• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Gaming PC build verification

Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
39 (0.02/day)
Hallo, please verify bellow build. Its for gaming in 1440p (maximum 144Hz).

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3VFQjy

You will be probably surprised by storage configuration, I keep two SSDs because I would like to have separated disk for system and games. One of the shops here has also "action", they give Nvme ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 SSD 256GB free to ASUS TUF GAMING X570-PLUS, so there is possibility to replace M2 Sata SSD from my config with free Nvme. Would you take this opportunity and take Asus instead? I somehow fell in love with Gigabyte.
Other option would be to forget separated SSds and buy one 1TB, for example Intel 660p but as I mentioned I would like to have system on separated drive.

How about cooling, will Wraith be ok or should I buy better one? Something like Be quiet! PURE ROCK?

Note: PSU is currently probably overkill but there will probably come stronger graphic card later (with some of the next generations)
 

TheLostSwede

News Editor
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
16,001 (2.26/day)
Location
Sweden
System Name Overlord Mk MLI
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory 32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage 1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s) Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard Corsair K70 Max
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/5za05v
I would consider a slightly larger SSD as the OS drive, budget permitting, as 250GB means you can't really put more than 200GB on it before performance starts to drop.
Also look see if you can't find an RTX 2080 for closer to the RTX 2070 Super pricing, as here, they're going for the same or even less money.

As far as boards goes, Gigabyte seems to be pushing out more frequent UEFI updates at the moment, so that might be good in the early phases of Ryzen 3000, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be a huge difference between the two boards. The Asus board gets you two extra SATA ports and an extra PCIe x1 slot, the Gigabyte has a front USB 3.1 connector, but Asus has a rear USB-C port.

The "free" Adata SSD is pretty poor as far as NVMe drives goes, in fact, the 4K read performance is most likely no better than the Crucial SATA drive you've picked.

Obviously both are different size than what you're looking at, but still.

You might want to check out the TPU offers for Windows 10, as you'd save a lot of money on getting that, since you're getting an OEM copy either which way.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2019
Messages
1,817 (1.05/day)
Location
Hungary
System Name I don't name my systems.
Processor i3-12100F 'power limit removed'
Motherboard Asus Prime B660-PLUS D4
Cooling ID-Cooling SE 224 XT ARGB V3 'CPU', 4x Be Quiet! Light Wings + 2x Arctic P12 black case fans.
Memory 4x8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4 3200MHz
Video Card(s) Asus TuF V2 RTX 3060 Ti @1920 MHz Core/950mV Undervolt
Storage 4 TB WD Red, 1 TB Silicon Power A55 Sata, 1 TB Kingston A2000 NVMe, 256 GB Adata Spectrix s40g NVMe
Display(s) 29" 2560x1080 75 Hz / LG 29WK600-W
Case Be Quiet! Pure Base 500 FX Black
Audio Device(s) Onboard + Hama uRage SoundZ 900+USB DAC
Power Supply Seasonic CORE GM 500W 80+ Gold
Mouse Canyon Puncher GM-20
Keyboard SPC Gear GK630K Tournament 'Kailh Brown'
Software Windows 10 Pro
I would consider a slightly larger SSD as the OS drive, budget permitting, as 250GB means you can't really put more than 200GB on it before performance starts to drop.
Also look see if you can't find an RTX 2080 for closer to the RTX 2070 Super pricing, as here, they're going for the same or even less money.

As far as boards goes, Gigabyte seems to be pushing out more frequent UEFI updates at the moment, so that might be good in the early phases of Ryzen 3000, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be a huge difference between the two boards. The Asus board gets you two extra SATA ports and an extra PCIe x1 slot, the Gigabyte has a front USB 3.1 connector, but Asus has a rear USB-C port.

The "free" Adata SSD is pretty poor as far as NVMe drives goes, in fact, the 4K read performance is most likely no better than the Crucial SATA drive you've picked.

Obviously both are different size than what you're looking at, but still.

You might want to check out the TPU offers for Windows 10, as you'd save a lot of money on getting that, since you're getting an OEM copy either which way.

Tbh 200+ GB is more than enough for a OS drive if nothing else is there.

I have mine on a 120 GB one and with a completely up to date Win 10 pro I still have ~45 GB free space on it and my Documents&Settings folder is fairly big thanks to years worth of game saves and whatnot.

I would also pick up a better cooler than the Wraith Prism,sure it works but even some cheap coolers can outperform it.
 
Last edited:

TheLostSwede

News Editor
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
16,001 (2.26/day)
Location
Sweden
System Name Overlord Mk MLI
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory 32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage 1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s) Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard Corsair K70 Max
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/5za05v
Tbh 200+ GB is more than enough for a OS drive if nothing else is there.

