Second opinion for Ryzen 9 3900X + RTX 2060 SUPER - mid range machine for software development & some gaming

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luz

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#261958 25-Dec-2019 17:07

I am looking for a second opinion for my planned PC built used as software development and gaming machine. I built my last PC more than 10 years ago ... my hardware knowledge might have gotten a little rusty.

What do you guys think? Let me know if you think I am missing something major.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7wfH3t

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor
Graphics: Asus GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB STRIX GAMING Advanced Video Card
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 GAMING X ATX AM4 Motherboard
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
SSD: not yet planned.

I picked the CPU mostly for parallel processing and 2060 super to save some money while still being able to test ray tracing and being able to learn how to use the shiny new tensor cores for AI. Hope it will also work well enough for some gaming. I haven't figured out the cooling yet ... I am a little worried about the noise level but this is difficult to find out beforehand :/

No idea what to look out for RAM though. I just picked the cheapest one from computerlounge at 3200 MHz. Everything else seem to expensive.

SpartanVXL

1306 posts

Uber Geek

#2381262 25-Dec-2019 19:30

Seems a solid balance. Maybe get the aorus elite or equivalent if you plan on using PBO oc.

Ram should be 3200 cl16 minimum, you can usually push kits a bit more than rated.

A 2060 super is okay.... quite a few recommendations to not bother with rtx on it due to it’s low core count.

If it’s just to experiment its alright I suppose. Maybe get nvidias next generation later on

Psu is great, really nothing else except a good nvme ssd.

ShinyChrome

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#2381266 25-Dec-2019 19:39

See here for nz retailers and pricing

RAM wise, unless you particularly want RGB, you can get it a lot cheaper, like this pack here. Ryzen likes higher speed RAM up to a point, but 3200 is a good spot.

For gaming, what monitor are you planning on using/resolution are you aiming for? That 2060S should be good for 1080p high settings 60fps performance in most games.

I can't speak to the CPU as that is highly dependent on your use case and how it makes use of multicore compute, but are you planning on running compute heavy applications locally?

Also depending on how much space you need, 1TB NVME drives are going quite cheap now, unless you plan on needing a ton of local spinning disk space?

Lias

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#2381268 25-Dec-2019 19:51

SSD uber alles.

I wouldn't even consider not having an SSD as the primary drive of a new build.

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luz

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2381351 25-Dec-2019 23:27

Ah didn't know pcpartpicker has a nz version. Good to know :)

For RAM I just got the RGB ones because they are $50 off at computer lounge (32GB btw). I am actually not sure about the kit versions. They are just better for overclocking? The specs look exactly the same.

I will likely use virtual box and other CPU heavy workloads so the more CPU's the better. Though I just feel like the 16 Core and thread ripper versions are a bit overpriced for what I need.

I am getting a proper SSD for sure. Just didn't find the time to look into yet.

Thanks for having a look at it!

SpartanVXL

1306 posts

Uber Geek

#2381355 25-Dec-2019 23:47

So basically Ryzen has performance benefits going up to 3800MHz on ram frequency. Since not all chips are guaranteed to get that the recommended speed is actually 3600MHz RAM, but of course thats a tad expensive so everyone is going for 3200.

By kits I just mean that buying a pack of branded 3200 cl16 ram usually lets you tighten the timings to cl14 and/or oc to 3466MHz. If you can also afford it, going 2x16GB seems better than 4x8GB for stability when OC’ing.

Lias

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#2381476 26-Dec-2019 15:30

luz:

Ah didn't know pcpartpicker has a nz version. Good to know :)

For RAM I just got the RGB ones because they are $50 off at computer lounge (32GB btw). I am actually not sure about the kit versions. They are just better for overclocking? The specs look exactly the same.

I will likely use virtual box and other CPU heavy workloads so the more CPU's the better. Though I just feel like the 16 Core and thread ripper versions are a bit overpriced for what I need.

I am getting a proper SSD for sure. Just didn't find the time to look into yet.

Thanks for having a look at it!

Ahh right.. when you said 'not yet planned' I read that as 'I'm not planning on putting in an SSD yet' but I guess you meant it as 'I haven't planned what SSD I'm putting in yet.

ShinyChrome

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#2381512 26-Dec-2019 18:06

luz:

For RAM I just got the RGB ones because they are $50 off at computer lounge (32GB btw). I am actually not sure about the kit versions. They are just better for overclocking? The specs look exactly the same.

Whoops, helps if I read correctly. One too many egg nogs...

Sounds like you are sorted mate, everything looks good. Slam in a good sized NVME drive and you are ready to send it.

Although as SpartanVXL said, RT is pretty intensive and the premium to get you to even a cheaper RTX2070S is not too bad right now. Depends on how much you want it I guess.

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TwoSeven

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#2381516 26-Dec-2019 18:23

Not sure what development ones does.

but for me I would go with at least 32gb ram and i usually run 4 SSDs separating the OS+apps from the data. But I also do complex development using VMs and these days a bit of hybrid cloud.

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