Question New 3900x build for Lightroom, video editing, gaming and VM's

[Johnmcl7]

I have an old i7 3930K system and I've been waiting to see how 3950x prices looked but although they're now on preorder here they're not showing availability for a couple of months so I'm thinking of going ahead with a 3900x build instead which I'm sure will still be a big upgrade on what I have right now. I'm in the UK and mainly use the PC for Lightroom, video editing (Vegas 13 Pro), gaming (including Vive wireless VR which hammers my current CPU) and VM's. I'm currently working on my VMWare certification so I'd like to get a reasonably well feature self contained lab set up on my PC, I also need at least one optical drive bay and preferably six 3.5in drive bay slots. I'm not planning overclocking the system.

These are the new parts I'm considering:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core OEM/Tray Processor (£986.64 @ Newegg UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 CHROMAX.BLACK 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler (£89.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard (£349.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£118.80 @ Alza)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£118.80 @ Alza)
Storage: Corsair MP510 960 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£104.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 678C ATX Mid Tower Case (£146.49 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£89.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Total: £2005.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-26 19:17 GMT+0000

I'll be transplanting the GTX 1070FE, a 2.5in SSD, mixture of 3.5in HHD's, blu-ray optical drive, wireless VR card and 27in 1440p monitor from the current system.

The case appeals as it has six 3.5in bays and an optical drive bay plus seems fairly quiet, reviews seem mixed on it but the recommended alternatives don't have the optical drive or hard drive bays. It's possible to get it a lot cheaper than the rrp which the reviews criticised as being too high.

I've gone round in circles on the motherboard and realise this one is probably overkill but it seems to do everything I want without needing anything additional, I want a few PCI-E slots, eight sata ports (many only have six), a decent number of USB ports and onboard wifi. Each time I settle on a motherboard I read another review that puts me off it.

I'd appreciate any thoughts and alternatives if there's a poor choice of components.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Nice build for the money. I would pick a different case though; something with a better cooling to noise ratio. Unless you do not mind adding spacers on the front panel

 

[Johnmcl7]

Nice build for the money. I would pick a different case though; something with a better cooling to noise ratio. Unless you do not mind adding spacers on the front panel

Thank for your reply, is there any particular case series you would recommend looking at? I'm finding it difficult to identify cases that do what I need as many of them don't have space for optical drives or a decent number of hard drives.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I am little help there. I build almost exclusively full towers. Easy to work in, ample cooling, and I never have to worry if a vid card is too long.

You really could just add some spacers on the front, so it breaths better. Otherwise I suggest posting in cases and cooling. If there is a better choice in mid tower they will know about it. They can direct you to the spacers at the best price too, if you go that route.

 

[DrMrLordX]

@Johnmcl7

If you can find any of the generic Samsung M-die (32 GB per DIMM), that stuff OCs pretty well (DDR4-3333 or higher) and will save you some cash over that lower-density Samsung B-die you've got selected:

Product code is M738A4G43MB1-CTD

M378A4G43MB1-CTD(DDR4) | DRAM | Samsung Semiconductor Global

UDIMM M378A4G43MB1-CTD(DDR4). Find technical product specifications, features and more at Samsung Semiconductor.

www.samsung.com

I think you can get it at memory.net for $128 per DIMM but you might want to shop around. There were also Samsung A-die DIMMs around but those were sold in limited quantity and seem to have sold out everywhere. Can't even find em on eBay!

 

[Johnmcl7]

I am little help there. I build almost exclusively full towers. Easy to work in, ample cooling, and I never have to worry if a vid card is too long.

You really could just add some spacers on the front, so it breaths better. Otherwise I suggest posting in cases and cooling. If there is a better choice in mid tower they will know about it. They can direct you to the spacers at the best price too, if you go that route.

After all that I stupidly hadn't checked the case size and assumed it would fit on the desk but it doesn't and I don't think I'm going to get a mid-tower case that has optical drive bays and a suitable number of HDD bays so it looks like a full tower is the way to go.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I found a Fractal Design R6 fit almost perfectly in the area I wanted and offered an optical drive bay and plenty of HDD bays. I'm very impressed with the build, design, looks and the handy range of ports on the top. The final build was as follows:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor (£487.97 @ Laptops Direct)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 CHROMAX.BLACK 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler (£90.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard (£415.43 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£112.48 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£112.48 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£213.39 @ Box Limited)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Seagate IronWolf NAS 10 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£292.99 @ Box Limited)
Storage: Seagate IronWolf 12 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£374.99 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Founders Edition Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C ATX Mid Tower Case (£128.04 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£91.98 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12D2HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit (£99.00 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Dell U2711 27.0" 2560x1440 60 Hz Monitor
External Storage: Western Digital easystore 12 TB External Hard Drive
Total: £2419.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-07 15:01 GMT+0000