Doing my research for a new build - general/gaming rig called "TACHI"

[Grevlin]

Hello all!

New here. I'm (somewhat) proudly rockin' a souped up beater. Its a repurposed HP office low-profile with an i5 that I added 32gig ram and a GTX 1650 OC low-profile.


I've recently gotten obsessed with a Steam game called Space Engineers. It plays on my system...mediocre to slow. I've decided to build a computer this Christmas. Family always asks what to get me, so I'm gonna buy all the parts, and they are gonna gonna give me cash to turn it into a gift.

Purpose: Must play Space Engineers REALLY well and do so for a few years. Plus the usual office tasks. Surfing, Word, Excel, etc etc. I work from home so I use the computer A LOT daily.


So far, I have purchased a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and a Seasonic Focus GM-850 80+Gold power supply.


Here is what I have on my wish list to complete the system:

1. Case: NZXT H510i with red accent
   
2. Motherboard - not sure. Maybe one of the new B550 or an X570. I want it to be ready for the new Ryzen's that are coming out soon. To upgrade in 2 to 3 years from now.
   
3. CPU Cooling - NZXT Kraken X53 240mm
   
4. Storage - Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 (My current computer has 130gig taken up total. This 1TB M.2 will be primary storage for everything.)
   
5. RAM - Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3600
   
6. GPU - MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 Super 8GB GDRR6
   
7. Maybe some AsiaHorse cable extensions in white
   
8. Probably need an extra fan or two for exhaust - maglev?

The theme is TACHI - as in the ship from The Expanse. Its gonna be like its the main computer from the ship. In the show, the MCRN colors are RED (for Mars) I already have a Razer Blackwidow keyboard with mainly black but some white and red keys. And a Razer Mamba mouse with red and white colors. And a Spectre 34" ultrawide monitor at 100hz on a desk mount arm.

On the front of the case will be this decal:



So - black case with red accent. A little red RGB (not too much) inside with a little white accent. Like Asiahorse cables. That should tie the whole rig together.


SO! I'd love some feedback on where I'm on the right track...where I'm making mistakes etc.

Thanks!

 

[Grevlin]

Oh and yes! I'll be looking to overclock the Ryzen 5 to 4000+GHz.

And maybe the RAM? Not sure on that whole thing.

 

[trents]

You may want to test for whether or not overclocking the CPU gives you as good a scores in your game as allowing it to run at stock and use Turbo Boost. You won't be able to overclock the CPU on all cores to what Turbo Boost will take it to on some cores. Most games thrive on high single core speeds.

You are way over buying when it comes to your PSU. For one RTX 2060 video card you don't need more than 600 watts.

You may also want to take another look at going with gen 4 PCIe NVME storage. You will notice a little faster boot up times but that's about it in the usage scenario you describe. Save the money and put it to a better video card. Those gen 4 PCIe NVME drives are spendy.

That brings me to your video card choice. The 2060 will give some better performance than the 1660 but not a whole bunch. I think you need to do some research and some testing and see what the bottleneck on your current rig is. Is it the CPU, the GPU or both.

 

[Zerileous]

Usually for gaming the boost algorithm will do better than a manual overclock. In other words the 4.2GHz max boost on a single thread will be better for your performance than the 4.0GHz all core OC.

The PCIe 4.0 frankly will not make a difference in gaming, even compared to SATA. This is nearly $100 that can be spent on a better graphics card.

Ram is cheap now, but it's not necessarily required to use 32GB unless the game you play uses more than 16GB.

The case you linked has 2 fans, plus your AIO will come with two more fans, I'm not sure you need more than that.

Seeing the prices for initial B550 boards, if you can find a decent x570 board it might make sense to get that.

 

[Grevlin]

Usually for gaming the boost algorithm will do better than a manual overclock. In other words the 4.2GHz max boost on a single thread will be better for your performance than the 4.0GHz all core OC.

The PCIe 4.0 frankly will not make a difference in gaming, even compared to SATA. This is nearly $100 that can be spent on a better graphics card.

Ram is cheap now, but it's not necessarily required to use 32GB unless the game you play uses more than 16GB.

The case you linked has 2 fans, plus your AIO will come with two more fans, I'm not sure you need more than that.

Seeing the prices for initial B550 boards, if you can find a decent x570 board it might make sense to get that.

Thanks Zer!

Seems about in line with what Trents advised.


Good stuff - I picked the right forum.

 

[David]

Welcome

 

[Zerileous]

Thanks Zer!

Seems about in line with what Trents advised.


Good stuff - I picked the right forum.

yeah I started writing before his post showed up.

 

[Grevlin]

I'll probably shift down to Gen 3 NVME and bump up the GPU.

I was looking at the RTX 2080 Super.

This site has FPS data from Space Engineer players. The 2080 Super is pretty high up on the curve. My hope is that it would future-proof me a bit with Dev updates that will be released.
https://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=9010&framesPerSecond=Space Engineers


The Boost Algorithm - not sure what that is. Is it a boost setting in the BIOS?

- - - Auto-Merged Double Post - - -

I can't seem to find the "Thanks" button.

 

[Zerileous]

Basically the CPU overclocks itself continuously based on the load and a variety of parameters. Here is a good explanation: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3491-explaining-precision-boost-overdrive-benchmarks-auto-oc

Edit: looking at those numbers you'll have a lot of extra power with the 2080 Super if that's the only game you're playing. With your monitor you should expect performance between 1080p and 1440p, so I would not assume that 120fps at 1080p will translate automatically to 100+ FPS on your screen, but I'm guessing you'd stay pretty close. Of course I always have some skepticism with user submitted results. Also note the MaxQ cards on that list are laptop cards and don't really belong in a comparison of desktop GPUs. Don't forget about the 2070 super, it's a great card and in between the 2060 and 2080 in price.

