The PC Build Thread

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Ancalagon said:
Ryzen is a better alternative these days. For your needs, I'd rather buy a Ryzen APU (ie with integrated graphics) than a separate GPU. A separate GPU adds quite a bit to the cost and you don't know if you need one yet. Your daughter may or may not want to play games - no point spending all that money on a GPU just in case.

Get a 4 core Ryzen APU, 16GB of RAM - why so much storage space?

A case that size should be fine - any ATX case will be able to hold that many drives. Personally I'd buy a 1TB NVMe drive to boot off, and buy other 3/4 TB SATA drives as you need them.

Note that the reason NAS's are expensive is usually because they provide some kind of a RAID solution. RAID - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. Means you put 4 drives into a NAS but you only see a single logical volume. They work some magic to make redundancy better. You won't have that with a PC, unless you do it in software which is not advised. Software RAID has the problem that you can't just unplug your drives and move them.
Click to expand...

Ancalagon said:
Ryzen is a better alternative these days. For your needs, I'd rather buy a Ryzen APU (ie with integrated graphics) than a separate GPU. A separate GPU adds quite a bit to the cost and you don't know if you need one yet. Your daughter may or may not want to play games - no point spending all that money on a GPU just in case.

Get a 4 core Ryzen APU, 16GB of RAM - why so much storage space?

A case that size should be fine - any ATX case will be able to hold that many drives. Personally I'd buy a 1TB NVMe drive to boot off, and buy other 3/4 TB SATA drives as you need them.

Note that the reason NAS's are expensive is usually because they provide some kind of a RAID solution. RAID - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. Means you put 4 drives into a NAS but you only see a single logical volume. They work some magic to make redundancy better. You won't have that with a PC, unless you do it in software which is not advised. Software RAID has the problem that you can't just unplug your drives and move them.
Click to expand...

thanks.. do i lose anything with integrated APU?

in terms of storage i read that i would need some sort of RAID setup in order to mitigate if any drives fail.
also wanted adequate space for movies, music, photos etc as ive got two girls and we do a lot of photos and videos.

agreed on the 1tb ssd to boot off, any preference on brands?
 
maqs said:
thanks.. do i lose anything with integrated APU?

in terms of storage i read that i would need some sort of RAID setup in order to mitigate if any drives fail.
also wanted adequate space for movies, music, photos etc as ive got two girls and we do a lot of photos and videos.

agreed on the 1tb ssd to boot off, any preference on brands?
Click to expand...

AMD's number is a little strange regarding their APUs and CPUs.

So, the AMD 3400G is an APU, but it uses older technology than their 3600, which is a CPU. Thus, the 3600 will be quite a bit faster than the 3400G.

What I'm trying to say is that AMD CPUs currently have newer technology than their APUs - if this matters to you.

The other thing is that AMD CPUs are faster. You can buy a 16 core AMD CPU - you cannot buy a 16 core AMD APU. But, I don't know if this matters to you. Most people won't need more than 6 cores. You cannot currently buy a 6 core APU, you can buy a 6 core CPU.

You can buy an APU now and later upgrade to a CPU, or vice versa.

So, your APU will be a little cheaper but also a little slower. I personally don't think this matters too much. A 4 core APU is plenty powerful for what you want.

RAID can help reliability - depends on the RAID type. The problem is that RAID is best when you use a separate RAID controller card. That is to say, you can setup RAID using a motherboard, but I'd advise against it. Motherboard RAID implementations aren't good. You are better off buying a separate RAID card, but those are expensive.

You get different types of RAID. You probably want RAID 1, 5 or 10.

Just bear in mind that SSDs are normally very reliable. These days, if you want reliability, get an un RAIDed SSD.

SSD brand preference - Samsung, Corsair, Crucial, Intel, in no particular order. Samsung probably best, Intel expensive. Get NVMe, not SATA, for boot.

Get SATA SSD for storage, NVMe SSD for boot.
 
Ancalagon said:
AMD's number is a little strange regarding their APUs and CPUs.

So, the AMD 3400G is an APU, but it uses older technology than their 3600, which is a CPU. Thus, the 3600 will be quite a bit faster than the 3400G.

What I'm trying to say is that AMD CPUs currently have newer technology than their APUs - if this matters to you.

The other thing is that AMD CPUs are faster. You can buy a 16 core AMD CPU - you cannot buy a 16 core AMD APU. But, I don't know if this matters to you. Most people won't need more than 6 cores. You cannot currently buy a 6 core APU, you can buy a 6 core CPU.

