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Considering an AMD build. Input wanted.


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So, after I ordered my Rift, my wife got envious and is now getting one as well. Her interests are not flight sims, but other games, wanting to explore VR titles. Her current gaming laptop is outdated, not VR ready, and now I am tasked with building her a PC.

 

For the first time in years I am considering an AMD rig (Ryzen based). That said, I have no idea where to start, as I am hopelessly out of the AMD loop.

 

Already available for her build:

- NVIDIA GTX 1080 (hand-me-down from my current rig; stepping up to a 1080TI myself)

- SSD drive

- Inateck USB 3.0 card

 

Considerations for her rig:

 

- AMD Ryzen (no idea what to get)

- Decent Motherboard (again, no clue)

- Some basic water cooled solution maybe? Or fan?

- 32GB RAM (what goes well with a Ryzen board?)

- Some high-airflow case (likely Corsair)

 

So, any suggestions as to what to get? I want the best possible performance out of this for her. Thanks. :)

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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I recently swapped my old I5-4690 for an R5 1600x, it's a big improvement in everything except older total war titles (rome2 the worst offender oddly). I'm using the MSI B350 Tomahawk with it, it's a very good board, generally considered the best B350. There is no point in an X370 unless you want multiple GPU's. In terms of RAM, I recommend the G.Skill Flare X that's made specifically for Ryzen. I bought Tridentz instead since it was on MSI's compatibility list but sadly it only runs at 2667 atm. Allegedly BIOS updates will fix that eventually. It's also worth noting that you need to stick to 2 sticks of RAM in order to run above 2133, so be aware of that. 32GB is excessive for a gaming system anyways, not even DCS will use that much.

 

In terms of cooling, a decent air-cooler is enough. I'm running a $25 deep cool fan and it keeps it under 70c at full load at the full 4.0GHz overclock. And yes, that is as high as they go while stable. It's also trivial to achieve. My case is well ventilated for what that's worth.

 

Overall, the system is around 25℅ slower than the 7700k in single threaded performance but much faster overall. I chose it because it isn't at all fussy about tons of background processes and is still faster in single thread compared to the I5-4690 it replaced. Just to give you an idea on overall performance, I was benchmarking BoX earlier today while downloading elite dangerous, running a bunch of hardware monitoring stuff, paint and a few chrome windows. It had no impact compared to benchmarking it totally clean.

System specs: i5-10600k (4.9 GHz), RX 6950XT, 32GB DDR4 3200, NVMe SSD, Reverb G2, WinWing Super Libra/Taurus, CH Pro Pedals.

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Any plans for content creation?

 

Nope; strictly gaming rig. :)

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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I recently swapped my old I5-4690 for an R5 1600x, it's a big improvement in everything except older total war titles (rome2 the worst offender oddly). I'm using the MSI B350 Tomahawk with it, it's a very good board, generally considered the best B350. There is no point in an X370 unless you want multiple GPU's. In terms of RAM, I recommend the G.Skill Flare X that's made specifically for Ryzen. I bought Tridentz instead since it was on MSI's compatibility list but sadly it only runs at 2667 atm. Allegedly BIOS updates will fix that eventually. It's also worth noting that you need to stick to 2 sticks of RAM in order to run above 2133, so be aware of that. 32GB is excessive for a gaming system anyways, not even DCS will use that much.

 

In terms of cooling, a decent air-cooler is enough. I'm running a $25 deep cool fan and it keeps it under 70c at full load at the full 4.0GHz overclock. And yes, that is as high as they go while stable. It's also trivial to achieve. My case is well ventilated for what that's worth.

 

Overall, the system is around 25℅ slower than the 7700k in single threaded performance but much faster overall. I chose it because it isn't at all fussy about tons of background processes and is still faster in single thread compared to the I5-4690 it replaced. Just to give you an idea on overall performance, I was benchmarking BoX earlier today while downloading elite dangerous, running a bunch of hardware monitoring stuff, paint and a few chrome windows. It had no impact compared to benchmarking it totally clean.

 

That's good info. Taking notes. Thank you!

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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We use an R5-1600x as an office machine..and everybody loves it !

