Help me ATGN. You're my only hope!

[WelshBloke]

/Leia

So I've managed to come into possession of a GTX 1080. Great! Wonderful you might say!

Unfortunately my PC is (at the moment) running an Intel Q6600 and I think that the PC gods will strike me down in a righteous fury if I put the 1080 with that!

So as I'm pretty out of the loop on building new stuff I need some quick schooling.

I tend to keep my builds for awhile (can you tell?!), this one I'm thinking of ryzen.

I'm liking the idea of 2700X and a couple of sticks of 16gb memory but the memory situation seems a bit of a quagmire! Are there 16gb sticks that'll run fast and stable?

Motherboards. I'd kinda like to get an asrock as I've had some excellent CS from them but I'll go with someone else if they have a better product. I'd prefer a fairly simple MB, ideally no built in wifi. As long as its stable and has USB 3.1 I'll probably be happy with it.

So... any suggestions?

 

[richaron]

Do you have a budget? Specific games/programs you use? What's your monitor res' and refresh rate? Sorry I don't have any specific suggestions, but I'll throw in my 2c in hopefully accurate schooling...

I think a 2700X would be a good bet for longevity, although you could possibly get away with a lower end CPU depending on stuff. And the general consensus is that Ryzen+ 2700X (and 2600X) are smart enough that overclocking isn't really necessary, so maybe you could make do with a lower end mobo and stock cooling. I haven't been paying attention about when (or if) B450 boards are out but they might suit you.

As far as RAM goes there has been plenty of talk on these forums about the best RAM for Ryzen (and plenty of people who know more than me), so no doubt someone will chime in. But from what I've read the best options are 8GB single rank DIMMs made from Samsung "B-die" chips. I think 16GB is still enough these days for gaming, and RAM prices are still kinda high, so you're probably fine with a couple of 8GB modules for now. Though if you have the budget and you know you'll want more than 16GB over the life of the build (which is likely) it might be better to grab a 4x8GB set at the start and save yourself potential headaches in the future.

 

[WelshBloke]

Do you have a budget? Specific games/programs you use? What's your monitor res' and refresh rate? Sorry I don't have any specific suggestions, but I'll throw in my 2c in hopefully accurate schooling...

I think a 2700X would be a good bet for longevity, although you could possibly get away with a lower end CPU depending on stuff. And the general consensus is that Ryzen+ 2700X (and 2600X) are smart enough that overclocking isn't really necessary, so maybe you could make do with a lower end mobo and stock cooling. I haven't been paying attention about when (or if) B450 boards are out but they might suit you.

As far as RAM goes there has been plenty of talk on these forums about the best RAM for Ryzen (and plenty of people who know more than me), so no doubt someone will chime in. But from what I've read the best options are 8GB single rank DIMMs made from Samsung "B-die" chips. I think 16GB is still enough these days for gaming, and RAM prices are still kinda high, so unless you know you need more I'd stick with a couple of 8GB modules for now.

Yeah I'd heard that overclocking the CPU is now not really any better than giving it some good cooling and letting it do its thing.

I kinda wanted to put 2 16GB sticks in as I'd probably be playing around with VMs (I'd like to have one heavy lifting PC in the house then remotely log into VMs on that if I need to.) I can also then stick a couple more sticks in later if I need to. I'd hate to buy a couple of 8gb sticks now and get rid of them later.

Thanks for the advice btw!

 

[richaron]

Yeah I'd heard that overclocking the CPU is now not really any better than giving it some good cooling and letting it do its thing.

I kinda wanted to put 2 16GB sticks in as I'd probably be playing around with VMs (I'd like to have one heavy lifting PC in the house then remotely log into VMs on that if I need to.) I can also then stick a couple more sticks in later if I need to. I'd hate to buy a couple of 8gb sticks now and get rid of them later.

Thanks for the advice btw!

Np. I edited my post after a little thinking but not fast enough it seems. Added this to the last paragraph.

Though if you have the budget and you know you'll want more than 16GB over the life of the build (which is likely) it might be better to grab a 4x8GB set at the start and save yourself potential headaches in the future.

Do you really think you'll need more than 32GB in the future? If you want the "best" RAM atm you'll be stuck with 8GB modules. But of course there are other options.

 

[WelshBloke]

Do you really think you'll need more than 32GB in the future? If you want the "best" RAM atm you'll be stuck with 8GB modules. But of course there are other options.

RAM use seems to go up alarmingly! Just the amount that Chrome uses now would have shocked me when I built my last PC!

If I keep this for awhile I can see a few VMs using more than 32gb.

 

[richaron]

Oh I hear you. I went out and got 64GB ECC for my 1700 build. I have "plans" for it. But I'll be the first to admit it could easily have been a massive waste

I suspect there are B-die 16GB dual rank modules out there, but again I'm not an expert. Hopefully someone else can jump in with some specifics.

 

[WelshBloke]

So I'm thinking....

2700x
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-3ac-am.html

Asus Prime X470-Pro
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ocket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-6c0-as.html

Stupidly expensive G.Skill Trident Z 16gbx2 mem sticks with annoying blinky lights on.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/g.sk...channel-kit-f4-3200c14d-32gtzr-my-10e-gs.html