You can buy an APU now and later upgrade to a CPU, or vice versa.

So, your APU will be a little cheaper but also a little slower. I personally don't think this matters too much. A 4 core APU is plenty powerful for what you want.

RAID can help reliability - depends on the RAID type. The problem is that RAID is best when you use a separate RAID controller card. That is to say, you can setup RAID using a motherboard, but I'd advise against it. Motherboard RAID implementations aren't good. You are better off buying a separate RAID card, but those are expensive.

You get different types of RAID. You probably want RAID 1, 5 or 10.

Just bear in mind that SSDs are normally very reliable. These days, if you want reliability, get an un RAIDed SSD.

SSD brand preference - Samsung, Corsair, Crucial, Intel, in no particular order. Samsung probably best, Intel expensive. Get NVMe, not SATA, for boot.

Get SATA SSD for storage, NVMe SSD for boot.
Click to expand...

thanks
is there a model APU you advise and what cost am i looking at?
i recently bought a laptop off flashgear and the difference SSD makes is worth the time cost, so id definitely be looking at best cost effective SSD drive
 
maqs said:
agreed on the 1tb ssd to boot off, any preference on brands?
Click to expand...

Not to be a party pooper but your expectations vs budget don't correlate.

Wootware might be trading butt options are limited as their suppliers aren't all trading which makes things really difficult unless budget is not a concern.

I can do a woot build for you if you want.
 
maqs said:
thanks
is there a model APU you advise and what cost am i looking at?
i recently bought a laptop off flashgear and the difference SSD makes is worth the time cost, so id definitely be looking at best cost effective SSD drive
Click to expand...

I'd probably go for a AMD 2400G, but as ponder says, cost will be an issue for you with a R10k budget. It will be next to impossible to get what you want for R10k.

I'd choose a good starting point and add the rest (ie extra drives) as you can.
 
ponder said:
Not to be a party pooper but your expectations vs budget don't correlate.

Wootware might be trading butt options are limited as their suppliers aren't all trading which makes things really difficult unless budget is not a concern.

I can do a woot build for you if you want.
Click to expand...

hi ponder
is my budget too low?
what could i lose to decrease? number of HDD?

or how much should i increase budget?

Happy if you could do quote/build as ive purchased from wootware before
 
Ancalagon said:
I'd probably go for a AMD 2400G, but as ponder says, cost will be an issue for you with a R10k budget. It will be next to impossible to get what you want for R10k.

I'd choose a good starting point and add the rest (ie extra drives) as you can.
Click to expand...
how much should i increase?
 
maqs said:
how much should i increase?
Click to expand...

You're looking at roughly:
R2500 for APU
R1700 for motherboard
R3000 for 16GB RAM
R1000 for case
R1000 for PSU
R2500 for 1TB NVMe SSD
R1500 for Windows

So, that adds up to around R13000 without any of the storage drives you want. Increase it to R15000 for your first storage drive.
 
Ancalagon said:
You're looking at roughly:
R2500 for APU
R1700 for motherboard
R3000 for 16GB RAM
R1000 for case
R1000 for PSU
R2500 for 1TB NVMe SSD
R1500 for Windows

So, that adds up to around R13000 without any of the storage drives you want. Increase it to R15000 for your first storage drive.
Click to expand...
Just buy it from carb for R150
 
Ancalagon said:
You're looking at roughly:
R2500 for APU
R1700 for motherboard
R3000 for 16GB RAM
R1000 for case
R1000 for PSU
R2500 for 1TB NVMe SSD
R1500 for Windows

So, that adds up to around R13000 without any of the storage drives you want. Increase it to R15000 for your first storage drive.
Click to expand...

thanks
i saw the following as price guide
takealot
Ryzen 5 3400 @ 2,775
ryzen 3 3200 @ 1,900

corsair vengeance lpx 2x8 gb ddr4 3000mhz @ 1,740

msi x570 pro motherboard @ 3,700
the asus tuf 570 was a lot more

or are the b450 boards as good as the x570?
they tend to be 40% cheaper

case fractal design R4 @ 1,240

any other tips?
 
maqs said:
thanks
i saw the following as price guide
takealot
Ryzen 5 3400 @ 2,775
ryzen 3 3200 @ 1,900

corsair vengeance lpx 2x8 gb ddr4 3000mhz @ 1,740

msi x570 pro motherboard @ 3,700
the asus tuf 570 was a lot more

or are the b450 boards as good as the x570?
they tend to be 40% cheaper

case fractal design R4 @ 1,240

any other tips?
Click to expand...
B450 board is fine, don't need x570
 
maqs said:
thanks
i saw the following as price guide
takealot
Ryzen 5 3400 @ 2,775
ryzen 3 3200 @ 1,900

corsair vengeance lpx 2x8 gb ddr4 3000mhz @ 1,740

msi x570 pro motherboard @ 3,700
the asus tuf 570 was a lot more

or are the b450 boards as good as the x570?
they tend to be 40% cheaper

case fractal design R4 @ 1,240

any other tips?
Click to expand...