 

I used the Noctua DH-15-SE_AM4 edition air cooler for it and it runs still cool when oc'ed to 4GHz and priming for stability tests.

 

I personally would still prefer the X370 over the B version chipset as the X models "usually" have more VRMs and overall better Voltage regulation..and the Intel network instead of a Realtek, but as many say, B350 also works great.

 

I use the Asus Prime X370 board and I must say, I love that Asus Prime series, fair priced and all you need in your/our case. I would buy that board again.

 

For RAM I would stick with what is supported at 3200MHz ( 2 x16GB sticks ). I would not buy 4 module kit for reasons said above.

 

Get a decent PSU ( Seasonic Prime for example ) and a nice tower ( your WIFE !! ) and you are all set and she will be happy ;).

Gigabyte Aorus X570S Master - Ryzen 5900X - Gskill 64GB 3200/CL14@3600/CL14 - Asus 1080ti EK-waterblock - 4x Samsung 980Pro 1TB - 1x Samsung 870 Evo 1TB - 1x SanDisc 120GB SSD - Heatkiller IV - MoRa3-360LT@9x120mm Noctua F12 - Corsair AXi-1200 - TiR5-Pro - Warthog Hotas - Saitek Combat Pedals - Asus PG278Q 27" QHD Gsync 144Hz - Corsair K70 RGB Pro - Win11 Pro/Linux - Phanteks Evolv-X 

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I got the New Asus rog strix b350-f and am very happy with it. I reconnaised my RAM (crucial ballistix Sport 2666) immediatelly even with the non updated BIOS Version and is running very stable. Also temp wise its a good board. Have my ryzen 1600 @ 3700 stable with the Stock cooler but its getting a Bit warm (70-75 C) tested with aida64. So, A better cooler and im really happy and even Plan to go for 3850 with it.

GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition - AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D - 64Gb RAM - Win11 - HP Reverb G1 - Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS (40cm extension) - VKB Sim T-Rudder MKIV Pedals

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Ryzen 1600 or 1600X are probably the best you can go for if you're building a gaming rig. Forget about Intel right now. Unless you want to burn your house down. :P

1600 comes with an amazing stock cooler that rivals some of the after market ones, quiet and allows for overclocking.

 

1600X has higher stock clocks, but no stock cooler. If you're comfortable with doing some light overclocking, 1600 offers better value for the money.

 

I personally recommend the 1600 since it can reach 1600X clocks with some very light overclocking and because of the awesome stock Wraith Spire cooler.

 

Ryzen benefits from fast RAM. Because of this I recommend something like 16GB 3200Mhz DDR4 RAM. Corsair LPX Vengeance series is a good choice. 32GB RAM is overkill at this point in time. Especially with increased RAM prices.

Some variant of B350 motherboard would probably be for the best if you're going to game. X370 is an overkill for average user and ups the price for no good reason in most cases.

 

B350 series allows for easy overclocking and is very reasonably priced.

I'd recommend Gigabyte B350 (or B350M) Gaming 3 series. Good BIOS support & with AGESA 1.0.0.6 it offers great support for fast RAM speeds.

 

With stock cooler, Ryzen 1600 series runs at low temps even when overclocked. I'd consider water cooling an overkill. Some decent case intake fans will keep your Ryzen build cool and quiet.

 

Also, it's important not to cheapen out on PSU. This is by far the most important part of any build.

I'd recommend something like Seasonic M12II-620 EVO. It's a modular PSU, great build quality and 620 Watts is more than enough for your build.

 

Hope this helps.


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Ryzen 1600 or 1600X are probably the best you can go for if you're building a gaming rig. Forget about Intel right now. Unless you want to burn your house down. :P

1600 comes with an amazing stock cooler that rivals some of the after market ones, quiet and allows for overclocking.

 

1600X has higher stock clocks, but no stock cooler. If you're comfortable with doing some light overclocking, 1600 offers better value for the money.

 

I personally recommend the 1600 since it can reach 1600X clocks with some very light overclocking and because of the awesome stock Wraith Spire cooler.

 

Ryzen benefits from fast RAM. Because of this I recommend something like 16GB 3200Mhz DDR4 RAM. Corsair LPX Vengeance series is a good choice. 32GB RAM is overkill at this point in time. Especially with increased RAM prices.

