PC Parts Suggestions

  • Hey guys, I'm looking to upgrade my PC. I already have a whole bunch of parts I'm gonna carry over (case, GPU, storage, PSU, etc), so I'll just list what I need:

    • Motherboard (required: AMD AM4 Socket, 16 PCIE Slots, M2 NVME SSD Slot, 5+ SATA Ports, overclocking)
    • NVME M2 SSD (128+ GB)
    • 16+ GB DDR4 RAM (2 sticks, 2667+ MHz or some that can be reliably OCed to that speed)
    • CPU Cooler (Liquid Cooling, 120/240 mm radiator)

    Mostly looking for mobo/RAM suggestions.

    Here's a PC Part Picker link with stuff I'm looking at. I also threw my Graphics Card and Case on there to show what I already have (they're marked as purchased) - the graphics card isn't exactly what I have, but I couldn't really be bothered to search for it because they're all pretty similar :P


    https://pcpartpicker.com/user/interstellar/saved/TjJJxr

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • good choice with AM4, my suggestion would be to bump up to the 1700 (non-X), and OC to >3.7. Also go with the X370 Taichi, I think it probably has the most comprehensive feature set and best VRM, aside from a couple of Asus boards which are probably super expensive. IIRC MSI cheaped out on the VRM of their boards, and they're not as great as the price would let on

    1700 is marginally more money (265 w/ code psummer15off) http://www.ebay.com/itm/262896694740

    X370 Taichi 190: https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-X370-TA…/dp/B06WXX9FDG/

    Edit: As far as RAM, you want to find something with Samsung B-Dies, since it clocks higher and has tighter timing. something like this will work, whatever you pick just make sure it's Samsung B-Die chips on it: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc…N82E16820232530

  • I was kind of shying away from the 1700 because I have no idea how well it overclocks, and relying on overclocking for performance is always a gamble. Do you have any links that show OCed 1700 performance stats? Especially in comparison to the 1600x, which I was thinking about OCing anyway, and it comes out-of-the-box with better (reported) gaming performance, at a lower price.


    Thanks for the tip on mobos, I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to the parts market (other than CPU/GPU), so I had no idea what the market was like.

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • The highest I've seen either chip is 4.1 Ghz, paying nearly the same price for an essentially identical CPU with 2 less cores doesn't make sense to me. Especially if you have to compile with VS, do any kind of video or photo editing, or stream and game simultaneously.

    http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2835-am…lock-benchmarks

    http://www.legitreviews.com/amd-ryzen-5-16…s-4-1ghz_194024

    FPS will be largely simmilar between the two chips, but trust me the 2 extra cores can become very helpful in many instances. Also keep in mind that these benchmarks are fairly early to the product release, and there have been a number of improvements in applications and AGESA.

  • As far as I can tell, OCing the 1700 brings it up to par with the 1600X on video games. Games are going to be my primary load, and I only work on fairly small projects on VS, so it's not too important. I'm still leaning towards the 1600X.

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • You do make a good point, especially with overclocking and getting an "X variant". I am very much on the fence about this. I'm just concerned about getting less performance, especially in gaming, with the 1700.

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • You do make a good point, especially with overclocking and getting an "X variant". I am very much on the fence about this. I'm just concerned about getting less performance, especially in gaming, with the 1700.

    I mean out of the box the 1600(x) is 200 Mhz faster than the 1700(x), so it does appear on benchmarks to be faster. They will both pretty easily overclock to 4 Ghz +/- 100 mhz, and at equal clock rates are pretty much identical in games

    Edit: Refurbforless ended their sale on eBay :/

  • I'm gonna go for the 1700.

    I don't want any used/refurbished parts, I've just had a bad experience with them in the past, and I think it's too risky.


    Can you suggest any M2 SSDs? If I can get one at 250 GB for a good value, I can go for that too. I'm mostly looking for reliability, I don't really need top-of-the line speed.


    EDIT: Also, I'm actually going for the Asus ROG Strix X370-F mobo, there's a good deal for it here: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1344…0_f_gaming.html

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • Go for the 960 evo 250 GB M.2 SSD, probably the best 250 GB SSD per dollar.

    I'd go with the ASrock X370 Taichi over the strix-f (Not the Crosshair 6 hero, though), better value but not as aesthetically pleasing - you get (at the cost of rear 3 USB ports), an extra M.2 slot, AC Wifi, significantly better VRM, 2 extra Sata ports. Again, up to you, and your requirements, but in my eyes you pay the same price for something that's nicer to look at but has less features, and worse hardware.

    http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X370%20Taichi/#Specification

    https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/R…specifications/

    Edit: To clarify the 1700 link, those processors are new, but the seller's business name happens to just be RefurbForLess.