Takealot won't ship pc parts, only essentials.

If you're looking at such expensive motherboards then I'm not gonna be too conservative :)



R2399 - AMD YD1600BBAFBOX Ryzen 5 1600 (AF) Hexa Core 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU
R2099 - MSI B450 Tomahawk Motherboard (Wootware has the newer MAX model for R2899)
R1599 - G.Skill F4-3200C16D-16GVKB Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16 1.35V Black Desktop Memory
R2629 - Sabrent SB-RKTQ-1TB ROCKET Q 1TB M.2 (2280) NVMe PCI-E 3.0 Solid State Drive
R909 - Super Flower SF-500P14HE ECO Bronze King Eco 500W 80 Plus Bronze Non-Modular Black Desktop Power Supply
R550 - Windows 10 Professional

You'll need a GPU, if you are not going to game the cheapest GPU you can find will do the job. If you want to game then this will kick butt for 1080p,
R4999 - Palit GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GamingPro OC NE6166SS18J9-1160A 6GB GDDR6 192-bit PCI-E 3.0 Desktop Graphics Card

Wrt a case, how many 3.5" drives do you need to install? Suppliers being closed the pickings are slim,

Computer Cases - Wootware

Browse Computer Cases at Wootware & get quick delivery & superb service!
www.wootware.co.za www.wootware.co.za

Chassis

To finish off your customised PC you need a high-quality case The desktop PC case is where all your components will end up and the variety available is staggering From basic towers that get the job done to mammoth showpieces and even tiny cases that are living-room-friendly Titan Ice has you covered
www.titan-ice.co.za www.titan-ice.co.za

I would not buy a 4-core CPU in 2020 if you think you are gonna use the PC for gaming, if it's only for homework/office/media then it's fine.

Any questions shoot... we can chop and change things.
 
ponder said:
Takealot won't ship pc parts, only essentials.

If you're looking at such expensive motherboards then I'm not gonna be too conservative :)



R2399 - AMD YD1600BBAFBOX Ryzen 5 1600 (AF) Hexa Core 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU
R2099 - MSI B450 Tomahawk Motherboard (Wootware has the newer MAX model for R2899)
R1599 - G.Skill F4-3200C16D-16GVKB Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16 1.35V Black Desktop Memory
R2629 - Sabrent SB-RKTQ-1TB ROCKET Q 1TB M.2 (2280) NVMe PCI-E 3.0 Solid State Drive
R909 - Super Flower SF-500P14HE ECO Bronze King Eco 500W 80 Plus Bronze Non-Modular Black Desktop Power Supply
R550 - Windows 10 Professional

You'll need a GPU, if you are not going to game the cheapest GPU you can find will do the job. If you want to game then this will kick butt for 1080p,
R4999 - Palit GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GamingPro OC NE6166SS18J9-1160A 6GB GDDR6 192-bit PCI-E 3.0 Desktop Graphics Card

Wrt a case, how many 3.5" drives do you need to install? Suppliers being closed the pickings are slim,

Computer Cases - Wootware

Browse Computer Cases at Wootware & get quick delivery & superb service!
www.wootware.co.za www.wootware.co.za

Chassis

To finish off your customised PC you need a high-quality case The desktop PC case is where all your components will end up and the variety available is staggering From basic towers that get the job done to mammoth showpieces and even tiny cases that are living-room-friendly Titan Ice has you covered
www.titan-ice.co.za www.titan-ice.co.za

I would not buy a 4-core CPU in 2020 if you think you are gonna use the PC for gaming, if it's only for homework/office/media then it's fine.

Any questions shoot... we can chop and change things.
Click to expand...

