. My favorite metaphor, once you are tall enough to ride the rollercoaster ride, being extra tall doesn't make the rollercoaster go faster.
 
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