Hello!
It's been many years since I last built a PC and a lot has changed since then. I was wondering if I could get an opinion on my build since it's more than likely that I have overlooked something.
It looks like a pretty bad time to do this now because of the pandemic and the imminent announcements of the next generation/refresh of Ryzen CUPs and Nvidia GPUs. But I'm not really doing this by choice and I will it no later than mid-July; suffice to say, I no longer have access to machines to get things done partly due to the mess that was the last few months. Any help and comments will be very much appreciated!
Intended Usage
- Machine learning
- Simulations
- 3D Modelling
- Web development
- Occasional gaming
Requirements
- Budget: $3200
- As quiet as my budget allows
Components
| Component | Brand/Model | Rough Prices |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, 12 cores, 16 threads | $666.00 |
| CPU Cooler | be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 | $139.00* |
| Thermal Compound | Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut | $12.00* |
| Motherboard | ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) | $355.00* |
| GPU | MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Super 8 GB Gaming X Trio | $1000.00 |
| RAM | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 | $212.00* |
| Storage | Western Digital Black SN750 NVMe 500 GB M.2-2280 | $112.00* |
| PSU | be quiet! Straight Power 11 750 W | $279.00* |
| Case | be quiet! Pure Base 500DX | $169.00* |
| Total | $2944.00 |
* Already purchased
Note: The total was originally over my budget of $3200; however, due to gradually falling prices and the decision to go with a different set of RAMs and PSU, the total is now well under $3200.
Comments
I think I'm probably budgeting a few hundreds more than a PC of similar specs for components that are "supposedly" quieter, and it is something that I don't want to sacrifice because I suffer from some hearing/psychological conditions. My hope is that the PC will at least be practically inaudible for regular tasks and light gaming, where I need to be right to the PC. Realistically, I expect the PC to be somewhat noisy when I'm training machine learning models (GPU intensive) and running simulations (GPU/CPU intensive); but I at least there is usually no need for me to be right next to the PC for those tasks.
For a part-by-part explanation of my choice:
- CPU I think this is the most cores I can get with my budget. I do need as many cores as I can afford because I will be running multi-process/threaded simulations. I think it's unlikely that I will ever upgrade the CPU for this build (unless money rains from the sky).
- CPU Cooler It appears to be the quietest air cooler I can possibly get. It doesn't seem to be available locally at the moment; I'm planning to use the stock cooler until I can get my hands on one. I have considered Noctua coolers, particularly the Noctua NH-U14S (the prices is very tempting on Amazon at the time of posting), but it will probably stand out a bit too much for my linking. I haven't really considered liquid coolers because it doesn't appear that they will be any quieter for my use case and may not be compatible with the case I want to use (happy to be corrected!).
- Thermal Compound Absolutely no idea what works best but this one seems to keep coming up when I looked into thermal compound that have no electrical conductivity.
- Motherboard This one I struggle with the most, but after some research this appears to be a good board at this price point. Other than that, the only thing that I think would affect my choices here are: 1. I need two M.2 slots; 2. I need Wi-Fi because I can't drill holes through the wall for Ethernet cables, and I have an unreasonable aversion towards getting Wi-Fi card/USB adapter; 3. I think I will only ever upgrade the GPU for this build.
- GPU Apparently it's the quietest 2070 Super, and the price hurts a lot. I did consider 5700 XT, but there is no telling when they will roll out support for ROCm, which is required for some of the things I do.
- RAM I don't care much for RGB, the RAM listed is currently on of the cheaper 32GB DDR4-3600 CL16 RAM I can get from a reputable manufacturer.
- Storage I impulse-bought the Western Digital Black from one of the recent deal before I had things planned out… It now seems to be what I need at a reasonable price, so hopefully I haven't done something stupid there. I do plan on adding second SSD with a larger capacity at a later time.
- PSU This is another one I'm not too sure about. I originally looked into the Corsair HX-750 because it has a zero-fan mode, but decided later that I want a PSU that keeps its fan on for better thermals (and apparently people have had difficulties in getting custom fan curve to stick). I first looked at the Dark Power Pro 11, but it doesn't appear to be available anywhere at around $300. Eventually I came across the SeaSonic PRIME Ultra by accident, which has a physical switch for toggling passive cooling at low load and has the added advantage of being rated at 80+ Titanium. On pcpartpicker the estimated wattage for these components is currently 439 W. The choice of a 750 W PSU is because I remember reading somewhere that recommends getting a PSU that about double the wattage of what I need for higher efficiency and stability, and to allow for the possibility of upgrades in the future; but this is all quite new to me and I'm not sure if that advice is solid (the 650 W version is cheaper!).
- Case I have been looking at be quiet! and Factal Design cases for a while. I don't care much for tampered glass window and RGB lighting, but the 500DX seems to a good case that balances quietness and thermals.
Questions
- I'm planning to buy the components over the period of a month, partly in the hope that prices will drop and partly because it looks like I'll have to wait for a couple of things. Should I be concerned about DoA items, which I won't be able to test since I don't have a PC at all?
- Is it going to be a lot of trouble if I have to deal with warranty claims for things that are shipped from the US by Newegg or Amazon Australia?
- Is the 3900X likely to drop further in price given the imminent refresh?
Once again, thank you very much in advance for any help and comments!
Edit: updated list to indicate items that are already purchased.
The sound quietness comes from the case and fans mostly, however then hoping the power supply and video card does not have coil whine.
Before making a final decision, it is probably best to research the coil whine factor of the parts you intend to get.
That being said, i have owned 4 seasonics in the last 15 years, the 1st a 850 watt gold+ lasted 7 years, 2 years past its warranty- had very bad coil whine.
the 2nd was a 660 watt platinium+ which was bought 2nd hand, lasted just shy of 7 years, luckily inside warranty still so getting it replaced, had a little coil whine.
I got a brand new Prime ultra 1000 watt platinum in 2018, and a Prime ultra 650 watt platinum a few months ago, and both have 0 coil whine.
You probably do not need titanium, you can save yourself $100 and get platinum instead.