Just to add onto this, @maqs. The specs you are putting together is way overkill for what your purpose is. A 1TB NVME drive for a PLEX/school PC is not needed, you can get a 250GB one for R1000 (same brand that Ponder linked here). Having PLEX storage on SSD's are also not needed, unless you have a huge budget. 3TB SSD's are R4k+, while a standard HDD is less than R2k (5400 rpm drive, but I run my PLEX media from one with no issues, especailly going to x265). Maybe one big SSD for your photos and videos if you do editing. You can also buy a cheap GPU to start with if you are not gaming. 8GB ram is probably also enough for this PC, but you won't save too much here and then you are set for in case you start gaming later on.

Then back to your original question. If you want to watch showmax, you can get a Mi Box, it has a built in Chromecast. They work quite well and also have the native Showmax app. Roku is not officially supported in SA so they don't have the app.
 
furpile said:
Just to add onto this, @maqs. The specs you are putting together is way overkill for what your purpose is. A 1TB NVME drive for a PLEX/school PC is not needed, you can get a 250GB one for R1000 (same brand that Ponder linked here). Having PLEX storage on SSD's are also not needed, unless you have a huge budget. 3TB SSD's are R4k+, while a standard HDD is less than R2k (5400 rpm drive, but I run my PLEX media from one with no issues, especailly going to x265). Maybe one big SSD for your photos and videos if you do editing. You can also buy a cheap GPU to start with if you are not gaming. 8GB ram is probably also enough for this PC, but you won't save too much here and then you are set for in case you start gaming later on.

Then back to your original question. If you want to watch showmax, you can get a Mi Box, it has a built in Chromecast. They work quite well and also have the native Showmax app. Roku is not officially supported in SA so they don't have the app.
Click to expand...
Scary thing, 250 gigs used to be R500.
 
Gtx Gaming said:
B450 board is fine, don't need x570
Click to expand...
thanks.. i saw some articles saying something along the same lines
just thought if i had to spend a little more it might be on a more flexible motherboard
 
ponder said:
Takealot won't ship pc parts, only essentials.

If you're looking at such expensive motherboards then I'm not gonna be too conservative :)



R2399 - AMD YD1600BBAFBOX Ryzen 5 1600 (AF) Hexa Core 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU
R2099 - MSI B450 Tomahawk Motherboard (Wootware has the newer MAX model for R2899)
R1599 - G.Skill F4-3200C16D-16GVKB Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16 1.35V Black Desktop Memory
R2629 - Sabrent SB-RKTQ-1TB ROCKET Q 1TB M.2 (2280) NVMe PCI-E 3.0 Solid State Drive
R909 - Super Flower SF-500P14HE ECO Bronze King Eco 500W 80 Plus Bronze Non-Modular Black Desktop Power Supply
R550 - Windows 10 Professional

You'll need a GPU, if you are not going to game the cheapest GPU you can find will do the job. If you want to game then this will kick butt for 1080p,
R4999 - Palit GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GamingPro OC NE6166SS18J9-1160A 6GB GDDR6 192-bit PCI-E 3.0 Desktop Graphics Card

Wrt a case, how many 3.5" drives do you need to install? Suppliers being closed the pickings are slim,

Computer Cases - Wootware

Browse Computer Cases at Wootware & get quick delivery & superb service!
www.wootware.co.za www.wootware.co.za

Chassis

To finish off your customised PC you need a high-quality case The desktop PC case is where all your components will end up and the variety available is staggering From basic towers that get the job done to mammoth showpieces and even tiny cases that are living-room-friendly Titan Ice has you covered
www.titan-ice.co.za www.titan-ice.co.za

I would not buy a 4-core CPU in 2020 if you think you are gonna use the PC for gaming, if it's only for homework/office/media then it's fine.

Any questions shoot... we can chop and change things.
Click to expand...

ponder said:
Takealot won't ship pc parts, only essentials.

If you're looking at such expensive motherboards then I'm not gonna be too conservative :)



R2399 - AMD YD1600BBAFBOX Ryzen 5 1600 (AF) Hexa Core 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Boost) Socket AM4 Desktop CPU
R2099 - MSI B450 Tomahawk Motherboard (Wootware has the newer MAX model for R2899)
R1599 - G.Skill F4-3200C16D-16GVKB Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16 1.35V Black Desktop Memory
R2629 - Sabrent SB-RKTQ-1TB ROCKET Q 1TB M.2 (2280) NVMe PCI-E 3.0 Solid State Drive
R909 - Super Flower SF-500P14HE ECO Bronze King Eco 500W 80 Plus Bronze Non-Modular Black Desktop Power Supply
R550 - Windows 10 Professional