I have mine on a 120 GB one and with a completely up to date Win 10 pro I still have ~45 GB free space on it and my Documents&Settings folder is fairly big thanks to years worth of game saves and whatnot.

Sure, IF you don't install anything else on, which I know I don't do for sure. In fact, once you've installed Office and a few other things, you quickly get close to 200GB.
It was more of a matter of future proofing, than saying 250GB isn't enough.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
5,581 (3.00/day)
Location
Poland
Processor Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE
Memory 2x16 GB Crucial Ballistix 3600 CL16 Rev E @ 3800 CL16
Video Card(s) RTX3080 Ti FE
Storage SX8200 Pro 1 TB, Plextor M6Pro 256 GB, WD Blue 2TB
Display(s) LG 34GN850P-B
Case SilverStone Primera PM01 RGB
Audio Device(s) SoundBlaster G6 | Fidelio X2 | Sennheiser 6XX
Power Supply SeaSonic Focus Plus Gold 750W
Mouse Endgame Gear XM1R
Keyboard Wooting Two HE
For more than 2 AAA at a time? Nope. If one of them is a MS Xbox port? Definitely not. FH3 takes up something around 70 gigs and I imagine FH4 takes even more than that.
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
39 (0.02/day)
How about that Seagate Barracuda drive guys, please? I have just heard its quite loud?
 

dgianstefani

TPU Proofreader
Staff member
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Messages
3,968 (1.74/day)
Location
Swansea, Wales
System Name Silent
Processor Ryzen 7800X3D @ 5.15ghz BCLK OC, TG AM5 High Performance Heatspreader
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix X670E-I, chipset fans removed
Cooling Optimus AMD Raw Copper/Plexi, HWLABS Copper 240/40+240/30, D5, 4x Noctua A12x25, Mayhems Ultra Pure
Memory 32 GB Dominator Platinum 6150 MHz 26-36-36-48, 57ns AIDA, 2050 FLCK, 160 ns TRFC
Video Card(s) RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition, Conductonaut Extreme, 18 W/mK MinusPad Extreme, Corsair XG7 Waterblock
Storage Intel Optane DC P1600X 118 GB, Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB
Display(s) 32" 240 Hz 1440p Samsung G7, 31.5" 165 Hz 1440p LG NanoIPS Ultragear
Case Sliger SM570 CNC Aluminium 13-Litre, 3D printed feet, custom front panel with pump/res combo
Audio Device(s) Audeze Maxwell Ultraviolet, Razer Nommo Pro
Power Supply Corsair SF750 Platinum, transparent custom cables, Sentinel Pro 1500 Online Double Conversion UPS
Mouse Razer Viper Pro V2 Mercury White w/Tiger Ice Skates & Pulsar Supergrip tape
Keyboard Wooting 60HE+ module, TOFU Redux Burgundy w/brass weight, Prismcaps White & Jellykey, lubed/modded
Software Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 19053.3803
Benchmark Scores Legendary
Just get a 1tb 970 evo plus and be done with it.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
7,797 (3.13/day)
System Name Best AMD Computer
Processor AMD 7900X3D
Motherboard Asus X670E E Strix
Cooling In Win SR36
Memory GSKILL DDR5 32GB 5200 30
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse 7900XT (Watercooled)
Storage Corsair MP 700, Seagate 530 2Tb, Adata SX8200 2TBx2, Kingston 2 TBx2, Micron 8 TB, WD AN 1500
Display(s) GIGABYTE FV43U
Case Corsair 7000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) Corsair Void Pro, Logitch Z523 5.1
Power Supply Deepcool 1000M
Mouse Logitech g7 gaming mouse
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Windows 11 Pro 64 Steam. GOG, Uplay, Origin
Benchmark Scores Firestrike: 46183 Time Spy: 25121
How about that Seagate Barracuda drive guys, please? I have just heard its quite loud?

There is almost no point in getting a HDD now. The only ones I would even consider are the Firecuda drives which come with 8GB of SSD. With AMD's Store MI though that would be a waste. If you want good inexpensive storage look at having an NVME Drive as boot (The one you mentioned for free is not good but not bad either) and using the 660P 2TB (it is cheaper than most 2TB non NVME SSDs) as a data drive period. The board you want would run that at full speed regardless of what M2 slot you populate it in.
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
39 (0.02/day)
I have already changed my config little bit to use MX500 1TB (instead 500MB) for games, but I would like to still keep HDD for data
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
20,780 (5.97/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
Motherboard AsRock Fatal1ty K6 Z370
Cooling beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200/C16
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 830 256GB + Crucial BX100 250GB + Toshiba 1TB HDD
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse XTRFY M42
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W10 x64
Hallo, please verify bellow build. Its for gaming in 1440p (maximum 144Hz).

