[Joxster]

Originally Posted by AnandB

Tbf the gaming is only applicable at 1080p where it is cpu bound. I checked loads of reviews and there is negligible gain over 3xxx series or even 10900k at 1440p or 4k.

Absolutely correct. The higher the resolution, the more GPU bound you are. Not taking anything away from AMD though, Zen 3 is a killer architecture, and reviewers needed to show 1080p benchmarks for people to see the improvement

Originally Posted by TRR

And thanks to both of you for suggesting to wait for the 5600X. Your advice stopped me from impulsively pulling the trigger on a 3600XT at that time.

Glad to be of assistance!

Originally Posted by TRR

@ Joxster, I know you suggested not to go for the RTX 3070 for my use case, but I got an opportunity to purchase the RTX 3070 Founder's Edition and couldn't stop myself from going for it. Figured the RTX 3060 would take some time to launch at which point, it would make just as much sense to wait for the AMD equivalent before taking a call and on and on would go the endless wait.

Congratulations! The only reason I suggested not to go for the 3070 was to save you some money, but the heart wants what the heart wants eh?

Would love to see the final build once it comes together. Do let us know if you have any further questions along the way.

Cheers

[TRR]

Originally Posted by Joxster

Would love to see the final build once it comes together. Do let us know if you have any further questions along the way.

Cheers

Thanks for all the help!

I guess the build is more or less finalized now. Made some purchases over the weekend and managed to put these things together at a fairly decent price. Though I guess there will be some more minor knick-knacks to be purchased when the unit is actually being put together.

These are the final specs of my build:

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard - Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wifi
CPU Cooler - Lian Li Galahad AIO 240mm
GPU - Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 8GB Founder's Edition
RAM - Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 2x16GB 3200 MHz
SSD 1 - Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe M.2 250GB (Boot Drive)
SSD 2 - WD Black SN750 NVMe M.2 1TB
PSU - Cooler Master Master Watt 750W 80 Plus Bronze
Cabinet - Lian Li Lancool II Mesh RGB (Black)
Additional Cabinet Fan - Noctua NF-P12 redux
Other accessories - one Lian Li 24-pin Strimer Extension cable, and some AliExpress purchases for additional RGB effects

Is it a bit over the top for 1080p 144Hz gaming? Yes, most definitely. But hey, it fit well within the budget I set out for myself at the beginning and who can say no to more power than required. Never know when it can come in handy.

The actual building will have to wait till January as the RAM, the WD Black SSD and the Noctua fan are with my brother. But other than that, yup, my upgrade journey has more or less come to its end.

Attaching a few pictures of the purchases made:

1) Managed to get a hold of this yesterday



2) All the pieces with me in Bangalore

[RJK]

Hi Guys,

Need your help. Looking to buy a Desktop for home use - General web browsing, Excel, email, youtube. Not looking to do any sort of gaming, Mild Photo & video editing at all. Previous build I assembled from Lamington road has lasted me well past 5 years whereas my monitor is a 19" Acer bought in 2010. So I'm definitely looking to change the monitor to something bigger.

Total budget - Rs 40-50k INR

I'm so out of touch with computers these days that all processor names, chipset, motherboards etc are sounding like greek & latin to me :P

I'm ok with buying a Dell CPU off the rack or going to Lamington road & assembling my own CPU either.

Suggestions & Help please!

Cheers

[F150]

Originally Posted by TRR

Thanks for all the help!

I guess the build is more or less finalized now. Made some purchases over the weekend and managed to put these things together at a fairly decent price. Though I guess there will be some more minor knick-knacks to be purchased when the unit is actually being put together.

These are the final specs of my build:

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard - Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wifi
CPU Cooler - Lian Li Galahad AIO 240mm
GPU - Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 8GB Founder's Edition
RAM - Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 2x16GB 3200 MHz
SSD 1 - Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe M.2 250GB (Boot Drive)
SSD 2 - WD Black SN750 NVMe M.2 1TB
PSU - Cooler Master Master Watt 750W 80 Plus Bronze
Cabinet - Lian Li Lancool II Mesh RGB (Black)
Additional Cabinet Fan - Noctua NF-P12 redux
Other accessories - one Lian Li 24-pin Strimer Extension cable, and some AliExpress purchases for additional RGB effects

Is it a bit over the top for 1080p 144Hz gaming? Yes, most
2) All the pieces with me in Bangalore

Attachment 2078927

Instead of 2X 16GB, please go for 4x8GB

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by F150

Instead of 2X 16GB, please go for 4x8GB

Not necessary if the 16GB dimm is dual rank. Most are dual rank.

