$1,500 Budget Black Friday Full Build - 7 Year Upgrade

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[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 2, 2004
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I'm still rocking my 7 year old i5-3570K and AMD 7970, and while I game considerably less, I'm beginning to really struggle on the rare occasion I do. The only consideration I have is the case cannot be larger then 20" (H) x 9" (W) x 17" (D), and must have top mounted ports as the case will go into an open cabinet. Beyond that, my budget is $1,500 excluding tax so I want to maximize my dollars with Black Friday ("BF") shopping in mind so I'm buying now, I live in Los Angeles so Fry's, NewEgg, and Microcenter are all around my area, and I've done a bit of research already so I think I'm fairly close.

$329 CPU - AMD RYZEN 7 3700X @ Superbiiz
  • 8 cores matches the next general consoles so I think I'll be set for a few years

$210 SSD - 2TB HP EX950 M.2 2280 (already purchased) @ NewEgg
  • Already purchased and I only plan on running 1 drive so I bought into the BF deal

$80 PSU - EVGA 750 GQ 210-GQ-0750-V1 @ NewEgg
  • Again, BF purchase and it seems to fit my needs at a great price

$120 RAM - G.SKILL Flare X Series 16GB (2x 8GB) @ NewEgg
  • Ryzen seems to love memory speed so DDR4 3200 CL14, the ability for some moderate overclocking, and a well reviewed product. Any other recommendations?

$150 MB - ASRock X570M PRO4 @ Superbiiz
  • Is the ASrock the only micro ATX motherboard in the X570 platform? Should I consider any other motherboards in the mATX form factor?

$104 CPU Cooler - Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240R @ Amazon
  • I'm willing to pay a small premium over an air cooler, and this one seems popular on PCPP.

$47 Fractal Design Focus Mini G - Mini Tower Computer Case @ Amazon
  • Hits my parameters for the cabinet and seems well reviewed. I can always build a door hide the computer if need be.
$16 Rosewill 120mm Case Fan 4-Pack @ Amazon
  • High reviews on Amazon and 22dBA so that's good right?

~$15 Windows 10 Pro
  • Buying this in the FSFT section of [H]

I'm currently at $1,072 and need a GPU where I'm currently thinking:
  1. ~$450-$500 upper limit would be a 2070 Super. If I'm not going to upgrade for another 5+ years, I'm more than willing to spend a few bucks more.
  2. $400 would be a 5700XT for ~10% less performance
Am I missing anything? How does this look? Any additional thoughts or recommendations? Thanks again for your time.
 
The coolermaster 240aio was $50 at newegg btw. Also an asrock 5700xt for $340 or 2070 super zotac for $450.

For ram I would go 3600mhz if you can.

You could save some cash you could go to microcenter and go b450 matx and 3600 for 240ish, but the 3800x is a nice add. I see you already have a ssd so the pcie 4 is kind of overkill unless you want a ssd down the road.

I recently upgraded from 1700x to the 3600 and it's crazy that I get way better single thread and about equal or better multi thread performance with 2 fewer cores.
https://slickdeals.net/f/13602226-c...cpu-cooler-50-ar-newegg?src=SiteSearchV2Algo1

https://slickdeals.net/f/13583374-a...ro-center-in-store-only?src=SiteSearchV2Algo1
 
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If you are ok overclocking, the 3200mhz cl14 is definitely the way to go. If not a 3600 kit wouldn't hurt (b-die kits in that range tend to be pricey though)
 
X570 mATX is overkill but not needing a BIOS update and the price being $170, which is only a bit more than a very nice B450 or X470, seems like a good deal, and I'm set on the 3700X. For the RAM, I am overclocking hence the push for CL14.

Just placed my order for everything except for the video card and this is where I standout tax:
  • Amazon w/ free shipping
    1. AMD Ryzen 7 3700X @ $328
    2. ARCTIC MX-4 - Thermal Compound Paste @ $10
  • NewEgg w/ will call pickup
    1. HP EX950 M.2 2280 2TB @ $210
    2. ASRock X570M PRO4 $170
    3. G.SKILL Flare X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3200 CL14 @ $120
    4. EVGA 750 GQ 210-GQ-0750-V1 @ $80
    5. be quiet! 250W TDP Dark Rock Pro 4 @ $70
    6. Fractal Design Focus G Mini Black MicroATX @ $47
    7. (3x) be quiet! Pure Wings 2 120mm PWM @ $32 total
This leaves me at $1,067 without tax (+9.5% with) so $400ish for the video card. I'm leaning toward the 2070 Super for that little bit more performance, and since I don't upgrade often, it'll buy me a few more months over a 5700 XT.
 
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