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3VFQjy

You will be probably surprised by storage configuration, I keep two SSDs because I would like to have separated disk for system and games. One of the shops here has also "action", they give Nvme ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 SSD 256GB free to ASUS TUF GAMING X570-PLUS, so there is possibility to replace M2 Sata SSD from my config with free Nvme. Would you take this opportunity and take Asus instead? I somehow fell in love with Gigabyte.
Other option would be to forget separated SSds and buy one 1TB, for example Intel 660p but as I mentioned I would like to have system on separated drive.

How about cooling, will Wraith be ok or should I buy better one? Something like Be quiet! PURE ROCK?

Note: PSU is currently probably overkill but there will probably come stronger graphic card later (with some of the next generations)

- Hardware split between OS disk and 'data' disk is very useful, I'd hold on to that. Even with SSDs.
- You can run your OS on a 120GB SSD, and size up the other one to 1TB. I can tell you right now, you will use it and price/gb is favorable on higher capacities these days. But, 256GB is a decent size too; still, budget wise, if you can make that switch, the end result is more space and having it separated better the way you want it: OS separate from everything else. With 750GB total space in the system, you won't be installing many games simultaneously, that's for sure and you will end up having to squeeze more stuff onto your OS disk too. Data accumulates FAST.
- NVME or M2... irrelevant for home use or gaming. Get the lowest price/gb and look for quality in endurance instead. Speed difference is not noticeable versus regular SATA SSD.
- Mechanical HDD. Something to think about. I will say one thing about it: think about that low hum / resonating noise in the case. With all SSD, what you've got is a 100% silent box in idle and even during non-gaming operations. Add one HDD and you lose that. It will be spinning up and will be humming and you will hear it... An external HDD for your mass storage might be interesting too, that wa you can hook it up only when needed.

- Avoid Gigabyte Gaming OC GPU models. Meh build quality, and Gigabyte is notorious lately for crappy RMA (not an isolated case...)

- If you're looking for money to complete this within budget, cut off the Windows 10 license for 100 bucks and get one at 4-10 bucks instead. TPU has the occasional offer but its widely available, for example @ www.allkeyshop.com. This is grey area but I have yet to hear of problems, I use a cheap license too and its doing just fine.

- Ryzen 3700X. There is also some budget space here, you can knock this down a bit and still have stellar CPU performance. Any particular reason for 8c/16t? If not, go 6c/12t instead.
 
Joined
Dec 10, 2014
Messages
1,325 (0.39/day)
Location
Nowy Warsaw
System Name SYBARIS
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard MSI Arsenal Gaming B450 Tomahawk
Cooling Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi
Memory Team T-Force Delta RGB 2x8GB 3200CL16
Video Card(s) Colorful GeForce RTX 2060 6GV2
Storage Crucial MX500 500GB | WD Black WD1003FZEX 1TB | Seagate ST1000LM024 1TB | WD My Passport Slim 1TB
Display(s) AOC 24G2 24" 144hz IPS
Case Montech Air ARGB
Audio Device(s) Massdrop + Sennheiser PC37X | QKZ x HBB
Power Supply Corsair CX650-F
Mouse Razer Viper Mini | Cooler Master MM711 | Logitech G102 | Logitech G402
Keyboard Drop + The Lord of the Rings Dwarvish
Software Windows 10 Education 22H2 x64
CPU is your choice. So no comment there.

Gigabyte is also fine. But ASUS is also good value. And unlike previous time both ASUS and Gigabyte didn't skimp on VRM. Use this table to quickly compare features. But as Lost Swede said, Gigabyte is currently fastest (and most communicative in their forums) about AMD bios updates.

RAM is also fine. Just check the parts number to have AES at the end. Currently those RAM are very good overclockers.

I'll generally shy away from hard disks now but if you want them still I'd say avoid Seagate. Their failure rate precedes them.

Iirc the M.2 MX500 is SATA so the NVMe "free" SSD might be faster.

See if you can find RTX 2080 priced close to 2070 Super. Aside from the fact that it's faster, who knows if you ever need RMA they might just send you 2080 Super since base 2080 won't be available *wink *wink

Case is personal choice so no comment.

I think 650w should be enough. And even if you upgrade to a powerful card in the future, they're gonna be less power hungry than today. Ofc it's not also bad to be inside power supply's efficient range. Correct me if I'm wrong but 50% load is most efficient for most power supplies. So if a system consumes 375w, with a 750w unit it would be most efficient it can supply current.
IDK why you chose a DVD writer in this day and age but won't comment on it.

The monitor is excellent. Good choice.

I think you can save some money by buying third party like others have said. But I don't think it's going to Microsoft so don't condone it. That $100 WILL go to MS don't worry about it. But I myself am a poor salt farmer I just download a ISO from Microsoft and don't activate Windows. The only thing I'm losing of value (to me) is system-wide dark theme, now even in My Computer/This PC/Library/whatever it's called. No discrimination in Windows updates if you fear that.
 
