New gaming/Photo Editing PC - UPDATE

[benji1867]

Hi all

This is what I've settled on and ordered for a bit of gaming, (Warzone/Microsoft Flight Sim + less demanding games) and for RAW image photo editing on Lightroom and Photoshop. My old laptop is way too slow now so I've treat myself to this. Can anyone see any glaring issues as this is my first proper PC in well over a decade so I'm a bit of a noob so to speak. #

Thanks for taking the time.

Ben

Case	LIAN LI LANCOOL II GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-10700KF (3.8GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard	ASUS® TUF GAMING B460-PLUS: ATX, LGA1200, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)	32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card	6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive	2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive	NONE
1st M.2 SSD Drive	1TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 1880 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply	CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling	PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler Change to: PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste	ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting	NONE
Extra Case Fans	2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card	10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card	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
Operating System	Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]

 

[Martinr36]

Please read before posting:- Collaboration of Helpful Hints

NB: These forums are not an official support channel. None of us work for PCS, we're all either customers or techies who just like to help out where possible. For any official support, you need to contact PCS directly either through your PCS account, or via the contact details on the main...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

And particularly read this one

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[benji1867]

Please read before posting:- Collaboration of Helpful Hints

NB: These forums are not an official support channel. None of us work for PCS, we're all either customers or techies who just like to help out where possible. For any official support, you need to contact PCS directly either through your PCS account, or via the contact details on the main...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

And particularly read this one

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Thanks very much for the assistance, have changed my order to the below specs. Initially i am just using a standard 1080p screen but in the coming weeks/months i will be upgrading to ideally a 4k ips panel. Any thoughts on the build going forward?

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 1880 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting
2x 50cm ARGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
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 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]

 

[benji1867]

Hi all,

So this is my 2nd attempt at this as i did do it a little half cocked the first time and I've gone away and done a little research.

My current monitor set up is 2x very basic AOC e2250Swda (liberated from work) but within a couple of months ill be upgrading to a single larger monitor, budget for that will approx £250.00 (more than happy to take advice on that too).

My uses for this will be mainly be for editing photography with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and FPS / Aircraft Sim games. Id like to add a couple of large HDD's later on and/or maybe a SATA as well. The child in me would like plenty of RGB whilst also trying to futureproof a little.


Here are the specs im looking at and my top end budget id like to be £1600 but could stretch a little.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX MB530P RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 1880 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2x 50cm ARGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
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
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 16 working days
Price: £1,638.00 including VAT and Delivery

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/mVJb6qjUHM/

thanks for taking the time to read on and i look forward to your help and assistance.

Ben

 

[Steveyg]

This is the machine I would personally want for what you're doing, I've changed the motherboard, case, PSU and CPU cooling. Motherboard you had overspecced on and the other items I changed to give you a little more longevity. I changed the case to a slighter cheaper case that will be perfectly fine to help save a £

I've also readjusted your storage to something that makes more sense, I'll do a strictly £1600 build here now for comparison

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2x 50cm ARGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
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
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 16 working days
Price: £1,816.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/aAJ6kvrYZT/

 

[Steveyg]

For £1600 I would be looking at something like this, but both system I put together with longevity and upgrades in mind. One has a higher base CPU basically

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
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 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 16 working days
Price: £1,596.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/5aWYjDDTeZ/

 

[benji1867]

Thanks for that @Steveyg. I’ll take a look. Would you mind explaining why you’ve changed what I chose so I can better understand where I went ‘wrong’

thanks
Ben

 

[Steveyg]

Yeah no problem just need to remember what I changed and why here.

The motherboard you originally specced is really for the top end of CPU but the CPU you selected and your budget has you on the mid to high tier of CPU. Meaning you've over specced on the motherboard, it was capable of a lot more than you needed so I selected another board more suited to the parts selected and listed and more suitable to the budget. It's a great motherboard and perfectly capable of anything you need it for, but you didn't have to spend more on the higher grade which is designed for extreme temps and data transfer of the top end CPU's

Secondly the case I went for offers better airflow and helps keep the parts cooler. Case has a lot of personal preferences in them but I went with one I thought would suit your needs.

