Ryzen 3900x build: feedback sought

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Apr 17, 2016
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I am currently putting together a build specification for a new desktop to replace my existing 2010 era Core i7 950 build of yore, which I perhaps ought to have replaced some time ago on account of it having become very dated and unreliable.

In any event, by way of background, my main use cases (other than relatively undemanding work such as office applications and web browsing) are (in no particular order):

  • photograph editing;
  • general gaming in 4k;
  • some video editing (may well increase in the future; currently 1080p, may increase to 4k in the future);
  • amateur game development (of a particular game with a very old codebase, no hardware graphical acceleration at all, but which can be very CPU intensive and has recently had multi-threading capabilities added);
  • some 3D modelling in Blender (either basic low-fi models for output to low resolution (128x128px) sprites for the game, or more sophisticated models that do not require rendering for 3d printing purposes).
I am very keen on a computer that can multi-task well, so I have specified a large quantity of memory: my current computer has 12GB of RAM (although in the last few weeks, only 8GB of that works), and that has been very limiting of late; going to 16GB would not be enough of an upgrade.

I am also very keen on the computer being as quiet as possible, especially at idle or under light loads - being somewhat noisier under very heavy loads is less of a problem, but I should rather that it remain quiet while doing things such as watching a 4k 60fps Youtube video.

I have partly put together a specification so far, but I am a little stuck on a choice of case, CPU cooler and motherboard. As stated above, quietness is important. Also, I should like to be able to do a little basic overclocking with Precision Boost Overdrive, but no longer have the time for hours of tinkering and Prime95 testing reqired for manual overclocking. I understand that the motherboard has to have good VRMs to allow even the automated overclocking with Precision Boost Overdrive, although I have not found any information about how motherboards compare in this regard. As to the case asethetics, I am not a fan of RGB nonsense and transparent cases: I like an elegant, understated look. I do need a case with a 5.25" drive bay as I plan to recycle the optical drive from my existing computer, and I should prefer a case with USB 3.1 type C ports on its front panel, as it seems silly not to have these in 2019.

My partial specification so far is:

  • CPU: Ryzen 3900X
  • CPU cooler: ???
  • PSU: ???
  • Motherboard: ??? (something x570)
  • Memory: G.Skill Trident Z 32Gb kit (2x16Gb)
  • GPU MSI Nvidia RTX 2080Ti Gaming X Trio
  • Sound card: [PCIe unit recycled from current system]
  • Storage 1: Samsung 4TB 860 EVO (for media; my old 2TB HDD is now full)
  • Storage 2: Corsair 2TB MP600 (for the system and software)
  • Storage 3: [existing SSD from current system recycled as encrypted drive for work documents]
  • Optical drive: [Blu-Ray drive recycled from current system]
  • Card reader: ???
  • Mouse: [Recycled from current system]
  • Monitor 1: [4k G-Sync monitor recycled from current system]
  • Monitor 2: [1440p monitor in vertical configuration recycled from current system]
  • Speakers: [Recycled from current system]
  • Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000
  • OS: Windows 10
Constructive suggestions, especially as to the ??? components, would be most welcome.
 
My suggestion would be the dark Rock pro 4 from be quiet for your cooler. I have the non pro version on my 1700x and I love it. In fact you should look at be quiet's line of cases and power supplies. They are supposed to very quiet
 
CPU Cooler : Noctua D15S or stock
PSU: Something in the 750-850W range (LOTS of options, seasonic or corsair, get one that is at least gold rated)
Sound card: unless you have a burning desire, stick to what's on the motherboard
Motherboard: I really like the Gigabyte Aorus range. This looks good to me

Is it a work or home use computer?
 
Thank you both for your replies, that is most helpful. I will deal briefly in turn with each of the various subjects.

Case

I had researched be quiet! cases, and one of these did indeed look to be just the thing: the Dark Base PRO 900 rev. 2 black (although it is a pity that it does not come without a silly glass panel). This is an E-ATX case.

CPU cooler

I notice that one of you recommends a twin fan design and the other recommends a smaller, single fan design. My current computer build (from 2010) uses a Noctua twin fan design. The current version of this appears to be the DH15. However, I notice that one review mentions that it is not easy to fit this in with the G.Skill Trident Z memory that I plan on using. The same reviewer did not report an equivalent problem with the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 fan when he compared the two in a single review.