Joined
Aug 12, 2019
Messages
135 (0.08/day)
Location
Poland
Processor R5 5600
Motherboard MSI B450M Mortar Max
Cooling SPC Fortis 3
Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3000 2x8
Video Card(s) MSI Gaming Trio RTX 3070
Storage Lexar Pro NM760 1 TB, Corsair MP510 960 GB
Display(s) Dell U2412M
Case be quiet! Pure Base 500
Power Supply EVGA G2 750W
Mouse Logitech G500
Keyboard SPC Gear GK550 Omnis Kailh Brown RGB
- Hardware split between OS disk and 'data' disk is very useful, I'd hold on to that. Even with SSDs.
Why though? I can't think of a good reason. Unless you already have a smaller ssd or can get it for free in a promo like OP can - then sure, OS drive is a good use for it.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
7,797 (3.13/day)
System Name Best AMD Computer
Processor AMD 7900X3D
Motherboard Asus X670E E Strix
Cooling In Win SR36
Memory GSKILL DDR5 32GB 5200 30
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse 7900XT (Watercooled)
Storage Corsair MP 700, Seagate 530 2Tb, Adata SX8200 2TBx2, Kingston 2 TBx2, Micron 8 TB, WD AN 1500
Display(s) GIGABYTE FV43U
Case Corsair 7000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) Corsair Void Pro, Logitch Z523 5.1
Power Supply Deepcool 1000M
Mouse Logitech g7 gaming mouse
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Windows 11 Pro 64 Steam. GOG, Uplay, Origin
Benchmark Scores Firestrike: 46183 Time Spy: 25121
Why though? I can't think of a good reason. Unless you already have a smaller ssd or can get it for free in a promo like OP can - then sure, OS drive is a good use for it.

Because you never know what can happen with a Windows PC. Especially in the age of 25 to 90 GB downloads for games, having a data drive for games, videos, pictures makes perfect sense when you want to reset or reinstall Windows.
 
Joined
Aug 12, 2019
Messages
135 (0.08/day)
Location
Poland
Processor R5 5600
Motherboard MSI B450M Mortar Max
Cooling SPC Fortis 3
Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3000 2x8
Video Card(s) MSI Gaming Trio RTX 3070
Storage Lexar Pro NM760 1 TB, Corsair MP510 960 GB
Display(s) Dell U2412M
Case be quiet! Pure Base 500
Power Supply EVGA G2 750W
Mouse Logitech G500
Keyboard SPC Gear GK550 Omnis Kailh Brown RGB
Because you never know what can happen with a Windows PC. Especially in the age of 25 to 90 GB downloads for games, having a data drive for games, videos, pictures makes perfect sense when you want to reset or reinstall Windows.
That's what partitions are for.

@Ka3el
If you don't have a specific reason for buying 3700X (like streaming or rpcs3), 3600 is a much better value for games, and if you put that $130 price difference into a better GPU you will get better gaming performance. If 3700X was a future proofing choice, it's not worth it.
If you have much data other than games that you want to hoard, I'd recommend an external usb 3 hdd instead of internal one. They cost about the same, have pretty good speed, they're quiet and portable.
Get a good cooler, for Ryzen cpus better temperatures mean better clocks.
I was also going to make suggestions regarding the case, but then noticed you intend to put an optical drive in there, that's quite the limiting factor.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
7,797 (3.13/day)
System Name Best AMD Computer
Processor AMD 7900X3D
Motherboard Asus X670E E Strix
Cooling In Win SR36
Memory GSKILL DDR5 32GB 5200 30
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse 7900XT (Watercooled)
Storage Corsair MP 700, Seagate 530 2Tb, Adata SX8200 2TBx2, Kingston 2 TBx2, Micron 8 TB, WD AN 1500
Display(s) GIGABYTE FV43U
Case Corsair 7000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) Corsair Void Pro, Logitch Z523 5.1
Power Supply Deepcool 1000M
Mouse Logitech g7 gaming mouse
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Windows 11 Pro 64 Steam. GOG, Uplay, Origin
Benchmark Scores Firestrike: 46183 Time Spy: 25121
That's what partitions are for.

@Ka3el
If you don't have a specific reason for buying 3700X (like streaming or rpcs3), 3600 is a much better value for games, and if you put that $130 price difference into a better GPU you will get better gaming performance. If 3700X was a future proofing choice, it's not worth it.
If you have much data other than games that you want to hoard, I'd recommend an external usb 3 hdd instead of internal one. They cost about the same, have pretty good speed, they're quiet and portable.
Get a good cooler, for Ryzen cpus better temperatures mean better clocks.
I was also going to make suggestions regarding the case, but then noticed you intend to put an optical drive in there, that's quite the limiting factor.