CPU cooling I went with the Master Liquid Lite 240, I have this CPU cooler it's great! The PCS Frostflows you had selected are generic unbranded CPU coolers that are unreliable and inconsistent. You're better with a more reliable option from a reliable manufacturer

One the storage I went with a smaller M2 for the operating system and then another M2 for your files. This lets you have your OS and files on two separate drives meaning making changes to one wont affect the other. Should you ever run into problems with the OS and have to reset you wont lose all of your files for example.

The PSU I went for was to guarantee a longer lifespan of the build, this PSU will power anything you throw at it for the foreseeable future and price PCS offer it at it's a steal. That PSU will outlive the rest of the components in the build, gives it loads of overhead so you have tonnes of room to add new components and upgrade without having to worry about power consumption and it also allows it to run on a light load extending it's life further

Any other questions fire away

 

[benji1867]

Thanks very much for the input, I realistically can’t go much over £1600, as much as I love the £1800 built the budget just isn’t there sadly.

Now realistically with what I’ll be doing will I notice the difference between 5600x and 5800x?

 

[Bigfoot]

Thanks very much for the input, I realistically can’t go much over £1600, as much as I love the £1800 built the budget just isn’t there sadly.

Now realistically with what I’ll be doing will I notice the difference between 5600x and 5800x?

For LR and PS there will probably be about a 10-15% difference. @NoddyPilot has a 5600x based photo editing PC and I think he is happy with it.

 

[NoddyPirate]

Thanks very much for the input, I realistically can’t go much over £1600, as much as I love the £1800 built the budget just isn’t there sadly.

Now realistically with what I’ll be doing will I notice the difference between 5600x and 5800x?

Hi there! It depends on your worklfow with PS and LR really. Typically the difference between the two CPU's is most visible with heavy multi-core work such as - large photomerges such as panoramas or HDRs, building lots of previews all in one go, exporting or converting large amounts of inages at the same time - that sort of thing.

If you do lots of that sort of stuff then you see a difference between the 5800X and 5600X. If you do these things, but only with small numbers of images (for example - 2 or 3 images in a merge, or exporting 10 images at a time - that sort of thing) then the 5800X will still be just as much ahead of the 5600X, but the times for these actions are so low to start with that it won't be all that noticeable in real life - if you know what I mean.

For the majority of other functions, it's single core performance that matters and the visible performance is about the same between the two as there is only 100 MHz (or perhaps a little more depending on the silicon lottery) between their single core boosts....

For PS there is less between them, but the 5800X will beat the 5600X in stuff like content aware selections & sharpening for example. But again these things only take between 10 to 20 seconds anyway, so a 15 or 20% improvement is less noticeable again.

Given your GPU choice, I would say you would be fine with the 5600X - because all your gaming will still be completely utterly limited by the GPU anyway I think.....

That's everything as I understand it - other opinions always welcome of course! As @Bigfoot says I have the 5600X - also with 32 GB of RAM which is the important thing to me - and I find it great. But then I came from a ten year old 2 core i3!!!

 

[benji1867]

Hi there! It depends on your worklfow with PS and LR really. Typically the difference between the two CPU's is most visible with heavy multi-core work such as - large photomerges such as panoramas or HDRs, building lots of previews all in one go, exporting or converting large amounts of inages at the same time - that sort of thing.

If you do lots of that sort of stuff then you see a difference between the 5800X and 5600X. If you do these things, but only with small numbers of images (for example - 2 or 3 images in a merge, or exporting 10 images at a time - that sort of thing) then the 5800X will still be just as much ahead of the 5600X, but the times for these actions are so low to start with that it won't be all that noticeable in real life - if you know what I mean.

For the majority of other functions, it's single core performance that matters and the visible performance is about the same between the two as there is only 100 MHz (or perhaps a little more depending on the silicon lottery) between their single core boosts....

For PS there is less between them, but the 5800X will beat the 5600X in stuff like content aware selections & sharpening for example. But again these things only take between 10 to 20 seconds anyway, so a 15 or 20% improvement is less noticeable again.

Given your GPU choice, I would say you would be fine with the 5600X - because all your gaming will still be completely utterly limited by the GPU anyway I think.....

That's everything as I understand it - other opinions always welcome of course! As @Bigfoot says I have the 5600X - also with 32 GB of RAM which is the important thing to me - and I find it great. But then I came from a ten year old 2 core i3!!!

