OK, every once in a while I get the itch...

[Toad]

to build a new computer and get back to furballing. I am undecided on spending the bucks at the moment. I might or I might not. I appreciate you folks input though on the hardware.

Right now I have:

ASUS P7P55D Pro mobo running an i7 870 @ 2.93 GHz, 16GB of Corsair DDR3 @ 1600MHz, Win 7 Pro 64bit and the card is a Radeon 7800 series, 750W power supply.

This has been a problematic mobo; it never would recognize the 4MB sticks of RAM in A1 & A2. It's a problem with that board apparently. So I never had the 16GB I bought, only 8GB working. ASUS wanted me to send it in for repair which would have cost more than it was worth at the time.

So I'm reconsidering a Ryzen 5 build similar to what I talked about way back in my 2017 thread.

AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor
ASRock X470 Taichi ATX AM4 Motherboard (wireless and Bluetooth as I'll probably have to play from my Verizon phone)
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3466
ASRock Radeon RX 580 8 GB Phantom Gaming X Video Card

I already have a good, large, well ventilated CoolerMaster case, a 750W power supply, WD Blue 500GB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 16MB Cache and all the other computer necessaries.

Might need to upgrade the Hard Drive I guess. Maybe SSD? Yes/No? Maybe even the OS although I do not love WIN10.

Could get the above stuff for about $650 (not including a new storage drive).

So how capable would that system be in AH? Might be playing America's Army with Rude also; good enough for that?

Thoughts? Critiques?

[FLS]

The monitor resolution is a factor for video cards. For a 1080P monitor at 60Hz I think your specs will work but you may be happier with the Ryzen 5 3600X and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super. I have no experience with either one, just looking at reviews.

SSD will give you faster load times but no gaming advantage. I'd put the money into GPU and CPU first, in that order since AH3 stresses GPU more than CPU.

[Toad]

Those two changes would bump the build about $175, which is do-able if the benefit is there.

I still have LOTS of room on the WD drive. Kinda ambivalent about adding SSD or different HD. Not sure I'd see any benefit as you say.

Thank you for the input!

[Bizman]

I second FLS with the video card. Although AMD has improved their performance with video cards, Nvidia still make them both cooler and faster.

Changing the CPU is another matter. If you want to save $100, the Ryzen 5 2600 shouldn't create a bottleneck. The motherboard you chose supports both the 2600 and the 3600x should you ever want to change it.

Having the Operating system on an SSD is nice should you need to check your email quickly before leaving home or other hasty tasks. For games they're not a single frame but I've noticed that on games that load stuff between campaigns (like PUBG) the loading time is much shorter on an SSD.

Regarding Windows: I could still install and activate Windows 10 as a clean install using the code of Win7 on January 4th, 2020. I've followed Win10 from the beginning as part of my job and I can tell it has improved a lot, having matured to a solid OS. My biggest concern about it has been privacy and loss of power related to the "phoning home" stuff they have. However, with every version update they've allowed more stuff to be uninstalled or turned off so even that part seems to be taken care of. Smart phones and tablets may actually be much worse in that aspect.

[AAIK]

Looks good. I would probably go with one of the intel 660P SSD though. If you really want to stick to HDD's I suggest a brand new one since they have multiple times the cache of that older model.

[oboe]

Hi Toad,

Bear in mind if you change to a Ryzen 3600X and keep the X470 Taichi, you'll need to update the board's BIOS.  I'm not sure how much of an undertaking this is, but you may want to consider an X570 board to avoid this step.   Asrock has at least one X570 in the same price range as the X470 Taichi, I think it might be called the Steel Legend?

I also think upgrading the GPU is money well spent.  If you dialed your RAM down to DDR4 3200 from 3466, you could save maybe $70 or $80, and use that toward an AMD RX 5700 or 5700 XT - a more modern, capable and power-efficient card.  Asrock makes one, and Power Color's Red Devil 5700 XT is another highly rated 5700 - I think they are $350-$400 range.

Hardware Unboxed did a comparison video with both 2600 and 3600 with several video cards, and at 1080p Ultra Quality settings, the 580 was limiting fps.   You can see how much better a match the power of the 2600/3600 is for the 5700 from his chart at timestamp 13:09 of the video:



I also recommend getting an SSD and Windows 10.   You'll love the fast boot times and your system will be much more current and capable in case you should decide to check out other titles at some point.  A 5700 or 5700XT should also handle VR at mid-quality settings, and I think VR is just a game-changer for flight sims.  Its still early and improvements are sure to come but the more powerful GPU you have, the better off you'll be if you decide to try it.   


 

[Denniss]

Ryzen 3600X is not worth the extra money over a 3600, if you wanna go bigger then 3700X otherwise use the budget 2600
SSD is a must-have nowadays, especially as system drive. HDD feels ultra-slow compared to a SSD. Just dont buy the cheapest or most expensive version. Crucial MX500 with 500GB should be a good start.
For RAM get your hands on Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3200 CL16 - should work at this speed even with ryzen 2000 and is a much better bang for the buck than this overprized Corsair LED-RAM.
What brand/model is your 750W PSU? Too old or bad quality then replace it.

[Toad]

At this point of my life and at this point of AH's life, I'm not going big budget. Yet.

One thing I like about the Ryzen AM4 socket is that if I _really_ decide I need to upgrade, the Ryzens on up to 9 are the same socket. It would all depend on how much fun I'm having. I'm not sure about that mobo though, for reasons Oboe pointed out.

The input is all great. I think probably there is a need for a better GPU than what I originally thought as a couple of you have pointed out.

I figured on the 3466 RAM because of the forward compatibility with the later Ryzen CPUs.

Keep it coming if this engenders any more thoughts. I appreciate it.

[HamrDown]

Id go with second configuration and add a Samsung EVO 860 1 terabyte SSD.

[oboe]

Just heard that nVidia has dropped the price of the Founders Edition RTX 2060 card by $50, down to $299.   Might be worth a look to compare performance of that card to say, RX 5600 XT when released or the RX 5700.   I'm hoping we will see more price drops in video card prices leading up to E3 in June, when nVidia and AMD will supposedly reveal their new high end cards.

[Denniss]

And AMD increased clock rates of the 5600XT in response to nvidia's (anticipated) price cut. But I consider the RX5700 (non-XT) superior to these to 6GB cards

[Bino]

Bino crawls out from under the pool table, oblivious to the stares from the players.

"Toad...? Is that you...?" he croaks. "Debbie! Set up a round of that... whatever... glycol somethingorother... that he drinks!"

[Hajo]

Toad, just got back into the game myself.

[oboe]

Bino crawls out from under the pool table, oblivious to the stares from the players.

"Toad...? Is that you...?" he croaks. "Debbie! Set up a round of that... whatever... glycol somethingorother... that he drinks!"

   I thought of “Debbie” the instant I read “Bino crawls out from under the pool table...”

[Hajo]

Toad in response to your questions a little info on what I am running that runs the game very well with very little adjustments.  Constant FR of 59.

ASUS gaming machine 7 years old. Running Windows 8.1,  CPU i7 3770 3.4, Nvidia 970 graphics card, Western Digital HD (terrabite), 16gb of memory that came with my PC.  Yes I did upgrade to the Nvidia 970 about four years ago and I installed a new power supply, 750 watts.  As you can see it takes very little to run the game well.  You don't need the latest and greatest unless you want bragging rights.