Recommendations and suggestions for a new PC setup

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drgshah

20 posts

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#269910 14-Apr-2020 16:01

Hi Guys,

I am looking at buying a new PC for personal and/or work use and would need a pretty good PC for the same.

Would be mainly used for surfing/movies and occasionally heavy gaming so want something thats ready for these purposes.

My work also involves some potentially moderate graphics card needing work and i am assuming a good/decent graphics should cut it.

Here is a list of what i am looking at buying with a budget of around NZ$1800 and looking to buy from PBTech.

- Phanteks Eclipse P400 Black Edition ATX MidTower Gaming Case RGB Light Strips
- Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 5600 XT Graphics Card 6GB GDDR6, GPU Upto
1750Mhz
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6 Core,12 Threads up to 4.2 GHz Max Boost, Socket AM4, 32MB
total Cache , 65W TDP
- HyperX Fury 16GB RAM (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200MHz, CL16 1.35V - Black
- ASUS PRIME B450-PLUS ATX For AMD Ryzen 2nd/3rd Gen, Socket AM4. B450, 4X
DDR4 DIMM, 1XM.2, 1XPCIE...
- Crucial BX500 240GB 2.5 inch SSD SATA 6.0GB/s , up to 540MB/s Read, 500MB/s
Write, 7mm,
- Seagate BarraCuda 1TB SATA3 3.5 inch 7200RPM 64MB Internal HDD ( 2 years
warranty )
- EVGA 600 BR 600W Power Supply 80+ Bronze, Single +12V Rail , 120mm Fan , Retail
Box , MEPS Ready
- Gigabyte Aorus GC-WBAX200 MU-MIMO Dual-Band AX2400 + Bluetooth5.0 PCI-E
Wireless Adapter
- PB Custom PC Hardware & OS Install For online System Builder Only

Total $1,850.60

Do you guys see any incompatibilities? or would you recommend changing anything (without changing the price too much)

Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

wratterus

978 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2461237 14-Apr-2020 17:07

You definitely need WiFi on it? Do you really need an AX card? Do you actually have an AX AP? You could maybe save some money there, although I don't know how much that card costs. If it's under $100 and you need WiFi then that's fine.

Strongly recommend a good 500GB NVMe SSD like the Samsung 970 EVO Plus or Western Digital Black SN750. The BX500 honestly is quite slow - in some situations only a little better than a hard drive. It has no DRAM cache. If the budget doesn't allow, at least go for a good SATA SSD like a Crucial MX500 or a Samsung 860 EVO - 500GB is a much more sensible minimum size these days. A BX500 would be a good data drive - for games, or data storage that you still want to be pretty snappy. It does OK with more sequential reads/writes, not so much random stuff (like running an OS...)

Also the MX500 & 860 EVO have m.2 versions so you can mount it right to the board - easier and tidier. The BX only comes in 2.5" form factor.

Other than that it looks good. Not a big fan of AMD in the graphics department (had a lot of driver troubles previously) but that card is really good bang for your buck - about on par with a RTX2060 for nearly $100 less. And I think AMD are doing better with drivers now. You could get away with a good quality 500w PSU with that build but chances are the 600w you've spec'd will be cheaper than most good 500w anyway. What do PB charge to build the PC these days? Not something you'd want to do yourself? PCs these days really are very easy to build & install.

You already have Windows?

timmmay

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#2461261 14-Apr-2020 17:36

Agree about NVMe SSD, but I go for a small main disk and a larger data disk. 120GB is plenty for OS / apps for most people, maybe a gamer needs more. That PC at peak load might draw 250W max.

ratsun81

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#2461292 14-Apr-2020 18:27

I had the p400 case, get the high airflow model (p400A).

The non A model has crap airflow.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/CHAPHA0400/Phanteks-Eclipse-P400A-Black-Edition-ATX-MidTower

drgshah

20 posts

Geek

#2462222 15-Apr-2020 23:45

wratterus:

You definitely need WiFi on it? Do you really need an AX card? Do you actually have an AX AP? You could maybe save some money there, although I don't know how much that card costs. If it's under $100 and you need WiFi then that's fine.

Strongly recommend a good 500GB NVMe SSD like the Samsung 970 EVO Plus or Western Digital Black SN750. The BX500 honestly is quite slow - in some situations only a little better than a hard drive. It has no DRAM cache. If the budget doesn't allow, at least go for a good SATA SSD like a Crucial MX500 or a Samsung 860 EVO - 500GB is a much more sensible minimum size these days. A BX500 would be a good data drive - for games, or data storage that you still want to be pretty snappy. It does OK with more sequential reads/writes, not so much random stuff (like running an OS...)

Also the MX500 & 860 EVO have m.2 versions so you can mount it right to the board - easier and tidier. The BX only comes in 2.5" form factor.

Other than that it looks good. Not a big fan of AMD in the graphics department (had a lot of driver troubles previously) but that card is really good bang for your buck - about on par with a RTX2060 for nearly $100 less. And I think AMD are doing better with drivers now. You could get away with a good quality 500w PSU with that build but chances are the 600w you've spec'd will be cheaper than most good 500w anyway. What do PB charge to build the PC these days? Not something you'd want to do yourself? PCs these days really are very easy to build & install.

You already have Windows?

Thanks for all your suggestions and the detailed reply.

1. I do need WiFi but not have AX AP and don't really need AX AP for now but wouldn't that be a little futureproofing? The card costs $107.

2. wonderful idea about the SSD and NVME, will swap that for an M.2 and possibly NVME SSD. What are your thoughts on this Crucial 500GB SSD NVME M.2 - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDCRU32500/Crucial-P1-500GB-NVMe-PCIe-M2-2280-up-to-1900-MBs?qr=popular_related_products

The other ones you mentioned, samsung 970 and WD SN750 are a bit more pricey, unfortunately.