Some variant of B350 motherboard would probably be for the best if you're going to game. X370 is an overkill for average user and ups the price for no good reason in most cases.

 

B350 series allows for easy overclocking and is very reasonably priced.

I'd recommend Gigabyte B350 (or B350M) Gaming 3 series. Good BIOS support & with AGESA 1.0.0.6 it offers great support for fast RAM speeds.

 

With stock cooler, Ryzen 1600 series runs at low temps even when overclocked. I'd consider water cooling an overkill. Some decent case intake fans will keep your Ryzen build cool and quiet.

 

Also, it's important not to cheapen out on PSU. This is by far the most important part of any build.

I'd recommend something like Seasonic M12II-620 EVO. It's a modular PSU, great build quality and 620 Watts is more than enough for your build.

 

Hope this helps.

 

I second every word said! I think a x370 is too much. Stick with a good 350 board and your fine. Ryzen cant be oc too much right now. It has its sweet Spot somewhere between 3.7 and 3.9 GHz. If you're really want to be sure to get a high clock (3.9) get a 1600x because its tested. With the 1600 you'll definitally reach 3.7. More is up to the silicon loterry. What i did is Set up a Profile in ryzen Master for dcs with two cores deactivated and therefore a cooler System. With that said i can reach 3.9 GHz stable. And as i said, the Stock cooler is well enough for reaching 3.7 with all cores.

 

Next week i try to speed up my RAM. But i Would also recommend buying 3200 clock cause ryzen really profits from higher RAM clock when the requirements of applications are highly CPU bound.

GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition - AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D - 64Gb RAM - Win11 - HP Reverb G1 - Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS (40cm extension) - VKB Sim T-Rudder MKIV Pedals

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That's great input from all of you - greatly appreciated. Taking notes as I go, and starting to jot down a parts list! Thank you! :thumbup:

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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Forget about Intel right now.

 

That's something I've never thought I would read... just wondering now - what is AMD doing this time around do deserve this praise? Genuinely curious.

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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That's something I've never thought I would read... just wondering now - what is AMD doing this time around do deserve this praise? Genuinely curious.

 

Intel has been reselling their Sandy Bridge for the past 10 years. Same architecture for the past 10 years pretty much, every new Intel core "generation" was just a minor rehash with marginal gains. Cutting corners with their chips, such as using "toothpaste" instead of solder. And then having the nerves to tell the K chip owners that they should not overclock their CPU's because of overheating.

 

You know, the K chips? Whose primary selling point over non-K chips is their ability to overclock?

 

Basically a lot of anti-consumer stuff which is probably the result of their 10 year monopoly on CPU market.

 

And now comes AMD out of nowhere with their Zen architecture. Zen arch offers what Intel offers, for waaaay lower prices. And bunch of other cool stuff like the ability to overclock all of their chips without buying super duper special (read: expensive) versions of chips and motherboards.

 

It's just better right now. And market shares are beginning to show that.

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That's good to know. Thanks for that. I guess AMD really deserves a fresh look then. :thumbup:

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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Ryzen is a great investment in my opinion. Due to higher core and thread count, it's also more future proof also. Future Ryzen chips will also use the same CPU socket for some time, so you can keep your current motherboard and just buy a new Ryzen chip when the time comes.

 

AMD CPU's are not to be overlooked right now. Now we have to wait and see what Intel has in store. :)

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Well, if you keep up the praise I might have to build *myself* that AMD rig, and give my wife my current one (see sig). ;)

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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Since I am digging into the subject now, I keep reading this about these Ryzen chips: "Not very fast single threaded performance"; isn't that what's so important for DCS, though?

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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For you, it would only be a minor upgrade. Your specs are not bad at all.

 

Don't take my word as gospel, though. Best to check some comparisons and reviews on reputable sites or youtube channels and see for yourself. :)

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That's something I've never thought I would read... just wondering now - what is AMD doing this time around do deserve this praise? Genuinely curious.

 

Intel owns the single thread performance crown, but 4 cores (i5) and arguably 8 threads (i7) is inadequate today (and moving forward) in every category except single threaded performance.