You'll need a GPU, if you are not going to game the cheapest GPU you can find will do the job. If you want to game then this will kick butt for 1080p,
R4999 - Palit GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GamingPro OC NE6166SS18J9-1160A 6GB GDDR6 192-bit PCI-E 3.0 Desktop Graphics Card

Wrt a case, how many 3.5" drives do you need to install? Suppliers being closed the pickings are slim,

Computer Cases - Wootware

Browse Computer Cases at Wootware & get quick delivery & superb service!
www.wootware.co.za www.wootware.co.za

Chassis

To finish off your customised PC you need a high-quality case The desktop PC case is where all your components will end up and the variety available is staggering From basic towers that get the job done to mammoth showpieces and even tiny cases that are living-room-friendly Titan Ice has you covered
www.titan-ice.co.za www.titan-ice.co.za

I would not buy a 4-core CPU in 2020 if you think you are gonna use the PC for gaming, if it's only for homework/office/media then it's fine.

Any questions shoot... we can chop and change things.
Click to expand...

thanks for detailed response ponder
in reply to takealot i was using them to quote price that i could find as a lot of sites had limited availability.

i was hoping not to spend a lot on most of the components but not having had a desktop in ages i maybe underplayed everything

i just added the things as per previous response ie the combined APU enabling me to save some budget.
but you mentioned its not really the way to go in 2020
if i take the gaming element away do i still go with your CPU and motherboard?

i saw the tomahawk motherboard and happy with selection

is the ram as good as Corsair?

i was hoping to have 1 ssd and maybe two hdd in the setup
 
furpile said:
Just to add onto this, @maqs. The specs you are putting together is way overkill for what your purpose is. A 1TB NVME drive for a PLEX/school PC is not needed, you can get a 250GB one for R1000 (same brand that Ponder linked here). Having PLEX storage on SSD's are also not needed, unless you have a huge budget. 3TB SSD's are R4k+, while a standard HDD is less than R2k (5400 rpm drive, but I run my PLEX media from one with no issues, especailly going to x265). Maybe one big SSD for your photos and videos if you do editing. You can also buy a cheap GPU to start with if you are not gaming. 8GB ram is probably also enough for this PC, but you won't save too much here and then you are set for in case you start gaming later on.

Then back to your original question. If you want to watch showmax, you can get a Mi Box, it has a built in Chromecast. They work quite well and also have the native Showmax app. Roku is not officially supported in SA so they don't have the app.
Click to expand...

furpile said:
Just to add onto this, @maqs. The specs you are putting together is way overkill for what your purpose is. A 1TB NVME drive for a PLEX/school PC is not needed, you can get a 250GB one for R1000 (same brand that Ponder linked here). Having PLEX storage on SSD's are also not needed, unless you have a huge budget. 3TB SSD's are R4k+, while a standard HDD is less than R2k (5400 rpm drive, but I run my PLEX media from one with no issues, especailly going to x265). Maybe one big SSD for your photos and videos if you do editing. You can also buy a cheap GPU to start with if you are not gaming. 8GB ram is probably also enough for this PC, but you won't save too much here and then you are set for in case you start gaming later on.

Then back to your original question. If you want to watch showmax, you can get a Mi Box, it has a built in Chromecast. They work quite well and also have the native Showmax app. Roku is not officially supported in SA so they don't have the app.
Click to expand...

thanks furlong, i guess i added over the budget selection
instead of the nvme should i opt for smaller ssd? 250/500gb?

then invest in 3tb hard drives... is there difference to standard and NAS hard drive?

i went with 16 gb ram as it didn't dent the budget if i rather took 8gb
if i went with the mi box it would only work with one tv at a time.. is it the best alternative or is there the telkom box that people discuss on mybb
 
maqs said:
i just added the things as per previous response ie the combined APU enabling me to save some budget.
but you mentioned its not really the way to go in 2020
if i take the gaming element away do i still go with your CPU and motherboard?

i saw the tomahawk motherboard and happy with selection

is the ram as good as Corsair?

i was hoping to have 1 ssd and maybe two hdd in the setup
Click to expand...

The 1600AF is an awesome value cpu, it would be my personal choice but that's just and if you might decide to add gaming to the mix you're ready. At the end of the day you'll have to decide.

The ram is fine, many happy g'skill owners out there.

If you're only gonna have 2 hard drives we can look at a cheaper b450 board as it will support 4x sata ports, you might however lose 2 ram slots which will only be an issues if you want to add more ram in future.
A budget board like https://www.wootware.co.za/asrock-b...socket-am4-micro-atx-desktop-motherboard.html will do the job.
 
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