New Build - Any Obvious Flaws

[ColEyt]

This is an upgrade from a 1600x, gtx 1060 with 32gb RAM.

Used for music editing, Photoshop and some gaming at 1080 on Iiyama 28 inch 1920x1200.

Have existing 3x 3tb 3.5 hard drives, 2 dedicated to storing music and photo's (1 working drive , other backup), the other 3tb stores less important docs and non gaming programs. Games stored on 512 Samsung Pro ssd, which I may reuse in this build or use in my media server

Budget is as close to £1,500 as possible ,although there is a little leeway.

Is there any obvious oversights in the build below (already have a Windows 10 retail licence) or any changes you would make for a better fit.

Cheers for any and all assistance



Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II 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 DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/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 Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 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/Y8kp73C5nU/

• https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/why-buy/#iso

 

[Steveyg]

Honestly it's a fairly solid build for what you need, only thing I could recommend is the LiquidLite 240 as a CPU cooler. Mainly because I have it and it works great.

There are guys who here are wizards at optimising storage so maybe they could help on that front

 

[ColEyt]

Honestly it's a fairly solid build for what you need, only thing I could recommend is the LiquidLite 240 as a CPU cooler. Mainly because I have it and it works great.

There are guys who here are wizards at optimising storage so maybe they could help on that front

Thanks for the advice. I've dithered back and forth over the cooler whether to go AIO or not, and eventually decided that I couldn't recall using the Ryzen Master turbo boost function that often on last pc, so decided to stick with the air cooler for now.

I may however be persuaded otherwise

 

[sck451]

Which specific Samsung Pro SSD do you have? Is it a SATA one or an NVMe (M.2) one?

 

[Steveyg]

Thanks for the advice. I've dithered back and forth over the cooler whether to go AIO or not, and eventually decided that I couldn't recall using the Ryzen Master turbo boost function that often on last pc, so decided to stick with the air cooler for now.

I may however be persuaded otherwise

Honestly for 1080p gaming an air cooler would probably do the job, AIO coolers are great these days though so it's hard not to recommend them

 

[ColEyt]

Which specific Samsung Pro SSD do you have? Is it a SATA one or an NVMe (M.2) one?

It's SATA drive, probably about 5 years old

Just checked and it's an 840 EVO 500 GB

 

[sck451]

Here's what I'd go for. I've suggested getting the board with built-in WiFi and getting an M.2 SSD instead of a SATA one (this means less capacity unless you're willing to spend quite a bit more on a much higher-quality one, though it sounds like you have no shortage of storage already...). The cooler situation you can argue several ways: the standard AMD cooler is fine for most purposes, a CoolerMaster 240 would be very powerful indeed: the 212 might well be a decent compromise. Either way, I don't think spending money on the special thermal paste is worth it.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II 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 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 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/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 Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,446.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/5hCTRbq3Zk/

 

[Scott]

This will cost you a little work in the long run but I think it will be worth it.

I've dropped the cooler. As suggested if you want to spend money on a cooler one of the 240 Lite AIOs is a no brainer. They are very cheap and VERY effective. Otherwise you won't get much better than stock.

With the storage I've gone for a 2TB M2 drive. My thinking is that you can transfer your games from your current M2 drive onto the 2TB drive and then use the 512GB drive for the OS. It'll require a little bit of work and installation but in the long run it will be worth it as you will have a TON of super fast storage (great for caching/work too) and you'll have a good 500GB primary drive for the OS.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II 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 DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 3000 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
STANDARD AMD CPU 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,453.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/vmHRmzp9y7/

 

[Deleted member 17413]

If music production is the main aim, is it worth looking at more cores for the CPU?

I got halfway through a post and spec when you posted @Scott lol but i'm curious to learn a bit more.
Heres what i was heading towards, with the idea of him sticking his SSD in as a possible scratch drive, and using the PCS M.2 as a OS and games drive. Also assumed he was using a LAN connection so no WiFi wanted from his starting build.

Also thought about the Define 7 case for silence, but not available atm

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,493.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/9JPK84xT57/

 

[ColEyt]

Thanks SCK451, Scott and SIBUN1 for the feedback, just playing around with all your options.

Sorry for not mentioning earlier, but I don't use wi-fi , always preferred wired connections (kudos to SIBUN1 for picking up on this with very little evidence from me )

Case wise I was originally going for one of the Fractal cases, but it went out of stock as I was playing around with the configurator hence choosing the Lancool, as I wanted a minimum of 3 spaces for 3.5 drives (present system has a further 3 X 1 TB drives as well as the drives previously mentioned, but they will remain in existing system).

2 additional cores would be nice, but it seemed expensive compared to the extra performance, especially given that we've been using 6 cores on a gen.1 processor. Also just read up on the scratch drive route, not something I'd heard of before, so gives me something to ponder, so appreciate that suggestion.

Scott thanks for the suggestion of using my current see as the boot drive, not sure if I made it clear that this is a SATA drive, not M.2, so would that change your thinking ?

