Computer Builds

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I have not recommended any B450 mobos. All I said is Asus and Gigabyte are the better brands as traditionally they usually come out tops in mobo reviews. However, I tend to read between the lines to find what's best for me rather than follow flavour of the month. For example, I listen to music on my PC so I look for a mobo with high snr figures.

The out-of-box performance differences between mobo's is rarely anything to worry about enough to be brand loyal over, as it's mainly determined by chipset.

If you're worried that much about audio, I'm not sure why you'd even be thinking about onboard audio over an add-in card or DAC/Amp setup.
 
The out-of-box performance differences between mobo's is rarely anything to worry about enough to be brand loyal over, as it's mainly determined by chipset.

If you're worried that much about audio, I'm not sure why you'd even be thinking about onboard audio over an add-in card or DAC/Amp setup.

Because I'm quite happy with my current mobo and its onboard audio performance.
 
I have not recommended any B450 mobos. All I said is Asus and Gigabyte are the better brands as traditionally they usually come out tops in mobo reviews. However, I tend to read between the lines to find what's best for me rather than follow flavour of the month. For example, I listen to music on my PC so I look for a mobo with high snr figures.
The out-of-box performance differences between mobo's is rarely anything to worry about enough to be brand loyal over, as it's mainly determined by chipset.

If you're worried that much about audio, I'm not sure why you'd even be thinking about onboard audio over an add-in card or DAC/Amp setup.

The likes of 'Gamers Nexus' (who are very highly respected and really, really know their stuff) put MSI at the top of the pile for B450 boards. They have no peer. People should really learn NOT to buy on brand names, as they all have their duffers.

Both ASUS and Gigabyte do decent B450 boards, but for features, and VRM selection and cooling, the best options for performance AND bang for buck all lay with MSI.

I haven't done the research on the best board vendor for X570 or B550, and I encourage 'you' to do that before splashing the cash. My main takeaway is DON'T BUY BASED ON NAMES!



9:10 where he explains that for B450 MSI should be the only recommendation.
 
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Damnit, seen this thread late. I'm a big pc tech nerd and missed a convo I actually could have had input in for once.

@Dylan

This is what I've gone for:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600X
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti
HDD: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB)
Power: Corsair RM750
Case: NZXT H500i

I'm just looking at getting 2x front 120mm fans but not sure if to get:

Corsair LL120
Noctua NF-S12B redux
Corsair ML120

CPU - Great choice

Mobo - Don't know much about it, seems good.

GPU - A little on the weak side tbh. Compared to CPU, it will definitely be this which holds back the system. I would really recommend bumping up to a 1060 6GB (approx extra £60, but ~81% faster (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/3639vs3649)) or at least a 1650 (+£20, but ~30% faster (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/4039vs3649)) if you can.

HDD - SSDs have gotten much cheaper recently but I would still suggest getting a high capacity 7200 rpm HDD for mass storage for your general downloads and any large files like HD videos or games where you don't really need to have a couple seconds extra loading time. Especially with games taking up like 80GB+ now. Keep Windows on the SSD though.

Memory - I checked the qualified vendors list for that motherboard and MSI doesn't officially support the 3200MHz speed for the Corsair Vengeance LPX sticks you linked a couple pages back:
72595

They'll probably still work but there's a chance they'll be hard to get running at 3200. If you've not ordered yet, might be worth seeing if you can find an alternative that is officially supported.

For the fans -- I have those Corsair LightLoop fans because of the snazzy RGB. Be warned if you want to properly set up RGB though, Corsair's fairly intricate system isn't cheap and can take up quite a lot of space inside a case. Can't go wrong with Noctua though if you just want good cooling.
 
Damnit, seen this thread late. I'm a big pc tech nerd and missed a convo I actually could have had input in for once.



CPU - Great choice

Mobo - Don't know much about it, seems good.

GPU - A little on the weak side tbh. Compared to CPU, it will definitely be this which holds back the system. I would really recommend bumping up to a 1060 6GB (approx extra £60, but ~81% faster (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/3639vs3649)) or at least a 1650 (+£20, but ~30% faster (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/4039vs3649)) if you can.

HDD - SSDs have gotten much cheaper recently but I would still suggest getting a high capacity 7200 rpm HDD for mass storage for your general downloads and any large files like HD videos or games where you don't really need to have a couple seconds extra loading time. Especially with games taking up like 80GB+ now. Keep Windows on the SSD though.

Memory - I checked the qualified vendors list for that motherboard and MSI doesn't officially support the 3200MHz speed for the Corsair Vengeance LPX sticks you linked a couple pages back:
View attachment 72595

They'll probably still work but there's a chance they'll be hard to get running at 3200. If you've not ordered yet, might be worth seeing if you can find an alternative that is officially supported.

For the fans -- I have those Corsair LightLoop fans because of the snazzy RGB. Be warned if you want to properly set up RGB though, Corsair's fairly intricate system isn't cheap and can take up quite a lot of space inside a case. Can't go wrong with Noctua though if you just want good cooling.

Hi mate, cheers. The thing with the graphics card is that’s my only bit of existing kit that’s the only reason it’s in there; got it last year when I was in a bind so figured I’d skip extra spending and see how it goes but if performance is lacking I’ll change.

How big do you recommend for the HDD? I currently have a 1TB in my system but it’s also almost 10 years old... splitting Windows / files between the different hard drives is likely where I’ll mess something up initially.

Yeh I took a bit of a punt with the RAM tbh because I had a look at the motherboards QVL and couldn’t make sense of it at all with the codes. Only website I found that helped split them by what would work was G.Skill direct and they were more expensive.

I guess for the RGB fans’ system you’re referring to the lighting node pro? If so that comes with the fans in this deal - that’s why I got it in the end. £55 for 3 fans and the system that retails alone at about ~£35. The installation will be tricky though and I’m a bit confused how the node pro works just because my case has it’s own control centre to plug 3 extra fans in which is where I’d naturally plug the 2x I bought for the front.

I’m also a little confused on push/pull set ups so need to do some reading. I figured it may be as simple as 2 front fans pulling in and the 1 back / 1 top being push.
 

Memory - I checked the qualified vendors list for that motherboard and MSI doesn't officially support the 3200MHz speed for the Corsair Vengeance LPX sticks you linked a couple pages back:
View attachment 72595

They'll probably still work but there's a chance they'll be hard to get running at 3200. If you've not ordered yet, might be worth seeing if you can find an alternative that is officially supported.

Had a quick scan on google and apparently lots of people are asking the same question about pairing my MOBO with the RAM but no concrete answers as different CPU’s.

This page seems to think it’ll be okay:
https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/MSI-B450-TOMAHAWK-MAX-MS-7C02/151675
 
Can anyone explain if I would need 2.5” or 3.5” for a HDD drive? I understand that’s just the size but does it matter? The cost between them is a bit of a swing.

Looking at getting either a Seagate FireCuda or BarraCuda (both 2TB) for my main storage drive.
 
Okay definitely 3.5” HDD drive needed. Seen quite a few bad reports on Seagate with errors (got a 2-5 year warranty though) so not sure if to spunk on one yet. Maybe a WD Black or Blue?

Does anyone have an HDD/Hybrid they’d recommend as a storage drive?
 

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