Trisconway
New member
Hi all!
I'm looking at upgrading my current PC. Its heading towards 4.5 years old now and I'm just at a point in my life where something more space friendly would be preferable (I have a 3 year old I need to keep stuff away from and work from home at least 50% of the time so need to be able to comfortably have a couple of laptops set up alongside my own stuff).
My gaming needs are primarily going to be MMOs with the occasional AAA thrown in as well. Other than that the main focus is perhaps spending more now to have something that is going to comfortably run anything well for another 5 - 10 years.
My choices seem to basically come down to either a gaming laptop (probably the Recoil IV with slightly beefed up RAM and GFX card) or a mini PC.
For the mini PC I've put the following together utilising a case that should nicely fit on a shelf in the back corner of my desk:
Case
FRACTAL DESIGN NODE 304 Mini ITX Case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.6GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-I GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, Wi-Fi) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN PORT + Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi excluded on A320I-K)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
I've completely fallen out of the loop with all things computer construction since getting my last tower... So my main questions are as follows:
1. Is this a decent build for what I want? Are there any obvious changes that could be made? Is this going to stand the test of time?
2. Are mini PCs a viable option? Do they run (relatively) quietly, do they have issues with overheating etc. It seems almost cheating to get so much power in such a small case?!
3. Are there any advantages to the laptop beyond the obvious portability? I do tend to work away a lot but I have a Switch which seems to comfortably cover my down time in those instances so being able to carry something with me isnt that high up my list of priorities!
Really appreciate any help and guidance!
Cheers,
Tris
I'm looking at upgrading my current PC. Its heading towards 4.5 years old now and I'm just at a point in my life where something more space friendly would be preferable (I have a 3 year old I need to keep stuff away from and work from home at least 50% of the time so need to be able to comfortably have a couple of laptops set up alongside my own stuff).
My gaming needs are primarily going to be MMOs with the occasional AAA thrown in as well. Other than that the main focus is perhaps spending more now to have something that is going to comfortably run anything well for another 5 - 10 years.
My choices seem to basically come down to either a gaming laptop (probably the Recoil IV with slightly beefed up RAM and GFX card) or a mini PC.
For the mini PC I've put the following together utilising a case that should nicely fit on a shelf in the back corner of my desk:
Case
FRACTAL DESIGN NODE 304 Mini ITX Case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.6GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-I GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, Wi-Fi) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN PORT + Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi excluded on A320I-K)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
I've completely fallen out of the loop with all things computer construction since getting my last tower... So my main questions are as follows:
1. Is this a decent build for what I want? Are there any obvious changes that could be made? Is this going to stand the test of time?
2. Are mini PCs a viable option? Do they run (relatively) quietly, do they have issues with overheating etc. It seems almost cheating to get so much power in such a small case?!
3. Are there any advantages to the laptop beyond the obvious portability? I do tend to work away a lot but I have a Switch which seems to comfortably cover my down time in those instances so being able to carry something with me isnt that high up my list of priorities!
Really appreciate any help and guidance!
Cheers,
Tris