Hi Noddy

I think your firsthand experience and explanation has settled me on the 5600x, I’m settled on the motherboard, RAM, GPU. I’m just unsure on memory options, cooling and psu. Any other thoughts on that? I guess this is a common theme but I feel like I’m constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul.

thanks again
Ben

 

[benji1867]

Also this is where I’m coming from so either way I’m sure I’ll see a heck of a difference

 

[NoddyPirate]

Also this is where I’m coming from so either way I’m sure I’ll see a heck of a difference

You'll be made up when you replace that! Not far off where I came from either....

Just my opinions here so take as nothing more. Others will differ in their advice I expect....

Memory - Your raw images can happily live on a HDD if required - it will not affect your performance in LR in any way while you are working on images as LR uses your previews for that. It just slows down imports and exports. But the OS should be on the fastest drive possible - ideally a separate one just for the OS itself and few other core programs, apps and LR catalogs should be on quick drives also - M.2 again preferably but SSD if they must. Bulk storage and docs and raw files can live anywhere at all after that. I think that is more or less in line with others above here?

Cooling - If you want to save cash you could stick with the stock cooler. The 5600X is a 65W TDP chip - bascially the least thermally intensive. As I have discovered in another thread here, you will still gain a little performance with a cooler 5600X over a warmer one - even if it's not hot - under multi core loads. So the colder the better for performance bascially, but you could survive with the stock AMD cooler. I would say for your use case an AIO is not necessary with the 5600X if you are short on budget, and if you wish to avoid the PCS generic air coolers as many here will advise, you could go with the stock cooler, see how it works out, and if it is a little too warm then buy yourself a tower air cooler or the AIO and install it yourself later.

I have an tower cooler btw and it's works fine with the 5600X so it doesn't need a crazy intensive cooling system.

PSU - there is no question that avoiding the CV series is the most important thing here - after that it comes down to efficiency and future proofing - PSU's generally run most efficient at around 50-60% of their rated load - the last question is future proofing.....

I don't see any benefit ultimately in saving on the PSU if you can afford not to - the Rm or better yet RMx series are great and will last however long you want them to. In terms of wattage it may appear that there is no economy in buying a high power PSU if you are unlikely to have it running anywhere near that 60% rating in the future. But the difference in price is not that large and a great quality PSU could even outlast your build and find it's way into your next PC - who knows! So try your best to stick with the suggested offerings above.

That's me done! You'll hear other opinions on the above so wait for those and see how you feel......

 

[NoddyPirate]

Sorry everyone - bad advice given earlier due to my worrying infatuation with tower air cooling. I've cleaned up and edited everything now. Apologies Mods.....

 

[benji1867]

You'll be made up when you replace that! Not far off where I came from either....

Just my opinions here so take as nothing more. Others will differ in their advice I expect....

Memory - Your raw images can happily live on a HDD if required - it will not affect your performance in LR in any way while you are working on images as LR uses your previews for that. It just slows down imports and exports. But the OS should be on the fastest drive possible - ideally a separate one just for the OS itself and few other core programs, apps and LR catalogs should be on quick drives also - M.2 again preferably but SSD if they must. Bulk storage and docs and raw files can live anywhere at all after that. I think that is more or less in line with others above here?

Cooling - If you want to save cash you could stick with the stock cooler. The 5600X is a 65W TDP chip - bascially the least thermally intensive. As I have discovered in another thread here, you will still gain a little performance with a cooler 5600X over a warmer one - even if it's not hot - under multi core loads. So the colder the better for performance bascially, but you could survive with the stock AMD cooler. I would say for your use case an AIO is not necessary with the 5600X if you are short on budget, and if you wish to avoid the PCS generic air coolers as many here will advise, you could go with the stock cooler, see how it works out, and if it is a little too warm then buy yourself a tower air cooler or the AIO and install it yourself later.

I have an tower cooler btw and it's works fine with the 5600X so it doesn't need a crazy intensive cooling system.

PSU - there is no question that avoiding the CV series is the most important thing here - after that it comes down to efficiency and future proofing - PSU's generally run most efficient at around 50-60% of their rated load - the last question is future proofing.....