 

My Ryzen7 system smokes the older i7 it replaced in every day use with multiple apps running. I can alt-tab out of games and have videos, music, manuals, etc running in the background with no hit to game performance. I won't win a benchmark war with the latest i5/i7 testing game performance, but I have yet to hit a performance roadblock in any game (including DCS and VR) that wasn't a GPU limitation (GTX1070)

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If you are talking about a DCS only rig or 144Hz 1080p gaming, then a heavily overclocked I5 or I7 is the way to go. But even then the difference isn't huge. As said, the 1600X is faster in DCS than the I5-4690 (3.6-3.9GHz) that it replaced in single thread performance. The kabylake cpu's mainly rely on a clock advantage and that doesn't come close to making up for the core/thread difference in more general use.

 

In regards to the 1600 vs 1600x, the main difference is the non X might manage 4GHz but might not. The X model is basically guaranteed to. There really isn't anything beyond that though, 4.0GHz is a brick wall for this first generation of Ryzen.

 

Regardless of which route you go, I think you and your wife will be pleased. I went with the 1600x over the 7700k because I suspect it is more future proof and I do care about multitasking, even while gaming.

System specs: i5-10600k (4.9 GHz), RX 6950XT, 32GB DDR4 3200, NVMe SSD, Reverb G2, WinWing Super Libra/Taurus, CH Pro Pedals.

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Again, great info guys! My confidence in going with AMD for her PC is growing steadily! :)

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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So, after some deliberation, her and I went with these main components:

 

1 x MSI X370 GAMING PRO CARBON AM4 AMD X370 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

1 x AMD RYZEN 7 1700 8-Core 3.0 GHz (3.7 GHz Turbo)

1 x G.SKILL Flare X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200

 

Going to put her current laptop's SSD into that new build, as well as my GTX 1080 (while I step up to a 1080TI). Gonna be good. :)

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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^ Good Move !

 

I could a beer or two that you don't wanna give it to her once up & running HAHA !!!

 

:drunk:

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Gigabyte Aorus X570S Master - Ryzen 5900X - Gskill 64GB 3200/CL14@3600/CL14 - Asus 1080ti EK-waterblock - 4x Samsung 980Pro 1TB - 1x Samsung 870 Evo 1TB - 1x SanDisc 120GB SSD - Heatkiller IV - MoRa3-360LT@9x120mm Noctua F12 - Corsair AXi-1200 - TiR5-Pro - Warthog Hotas - Saitek Combat Pedals - Asus PG278Q 27" QHD Gsync 144Hz - Corsair K70 RGB Pro - Win11 Pro/Linux - Phanteks Evolv-X 

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So, all done. Just wrapping up some final driver installations and other updates on her new AMD rig; she already loves it.

 

Looking mighty fine as well:

 

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zJ7broR.jpg

 

LAJQg6j.jpg

PC: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | MSI Suprim GeForce 3090 TI | ASUS Prime X570-P | 128GB DDR4 3600 RAM | 2TB Samsung 870 EVO SSD | Win10 Pro 64bit

Gear: HP Reverb G2 | JetPad FSE | VKB Gunfighter Pro Mk.III w/ MCG Ultimate

 

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Very nice. I have that exact same case in white and love it. It has to be the easiest case to build in and cable management is an absolute breeze. Not to mention cooling also is top notch with an uninterrupted flow from front to rear.

 

Planning to refit my Air 540 with a custom loop water cooled build for my next rig.

Intel i7-8700K | Asus Maximus X Formula | Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 3200MHz | Gainward Phoenix GTX1070 GLH | Samsung 960 EVO NVMe 1 x 250GB OS & 1 x 500GB Games | Corsair RM750x 750W | Corsair Carbide Air 540| Win10 | Dell 27" 1440p 60Hz | Custom water loop: CPU EK-Supremacy EVO, GPU EK-GTX JetStream - Acetal+Nickel & Backplate, Radiator EK-Coolstream PE 360, Pump & Res EK-XRES 140 Revo D5, Fans 3 x EK-Vardar 120mm & 2 x Corsair ML140 140mm

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