3. PBTech charges $110 to build the PC, but its certainly something i can do myself. There are plenty of guides on youtube as well.

4. I do have a spare windows 10 key :)

Thank you and greatly appreciate your input!

Jase2985

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#2462243 16-Apr-2020 07:20

drgshah:

Thanks for all your suggestions and the detailed reply.

1. I do need WiFi but not have AX AP and don't really need AX AP for now but wouldn't that be a little futureproofing? The card costs $107.

2. wonderful idea about the SSD and NVME, will swap that for an M.2 and possibly NVME SSD. What are your thoughts on this Crucial 500GB SSD NVME M.2 - https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDCRU32500/Crucial-P1-500GB-NVMe-PCIe-M2-2280-up-to-1900-MBs?qr=popular_related_products

The other ones you mentioned, samsung 970 and WD SN750 are a bit more pricey, unfortunately.

3. PBTech charges $110 to build the PC, but its certainly something i can do myself. There are plenty of guides on youtube as well.

4. I do have a spare windows 10 key :)

Thank you and greatly appreciate your input!

1. dont future proof, computers change so fast, your better off buying an AX card when you get an AX AP

2. its ok but the ones mentioned will be faster, the P1 is an entry level NVME drive

3. thats a good place to save money, but it can be daunting if you have never done it yourself before.

4. again another good place to save money if you have a key already

ShinyChrome

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#2463321 16-Apr-2020 11:30

Looks like a nice well thought out build, kudos. If you are looking to build yourself, I would suggest becoming acquainted with PCPartpicker to make sure you are getting the best price.

Also, I would advise to read a few reviews on GPUs in your price bracket to get an idea for what game engines work best with which brand; some are more optimized for Nvidia cards, some for AMD. A few I would suggest: Techpowerup, GamersNexus, and Guru3d

A few suggestions I would make to your build:

Unless you absolutely need WiFi now, save yourself the $100 and reinvest it as below. If you are doing any form of online gaming, unless you have an equally good AP/router, your latency will suffer. Wired all the way.

Get a fully modular power supply, and preferably something in the => 80+ gold rating. Not only are non/semi-modular ones a pain the the rear to install, they are harder to hide the inevitable cables you don't need. Good, clean power is important for the longevity of the rest of your components and not a place I would cheap out. I would suggest anything with a similar wattage and those two qualities out of EVGA, SeaSonic, or Corsair's lineup, like the Corsair RM or the EVGA SuperNOVA G3; both of which have 7-10 year warranties and semi-fanless operation.

Agree with the others about the SSD, get a good quality m2 NVMe drive. Only you can decide on whether you need the small SSD + big HDD vs. medium/big SSD. For what its worth, I went with a 250GB SSD + 1TB HDD last time, but if I was building today, I would go with a single 1TB NVMe SSD. I only need a 1-2 games installed at any time, and everything else I need is either cloud based or soon-to-be NAS based. As Jase2985 said, that P1 is entry level, so not quite in the same league as others mentioned, but seems to review ok. Most NVMe drives are still well above general consumer use cases for speed, so unless you are moving big files around constantly, there is no denying that price-per-gigabyte. I would probably spend a little more and go for a ADATA SX8200 Pro which seems to review highly for its price and has 3 times the endurance (320TBW vs 100TBW for the P1)

Hope that helps!

networkn

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#2463400 16-Apr-2020 13:04

timmmay:

Agree about NVMe SSD, but I go for a small main disk and a larger data disk. 120GB is plenty for OS / apps for most people, maybe a gamer needs more. That PC at peak load might draw 250W max.

I don't think that's true any more. I'd say 240GB is the minimum size for an OS SSD these days.

For $110 I'd get someone else to build the PC. IF you were to make a mistake and damage a component, it could cost you hours of troubleshooting AND a replacement part. Someone who does it for a living will probably be better at it, tidier and it means warranty is end to end their problem.

I got my last 2 PC's built by DTC in Auckland, I have found them excellent. I have no association with them, and I have built more computers than I could count in my life, though admittedly not for quite some time.

If you are doing it for enjoyment, then have at it of course, but strictly as a cost saving, I wouldn't bother.

timmmay

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#2463405 16-Apr-2020 13:29

My operating system SSD is 120gb and has 60Gb free. I don't have games installed but I have lots of other apps.

networkn

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#2463415 16-Apr-2020 14:00

Average we see right now on our home users is 92GB.

People aren't that good as home users of meticulously moving pictures and downloads and whatnot from the fast to slow storage. For $60 difference or less, I wouldn't bother with 120GB SSD.

ShinyChrome

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#2463421 16-Apr-2020 14:15

SSDs are so dirt cheap right now, they are not really an area you need to cheap out any more. A 1TB NVMe drive for $199, WTHN! Buy 2!

networkn

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#2463422 16-Apr-2020 14:18

ShinyChrome:

SSDs are so dirt cheap right now, they are not really an area you need to cheap out any more. A 1TB NVMe drive for $199, WTHN! Buy 2!

I'm just waiting for 2TB ones to drop in price so I can stick one in my PS4. I have a 1TB SSD now.

Jase2985

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#2463466 16-Apr-2020 14:25

timmmay: My operating system SSD is 120gb and has 60Gb free. I don't have games installed but I have lots of other apps.

as mentioned if your not meticulous about keeping things where they should or deleting temp files etc its pretty easy to fill a 120gb hdd.

i just brought a 1TB ssd for my latest build and just throw everything on that. cheap enough as mentioned but certainly wouldn't go less than 240gb.