High-end Rig

[Lord Arse!]

Hi guys,

Just about to pull the trigger on this rig for streaming and >4K gaming. Any glaring errors?

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i PRO Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Capture/Streaming Cards
AVerMedia Live Gamer HD 2 - PCIe Card
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Streaming Accessories
Elgato Stream Deck
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 20 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £2,891.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/sSKmJ!dxjp/

 

[Lord Arse!]

Thanks. Added the configurable URL to the OP.

 

[Lord Arse!]

I'm approaching the top of my budget with this. I can go higher but it's more a case of not wanting to if I can avoid it! Though, if it's a game changer, I'm happy to top it up.

 

[Scott]

With gaming and streaming I don't understand the dual 6TB Ironwolf drives. Seems like a huge waste. If RAID is your thinking I would advise against it, it's a very old method of trying to backup. You want to be looking at cloud storage to be honest. I would be happier with an external drive for backing up rather than RAID. Any issues are instantly transferred between the drives (Malware).

Suggested changes below. The 3800X is fine for 4k & streaming, in fact it will do very well. Higher level gaming doesn't really need any extra cores. VR can sometimes use extra cores so AAA gaming and streaming would maybe warrant a 3900X but I do fine with my 9900K so I don't think it's quite a necessity yet.

I've lowered the motherboard. Unless you have a specific reason for the X570 or the STRIX the B550 has you more than covered. There will be no performance difference and the only reason to stick with it is if you think your future usage will change to heavy demand processing (Video editing and the like) where you would want to increase the CPU to one of the big boys 3900X/3950X. Just something to consider though, the STRIX is a great board...... it's just pricey.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Capture/Streaming Cards
AVerMedia Live Gamer HD 2 - PCIe Card
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Streaming Accessories
Elgato Stream Deck
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 20 working days
Price: £2,827.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/W7nVgtmJgD/

 

[Lord Arse!]

Thanks Scott. The only reason I've got the big storage drives is that I have a LOT of TV shows and 1080p/4K movies which I stream to Plex. If I lost these it wouldn't be the end of the world (ie. no RAID) but in the meantime, they've got to go somewhere and they're too big to move to a cloud.

 

[Scott]

Thanks Scott. The only reason I've got the big storage drives is that I have a LOT of TV shows and 1080p/4K movies which I stream to Plex. If I lost these it wouldn't be the end of the world (ie. no RAID) but in the meantime, they've got to go somewhere and they're too big to move to a cloud.

I'm in a similar boat to be honest. I have stacks of stuff.

In this sort of use case though I wouldn't bother with the Ironwolf drives. You can save £150 just by going with more conventional drives.

Another option would be a 12TB Ironwolf..... still cheaper and it would all be on one drive

 

[Lord Arse!]

Regarding the STRIX X570-F vs. B550-PLUS I'm going to stick with the STRIX as I will also be using the computer for video editing and this'll give me a CPU upgrade option if I feel that I need to in the nearish future.

Other than that, I've taken everything else on board. Thanks chaps


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Capture/Streaming Cards
AVerMedia Live Gamer HD 2 - PCIe Card
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Streaming Accessories
Elgato Stream Deck
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 20 working days
Price: £2,916.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/hSwFKqGfuA/

One final question. Should 16GB RAM be more than adequate for this?

 

[Lord Arse!]

In this sort of use case though I wouldn't bother with the Ironwolf drives. You can save £150 just by going with more conventional drives.

Sounds like a plan. The only reason I went for the Ironwolf over the Barracuda was the 7200 vs 5400RPM, but I guess it's a luxury that I don't really require.

 

[Lord Arse!]

Thanks, I'll take a look at those options. I'd have probably just opted for 32GB in the first place but it looks like PCS are out of stock on 16GB 3600MHz RAM. Perhaps I'll wait a few days.

 

[Scott]

They don't have 16GB 3600Mhz options unfortunately. If you give them a call it may be an option though.

3900X, 32GB of RAM are excellent options for Video editing. Depends on when you fancy going down that route.

 

[Lord Arse!]

Okay, definitely going with the 3900X. The price difference between that and the 3800X is really not a huge amount. Going to stick with 16GB for now.

Final (?) spec...


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.6GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Capture/Streaming Cards
AVerMedia Live Gamer HD 2 - PCIe Card
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Streaming Accessories
Elgato Stream Deck
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 20 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Ger6PPkUFU/



Nailed it?

 

[Scott]

Looks excellent to me. I think you will be very impressed.

 

[Lord Arse!]

Brilliant. Thanks for your input guys

 

[Lord Arse!]

Brilliant. Just about to click 'order' and the Fractal Define 7 case has disappeared!

 

[Scott]

Yeah, proving popular right now. Loads of people after quiet systems at the moment.

You could call them and ask if there is an expected ETA. It's likely that they will be back in stock before your system is going into build, so ask them if it's OK to choose another case as a placeholder and simply switch it when they are available.

 

[Lord Arse!]

Looks like it'll be back in stock in a week. I was given the option to choose a placeholder case but I think I'll probably hang fire. It's been 11 years since I bought a new rig so I think I can wait another week or so

 

[WhiskyMac]

There's a solid 5 week wait at moment for builds - ordering with a placeholder would make a lot of sense to avoid waiting 6. You could select the Fractal Meshify S2 as a similar cost and change the case next week when the Define comes back into stock.