Advice needed... Editing & Gaming spec

[NateBowers]

As above, that's a serious monitor. You're looking at the 2070 as a minimum. 2080 would be much more comfortable.

Thank you! I have opted for 2080 Super

I have another query regarding the hard drives if you don’t mind? Due to one being out of stock I’ve decided to alter them

I’m torn between just getting a 1tb SSD & 1tb M.2 without a HDD

or just getting 3tb HDD and 1tb SSD

I think my current selection of a 3TB HDD and a 1tb M.2 and a second 512GB M.2 may not be the best option for the money

id love some advice on the best way to currently set up your hard drives... I will be gaming and video editing mostly

cheers

 

[NateBowers]

Personally I'd go with the 2080 Super with that monitor, it's ultrawide 1440p so will need some juice.

thank you, I have done so... please see my other query regarding hard drives

I’d appreciate some advice

 

[NateBowers]

I’m thinking maybe...

1tb Samsung 860 QVO 2.5 SSD
&
1tb Samsung 970 EVO plus M.2

O/S and favourite games and any current video editing projects on M.2 and any other data on SSD?

Possibly without a HDD? Or will this risk data loss

 

[NateBowers]

Or possibly...

1/2TB Samsung 860 QVO
250GB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2

Same reasons as above but more cost effective, 250GB should be enough for OS a few games and current video project

just need clarification if no HDD is a mistake? And you think the above makes good sense?
🙂

thank you all in advance

 

[SpyderTracks]

Or possibly...

1/2TB Samsung 860 QVO
250GB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2

Same reasons as above but more cost effective, 250GB should be enough for OS a few games and current video project

just need clarification if no HDD is a mistake? And you think the above makes good sense?
🙂

thank you all in advance

Secondary storage really depends on your usage.

Regarding the primary drive, definitely an M2 and if you're having games on there you want at least 500Gb, but if you're having a video project on there as well, I would probably opt for 1Tb.

Personally I would have an HDD as the secondary drive just for storage simply because it saves cash and you don't benefit particularly from the extra speeds of an SSD for storage purposes. But make sure it's 7200rpm.

 

[Scott]

It all depends on your video file work to be honest. The second M2 drive is purely for cache. It effectively works as RAM when your RAM is filled (large projects, 4k work, etc). The faster the cache, the faster your preview and workings. The faster the RAM the faster your encoding so as your RAM drains out during encoding the faster it can be filled up the more optimum it is.

HDDs are single channel effectively, if you are saving to drive 0 you can't have the cache on drive 0 as it will need to chop and change processes..... hence why people normally select an independent scratch drive. The faster the better though, SSDs aren't great cache drives, M2 drives are where it's at.

 

[NateBowers]

It all depends on your video file work to be honest. The second M2 drive is purely for cache. It effectively works as RAM when your RAM is filled (large projects, 4k work, etc). The faster the cache, the faster your preview and workings. The faster the RAM the faster your encoding so as your RAM drains out during encoding the faster it can be filled up the more optimum it is.

HDDs are single channel effectively, if you are saving to drive 0 you can't have the cache on drive 0 as it will need to chop and change processes..... hence why people normally select an independent scratch drive. The faster the better though, SSDs aren't great cache drives, M2 drives are where it's at.

Thank you, I have actually made some changes from my original build (see below) hopefully the option for an SSD and an M.2 should suffice... I’m actually beginning to question the motherboard originally suggested to me after doing a bit of reading, would you suggest this or a different one for the build? Reading reviews of the options that PCS offer there doesn’t seem to be a clear winner, although I know reviews can be harsh. Thank you all, I appreciate all of your support


Case

CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 570X RGB GAMING CASE



Processor (CPU)

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)



Motherboard (Please advise)

Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready



Memory (RAM)

32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card (changed)



8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER -



1st Storage Drive (changed)

2TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)



1st M.2 SSD Drive (changed)

500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)



2nd M.2 SSD Drive (removed)



Power Supply (changed)

CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET



Power Cable

1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)



Processor Cooling (changed)

Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler



Thermal Paste

STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card

ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking

WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0

USB/Thunderbolt Options

MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS



https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/4mNuMevDgQ/

 

[NateBowers]

Secondary storage really depends on your usage.

