3900X build check - Thank you :)

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I am finally going to get round to upgrading my 3770K rig after 8yrs and much deliberation! I would really appreciate any advice/opinions. I use flight simulators and the greater core count on the 3900X appeals. I have also opted for a high quality PSU and case as I see these as longer term investments that I will re-use.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

I will transfer the Phanteks PH-TC14PE cooler from my current rig (I have the AMD mounting bracket)
Total: £1,868.55 (includes shipping: £14.70)​
 
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My first thoughts are that the build looks good though don't some flights sims run better on Nvidia hardware? I'm out of the loop where those games are concerned but I do recall the green team definitely having the upper hand in those types of games. Maybe it's evened out in that respect.

I will sound like a hypocrite here but you could save some money and purchase a less fancy motherboard, that is unless you require specific features that this one has? :)
 
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Thank you for the reply!

don't some flights sims run better on Nvidia hardware?

That's a very good point, this does still appear to be the case. However, from what I have been reading, the latest AMD GPUs appear to have narrowed the gap significantly, and many flight simmers are now using the latest AMD hardware. Also, I understand that the latest AMD GPUs now support ray tracing?

Re: the motherboard. I wasn't after any specific features on this board. My reasons for choosing this were:
1) It looks cool :p
2) My current Asus board has been working 100% reliably for the last 8yrs now - never missed a beat.
3) Good VRM performance that will allow me to overclock a little - I'm a complete amateur at this, I have been running a stable OC on my 3770K for several years now though.
4) As I'll no doubt have this for several years, I don't mind spending a little more. However I don't want to go OTT and waste money on features that I don't need.

I have also been wondering if I should go for a slightly cheaper PSU. I definitely want to go with Seasonic, I was thinking that these looks like good value:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

I really want silent PSU operation during desktop tasks. I understand that the fans on modern PSUs only engage over specific loadings. Would my original PSU choice have a better profile for this? Would there be any other disadvantages for going for one of these cheaper PSU for my use case?

My current PSU which I've had for over 10yrs is quite noisy, although it's been fine. I understand that it was a Seasonic design, hence why I want to go for the real deal this time.

EDIT: I might step up to a 750w PSU, just to provide some additional overhead/future-proofing. Same series though.
 
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Caporegime
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I'm in a similar boat, as I like to keep the same build for quite a while and get as much out of it as I'm able to. I went for a much more expensive board partly due to the great reviews but also for the features, so I can understand what you mean. Besides, I also fancied spoiling myself. :D

I definitely think changing a ten-year-old PSU is a must as, so I've been told, they depreciate a little every year when in use (I suppose much like anything else).
In terms of wattage, I believe companies over-spec the requirements on purpose to allow a safer level of operation, so I think a 650 would likely be absolutely fine, however, a tad extra wouldn't hurt for future hardware alterations/longer-term uses, etc.
Having said all that, part of me still thinks that a good quality 650w would be fine for your system requirements, but then again, I went for a 750w Seasonic myself, so perhaps some other feedback from the more experienced members might put that to rest? :)

I can't comment extensively on which models allow for very quiet PSU operation, but I've not heard my unit working whatsoever. Mine is a gold-rated Seasonic Focus model (from memory, not exactly sure which one as there are several) and so far it has been brilliant.
I would say there's nothing 'wrong' with going for a very high-quality unit like a titanium one but I don't believe it's necessary to spend quite that much, but again, I would get another opinion on that, and, whether the extra cost automatically qualifies the unit as a super-silent one, I don't know.

I've read that the ideal minimum when choosing a PSU these days is to go for a gold unit and upwards, though I'm pretty confident that bronze and silver are still very good options (brand/OEM depending).

Hope all that helps a little. :o :)

Edit: re the GPU, I'd check out some reviews to see how flight sims stack up with both the 2070 S and 5700XT, as that could be a way of saving a substantial amount of money. I don't think you can go wrong with either series, though.
 
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Re: the motherboard. I wasn't after any specific features on this board. My reasons for choosing this were:
1) It looks cool :p
2) My current Asus board has been working 100% reliably for the last 8yrs now - never missed a beat.
3) Good VRM performance that will allow me to overclock a little - I'm a complete amateur at this, I have been running a stable OC on my 3770K for several years now though.
4) As I'll no doubt have this for several years, I don't mind spending a little more. However I don't want to go OTT and waste money on features that I don't need.
First of all you don't overclock Ryzens.
Especially with high core counts you would need more exotic cooling to crank up all core clocks close enough to automatic boost clocks to avoid decrease in gaming performance.
Even properly multithreaded games have one or two main threads, needing highest clock speeds.
Instead you simply stick there better than stock cooler for it to keep CPU cooler allowing higher and longer duration boosting.