The twin fan designs are, from what I understand, more efficient at cooling than the single fan designs, so I am minded to go with the Dark Rock Pro 4 as recommended by the first poster unless anyone knows of a compelling reason why I should do otherwise...?

Motherboard

This is a more complex decision. It is difficult for me to know whether to compare motherboards on features alone, or whether there is some underlying quality metric that requires obtaining in-depth review information. I understand that the quality of VRMs is of some importance for the higher end CPUs, but I do not know quantitatively how important that this is, nor am I aware of any robust and reliable method of comparing the VRM quality of one motherboard against another save by comparing the number of phases that a manufacturer claims that the board has. I also do want the motherboard to be able to work well with future CPU releases, as these AMD CPUs seem to re-use the same socket and have backwards compatibility for several generations.

On the basis of features alone, the MSI Prestige X570 Creation would appear to be a good fit for what I am after. However, I do not have any quality information about this or other boards.

May I ask the person who recommended the Gigabyte Aourus boards - what particular reason was there for this recommendation? Is it based on features or quality metrics, and, if quality metrics, which ones? I have seen reference to a suggestion that Gigabyte's description of the number of VRM phases is somehow inaccurate, but I cannot find any details on this and I do not know whether it is accurate.

PSU

I note that the power requirement is suggested to be only 850W at most. I actually replaced the PSU in my older computer a year or two ago with a 1.2kW unit of modern design thinking that a failing PSU was responsible for the unreliability that I was then having (it turned out to be faulty RAM and a problem with one of the two graphics cards). It strikes me that this could sensibly be recycled into the new system.

Sound card

Given that I already have a good sound card in my existing computer (a Sound Blaster Z) that can be recycled for free, is there any actual advantage in using the motherboard sound over using this card? The sound quality from this card is certainly noticeably better than that from my 2010 era motherboard.

Availability

I note that some of the components that I am after are not currently available; the CPU is due in on Monday, but the memory is listed as "out of stock" and the motherboard (both the one that I have provisionally picked and the one recommended by Keljian) are listed as available only for "pre-order".

Does anyone have any idea of the UK availability of these items?

Revised specification

The current provisional specification list is thus as follows:

  • CPU: Ryzen 3900X
  • CPU cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
  • PSU: [1.2kW unit recycled from existing system]
  • Motherboard: MSI Prestige x570 Creation
  • Memory: G.Skill Trident Z 32Gb kit (2x16Gb)
  • GPU MSI Nvidia RTX 2080Ti Gaming X Trio
  • Sound card: [Sound Blaster Z PCIe unit recycled from current system]
  • Storage 1: Samsung 4TB 860 EVO (for media; my old 2TB HDD is now full)
  • Storage 2: Corsair 2TB MP600 (for the system and software)
  • Storage 3: [existing SSD from current system recycled as encrypted drive for work documents]
  • Optical drive: [Blu-Ray drive recycled from current system]
  • Card reader: SilverStone SST-FP95B
  • Mouse: [Recycled from current system]
  • Monitor 1: [4k G-Sync monitor recycled from current system]
  • Monitor 2: [1440p monitor in vertical configuration recycled from current system]
  • Speakers: [Recycled from current system]
  • Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000
  • OS: Windows 10
Any comments on the above would be appreciated.

Thank you both again for your assistance.
 
While you may only be able to fit a single fan on the D15, it is generally considered to be the best of the best.

gives you a listing of VRM info for motherboards..

I can only speak from experience - the Aorus ultra z390 I have is very good, and the tier seems to consistently be up there.
 
That is very helpful, thank you. I notice that the MSI board that I am considering seems to have the same VRMs as the Gigabyte Aorus boards and is rated as being "fine" even with the upcoming 16 core CPU.

As to the fans - I think that the Dark Rock Pro 4 will be better with two fans than the Noctua with just the one fan...?
 
It depends on your existing case airflow.

Technically the d15 has more surface area, therefore as a heat sink it is superior.
 
It depends on your existing case airflow.

