Build a PC

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/35683340

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for feedback on my PC build. My current setup, a Ryzen 5 3700X with 32GB of RAM and an RX 480, has served me well over the past three years. However, it’s driving me nuts lately because of the noise. The high TDP of the 3700X, combined with the cheap Cooler Master N400 case I originally got to accommodate my pile of HDDs, has made it unbearably loud. I’m planning to repurpose that build as a file server, so it’s time for a much-needed upgrade.

Here’s the new build I’m considering:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor	~~$447.05~~ $406.82 (Canada Computers Bundle)
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler	$99.95 @ Amazon Canada
Motherboard	MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard	~~$249.98~~ $227.48 (Canada Computers Bundle)
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory	~~$109.99~~ $100.09 (Canada Computers Bundle)
Storage	Timetec 35TTFP6PCIE 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$0 (on hand)
Storage	Seagate IronWolf 12 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	$0 (on hand)
Video Card	Asus Dual GeForce RTX 3060 V2 OC Edition GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 12 GB Video Card	$0 (on hand)
Case	Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case	$79.99 @ Canada Computers
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$114.99 @ Newegg Canada
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total	$1029.32

A bit about my design decisions:

• Case: I chose the Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX case because of its 140mm fans and the option for a USB-C upgrade. I considered the be quiet! Pure Base 500 for its quieter performance, but I decided against it since the slight noise reduction wasn’t worth sacrificing overall airflow. My main thing is that I can't stand cases with exposed glass panels, so I was looking for cases that either were fully mesh or had non-glass side panels. I'm okay with mini-ATX cases or getting an mATX board but I'd rather have a larger PC and the option of adding additional expansion cards with an ATX mobo.
• CPU: I opted for the Ryzen 7 9700X over the 7700X for its lower TDP, which I hope will translate to quieter operation and lower temperatures. I ruled out the X3D CPUs since my main use case includes development, virtualization, and some local AI workloads (e.g., Local LLaMA), with gaming as a secondary focus.
• Cooler: I went with the Noctua NH-D15S for its quiet operation and compact design. While its airflow is slightly worse than the standard NH-D15, I felt the trade-off was worth it. A little peace of mind as well for it conflicting with the rest of my build.
• Motherboard: I chose the MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK because it has the most USB ports and strong VRMs, which fit my needs since I tend to lag behind the latest GPU generations (e.g., buying prior-gen GPUs for 1080p/1440p gaming). Its lack of a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot could limit future graphics upgrades, but I hope to still upgrade to x4 cards down the line when prices drop. Alternative bundled mobos I considered were the ASUS TUF GAMING B650-E and GIGABYTE B650 EAGLE AX, which I’m open to switching to if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
• PSU: I picked the Corsair RM750e because it was the cheapest Tier A option on the PSU Tier List.
• RGB: Not a fan of LEDs and RGB and I'm willing to pay a premium to avoid it.
• Upgrades in mind: I don’t need this build to last five years without upgrades. My plan is to eventually upgrade the GPU (to the best current-gen GPU under $400 USD when prices drop) and bump the RAM to 64GB if I take on heavier virtualization workloads.

Does this look like a balanced build?

Are there areas where I could improve performance or save money? I’d also love thoughts on my motherboard choice and whether my upgrade path assumptions make sense. Thanks in advance for the feedback! 😊

I am coming from being a console player all my life. I love the conviency of a console, but I'm tired of all the B.S. Subscriptions, lack of exclusives, no backwards compatibly. I got a steam deck last year and I love it. I would like something more powerful though that I can plug into my TV though and game in at least 1080p with high settings. Ideally 4k with decent settings.

I am transitioning my computing to Linux and I like the look of Bazzite which is very similar to the steam desk. I would like to do a build that can replace my console. I'm thinking I should go Ryzen AMD. I'm more just wondering what components will work with a Linux build and if there are some things I should avoid. If someone has recommendations for a $1500 CAD build I would also be very interested in that.

I was curious if anyone has any tips on where to look for computers/laptops about to be thrown out because its to outdated to run modern windows. I was thinking replacing the OS with a user friendly version of linux and giving it to people that would otherwise have to buy a new laptop/pc. I have heard businesses and schools end up throwing out their old stuff when they get it replaced though idk how I would go about asking.

So, I have a not so unique problem. I want to build a PC with decent power and good Linux support but local parts are hard to get and importing is a mess.

Local shops don't have much

https://www.scanmalta.com/shop/ this is the only local shop with parts in stock, and even they only have 1 amd GPU.

I'm looking for both amd CPU and GPU. At least 16 GB of ram and ideally as cheap as I can. Anyone have any advice to give me?

Also wtf is the motherboard thing. What works wi the what?

I'm aiming for something midrange-ish

Just bought a ROG STRIX 850w PSU and it came with this monstrosity of a cable that I've never seen before.

The two ends are entwined between eachother in a way that you can't un-entangle without popping an end piece off

Is this an actual real cable design or is it mis-manufactured? It offends my sensibilities.

So currently I’m running a 5800x and a regular 2060. I’ve got a 650w gold PSU that’s about 4 years old, no problems with it at all. I’m thinking about upgrading to a RX 7800 XT because GeForce prices are perpetually absurd. It seems like it would be enough power, but the few things I’ve read say that I need at least a 750w if I go with the AMD (because they’re power hungry?), but 650w would be fine for a 4070ti. If I have to buy a new PSU, I feel like it would wipe out any savings I might get by buying AMD over Nvidia. How can I definitively know if I need more power?

Full disclosure, I understand the concept of undervolting, but I’m not nearly confident enough to mess with the settings.

I'm software dev looking to upgrade, would be using the PC for work stuff, compiling on WSL, some CAD stuff (Blender, FreeCAD) and some video editing. Gaming, primarily sim racing titles like Asseto Corsa Competizione. I'd like the PC to be ready for deep learning as well, so going with NVIDIA.