And while Asus turned 180 degrees from scam level VRMs in B450 boards, chipset cooler design is pretty much the worst of X570 and from 15 years ago:
- Big marketing garbage covers hide very small heatsink relying on constant airflow from fan...
- Which is restricted by that marketing garbage...
- Positioned directly under graphics card to enjoy from its pre-heated air to make sure fan keeps spinning and wearing itself down at unnecessary high speeds.​
Of course if fan wears out chipset temperature will skyrocker fast or go to overheating level.
Also that marketing garbage can collect dust to restrict fan even more and add noise and wear:
https://bbs.io-tech.fi/threads/am4-emolevyt.19016/post-7081288

Properly designed X570 boards have good size chipset heatsink farther from heat of graphics card and capable to semi passive cooling...
With fan running only occasionally or barely ever at all, assuming working case cooling.
(so chipset fan dying wouldn't be much of problem)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...4-x570-chipset-atx-motherboard-mb-57w-gi.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...-am4-ddr4-x570-atx-motherboard-mb-351-ms.html
 
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Hope all that helps a little.

Very much so, thank you both for your replies :)

First of all you don't overclock Ryzens.

Keeping the temps down with a good cooler and allowing it to boost naturally for longer makes perfect sense. I was going to transfer my Phanteks PH-TC14PE over. However, it has white fans and I think a black cooler that matches the system a little better would look nicer. It also saves me having to use the stock cooler until Phanteks send me an AM4 bracket. I am considering either the Noctua NH-D15 or the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4. I have read that the size of the latter can cause issues fitting some GPUs though?

I hadn't considered the issues surrounding the chipset fan/heat sink design on some of these X570 boards. Given that I don't upgrade often, the longevity of the system is an important consideration. That basically rules out Asus for this generation. I like the look of the Gigabyte Aorus Elite and Master boards. I can see the big difference in the position and design of the chipset fan/heat sink. arc@css I see you have the Master. It's quite a step up from the Elite though :p Are you happy with it?
 
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Very much so, thank you both for your replies :)



Keeping the temps down with a good cooler and allowing it to boost naturally for longer makes perfect sense. I was going to transfer my Phanteks PH-TC14PE over. However, it has white fans and I think a black cooler that matches the system a little better would look nicer. It also saves me having to use the stock cooler until Phanteks send me an AM4 bracket. I am considering either the Noctua NH-D15 or the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4. I have read that the size of the latter can cause issues fitting some GPUs though?

I hadn't considered the issues surrounding the chipset fan/heat sink design on some of these X570 boards. Given that I don't upgrade often, the longevity of the system is an important consideration. That basically rules out Asus for this generation. I like the look of the Gigabyte Aorus Elite and Master boards. I can see the big difference in the position and design of the chipset fan/heat sink. arc@css I see you have the Master. It's quite a step up from the Elite though :p Are you happy with it?

The B550 boards don't have chipset fans and are announced today, wait until this afternoon and the reviews will be out.
 
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I see you have the Master. It's quite a step up from the Elite though :p Are you happy with it?

Very happy with it so far though I haven't really been in a position to take a more in-depth look as I've been busy with other stuff, however, in time I will.

Concerning the above comment about B550 boards - I agree that it's well worth waiting to see what the reviews say, so if you haven't already, I'd recommend subbing to some tech channels to follow the release news (Hardware Unboxed, Tech Deals, Gamers Nexus and so on).

In the meantime, here's a couple of useful videos that might be of interest which I posted in another thread quite recently (post #6):
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/motherboard-for-3900x.18886373/#post-33584617

*Added Hardware Unboxed's B550 video:
 
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Soldato
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Keeping the temps down with a good cooler and allowing it to boost naturally for longer makes perfect sense. I was going to transfer my Phanteks PH-TC14PE over. However, it has white fans and I think a black cooler that matches the system a little better would look nicer. It also saves me having to use the stock cooler until Phanteks send me an AM4 bracket. I am considering either the Noctua NH-D15 or the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4. I have read that the size of the latter can cause issues fitting some GPUs though?