Regarding the primary drive, definitely an M2 and if you're having games on there you want at least 500Gb, but if you're having a video project on there as well, I would probably opt for 1Tb.

Personally I would have an HDD as the secondary drive just for storage simply because it saves cash and you don't benefit particularly from the extra speeds of an SSD for storage purposes. But make sure it's 7200rpm.

thank you for your reply, I’ve opted for 2TB SSD & 500GB M.2, I believe this should suit my needs... I’m seeking a bit of advice on the original motherboard chosen, I’d appreciate your input...

 

[SpyderTracks]

thank you for your reply, I’ve opted for 2TB SSD & 500GB M.2, I believe this should suit my needs... I’m seeking a bit of advice on the original motherboard chosen, I’d appreciate your input...

The B450 is a little lower spec if you're looking to future proof, but it all depends on budget.

What's your max budget for the build? Apologies if this has already been covered.

 

[NateBowers]

The B450 is a little lower spec if you're looking to future proof, but it all depends on budget.

What's your max budget for the build? Apologies if this has already been covered.

thank you for the quick response, to be honest with you my originally build was like 1300 and I’m now up to 1900 lol! I’m not really short on money, obviously I don’t want to spend for the sake of spending, but if there is a clear benefit worth the extra I’m happy to do so...

don’t want to spend £1900 (plus Windows 10 actually so more like £2k) only to end up regretting skimping on the motherboard and it effecting anything

again, don’t want to throw my money away just for the sake of it though

 

[SpyderTracks]

thank you for the quick response, to be honest with you my originally build was like 1300 and I’m now up to 1900 lol! I’m not really short on money, obviously I don’t want to spend for the sake of spending, but if there is a clear benefit worth the extra I’m happy to do so...

don’t want to spend £1900 (plus Windows 10 actually so more like £2k) only to end up regretting skimping on the motherboard and it effecting anything

again, don’t want to throw my money away just for the sake of it though

So regarding the mobo, it won't affect performance at all per se although some boards have better VRM design which allows for more stable overclocking, but that's not something we need to concern ourselves with at this level.

Really, the motherboard simply dictates connectivity to external devices, so it will dictate M2 slots, PCIe slots etc.

The B450 is the budget option, plus it's a little older. It has enough to get you by on a basic setup.

The X470 is the last gen board with more PCIe slots, often dual M2 slots, better VRM layout.

X570 is cutting edge and has support for the brand new PCIe4 (currently only really utilised by ultra fast M2 drives, but eventually GPU's will move to PCIe4), much improved VRM designs

The newer the board, the more likely it is to support future CPU releases for upgrades.

Performance comparison: Using AMD Ryzen 5 3600X on X570 vs. X470 motherboards | Digital Citizen

Should you buy a new X570 chipset motherboard for your new Ryzen 3000 series processor? Or is it OK to use it with existing X470 motherboards? See our performance comparison

www.digitalcitizen.life

Again, to stress, motherboard won't affect PC performance at all in any meaningful way.

 

[SpyderTracks]

If it were me, I would choose the X570-F Strix mobo, purely for PCIe 4.

IMHO, PCIe4 GPU's will be mainstream before the time that the platform needs upgrading, and it's worthwhile adopting the technology on the board at this stage to avoid having to upgrade the entire platform to accomodate it when GPU's move on.

 

[NateBowers]

So regarding the mobo, it won't affect performance at all per se although some boards have better VRM design which allows for more stable overclocking, but that's not something we need to concern ourselves with at this level.

Really, the motherboard simply dictates connectivity to external devices, so it will dictate M2 slots, PCIe slots etc.

The B450 is the budget option, plus it's a little older. It has enough to get you by on a basic setup.

The X470 is the last gen board with more PCIe slots, often dual M2 slots, better VRM layout.

X570 is cutting edge and has support for the brand new PCIe4 (currently only really utilised by ultra fast M2 drives, but eventually GPU's will move to PCIe4), much improved VRM designs

The newer the board, the more likely it is to support future CPU releases for upgrades.

