Question New Gaming Build - Critique before I buy!

[mwforrest7]

Hi all,

I'm planning to put together a new gaming PC about 1 month from now (mid November). I will use it almost exclusively for gaming and with the possibility of some light coding. My old/current PC will be given away to my GF's brother so I won't be re-using any old parts. I use a 2560x1440 resolution IPS monitor @ 60hz. I don't really have a hard budget but I am a very practical person and don't like to waste hundreds of dollars for relatively small % gains in performance. All that said, I think I've come up with a pretty good list of parts but I've made it a tradition to consult these forums just to double check myself! Take a look and let me know your thoughts

Note: I don't tend to mess around with OCing.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.79 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1134.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-17 10:40 EDT-0400

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Ryzen 3000 is a lot less picky about memory. I’d trim the Samsung b die because
It’s likely more expensive
Samsung has stopped producing it so acquiring more in the future could be problematic
For around $60 more you could get micron e die but it will be 32GB

 

[VirtualLarry]

OP, that looks like a pretty good parts list to me, I don't see any obvious issues with that build.

I will note, at this very moment, BestBuy.com has Geek Squad Certified Refurbished Samsung SSDs on sale, they have a 970 EVO 500GB for $64.99. I don't know how you feel about refurbished SSDs, however. (In my opinion, in most cases they would be fine, but ... in those corner cases where they might have an intermittent fault or something, well, caveat emptor I guess.)

 

[mwforrest7]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I'll definitely look into that memory suggestion. As for the refurbished idea, I have conflicting feelings about it. I think for $25 I'd rather not risk it, but I do appreciate the suggestion

 

[DrMrLordX]

I love my 970 Evo, but if I were on a budget, I'd be looking at the Sabrent drives instead. Specifically:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LGF54XR?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

Double the capacity as that Evo for $20 more? Hello! Game install sizes are getting huge, too, so I would not want to be on a ~500GB primary drive anymore.

As far as the video card is concerned . . . not to start a war or anything, but unless you really just want an NV card, $400 for a 2060S seems like a bad deal.

 

[mwforrest7]

Oh wow, I'm going to have to look into that Sabrient some more. It is also NVMe so I imagine the speed difference isn't much.

Also I was actually just about to ask for thoughts on the video card. I've been doing quite a bit of reading and it seems like the 5700XT would be a better choice at $400 in terms of raw performance. My biggest concern though is that I've been hearing quite a bit about driver issues causing all sorts of problems for people. Accounts as recent as a month ago... I've generally never had problems running with Nvidia over the years, but funny enough I did have a radeon like 15 years ago and I remember having driver issues back then too lol So, I'm nervous going that route and having to deal with a bunch of annoyances. Any insight as to where things stand on that front?

 

[DrMrLordX]

You might want to ask some of the people on this forum who have 2060S and 5700XT cards and see what they have to say about it.