I hadn't considered the issues surrounding the chipset fan/heat sink design on some of these X570 boards. Given that I don't upgrade often, the longevity of the system is an important consideration. That basically rules out Asus for this generation. I like the look of the Gigabyte Aorus Elite and Master boards. I can see the big difference in the position and design of the chipset fan/heat sink. arc@css I see you have the Master. It's quite a step up from the Elite though :p Are you happy with it?
Bundled Wraith Prism isn't usual stock cooler bad.
So it would do temporarily for gaming, if you don't have any other use for that Phanteks.
AMD's TDP is quite honest and without manually changing settings/overclocking power consumption/heat output in full all core load (like in Prime/3D rendering etc) goes to ~140W at max.
So at defaults it doesn't even need the biggest cooler, which is basically the rule for high end Intels with 200W level and even over real max consumptions.
(and all good X570 boards have basically overkill VRMs)
Something like this would be already good for Ryzen.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-brocken-3-cpu-cooler-140mm-hs-05a-al.html

Basically all dual towers can have issues with memory clearance and 14cm fan sized often also block the uppermost expansion slot position.
Which is usually x1 slot or non used in ATX boards.
Scythe Fuma 2 is one of the rare dual towers with full clearances in usual ATX/mATX boards.
Though just like in Mugen 5 its slightly convex base is optimized for Intel's toward concave heat spreaders and centered heat source.
AMD again has flat or even tiny bit convex from center heatspreaders, which would give good contact only on small area and Zen2's chiplet design also has heat sources off center.
"Lapping" heatsink's base flat would solve that, but it's extra work.


Some people have entirely skipped X570 boards because of those active chipset coolers with fan.
And after having chipset fan equipped Asus Athlon board 15 years ago I can understand their decisions.
Its chipset fans wore out fast becoming noisy and while Asus support at least kept sending them (they should have just packed 2 or 3 extra coolers into box to get over warranty period) after second becoming noisy I got passive Zalman chipset cooler.

Actually Aorus Elite has the best working chipset cooler design in Gigabytes: It's farthest from graphics card and fan is unrestricted.
Aorus Pro moves it couple cm closer to graphics card.
And starting from Aorus Ultra there's that restricting marketing garbage.
Higher price just doesn't automatically mean better, or even same design quality...
 
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Thank you for the informative replies. The wealth of knowledge on this forum is amazing!

Concerning the above comment about B550 boards - I agree that it's well worth waiting to see what the reviews say, so if you haven't already, I'd recommend subbing to some tech channels to follow the release news (Hardware Unboxed, Tech Deals, Gamers Nexus and so on).

I had a watch of this (thanks for adding it to the post) and the other X570 reviews linked in the other thread. Given the current pricing of the B550 and lack of a PCIe 4.0 upgrade path, I am still leaning towards the X570 platform.

It seems that the VRMs in these Gigabyte boards have generally received very favourable reviews. I've also never built around a Gigabyte board before, so it will be nice to try something different.

Actually Aorus Elite has the best working chipset cooler design in Gigabytes: It's farthest from graphics card and fan is unrestricted.
Aorus Pro moves it couple cm closer to graphics card.
And starting from Aorus Ultra there's that restricting marketing garbage.
Higher price just doesn't automatically mean better, or even same design quality...

From what I've been reading, the X570 chipset fans don't seem to engage much, with some reporting only noticing it during POST. However, I'm guessing that should the PCIe 4.0 bus become saturated in the future, it could be a very different story? I have been looking at the board layouts closely. I see what you mean about the location of the fan on the Elite, and the fact it is unrestricted.

I am currently considering either the Aorus Elite, or possibly paying the extra £50 and upgrading to the Pro. However, I am now a little worried about the fan being closer to the GPU. I have read that the Aours Elite lacks a debug LED and a USB-C port on the back. However, if there is a USB 3.2 header, I could connect it to the USB-C port on the front of the Evolv X.

PS: on the Gigabyte website I've noticed Rev. 1 and 1.1 on many of the boards. Should I be looking for the 1.1 if I do go down this route?

EDIT: It looks like the header on the Elite for USB 3.2 is proprietary and designed to connect to Gigabyte’s own case? This could rule it out for me as I would ideally like to have USB-C on the board directly and linked to my case too.
 
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Soldato
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From what I've been reading, the X570 chipset fans don't seem to engage much, with some reporting only noticing it during POST. However, I'm guessing that should the PCIe 4.0 bus become saturated in the future, it could be a very different story?

PS: on the Gigabyte website I've noticed Rev. 1 and 1.1 on many of the boards. Should I be looking for the 1.1 if I do go down this route?

EDIT: It looks like the header on the Elite for USB 3.2 is proprietary and designed to connect to Gigabyte’s own case? This could rule it out for me as I would ideally like to have USB-C on the board directly and linked to my case too.
More I/O load, higher ambient from hot room temperature, graphics card heating up air inside case and that dust are all things which can push up that chipset cooling need.
Though boards with good size heatsink are in advantage in that.
Anyway if fan runs rarely that means it won't wear much and its failure won't be critical problem.

Some board makers have different revisions of boards and newer isn't automatically better with for example some cost downing done.

USB-C header and cable is very different from USB2/USB3 headers:
http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?...les&type_sub=USB Cables&model=AK-CBUB37-50BK#
Guess they changed also that in case someone can't be bothered to check connector orientation...
 
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