[Amien]

Originally Posted by RJK

Hi Guys,

Need your help. Looking to buy a Desktop for home use - General web browsing, Excel, email, Youtube. Not looking to do any sort of gaming, Mild Photo & video editing at all. Previous build I assembled from Lamington road has lasted me well past 5 years whereas my monitor is a 19" Acer bought in 2010. So I'm definitely looking to change the monitor to something bigger.

Total budget - Rs 40-50k INR

I'm so out of touch with computers these days that all processor names, chipset, motherboards etc are sounding like greek & latin to me :P

I'm ok with buying a Dell CPU off the rack or going to Lamington road & assembling my own CPU either.

Suggestions & Help please!

Cheers

Definitely assemble as there hasn't been a better time to do so in recent memory. Here's a sample build for your reference:-

AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 4350G 3.8GHz Processor
GIGABYTE A520M DS3H Motherboard
ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 256GB PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 NVME SSD AGAMMIXS11P-256GT-C
Cooler Master Masterbox K501L RGB Cabinet
Antec NE550M Power Supply
G.skill Trident Z RGB Series 16GB (2x8GB) 3600 MHz DDR4 Memory F4-3600C18D-16GTZR

Should total to about 40k.

[RJK]

Originally Posted by Amien

Definitely assemble as there hasn't been a better time to do so in recent memory. Here's a sample build for your reference:-

AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 4350G 3.8GHz Processor
GIGABYTE A520M DS3H Motherboard
ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 256GB PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 NVME SSD AGAMMIXS11P-256GT-C
Cooler Master Masterbox K501L RGB Cabinet
Antec NE550M Power Supply
G.skill Trident Z RGB Series 16GB (2x8GB) 3600 MHz DDR4 Memory F4-3600C18D-16GTZR

Should total to about 40k.

Thanks, Amien! Atleast now I have a starting point to start looking.
Btw, my existing processor is also AMD, (snapshot below). One more question, my existing set up is working ok, feels a little slower & pretty sure it'll die if I load photoshop on it. Will the existing power supply be usable on the newer CPU? It is a generic lamington road power supply which has worked so far w/o problem.

I was casually browsing through Dell website for a ready CPU & could find only Intel i3 range processors under 45k. For that matter, Dell offers only Intel processors, not a single AMD processor!

Also, any suggestion for a good monitor? Preferably 24".

Cheers

[rkv_2401]

Originally Posted by RJK

One more question, my existing set up is working ok, feels a little slower & pretty sure it'll die if I load photoshop on it. Will the existing power supply be usable on the newer CPU? It is a generic lamington road power supply which has worked so far w/o problem.

Hi RJK,

Even though it's likely that your old power supply will work on the new desktop, I'd suggest getting an inexpensive branded power supply such as the one Amien has mentioned or a Corsair CV/VS450. The reason for this being that the generic power supplies can behave in a manner which is a bit dicey under heavy load/voltage spikes/unforeseeable circumstances, whereas these branded ones have(or at least feel like they have) better safety measures. I had a Corsair CX450 in my then-new build, and it got hit with a 440V supply surge under full load. The power supply understandably failed, but it protected the much-more expensive internals of my computer.

[Amien]

Originally Posted by RJK

Thanks, Amien! Atleast now I have a starting point to start looking.
Btw, my existing processor is also AMD, (snapshot below).

It is a generic lamington road power supply which has worked so far w/o problem.

I was casually browsing through Dell website for a ready CPU & could find only Intel i3 range processors under 45k. For that matter, Dell offers only Intel processors, not a single AMD processor!

Also, any suggestion for a good monitor? Preferably 24".

Cheers

Current setup looks to be an AM1 based APU. Worlds apart from the sort of performance you'd be looking at today. I wouldn't re-use the old SMPS. Power supplies are like insurance for the rest of the build, cutting corners there is a very bad idea as electrical damage will void just about every manufacturer's warranty. You also miss out on modern sleep/standby features, plus increased heat/power/noise from an inefficient unit.

Similarly, those i3 Dell boxes are not in the same league of something you could build yourself so please avoid them.

As for the monitor, this 75hz Samsung 24-inch IPS panel is a good all-round choice. Consider the BenQ GW2480T if you need an adjustable stand.

[F150]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Not necessary if the 16GB dimm is dual rank. Most are dual rank.

Please see below.

https://youtu.be/-UkGu6A-6sQ

[Joxster]

Originally Posted by F150

Please see below.

What reignofchaos said is correct. GN's video unfortunately caused a lot of confusion for a lot of people. Dual rank can either be achieved by running 4xDIMMs of single rank, or 2xDIMMs of dual rank - the results will be the same.