Partitions on a boot drive? Why do motherboards come with more than 1 SATA port? Why do modern MBs have more than one M2 slot? Why can you put expansion cards on free PCI_E slots form 1 to 16? To mitigate against the danger of the 1 drive you have failing or developing errors. Ever since I built my first PC I have always used a boot and data drive. It's not like drives are expensive compared to the other components in your build. I guess you have never had to reinstall Windows. I also am going to assume you don't have a very large game library. I did see however that you recommended external storage over an internal. To me there is no benefit other than portability of using external especially HDDs like the Seagate Expansion series (everyone USB port on the 5 that I have owned has died but the drive was still good and became an internal). There is also the fact that you would be limited to USB speeds on a SATA drive. USB 3 C is just catching up to Esata in terms of real world performance and I don't know of any inexpensive USB C drives.
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
20,780 (5.97/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
Motherboard AsRock Fatal1ty K6 Z370
Cooling beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200/C16
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 830 256GB + Crucial BX100 250GB + Toshiba 1TB HDD
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse XTRFY M42
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W10 x64
Why though? I can't think of a good reason. Unless you already have a smaller ssd or can get it for free in a promo like OP can - then sure, OS drive is a good use for it.

- You tend to swap drives as you run out of space. You can prevent reinstalls by separating the OS from your 'bulk' storage. And vice versa, your OS install or reinstall won't mess up your file systems on other drives. Was of great benefit when upgrading from Windows 7 to 10, for example. You just never have to worry Windows business wiill tear apart some of your files.
- You can move your data drives to any other system without making your main rig unusable.
- Drives go bad, having an OS drive where you're not constantly writing large amounts of data will prolong its life; and with that, its unlikely your OS drive will ever go bad in the life of the machine. Its also easier to eliminate that drive as a cause for problems.

Yes, partitions, but its not the same thing really; but holds some of the same advantages. Think of it as a form of redundancy.

Then there is the 'why not' argument; the price difference is negligible, but it does offer advantages. And I have yet to meet a consumer PC that is struggling for spare SATA or M2 slots.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 27, 2019
Messages
1,817 (1.05/day)
Location
Hungary
System Name I don't name my systems.
Processor i3-12100F 'power limit removed'
Motherboard Asus Prime B660-PLUS D4
Cooling ID-Cooling SE 224 XT ARGB V3 'CPU', 4x Be Quiet! Light Wings + 2x Arctic P12 black case fans.
Memory 4x8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4 3200MHz
Video Card(s) Asus TuF V2 RTX 3060 Ti @1920 MHz Core/950mV Undervolt
Storage 4 TB WD Red, 1 TB Silicon Power A55 Sata, 1 TB Kingston A2000 NVMe, 256 GB Adata Spectrix s40g NVMe
Display(s) 29" 2560x1080 75 Hz / LG 29WK600-W
Case Be Quiet! Pure Base 500 FX Black
Audio Device(s) Onboard + Hama uRage SoundZ 900+USB DAC
Power Supply Seasonic CORE GM 500W 80+ Gold
Mouse Canyon Puncher GM-20
Keyboard SPC Gear GK630K Tournament 'Kailh Brown'
Software Windows 10 Pro
I also used to have Partitioned OS but since the age of 'cheap' 120-250 GB SSDs I made it a separate drive completely.
I had scenarios in the past when a drive died on me or I was forced to format my main drive with the OS+everything on it,wasn't funny to say the least so its better to separate that stuff imo.

Getting rid of HDDs completely would be nice yes but if someone is a 'Data' hoarder like me its not really an option yet,unless someone is rich like that.
I have a 3+1 TB HDD in my PC and I barely have 1+ TB free space currently,keeping all that on SSDs would be quite expensive.
 
