New development PC

[OryxAndy]

I am looking for a new development PC. Mainly for C++ programming. But perhaps some gaming as well. I want it to last at least 5 years.

I want it to be reliable, fast (particularly for compiling code) and not noisy.

Having liquid near all that electronics sounds like a terrible idea, so liquid cooling is out.

I want it to be super reliable, so overclocking is out.

Looking at a few benchmarks the AMD 7 seems to offer more bang for your buck than Intel i7 processors of a similar prices. More than 8 cores would be overkill and might require liquid cooling to best performance.

I could afford more RAM, but 16GB is probably loads for my needs.

Here is what I have ended up with. I would be interested to hear comments, especially related to reliability, cooling and noise.

Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO S600 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[SpyderTracks]

Liquid AIO coolers aren't what they used to be. Leaks are extremely rare to the point they just don't happen, and in any case, the coolant is non conductive, so wouldn't damage any components anyway.

I would suggest an AIO on any high end AMD build personally.

 

[OryxAndy]

Do you think the 'Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler' won't be up to the job on a AMD Ryzen 7 3800X ?

 

[OryxAndy]

https://noctua.at/en/cpu/AMD_Ryzen_7_3800X says that a Noctua NH-U14S is sufficient for a AMD Ryzen 7 3800X (no plans to overclock).

 

[SpyderTracks]

The general concensus is not to buy the 3800x, it just doesn't offer any real world gains over the 3700x due to poor binning and high cost, and anyway, it's aimed at overclockers, at stock there's literally no difference:

AMD Ryzen 7 3800X vs. 3700X: What's the Difference?

The latest series of Ryzen CPUs has been out for six weeks and yet only about a week ago were we able to get our hands on...

www.techspot.com

The Noctua will be fine on the 3700x, but it's just I would always suggest an AIO on the 3700x upwards.

 

[OryxAndy]

Ok, thanks. The idea of liquid cooling just makes me nervous! The Noctua does look quite an ugly vision is beige, but I won't be looking at it much.

Yes, I just came across an article saying that there is almost no real world difference between the 3700x and the 3800x. Interesting.

Now trying to work out if there is any real world difference between 3000 MHz DDR4 RAM and 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM (I believe 3200 is the fastest the motherboard supports).

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ok, thanks. The idea of liquid cooling just makes me nervous! The Noctua does look quite an ugly vision is beige, but I won't be looking at it much.

Yes, I just came across an article saying that there is almost no real world difference between the 3700x and the 3800x. Interesting.

Now trying to work out if there is any real world difference between 3000 MHz DDR4 RAM and 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM (I believe 3200 is the fastest the motherboard supports).

Don't get me wrong, as far as air coolers go, the Noctua is about the best. I know their colour scheme is plain awful (I have 2 fans in my build) but performance wise, there really is very little that competes. Apparently they've finally listened to customers and their latest products come in black!

3200MHz is about the optimum for price vs performance for RAM on Ryzen:

Ryzen 3000 Memory Benchmark & Best RAM for Ryzen (fClock, uClock, & mClock) | GamersNexus

stub Memory speed on Ryzen has always been a hot subject, with AMD’s 1000 and 2000 series CPUs responding favorably to fast memory while at the same time having difficulty getting past 3200MHz in Gen1. The new Ryzen 3000 chips officially support memory speeds up to 3200MHz and can reliably run...

www.gamersnexus.net

 

[OryxAndy]

That is helpful. Thanks!

 

[OryxAndy]

And (assuming I don't change my mind again) this is what I will go for:

Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO S600 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

 

[SpyderTracks]

The only other amendment I'd consider would be upping the PSU to a 550W TXm series, it will allow for a better upgrade path and also, the TXm series is just much higher quality, and semi modular so improves airflow in the case which for an air cooler is very important.

 

[OryxAndy]

Probably won't be upgrading much, if at all. But I did consider going for a higher end PSU. I've had a power supply go and fry the motherboard in the past. £77 is a fair chunk of change for an uprated PSU though.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Probably won't be upgrading much, if at all. But I did consider going for a higher end PSU. I've had a power supply go and fry the motherboard in the past. £77 is a fair chunk of change for an uprated PSU though.

£77 in total for a Gold PSU isn't bad at all, they're well worth it.

 

[Suffolk User]

I have a fairly similar requirement - mostly development, a bit of not-very-demanding gaming, but quiet and reliable - so I have been reading this with interest. Can I ask about the fans in the case? What would this configuration come with?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I have a fairly similar requirement - mostly development, a bit of not-very-demanding gaming, but quiet and reliable - so I have been reading this with interest. Can I ask about the fans in the case? What would this configuration come with?

If you click on the case image it shows you all the details. This one comes with:
1x 120mm Pre-Installed Front Fan
1x 120mm Pre-Installed Rear Fan

With capacity for:
2x 120/140mm Fan Support Front
2x 120/140mm Fan Support Top
1x 120mm Fan Support Rear

 

[OryxAndy]

£77 in total for a Gold PSU isn't bad at all, they're well worth it.

Actually, it looks like the 550 TX is only around £33 (+VAT) more expensive than the 450 VS.

 

[OryxAndy]

I have a fairly similar requirement - mostly development, a bit of not-very-demanding gaming, but quiet and reliable - so I have been reading this with interest. Can I ask about the fans in the case? What would this configuration come with?

Hard to know what the optimal number of fans is for price/cooling/noise. I guess too many is better than too few.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hard to know what the optimal number of fans is for price/cooling/noise. I guess too many is better than too few.

Not necessarily. A good case will maximise airflow with the included fans, and often adding more will cause black spots inside the case where you get negative pressure, or no flow at all and it can cause worse thermals. That's why it's worth investing in a good case as the amount of science and technology that goes into creating a good flow path is increased. It's obviously not necessarily the case that more expensive is better, not at all, but certain cases just do their job much better.

 

[OryxAndy]

Ordered! Thanks for your help spydertracks.

 

[Scott]

I wouldn't recommend that S600 case, it's an absolute toaster. I know it has "silent" in the title but it's at the huge expense of airflow.

The Define R6 is the case you want for silence. It's as quiet as the S600 but actually allows airflow through it for the system to cool.

The Noctua will do fine with the 3700X, it's a good pairing with the Define R6 also. If you wanted to go down the AIO route you would need the H100i RGB Platinum (It's silent) but it's quite expensive so I would probably stick with the Noctua in this case.

You could save a few quid on the M2 drive by opting for the Adata SX6000. They are great drives, not quite as nippy as the Evo but as far as real world goes..... they are insanely fast.

 

[OryxAndy]

@The_Scotster When I looked online I found a few reviews of the S600. A couple mentioned that it runs hots and a couple didn't mention heat issues. I'm not sure that PCSpecialist will let me change my order now that I have submitted it.