Hardware Unboxed made a video further explaining this (below), and in fact, they made a video showing this very subject over 9 months ago which was not at all confusing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGux0pANft0

Cheers

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by F150

Please see below.

Please do your research before you link videos or at least watch them in the entirety. He used 4 sticks of 8gigs which made it dual rank. You can achieve the same net effect with two 16GB dual rank modules. The memory controller doesn't care if the chips are on one dimm or two.

Again as I mentioned, not all 16gig sticks are dual rank but most are.

[RJK]

Originally Posted by Amien

Definitely assemble as there hasn't been a better time to do so in recent memory. Here's a sample build for your reference:-

AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 4350G 3.8GHz Processor
GIGABYTE A520M DS3H Motherboard
ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 256GB PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 NVME SSD AGAMMIXS11P-256GT-C
Cooler Master Masterbox K501L RGB Cabinet
Antec NE550M Power Supply
G.skill Trident Z RGB Series 16GB (2x8GB) 3600 MHz DDR4 Memory F4-3600C18D-16GTZR

Should total to about 40k.

Hi Amien,
So I just added the above configuration in Prime ABGB cart & it comes exactly to INR 39,040 - your estimate was bang on the money. However, I see that it doens't include a Hard disk. Any suggestion for it? Don't necessarily need SSD, or is it wise to get it? Thing is budget crosses 55k including a monitor etc.

Another thing, how reliable is Prime ABGB for buying online by credit card & do they provide best prices? I'm being told to avoid going to Lamington by family due to the virus & whatnot.

Amazon seems to be priced higher for every component (whatever is available) than Prime ABGB.

Thanks in advance for your help dude!

[Amien]

Originally Posted by RJK

Hi Amien,
So I just added the above configuration in Prime ABGB cart & it comes exactly to INR 39,040 - your estimate was bang on the money. However, I see that it doens't include a Hard disk. Any suggestion for it? Don't necessarily need SSD, or is it wise to get it? Thing is budget crosses 55k including a monitor etc.

Another thing, how reliable is Prime ABGB for buying online by credit card & do they provide best prices? I'm being told to avoid going to Lamington by family due to the virus & whatnot.

Amazon seems to be priced higher for every component (whatever is available) than Prime ABGB.

Thanks in advance for your help dude!

You absolutely want an SSD as that's were the bulk of speed/responsiveness is going to come from. Add in a HDD if you want mass storage(you can always add more drives later) but the OS/main programs should go on the SSD.

I've been buying from Prime for the last ~10 years, they are about as reliable as they come. The prices are also going to be hard to beat; being distributors for many brands and the sheer volume they trade in. Would also recommend against a trip to lamington at this time. Use them for what's available, use Amazon for what isn't (monitor etc.)

I didn't realize the budget was to include a monitor. My advice would be to not optimize for budget as the vast portion of your investment is a sunk cost and so its not a good idea to jeopardize the whole build for a couple of k's. Add extra storage later, the build + monitor(like the Samsung linked previously) should come in only a little bit north of 50k. You might be able to shave off 2-3k going with cheaper RAM/SSD/PSU/Motherboard if you must.

You're most welcome

[RJK]

Originally Posted by Amien

You absolutely want an SSD as that's were the bulk of speed/responsiveness is going to come from. Add in a HDD if you want mass storage(you can always add more drives later) but the OS/main programs should go on the SSD.

I've been buying from Prime for the last ~10 years, they are about as reliable as they come. The prices are also going to be hard to beat; being distributors for many brands and the sheer volume they trade in. Would also recommend against a trip to lamington at this time. Use them for what's available, use Amazon for what isn't (monitor etc.)

I didn't realize the budget was to include a monitor. My advice would be to not optimize for budget as the vast portion of your investment is a sunk cost and so its not a good idea to jeopardize the whole build for a couple of k's. Add extra storage later, the build + monitor(like the Samsung linked previously) should come in only a little bit north of 50k. You might be able to shave off 2-3k going with cheaper RAM/SSD/PSU/Motherboard if you must.

You're most welcome

You're right. My current configuration is about 5yrs old, so I won't upgrade/buy every year. Ok with spending upto 60k as after that I'll still have to buy Windows 10 license & MS Office license. That'll add about 12-15k I suppose.

Any recommendation for SSD & capacity? I guess 500GB SSD is enough for booting purpose? I have a number of external hard drives.

One more thing, this motherboard/CPU comes with adequate number of USB 3.0 ports, right? With so many devices, more USB Ports = always better!

I truly appreciate your patience in answering my queries. If needed, I can take it over PM.

Cheers!