Performance comparison: Using AMD Ryzen 5 3600X on X570 vs. X470 motherboards | Digital Citizen

Should you buy a new X570 chipset motherboard for your new Ryzen 3000 series processor? Or is it OK to use it with existing X470 motherboards? See our performance comparison

www.digitalcitizen.life

Again, to stress, motherboard won't affect PC performance at all.

thank you for the response, does the limitation on RAM speed not affect performance? The B450 is limited to approx 3000? But I have 3200ram?

I’ve also seen this on reddit about the ASUS Tuf Gaming X570

DO NOT BUY IT, if you plan on using a full length video card.

Your card will land right on top of the tiny chipset fan and cause the chipset and the video card to heat up. The chipset fan will squeal like a dying pig under load.”

There is just so much conflicting info on reviews and Reddit, I just want to be able to feel safe that whichever mobo I go for is going to be fine haha! So any advice on which to choose would be helpful

as a side note, originally I opted for the standard thermal paste, I’ve made a lot of changes since then... I presume this will still suffice?

thanking you in advance

 

[NateBowers]

If it were me, I would choose the X570-F Strix mobo, purely for PCIe 4.

IMHO, PCIe4 GPU's will be mainstream before the time that the platform needs upgrading, and it's worthwhile adopting the technology on the board at this stage to avoid having to upgrade the entire platform to accomodate it when GPU's move on.

apologies didn’t see this before sending back my other reply... ok thank you I will look at that, I do think that was the priciest option, but if it’s worth it

Please see my comment regarding the Mobo and full size GPU, do you foresee this being an issue?
Also about whether the standard thermal paste will be good enough

 

[SpyderTracks]

thank you for the response, does the limitation on RAM speed not affect performance? The B450 is limited to approx 3000? But I have 3200ram?

I’ve also seen this on reddit about the ASUS Tuf Gaming X570

DO NOT BUY IT, if you plan on using a full length video card.

Your card will land right on top of the tiny chipset fan and cause the chipset and the video card to heat up. The chipset fan will squeal like a dying pig under load.”

There is just so much conflicting info on reviews and Reddit, I just want to be able to feel safe that whichever mobo I go for is going to be fine haha! So any advice on which to choose would be helpful

as a side note, originally I opted for the standard thermal paste, I’ve made a lot of changes since then... I presume this will still suffice?

thanking you in advance

The Corsair all in one coolers actually come with high end thermal paste pre applied which is excellent (I have it on mine), so no need to select upgraded paste.

yes, RAM speed is important, 3200 being the appreciated optimum for Ryzen 2, 3600 being best performance barring cost.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Regarding the ASUS Tuf Gaming X570, I wouldn't recommend it personally.

 

[NateBowers]

Regarding the ASUS Tuf Gaming X570, I wouldn't recommend it personally.

Thank you for your help, I’m about to put an amendment in for the Asus Strix ROG X570 as suggested... hopefully it’s the last change, what are your thoughts on my overall build?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you for your help, I’m about to put an amendment in for the Asus Strix ROG X570 as suggested... hopefully it’s the last change, what are your thoughts on my overall build?

It's really good, it's a premium build that should last a long while with only GPU and drive upgrades / additions in the lifetime.

I think it will do you really well.

 

[NateBowers]

It's really good, it's a premium build that should last a long while with only GPU and drive upgrades / additions in the lifetime.

I think it will do you really well.

Thank you 🙂 I appreciate your help a lot!

I just had a moment where I thought maybe I should get the RTX 2080 Ti instead, but I think I’ll stick with the super... it’s quite a bit more for the Ti haha!
The temptation is there though 😉 have a good day

 

[NateBowers]

Just thought I would update everybody!

I have my PC, loving it so far! Also I did decide to opt for the RTX 2080 Ti

I haven’t managed to get any gaming time on it yet, but will have a go tonight... I’m sure it’ll be great 🙂

only slight (very slight) disappointment is that the Case is not CORSAIR ICUE compatible (neither is my Strix MOBO?) so it doesn’t sync with my cooler, mouse and keyboard... any way to sort this? Not a big deal though, just would be nice to be able to have it all synced as I know some cases are ICUE

Thank you all for your help, I’m definitely happy with what I have!