 

[Grevlin]

How about...

Gigabyte X570 AORUS Elite Wifi

Amazon for $210
Gigabyte X570 AORUS Elite Wifi

And it has built in WiFi, which I need. (And I've had bad experience with USB Wifi dongles.)

 

[Zerileous]

Just about any x570 board will have plenty of grunt for the 3600, so it mostly comes down to features and IO that you want.

In terms of future support, this page https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...TJFqqVxdCR9daIVNyMatydkpFA/edit#gid=611478281 rates it for 150A, enough for an overclocked 3900X or any stock AM4 processor. So unless when you say you want to upgrade in 3-4 years, you want that upgrade to be 16+ cores, then I don't anticipate a problem there. I find a post code (2 digit readout) to be useful, but this board lacks that. It has decent onboard audio (ALC 1200) though. No rear USB-C but it does have a 20 pin header that will support the USB-C port on your case. It has 4 1A pwm fan headers. All this I found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...FnsZYZiW1pfiDZnKCjaXyzd1o/edit#gid=2112472504. I would suggest verifying any features that are critical to you prior to purchasing.

Also regarding the case, most people don't think the NZXT fan controller that comes with the "i" versions of the cases is nearly worth it. You could save some money by getting the non-i version and plugging fans into the motherboard. Not sure what that would do with the RGB though, if that is a big deal to you.

 

[Grevlin]

Man..the current shortage on everything-computer is annoying. Stuff disappears before your eyes.

How about the Asus Prime X570-Pro Ryzen 3 AM4?

https://www.amazon.com/Asus-Prime-X...ords=x570&qid=1591628721&s=electronics&sr=1-3

 

[trents]

I concur with the RTX 2070 Super idea. It should be adequate for 2k resolution gaming.

As far as motherboards go, I'm a little partial to MSI right now because I think they have done the best job with bios tweaks for memory compatibility. I would definitely go with G.Skill RAM as they have a model line whose sub timings are geared toward Ryzen compatibility. They may be a little more expensive but avoiding headaches is worth it:

https://www.amazon.com/G-SKILL-Trid...4+3600+G.Skill+AMD+16gb&qid=1591634370&sr=8-1
This RAM should work full rated speed with most any X570 motherboard. Then you can forget about memory compatibility issues and pick a board based on your price range and desired feature set. As Z said, I wouldn't obsess over the motherboard. Most any of them will do the job on a 6 core Ryzen. It becomes a little more important to get a board with a stout VRM section if you move up into the higher core Ryzen CPU model range.

 

[Grevlin]

Excellent! Thanks Trents.

 

[Zerileous]

The x570 pro should be a great board. It has a 200A VRM according to the chart I linked before, which will allow you to OC any existing AM4 chip. It also has debug LEDs (not numbers but at least something to help if you find a no-post situation). It also has the Realtek 1220 Audio, which is a step above the 1200 of the Elite. It also has USB C on the rear panel.

In other words I think it's a step above the Elite.

 

[Grevlin]

So I almost pulled the trigger on the Asus Prime X570-Pro.

One thing that had been bothering me was the placement of the chip set cooling fan.


The size graphics cards I'm looking at will certainly block the fan. I saw this actually happen on a youtube vid of a guy building a system. He mentioned the same thing and showed how his GPU butt right up against the fan vents.

Am I over-thinking this? Actual issue?

 

[trents]

Many have expressed concern about the apparent conflict between the position of the chipset cooling fan on some of the X570 boards and the GPU slot but so far I have not heard of anyone actually having over-heating issues because of it. Unless you are using a PCIe 4 device the chipset cooling fan is likely overkill anyway.

 

[Grevlin]

Big question for the forum:

Do you think this current part shortage will get better soon? (Soon as in the next few months.)


Should I wait a couple of months to see if case and motherboard supply improves? Or just get everything now with what I can find?

 

[trents]

Within a week (supposedly) the b550 motherboards will debut and there will likely be some good introductory price deals. In fact, I think our own EarthDog is now testing a sample for review.

There are signs the economy is rebounding and my guess is that component shortages may be resolved by summer's end. But I would wait until the b550 boards come out to see if you can find something reasonably priced that will meet your needs. In fact, the current shortage might be driven in part because the motherboard companies are gearing up for b550 product line releases and they've backed off on production of X570 boards. The X570 boards were perceived by many as being a little too spendy in the first place. You might look at one of the higher end b550 boards when they debut.

 

[Grevlin]

Wow...all that makes perfect sense.

Thanks Trents. I'll wait and be ready to pull the trigger.



I did order the Sabrent Rocket 1TB M.2 drive and the G.Skill Trident 16x2 3600 RAM. Figured they were solid choices and will fit whatever 500+ board I get.



This is looking like its gonna be a $1600 rig. I was envisioning $1000, but I want to make sure to get some seriously solid and future-proofed hardware.




So far, the system is looking like:

CPU - Ryzen 5 3600
Seasonic 850watt power supply
G Skill Trident DDR4 16x2 RAM
Sabrent Rocket Q NVMe M.2 1tb drive


Still need:

Motherboard - 500+
GPU - RTX 2070 Super
Case
CPU Cooler