Joined
Aug 12, 2019
Messages
135 (0.08/day)
Location
Poland
Processor R5 5600
Motherboard MSI B450M Mortar Max
Cooling SPC Fortis 3
Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3000 2x8
Video Card(s) MSI Gaming Trio RTX 3070
Storage Lexar Pro NM760 1 TB, Corsair MP510 960 GB
Display(s) Dell U2412M
Case be quiet! Pure Base 500
Power Supply EVGA G2 750W
Mouse Logitech G500
Keyboard SPC Gear GK550 Omnis Kailh Brown RGB
Partitions on a boot drive? Why do motherboards come with more than 1 SATA port? Why do modern MBs have more than one M2 slot? Why can you put expansion cards on free PCI_E slots form 1 to 16? To mitigate against the danger of the 1 drive you have failing or developing errors. Ever since I built my first PC I have always used a boot and data drive. It's not like drives are expensive compared to the other components in your build. I guess you have never had to reinstall Windows. I also am going to assume you don't have a very large game library. I did see however that you recommended external storage over an internal. To me there is no benefit other than portability of using external especially HDDs like the Seagate Expansion series (everyone USB port on the 5 that I have owned has died but the drive was still good and became an internal). There is also the fact that you would be limited to USB speeds on a SATA drive. USB 3 C is just catching up to Esata in terms of real world performance and I don't know of any inexpensive USB C drives.
You make it sound like an outlandish idea, but back in the day, before ssds and big, cheap hdds, when most regular home PCs had only one hdd, that used to be a common way of doing it. Reinstalling OS, making dual or multiple booting on one hdd - none of that was a problem, excluding human error. Of course, nowadays ssds price/capacity ratio scales very well and you can get very cheap drives with enough space for the OS, but it wasn't always this way. With hdds, even smallest available capacities used to still cost quite a bit, it wasn't really worth it.
M.2 slots can actually be a decent reason for picking larger ssds, at least if you want benefits of nvme. You can have at most two of them, and on many cheaper boards there's only one slot. What do you do when you want to upgrade? If you replace your small OS drive with a big one, you're still left with partitioning (or putting everything together which is obviously unadvisable). Replace your big ssd with an even bigger one? Have to figure out what to do with the old one or it's quite a waste. Or you just end up with good old sata drives which, for ssds, are on the way out it feels.
As for external USB drives, I should clarify that I meant 2.5'' drives. Even though they don't reach speeds over 100MB, they are not slow at all. You don't really need great transfer speed for storage. Meanwhile, they are not only portable, but also virtually noiseless. It depends on your priorities, I'm not trying to present it as a clearly better option. Personally, I don't want mechanical hdds in any of my rigs from this point on and it's already a fairly common sentiment.

When you have multiple drives, you can still run your pc when one of them goes bad - that's a good reason.
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
39 (0.02/day)
Thank you all for very valuable comments, this forum is the best!

Have to think about that HDD. In my current set up I have HDD Samsung SpinPoint F3 and I dont hear it all (PC is under table and not directly beside my legs, its little bit on the left, case Fractal design define R3).

FOr the 3700X Iam aware currently same performance (in games) as 3600X but there are rumors Next Gen consoles will use 8 core CPU so the games will benefit from it also. Of course nobody knows but I dont want to regret next year or so. I would like to keep PC for a longer time and just change graphic card.

I also hear from others that its not good to go with X570 MLB that its not worth the money. Whats your opinion on it, please? I picked X570 because I heard (from Tech deals) "If you build a new rig go with X570"..that others may not support 3700X so good. also there is possibility some (close) next gen graphic card will benefit from PCIe 4.0.
Lastly considering I will get free 250GB Nvme the price of Asus TUF not so bad.

Gigabyte GBU not good enough? What would you please suggest?
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
20,780 (5.97/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
Motherboard AsRock Fatal1ty K6 Z370
Cooling beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200/C16
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 830 256GB + Crucial BX100 250GB + Toshiba 1TB HDD
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse XTRFY M42
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W10 x64
Benefit from pcie 4.0 for GPU is not likely. Similarly, benefit from 8c/16t for gaming Im also not seeing anytime soon. (3-4 years from now the same CPUs will do similar things). Consoles dont need that perf so if they get 8 core Zen it will be older or lower clocked, or some variation of Ryzen G series.

Dont buy into things that might happen. Instead save the cash and upgrade a bit earlier with it.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2019
Messages
99 (0.05/day)
Processor AMD Ryzen 3700X
Motherboard Asus X570 TUF Gaming Plus
Cooling NZXT Kraken X62
Memory G.Skill 2x8GB 3600CL16
Video Card(s) Asus Strix RTX 2070
Storage Samsung 850 SSD 500GB
Display(s) Acer Predator XB271HU
Case NZXT S340 Elite
Hi Ka3el did you pulled the trigger on the X570 TUF with the XPG M2 SSD?
One of the shops here has also "action", they give Nvme ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 SSD 256GB free to ASUS TUF GAMING X570-PLUS
I had the same setup, its a promo in middle EU I think. I facing troubles to make the XPG GAMMIX S5 to work on the board, the latest BIOS update did not fix it.
The installation of windows was all right, in windows the PC crashed, since then the SSD is not recognized in windows, nor bios. Occasionally it works, mostly dont.
 