I plan to initially use the M34WQ ultrawide for sim racing, with an upgrade to a triple 27/32" setup at a later point.

The PCPartPicker list comes from their "Magnificent Intel Build" with some customization.

I'm actually ok with waiting until January for the supposed launch of new NVIDIA cards.

Appreciate any feedback you might have!

PCPartPicker Part List

I currently have a Corsair H100i Pro XT AIO inside my Lian Li A4 H2O ITX case. I don't really like how loud my fans are blowing and I'm thinking of going either liquid cool or air cooled with Noctua fans. I want something as quiet as possible and good at cooling as possible. Any suggestions?

I built my PC about 8 months ago and it's been running great. No overclocking/undervolting (other than XMP). A few days ago it stopped recognizing the boot drive, but only sometimes. The first time I turn it on in the morning it goes straight to the BIOS with no boot drives found. If I power it off and give it a few minutes it boots just fine. It then runs fine, with multiple games and discord going at the same time. Every night I turn off the power strip the computer is connected to and have done this basically since I assembled it.

My boot drive is a NVMe. I have an identical one in the second (of three, third is empty) slots on my mobo and the BIOS recognizes the second one, it just doesn't have the boot info. I've used device manager and windows update to check for new drivers and it says it's up to date. I haven't done anything to update my mobo.

Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

I don't like the weight or fragility of huge tempered glass side panels which seems to be the default for any case that is over $100... plexiglass/acrylic and some RGB are acceptable although honestly the aesthetics are pretty much irrelevant and I don't need them. I don't want a "cheap" case either. I've cut enough fingers on poorly finished steel rattle-trap boxes and I really can't stand them.

Enough about what I don't want though. What I DO want is a case that's focused on practical features, good airflow, quiet, well-made, easy to build in, roomy without being absurdly enormous, not too unconventionally laid out so that wires will reach while allowing good cable management -- basically, something that was designed thoughtfully.

My current case is a Corsair 900D and other than the fact that it's way bigger than I'd like, I'm generally pretty happy with it, but I'm not sure what else is out there that would even be comparable, Corsair seems to have gone to tempered glass in all their larger cases and I'm not very familiar with all the other manufacturers out there nowadays.

Hi, i plan on building a pc soon using an i7 13700K and i hesitate between the MSI Z790 tomahawk and Z690 force. There is like a 10€ difference of price between them (in france) so not significant.

The Z790 Tomahawk has a 16 duet rails power system, i don't really understand what it means but i saw the z690 force has a direct 18 phases power system, which i think is better from what i read ? However they say the tomahawk has a 90 A VRM while the force has 75 A.

So i'm wondering what is the most important for a potential overclock, direct phase or total current ? (i could also be completing mixing things up and misunderstood the descriptions)

Also the z690 force has a true debug display with digits, so that's interesting, but the z790 tomahawk has more 3.2 usb ports and one more usb-c port...

Thx in advance

I preordered a Seasonic Vertex PX-1200 (aka. 1200P, Platinum) back in January and Seasonic told me the Vertex series would be widely available that month. It's now July and while the Gold (GX series) Vertex PSUs have been released, there's no signs that the P series ever shipped.

Anyone have any idea what's up with that? Are they actually going to ship or are they going to cancel the product line?

This is the first time I'm building a computer. I want it to support Thunderbolt 4 while using an AMD processor. I could use a motherboard with it inbuilt like the ASUS ProArt X670E-Creator WIFI, but reviews mention having issues with it so I'm thinking of avoiding it. So instead, I found a few add-in cards that support TBT4 (one by ASUS, ASRock and Gigabyte each).

The documentation for the ASUS ThunderboltEX 4, for example, lists various AMD X670-compatible motherboards, of which ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI is one. So great, this mobo with this AIC should work, right?

But then I read "only ASUS Intel 500 series and later motherboards with a 14-1 pin Thunderbolt header can support ThunderboltEX 4 card", which suggests to me only Intel chipsets will work, despite AMD boards being listed on the compatibility list. I see very similar wording with the ASRock AIC as well.

So, why would AMD Boards (like for X670E) be listed as compatible when only Intel boards (500-series) would work? Am I misunderstanding something here?

If i want to run an Ubuntu server 24/7 with Plex and Qbit, would it make sense to use a hard drive as home/boot drive? Or is it better to use an SSD?

Hello there! I'm posting this on the lemmy.ca instance cause I guess most people here would be used to dealing with CAD.

So my situation is the following. I have an i7 3700 with a P8Z77-V that I use for 1200p gaming, mostly Paradox games. I wanna start playing Hogwarts Legacy and I definitely feel I need to beef this up.

Last year I bought an AS-IS i7 8700 on eBay for $125, which I only got to test this week. I bought an ASUS B365M V5 and 32GB 3200MHz DDR4 for $165CAD. Lo and behold, the i7 8700 is broken af and I can only get to Windows by disabling every single CPU feature and using only 1 core.

So I've sunk $165 on the LGA1151 platform. I have a chance to get an 8700k for $200, or an 8700 for $150 (and a bit of travel). Any suggestions? Thanks!

cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/764148

From the video description:

"We interviewed one of Noctua's technical team members (Jakob Dellinger) to discuss the challenges and troubles of focusing entirely on performance for a cooling product. This video goes over fan behaviors like tensile strength, endurance, aging, creep, and cooling characteristics like blade tip distance from the frame and blade passing harmonics. The video is a surprisingly transparent insight into what Noctua has been dealing with for 8 years now as it has attempted to reinvent its most popular product, and the company now thinks it has an NH-D15 Gen2 and "Next Gen Fan" nearly ready for primetime."