  • I had a friend who works in a computer repair shop fervently tell me AGAINST getting an Asrock mobo due to reliability issues. As for the extra features, 8 SATA slots are enough, I guess an extra M2 slot can help down the road. I have no practical use for Wifi.

    I don't know, it's possible his experience(s) with Asrock hardware could be a small/bad sample, but I don't necessarily doubt him either.

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • I had a friend who works in a computer repair shop fervently tell me AGAINST getting an Asrock mobo due to reliability issues. As for the extra features, 8 SATA slots are enough, I guess an extra M2 slot can help down the road. I have no practical use for Wifi.

    I don't know, it's possible his experience(s) with Asrock hardware could be a small/bad sample, but I don't necessarily doubt him either.

    I mean I'm typing this to you on an Asus X99 Deluxe which cost > $400, that has a dead ethernet port, within the first 4 months of ownership. Asus has such a horrible RMA department I'd rather just not use the port, and have a PCIe adapter... My X48 Deluxe also had some pretty horrible issues like random restarts

    Overall, both brands have issues, it's impossible to make a flawless product. They are probably equally reliable in reality, although I have had first hand issues with asus, I wouldn't push you against them if you really want to buy a board which is a worse value on the basis of an anecdote.

    Years ago ASRock was a daughter company spun off from Asus, which produced low-mid end boards, but eventually moved to higher end boards, and is no longer owner by asus. They really need a rename,since there is always a stigma associated with being a brand that, at one point, manufactured low-cost low-end boards.

  • People are reporting issues with Memory Speeds on the Asrock... And considering how Ryzen's performance is tied to memory speeds, that does concern me.

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • Thing is, users that have ~3 GHz base speed on their RAM weren't able to achieve even that. Although it does look like the issue is resolved for the "Samsung B Die" RAM.

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • People have better luck with the lower latency kits as well, CAS 14 one I linked to (The Trident Z kit is the same, but better looking and as such, pricier). The memory controller is part of the CPU, and all the mobo does is power the RAM and link it to the memory controller, so either board should perform identically, given both have good a bios.

    if you look at the bios update thread here, there's a lot of people posting success at 3200 with the linked kits (and at the stock 1.35 volts too): https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments…_asrock_taichi/

  • I've decided that I don't want a "first-wave" Ryzen mobo, just risky with reliability. I'd prefer to get a newer one where the mobo guys have had their hands on Ryzen for a while and worked out the kinks. I would get the Asus ROG Strix X370-F, but it only comes with one M.2 slot, and that's the only thing keeping me from deciding on it.

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"

  • I've decided that I don't want a "first-wave" Ryzen mobo, just risky with reliability. I'd prefer to get a newer one where the mobo guys have had their hands on Ryzen for a while and worked out the kinks. I would get the Asus ROG Strix X370-F, but it only comes with one M.2 slot, and that's the only thing keeping me from deciding on it.

    Yeah I do share that same sentiment, but I'd fault the fact that this is a completely new architecture for AMD, and wait for a revised stepping of the processors. depending on the price I'll probably end up going with threadripper, due to the extensive IO and PCIE lane count, which is really where ryzen is lacking IMO. In reality most of the Ryzen boards were tapped out before release, and the only thing that's matured is probably the bios, not the hardware (since really a motherboard is a substrate to provide power and I/O for your system, most of which resides on the CPU or chipset). So I'd wager stability across the Stix-F, Taichi, and C6H is all the same; plus manufactures may occasionally release new hardware revisions of boards, need be (nobody wants to knowingly produce a flawed product).

    It's hard to find reviews of the Strix-f but it appears to be based off of the cheaper Asus Prime x370 Pro, just with a beefier VRM. Whereas the Taichi, and the higher end Fatility X370 pro gaming, compete with the more expensive, top of the line, corshair 6 hero. Here's a comparison which includes the gigabyte K5 (same as K7, but less flashy), that should be avoided. http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8099/a…iew/index1.html

  • Yeah, I'm leaning towards the Crosshair 6 Hero now, mostly because I've had a good experience with Asus in the past (I have Asus right now, and it ran me a solid 5 years), and also they have pretty good overclocking utilities. I'm just hoping I can use (at least) the 3200 MHz on my RAM, but I'd imagine that Asus would try and keep their top-of-the-line motherboard updated and in-check to run properly.

    "Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study hard and be evil."
    "If we do not end wars, wars will end us"