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Messages
1,204 (0.73/day)
Location
Canada
System Name New compy
Processor AMD Ryzen 5800x3D
Motherboard MSI MPG x570S EDGE MAX WiFi
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S w. FHP141 + Xigmatek AOS XAF-F1451
Memory 32gb G.Skill Ripjaws V Samsung B-Die Dual Rank F4-4000C16D-32GVKA
Video Card(s) ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070ti
Storage 17tb (8+4tb WD Black HDD's, 2+2+0.5+0.5tb M.2 SSD Drives) + 16tb WD Red Pro backup drive
Display(s) Alienware AW2518H 24" 240hz, Sony X85K 43" 4k 120hz HDR TV
Case Thermaltake Core v71
Audio Device(s) iFi Nano Idsd Le, Creative T20 + T50, Sennheiser HD6Mix
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 1000w
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero custom w. G900 scroll wheel mod, Rival 3 + Rival 3 wireless, JLab Epic Mouse
Keyboard Corsair K68 RGB + K70 RGB + K57 RGB Wireless + Logitech G613
Software Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/s2y7ny
If you use virtual memory ie a page file on an ssd with daily internet use the drive will start failing after about 3 years. Most ssd's are only good for a handful of block writes before they die, 3d nand is garbage, and you only hasten its death by using it. Put windows on an hdd, I use western digital black drives, windows on one others are for downloads and storage. I also have an m2 1tb drive for games, but for daily use a good hdd is going to last around 10 years and has no chance of corrupting data, no ssd (I had an ocz ssd that started death throes after only a year) can make that claim.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
1,039 (0.25/day)
Location
Babylon 5
System Name DaBeast! DaBeast2!
Processor AMD AM4 Ryzen 9 5900X 12C24T/AMD AM4 RYZEN 9 3900X 12C/24T
Motherboard Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme/Gigabyte X570S Aorus Elite AX
Cooling Thermaltake Water 3.0 360/Thermalright PA 120 SE
Memory 2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB RT DDR4 3600C16/2x 16GB Patriot Elite II DDR4 4000MHz
Video Card(s) XFX MERC 310 RX 7900 XTX 24GB/Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6900 XT 16GB
Storage 500GB Crucial P3 Plus NVMe PCIe 4x4 + 4TB Lexar NM790 NVMe PCIe 4x4 + TG Cardea Zero Z NVMe PCIe 4x4
Display(s) Samsung LC49HG90DMEX 32:9 144Hz Freesync 2/Acer XR341CK 75Hz 21:9 Freesync
Case CoolerMaster H500M/SOLDAM XR-1
Audio Device(s) iFi Micro iDSD BL + Philips Fidelio B97/FostexHP-A4 + LG SP8YA
Power Supply Corsair HX1000 Platinum/Enermax MAXREVO 1500
Mouse Logitech G703/Logitech G603 WL
Keyboard Logitech G613/Keychron K2
Software Win11 Pro/Win11 Pro
Tbh 200+ GB is more than enough for a OS drive if nothing else is there.

I have mine on a 120 GB one and with a completely up to date Win 10 pro I still have ~45 GB free space on it and my Documents&Settings folder is fairly big thanks to years worth of game saves and whatnot.

I would also pick up a better cooler than the Wraith Prism,sure it works but even some cheap coolers can outperform it.
I had a 120GB Corsair Force GT SSD from my i7 3960X build from 2011/2012 IIRC, I decommissioned the 120GB drive last year in favor of a 250GB 850 EVO. It still had about 40-50GB of space inside, once it'd dropped to 20+ GB, I did some housekeeping, cleared out 'Windows old' and it was back to 40+ GB. But, for a new build, 250GB should more than suffice, but OP wanna go higher, by all means go 500GB since SSD prices are pretty good these days. Use it for OS, and other relevant programs like DDU, MSI AB, etc. For my recent Ryzen 3900X build, I went with a 256GB Sabrent Rocket NVMe M.2 which should last me quite a good number of years. As for cooler, I've heard that the Wraith Prism is good enough and performs well for a stock cooler. But heck, going for a good 3rd party cooler would, of course, be better.
 
Joined
Sep 3, 2019
Messages
2,965 (1.78/day)
Location
Thessaloniki, Greece
System Name PC on since Aug 2019, 1st CPU R5 3600 + ASUS ROG RX580 8GB >> MSI Gaming X RX5700XT (Jan 2020)
Processor Ryzen 9 5900X (July 2022), 150W PPT limit, 79C temp limit, CO -9~14
Motherboard Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro (Rev1.0), BIOS F37h, AGESA V2 1.2.0.B
Cooling Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420mm Rev7 with off center mount for Ryzen, TIM: Kryonaut
Memory 2x16GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo GTZN (July 2022) 3600MHz 1.42V CL16-16-16-16-32-48 1T, tRFC:288, B-die
Video Card(s) Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900XTX (Dec 2023) 314~465W (366W current) PowerLimit, 1060mV, Adrenalin v24.2.1
Storage Samsung NVMe: 980Pro 1TB(OS 2022), 970Pro 512GB(2019) / SATA-III: 850Pro 1TB(2015) 860Evo 1TB(2020)
Display(s) Dell Alienware AW3423DW 34" QD-OLED curved (1800R), 3440x1440 144Hz (max 175Hz) HDR1000
Case None... naked on desk
Audio Device(s) Astro A50 headset
Power Supply Corsair HX750i, 80+ Platinum, 93% (250~700W), modular, single/dual rail (switch)
Mouse Logitech MX Master (Gen1)
Keyboard Logitech G15 (Gen2) w/ LCDSirReal applet
Software Windows 11 Home 64bit (v23H2, OSB 22631.3155)
Oh god, dont suggest HDDs for boot drive... We are in 2019 and things progress! (except using StoreMI)