Your help and assistance is very much appreciated

Also whilst I've read on the forum that the PCS M.2 drives are highly recommended, would there be any benefit spending a further £17 on the equivalent sized Corsair drive ?

 

[Scott]

Thanks SCK451, Scott and SIBUN1 for the feedback, just playing around with all your options.

Sorry for not mentioning earlier, but I don't use wi-fi , always preferred wired connections (kudos to SIBUN1 for picking up on this with very little evidence from me )

Case wise I was originally going for one of the Fractal cases, but it went out of stock as I was playing around with the configurator hence choosing the Lancool, as I wanted a minimum of 3 spaces for 3.5 drives (present system has a further 3 X 1 TB drives as well as the drives previously mentioned, but they will remain in existing system).

2 additional cores would be nice, but it seemed expensive compared to the extra performance, especially given that we've been using 6 cores on a gen.1 processor. Also just read up on the scratch drive route, not something I'd heard of before, so gives me something to ponder, so appreciate that suggestion.

Scott thanks for the suggestion of using my current see as the boot drive, not sure if I made it clear that this is a SATA drive, not M.2, so would that change your thinking ?

Your help and assistance is very much appreciated

Also whilst I've read on the forum that the PCS M.2 drives are highly recommended, would there be any benefit spending a further £17 on the equivalent sized Corsair drive ?

Ahh I thought you were saying you had a 512GB Samsung Pro M2 drive. As it's a SATA I would recommend something along the lines of the following:

500GB Primary Fast drive (M2 980 Pro)
1TB Secondary Fast Storage for Games & Scratch (M2 PCS 1TB)
Add your 512GB Samsung Pro as an effects storage / work drive
Add your conventional drives for conventional storage.

If you don't need the Wifi then the non-wifi board would be good. I always like to add Wifi just in case though, as much as cable would always be preferred you never know when it might come in handy.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

Ahh I thought you were saying you had a 512GB Samsung Pro M2 drive. As it's a SATA I would recommend something along the lines of the following:

500GB Primary Fast drive (M2 980 Pro)
1TB Secondary Fast Storage for Games & Scratch (M2 PCS 1TB)
Add your 512GB Samsung Pro as an effects storage / work drive
Add your conventional drives for conventional storage.

If you don't need the Wifi then the non-wifi board would be good. I always like to add Wifi just in case though, as much as cable would always be preferred you never know when it might come in handy.

Is the idea of more cores worth anything? I was hoping youd pick my idea apart and teach me stuff

 

[Scott]

Is the idea of more cores worth anything? I was hoping youd pick my idea apart and teach me stuff

Haha sorry

With music production and photo editing most processes tend to be single threaded so the amount of cores won't make much odds. There are exceptions as some processes are multi-threaded but for the most part single core is king. With that being said, with the Ryzen series, the higher level the chip.... the faster the single core speed. The 5800X does actually run faster in single threaded operations than the 5600X, on the box at least. In reality I don't think there is enough of a benefit to justify the spend (You would want to try and eek out the X570 motherboard and you would need a decent cooler at the same time) so I think the 5600X is probably more fitting. When the budget isn't an issue the 5800X would definitely be a fair shout.

RAM offers the real advantage with those uses in mind so having the 3200/3600mhz RAM selected is very important. Loading effects can take up a fair bit of RAM space too so having 32GB is right on the money for a starting point IMO.

 

[ColEyt]

This is where we are up to.

Taken Scott's advice regarding storage, and decided to go the AIO route to.

£11 over budget which I'm comfortable with.

Any final recommendation's
Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II 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 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,511.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/dt6AB8w8CT/

 

[Scott]

Looks spot on to me. I think you will be very happy with how it performs. The boot up and load times will take some time to get used to with the 980 Pro, that's for sure haha.

 

[Steveyg]

This is where we are up to.

Taken Scott's advice regarding storage, and decided to go the AIO route to.

£11 over budget which I'm comfortable with.

Any final recommendation's
Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II 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 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,511.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/dt6AB8w8CT/

That's a super solid build, not a thing I would change

 

[ColEyt]

Ordered a couple of days ago but just had a couple of thoughts that hopefully someone on here will be able to answer , save me bothering support.

The Lancool 2 mesh comes with 3 fans, one of which is top mounted. If the 2 fans for the AIO are situated at the top, will the case fan be relocated elsewhere, or just sent as part of the accessories. Am just wondering if it's worth messaging to ask them to install it as the second front fan when they do the build, or if they will do that anyways.

I also thought I had a spare windows 10 retail licence, but my memory seems to suggest I may have used this when I built my dad's pc. Obviously I have no problem waiting until pc is delivered to see if the licence is in use or not, but just wanted to check if I could still purchase the os after delivery from PCS. Logically I cannot see any reason why I wouldn't be able to, but thought I ask you knowledgble people on here just for clarification.

Many thanks