Help me build my PC 2017 Catch All

I agree fang, I would love to put 16GB of RAM in there but it is just too expensive right now to justify with a $500 budget, especially with Ryzen really needing the more expensive faster RAM. If he doesn't get a graphics card by his birthday in March I'll probably buy him one to put in, so the shared RAM for graphics is hopefully short lived.

RAM is also easy to add later if needed or he has some Christmas money and that is what he wants to do. I tried to spend the budget on quality parts that will last years without needing an upgrade, and save budget on stuff that could be added on or easily upgraded later. Give him some good bones and let him decide what is a priority down the line.

LeapingGnome wrote:

I am doing a budget build for my 13 year old nephew, anyone have any feedback on this one? I am trying to stay under $500 and here is what I have:

PC Part Picker link for approximate list

I put this together last night and success! Booted on the first try. Now I just need to figure out this whole installing Windows from a USB drive thing. Also the BIOS was showing the RAM at 2133 instead of 2667, I hope that is fixed with a BIOS update, we'll see.

That happened with mine (Ryzen 1600). My motherboard set the memory to 2133, but had a default profile to clock the memory at 3200. Yours might have something to get you up to 2667, but either way it's likely settings you'll need to manual change in the BIOS.

If you're running a Gigabyte motherboard, you might be able to install the AppCenter and run EZTune. It will allow you to mess with CPU and RAM overclocks directly from Windows. Otherwise, you should be able to find those settings in the BIOS (usually there's an XMP Profile you can set for your RAM in the BIOS).

Yeah I went with an MSI board and I saw in the BIOS an XMP profile to get to the 2666, but it wasn't obvious how to actually enable the profile. I figured I would get Windows installed and all of the drivers updated and then mess with any settings for tweaks.

I also noticed the two PWM fans I added are running at 1,200-1,300 RPM even at idle and I need to figure that out too as they are noisier than they need to be. I did enable PWM and 'smart' fans in the BIOS for them.

Yeah the RAM starting at 2133 is expected behavior, as higher speeds and XMP profiles are technically considered overclocking.

Shouldn't be much harder than selecting the right XMP profile, but yeah, something that can be messed with once the system is up.

I haven't played with a Ryzen yet, but you'd probably only notice the memory speed during really intensive games. For installation, driver updates, and program installs, it won't matter at all. And you can also use that mode to prove the system is basically sound. If it's solid at base clocks but crashes higher up, you'll know exactly what's wrong.

Got everything updated and was able to select the profile to set the 2666 pretty easily, just had to adjust the voltage back down afterward since the Vengeance RAM only needs 1.21v.

Malor - I agree with you except for now the internal graphics will be used and it is pretty sensitive to RAM speed. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to buy the more expensive faster RAM.

If you have any stability issues with the RAM running at 1.21V, it can go higher safely. I'm guessing the XMP profile tried to set it to 1.35V? Anything below 1.4V is well within the safe zone.

Yeah something around there. I wasn’t sure since this RAM says 2666 at 1.21.

I just swapped the 6600k in my system for a 6700k and now I can't boot into Windows because of a "WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR".

I can get into the BIOS and mess around just fine, but I get this bluescreen error every time when trying to boot into Windows. Sometimes I get as far as the Windows sign-in screen but then the error follows almost immediately.

Going to update the BIOS, and then if that fails put the 6600k back in and see what happens. Seems like if it was really a bad CPU I wouldn't even be able to get into the BIOS but maybe I'm wrong?

Edit: I put the 6600k back in now the system is operating fine as if nothing happened. Although I'm paranoid about my mobo now, and I'm frustrated I'm going to have to ask for my money back from the guy who sold me the 6700k on hardwareswap without being able to give him a better explanation than "sh*t's f*cked up, yo."

Make sure you have the latest BIOS flashed on your motherboard.

*Legion* wrote:

Make sure you have the latest BIOS flashed on your motherboard.

Yeah I already updated it and it makes no difference. Although it's not like I was trying to put in a CPU made after the board was out like a 7700k chip where I would expect it to need an update. Just one Skylake chip to another.

Looks like I have to send it back. Now I don't know whether I want to just forget about it and stand pat with the 6600k, or look for another 6700k/7700k someone's trying to get rid of at a good price. Or... I realized when I was afraid it was my motherboard that was borked that I could go buy an AMD motherboard and CPU bundle for what 6700k/7700k's are going for. I wanted to avoid having to do a new Windows install and everything, but that's a Saturday's worth of work at most.

Yeah it was a longshot. My thinking wasn't incompatibility with the chip, but more like a bug that might have been fixed by a newer BIOS revision.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Malor - I agree with you except for now the internal graphics will be used and it is pretty sensitive to RAM speed. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to buy the more expensive faster RAM.