For a boot drive can go with a nice 250~500GB TLC or even MLC type SSD and for additional storage a 1~2TB QLC type drive. This way you can install games/apps in both drives and have pretty nice performance.
QLC type SSDs wear out faster than TLC, (about half total writes on the same capacity) but still 1~2TB QLC SSDs would have a few hundreds total TB writes before they start loosing performance.
TLC type have half total writes compered to MLC type (same capacity).

On my previous build I had a SATA 500GB SSD (MLC, 300TB total writes) as a boot/OS and a SATA 1TB SSD (MLC, 600TB total writes) as storage and additional installation space. After 3 years of daily usage, intalling/uninstalling on both and playing games, and with the two drives filled to 60~65%... the counter for total writes was 13TB on the boot drive and 2.2TB on the secondary. Keep in mind that pagefile was disabled from the OS drive and enabled (8GB) on the second 1TB.
So... SSDs die hard! Keep them cool as more as possible.

If someone is in a tighter budget, can go with one 2~3 TB HDD for OS/games/apps and a TLC 250~500GB for the use of AMD's StoreMI. Its very interesting if you look into it. Works on X399/400/500 series chipset and gives SSD like performance.

Please walk through the whole video to see the benefits




And some additional info

SSD life expectancy


QLC vs TLC SSDs: Samsung QVO & EVO

I think 650w should be enough. And even if you upgrade to a powerful card in the future, they're gonna be less power hungry than today. Ofc it's not also bad to be inside power supply's efficient range. Correct me if I'm wrong but 50% load is most efficient for most power supplies. So if a system consumes 375w, with a 750w unit it would be most efficient it can supply current.
IDK why you chose a DVD writer in this day and age but won't comment on it.
About right... From what I've seen most quality PSUs are on the rated efficiency from 30~35 to 70~75% and peaks at about 55~60ish% (maybe 1 or even 2% above rated eff.)
IMHO a PC should never load a PSU more than 60%, not only for the peak efficiency but for longevity mostly.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 27, 2019
Messages
1,204 (0.73/day)
Location
Canada
System Name New compy
Processor AMD Ryzen 5800x3D
Motherboard MSI MPG x570S EDGE MAX WiFi
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S w. FHP141 + Xigmatek AOS XAF-F1451
Memory 32gb G.Skill Ripjaws V Samsung B-Die Dual Rank F4-4000C16D-32GVKA
Video Card(s) ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070ti
Storage 17tb (8+4tb WD Black HDD's, 2+2+0.5+0.5tb M.2 SSD Drives) + 16tb WD Red Pro backup drive
Display(s) Alienware AW2518H 24" 240hz, Sony X85K 43" 4k 120hz HDR TV
Case Thermaltake Core v71
Audio Device(s) iFi Nano Idsd Le, Creative T20 + T50, Sennheiser HD6Mix
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 1000w
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero custom w. G900 scroll wheel mod, Rival 3 + Rival 3 wireless, JLab Epic Mouse
Keyboard Corsair K68 RGB + K70 RGB + K57 RGB Wireless + Logitech G613
Software Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/s2y7ny
I boot win 10 in 21-24 seconds from an hdd, and my windows drive won't be on deaths door in 3 years. If you plan on throwing away your pc after 3 years go with an ssd. I see no good reason to put windows on one unless you plan on never writing to it ever, then it'll last a million years, but if you use it ie. surf the internet for an hour or more a day it won't last more than 3 years tops. It all depends on the user and whether or not they want to manually reinstall windows on a new ssd every 3 years.

A 1tb ssd with a 75tb write life is only good for 75 block writes before it starts to fail. The best ssd lasts around 3000 block writes but almost all consumer level ssd's are 3d nand which is only good for about 75 block writes before block death.

I've killed 2 ssd's now in the quest for a slightly faster windows experience, one died pretty much completely after about a year (ocz arc) so I bought another (different make) and that one started having major boot issues after about 2 years (one in 2 or one in 3 times it would take to boot after it started failing) so by all means run windows on an ssd if you don't like your computer, I know better.

Ssd as a game drive absolutely, but put windows on it and you're just asking for trouble.
 
Last edited:
Top