I don't see any benefit ultimately in saving on the PSU if you can afford not to - the Rm or better yet RMx series are great and will last however long you want them to. In terms of wattage it may appear that there is no economy in buying a high power PSU if you are unlikely to have it running anywhere near that 60% rating in the future. But the difference in price is not that large and a great quality PSU could even outlast your build and find it's way into your next PC - who knows! So try your best to stick with the suggested offerings above.

That's me done! You'll hear other opinions on the above so wait for those and see how you feel......

Thanks very much, I’ve jiggled things around, what do you think? Bear in mind the 1660 gpu is a placeholder, it’ll be a 2060 when I order.

 

[NoddyPirate]

I think I would like to see another M.2 or SSD in there really OP. The 500GB M.2 would be ideal for your OS, but won't have enough room for that many additional games or apps on top of it. MSFS 2020 will fill 150GB or more all on it's own too! In general for LR catalogs for exmple you would want about 20% free space on the drive minimum - which makes it a 400 GB drive in usable terms. A second M.2 would be the best choice for catalogs and games and so on (even the slowest M.2 makes standard SSD look silly) that way they remain separate from your OS so they aren't affected by re-installs or issues with W10. Try to avoid putting apps on HDD if at all possible.

If money is tight though it becomes really tough to balance usability against speed in these cases - you could of course stick with your plan - and simply add a second M.2 later when budget allows. That would be better in the long run than scrimping now and getting two slower drives.

I have the following - but I was way over my budget and had stopped feeding the kids to save enough money to get it - so it could have/should have been a better setup in terms of speed:

500 GB PCS M.2 - OS and primary apps such as LR and PS
500 GB PCS M.2 - Steam Games, LR Catalogs, and other peripheral apps.
2TB HDD - RAW Images, OneDrive, documents, Backup #1, etc, etc.

Just remember that the B550 chipset only allows for one full speed M.2 - up to 7,500 MB/s - and a second one at 3,500 MB/s max, so a 970 EVO M.2 or similar is the highest spec M.2 you should be putting in that slot without wasting money.

 

[benji1867]

I think I would like to see another M.2 or SSD in there really OP. The 500GB M.2 would be ideal for your OS, but won't have enough room for that many additional games or apps on top of it. MSFS 2020 will fill 150GB or more all on it's own too! In general for LR catalogs for exmple you would want about 20% free space on the drive minimum - which makes it a 400 GB drive in usable terms. A second M.2 would be the best choice for catalogs and games and so on (even the slowest M.2 makes standard SSD look silly) that way they remain separate from your OS so they aren't affected by re-installs or issues with W10. Try to avoid putting apps on HDD if at all possible.

If money is tight though it becomes really tough to balance usability against speed in these cases - you could of course stick with your plan - and simply add a second M.2 later when budget allows. That would be better in the long run than scrimping now and getting two slower drives.

I have the following - but I was way over my budget and had stopped feeding the kids to save enough money to get it - so it could have/should have been a better setup in terms of speed:

500 GB PCS M.2 - OS and primary apps such as LR and PS
500 GB PCS M.2 - Steam Games, LR Catalogs, and other peripheral apps.
2TB HDD - RAW Images, OneDrive, documents, Backup #1, etc, etc.

Just remember that the B550 chipset only allows for one full speed M.2 - up to 7,500 MB/s - and a second one at 3,500 MB/s max, so a 970 EVO M.2 or similar is the highest spec M.2 you should be putting in that slot without wasting money.

So, how does this look, I’ve broken my budget and I’ll add a decent SDD later so I can separate files/apps

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX MB530P RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 1880 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2x 50cm ARGB LED Strip
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
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
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 16 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/mXTSnXn7wq/

 

[NoddyPirate]

I think it looks fantastic. You have basically maximised the features of that motherboard, added a super long life PSU and the 2060 later will give a really strong all around build.

Basically - is there any chance you could order two and send me one???? 🙏

The SDD addition later is a good idea and will be cost effective too. My plan is also to upgrade in a similar way down the road.

Any final words from @Bigfoot or @Steveyg ??

 

[benji1867]

Since the mrs only thinks I’m going to be spending £1200 I probably shouldn’t get 2 of them 😂