Ah, on rereading my post, I didn't word it very well. I meant that the memory speed is a potential point of failure, as it's only semi-officially supported, so dialing in the machine while it's slow to prove that everything works, and then cranking it up, can be a good idea.

You definitely do want the faster RAM, the Ryzens need the bandwidth desperately. And that's true even when it's just being a CPU. Adding in GPU functionality makes it even more important.

Down-rezzing games will have a really disproportionate impact on frame rates. Bandwidth will be the bottleneck, and high resolution is the primary consumer of bandwidth. Those chips have oodles of GPU power, but slow memory, so running at something low like 720p can make an enormous difference in frame rates. You can have tons of polygons and textures on the screen. The limit is mostly the number of pixels the GPU has to touch every frame, and turning down the resolution and avoiding full screen effects will help minimize that. And in an action game, running at 720p can be functionally hard to distinguish from much higher resolutions, because everything is moving all the time anyway.

Looks promising, I'm kind of bummed they're not trying to push a 2080TI competitor though. I'd like to see their 7nm take on top-tier performance.

I was really, really close to pulling the trigger on the $130 4GB RX580 on the last page because it was about the right price point for me for a massive performance jump. I decided to wait for our tax returns in a few months on the off chance I'd find a better deal, and yeah, I'm really glad I decided to wait. Assuming this information accurate, I will pretty likely grab a RX 3070, as long as the price remains in that range. That should set me up well over the life of this system.

This just reminds me I hate video card naming.

One of the 8GB PowerColor RX580s is available for $160 after rebate and promo code EMCERPT94 from Newegg. A few reviews mention coil whine being an issue, but at least it's both (a) dual-fan and (b) open, unlike the similarly inexpensive MSI RX580 that's been making the rounds.

If the specs and pricing play out like they are touting, then I will be in line to pick up a 3080, since I was already interested in getting a 1080.

I think these are runaway rumors. AMD just launched the RX 590 for $300.

*Legion* wrote:

I think these are runaway rumors. AMD just launched the RX 590 for $300.

Almost definitely. WCCFTech is not exactly discerning on what they report on. It could be a rumor that some random forum poster blurted out saying "he heard it through his uncle's best friend who knows someone that works for someone who works with AMD"... and they'd still plaster it on their front page.

I guess this is just a terrific time to be in the market for a higher end GPU. 1080tis are either out of stock everywhere or going for 1700+ from asshat resellers. RTX card aren't great, AMD still isn't competitive on the top end...

I'm running an OG Asus 1070 right now. It does ok, but part of the build for my daughter's first PC was going to be a new GPU for me and hand this one down the chain. Is there nothing out there that noticeably improves performance over the old 1070 without have to pay 3 months salary? I'm not buying an engagement ring here. Do I just need to suck it up and get her a 1060 or something and wait til next year?

I feel your pain, bighoppa. My 16-year old desperately wanted to upgrade his GPU, an AMD R9 390 he inherited from me. The best we could manage was a 1070 TI for $400 during a Black Friday deal. It was a good find in context, yet I still felt violated when I confirmed the purchase on Newegg.

Good grief. I think I'm still running a GTX 860 or something. I guess that's barely above an abacus at this point?

EDIT: Actually, I think have a GTX 670.

Well a 670 is a little faster than a 1050Ti according to this page so it is not that bad.

I have a 9800 GT in my desktop at home

LeapingGnome, how's your recent build working out? I grabbed that parts list, through a Sapphire Nitro+ RX580 and a 2TB 7200 RPM hard drive, and am thinking of pulling the trigger soon. The GPUs are going on and off sale, so I'm waiting for a nice deal. Are there any compromises on the motherboard or chipset from your perspective?

Worked great, easy to put together, the stock cooler is super simple to install since it already has the thermal paste on it and just screws right in, and it booted up on the first try. It was easy to install Windows 10 from a USB stick and then just download the MSI installer for all of the updated drivers and apps. I installed MS Office and Steam and ran a stress test to make sure everything is ready to go for my nephew come Christmas but I haven't done anything else with it. I also installed a 2 TB WD Green drive I had sitting around for secondary storage and that was no problem.

Only compromise I see on the motherboard is the compatibility list on the RAM that MSI publishes. I don't know how close you have to adhere to that but they only have a few specific types that they have certified to work if you fill all four slots. From what I saw this is pretty standard with Ryzen. Otherwise I wasn't interested in overclocking or water cooling or anything like that, so there might be gotchas there that I am unaware of.

I would suggest if you are going to put in a dedicated GPU right away then go with the Ryzen 5 2600 instead of 2400g. It is only $10 more and a better CPU, you don't need the 2400g if you are going to have a RX580 in there. I would have done that but I didn't have the extra in my budget for even a used $50 GPU.