Technically the d15 has more surface area, therefore as a heat sink it is superior.

Interesting. How would one judge, for any given case, whether the D15 or a twin fan arrangement is superior overall?
 
Well take my case for instance, I have three 120mm fans blowing across the inside of the case. One (a high static pressure fan) is blowing directly towards the heatsink. Adding an extra fan for push/pull adds very little if anything to the cooling effectiveness.

The reality of the situation is both coolers will work, and both are high end. If I had to choose I can only speak for Noctua, as I haven’t had anything else for 4-5 years, and they are very good.
 
While I am thinking about it, most power supplies have their maximum efficiency band between about 40-70% of their output. Therefore your 1.2kW unit is most efficient at 600-700W.

The reality is you won’t be anywhere near that the majority of your time.

If your graphics card uses 200-250w when running full out, and your processor uses about 150w (conservatively). Your maximum will be about 450w and your average use band will be 100-300W.

That being the case, you will probably be pulling an extra 50-60W from the wall with your 1.2kW supply versus a 650-850w supply...
 
With respect to the sound card, on board audio has come a long way in 9 years and high end boards as you’re considering have very good sound.

I would suggest trying it before putting the z in there because I tried a z in a ryzen system and for some reason I couldn’t get it to work, don’t add things to the system that aren’t necessary.
 
Thank you for your thoughts.

I realise that I omitted to mention the type of case that I (provisionally) intend to use: the be quiet! Dark Base 900 Pro rev. 2. This has 2 140mm fans at the front and one at the rear. How would I calculate whether a single fan or a dual fan CPU cooler is preferable for use with this case given the motherboard, graphics card and other components that I intend to put in it?

Edit: Also, as to memory: is there anything to be said for using 4,000Mhz memory at slower timings and running it at 3,600Mhz, or is it better to use 3,600Mhz memory (which is hard to find in a 2x16Gb kit)?

In relation to the sound card, I am still rather unclear on what advantages that there might be to using the built-in sound compared to the card that I bought new as recently as 2016; someone was not able to get it working, and there is a general reference to not adding things that are unnecessary, but, unless I find that I also cannot get it to work, why would this be worse overall? After all, if the sound card works, I can always simply disable the onboard sound in the BIOS.
 
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That being the case, you will probably be pulling an extra 50-60W from the wall with your 1.2kW supply versus a 650-850w supply...

No way it would be that much. A 1.2kw psu should be at least 90% efficient even at 450w -- that means 45w TOTAL waste -- whereas a 650-850 might be 92-95%. Probably closer to 92% -- so you are looking at 20-25w difference, tops.

I'd have to know the exact psu, to get better numbers, but assuming the 1200w one is gold -- this should be about right.

No point in throwing the 1200w away, imho.

Either onboard or the soundblaster should be fine. Onboard sound has gotten a lot better but honestly if you are into critical listening with headphones and the like then you will be far better suited with an external usb dac/amp.

For the ram -- it's fine to get higher speed ram and clock it lower with tighter timings but there is much less of a guarantee as to exactly what settings you will get.
 
I note that the 3900x is still unavailable in the U. K. Does anyone have any idea when it might reach here?
 
Its on preorder at overclockers.co.uk

Shouldnt be long...?

Maybe you could email them or something. They seem to have good customer service.
 
I see that it is now expected on the 5th of August. I am increasingly wondering whether I might as well just wait for the 3950x.
 
While you may only be able to fit a single fan on the D15, it is generally considered to be the best of the best.

[snip]

I can only speak from experience - the Aorus ultra z390 I have is very good, and the tier seems to consistently be up there.

I am in a very similar boat to the OP and came here thinking "I'm going to have such a hard time getting up to speed on whose got better voltage regulation and which ram chips can get pushed hardest"

and then in a single post you've solved half my problem. Many thanks.

(before I head into the memory users group, any suggestion on which chips are best? Given all this row-hammer nonsense I was thinking of deliberately tuning stability there though)
 
(before I head into the memory users group, any suggestion on which chips are best? Given all this row-hammer nonsense I was thinking of deliberately tuning stability there though)


Gskill trident z or royal. You pay more, but it works
 
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