AMD Enthusiast Gaming PC Build Guide: Summer 2020

[David_Schroth]

Introduction



Building a new Gaming PC is probably one of the most exciting aspects of PC Gaming for enthusiasts as well as one of the most daunting at the same time. With a veritable plethora of options in almost every category users can spend literal days looking at reviews, specifications, compatibilities, and aesthetics before settling on a final build. For some of us, that is heaven. For others, it is hell. Either way, it always seems like time is short (or we just lose track of it in the process).



So, today at The FPS Review, we are putting together an AMD Gaming PC Build Guide for a PC Gaming Enthusiast building a PC. This will give you an idea of what is out there and what would make for a truly enjoyable gaming experience with time for you, the reader, to spare. So, welcome to our “Live” AMD Enthusiast Gaming PC Build Guide for a next gen gaming PC build. This guide will be “Live” in that we will update it quarterly. What you see today you might not see in the...

Continue reading...

 

[Grimlakin]

I agree with almost everything you said in the build. I would say that stepping down to a previous gen of Samsung SSD to a 960 for NVME might be a better move but I'm not as familiar with the other brands. And I'm a little surprised you didn't throw some corsair memory in there.

 

[magoo]

I would do the following:
CPU: AMD 3700X, good speed, 4300 autoOC,cheaper,how many cores do you need?
Board: ASUS ROG Crosshair Hero,a little more cash buys you the best BIOS.
RAM 32 GB Corsair Vengence, 3600 speed,cheap price,more GBs
GPU: AMD Radeon 5700 XT......save some cash,Ray Tracing is BS, excellent 1440P
gaming.

 

[Brian_B]

Mid-high end is probably a good way to describe this. You certainly don't make many compromises, it's high quality all the way through.

Good way to highlight your own reviews as well. Was an interesting read. May consider taking it a step further in a follow on if you are putting this together as a real build and not just a hypothetical shopping list : showing some pics of the build as it's going together, maybe a few comments on how the build is going, and a few light benches to show how it performed after you got it running.

 

[David_Schroth]

Mid-high end is probably a good way to describe this. You certainly don't make many compromises, it's high quality all the way through.

Good way to highlight your own reviews as well. Was an interesting read. May consider taking it a step further in a follow on if you are putting this together as a real build and not just a hypothetical shopping list : showing some pics of the build as it's going together, maybe a few comments on how the build is going, and a few light benches to show how it performed after you got it running.

That's certainly a down the road sort of thing - the parts from the reviews are scattered across a few states right now!

I want to see how this sort of article does for us and if it performs well from an affiliate link and organic search perspective. We've got an Intel based build that will be out soon, and may do a few variations at different price points. If it does well, then we'll expand it to pictures of the actual build and likely do a video as well.

 

[geok1ng]

not much reason to go 32GB for gaming on a dual channel CPU

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Thanks Brian for all your hard work in putting this together!

Just sharing some of my experiences with my most recent build since it has some similarities to this build. I went with the 3700x. Don't need the extra cores and it's plenty fast for now. Used a MSI x570 board as well just a WiFi variant since this rig is in a room without wired LAN access.

GPU: Also used a RTX 2080 Super. Paid a little less than what I did for my 1080Ti three years ago. It's an awesome card and when overclocked they really go to another level. I wouldn't really consider it for 4K though. Just not enough Vram at that resolution unless playing a very non-demanding game which in turn would defeat the purpose of a 3900 or 3950x. Although at this point in time I wouldn't recommend a 2080Ti to anyone either since we're likely months away from the next gen. For 1440p the 2080 Super is amazing. With the exception of RDR2 I can usually set everything to max, including ray tracing, if DLSS is on, and hold 50-70 fps. Turn a few things down, just a little, and solid 60+ fps is easily achievable. At 1440p I'm usually seeing 4GB to over 7GB for demanding games in 1440p. For less demanding things 80-120 is no problem. These are the upper of the RTX family but I feel are vastly underrated for what they offer. For those playing games at 1440p this card will really let you enjoy ray tracing if that's not your thing then it still has plenty to offer in the extra cores and faster Vram.

Wraith Prism: Get's the job done. I agree can be a little noisy. Just as you mention be aware of clearance. If planning on using the PCIe 4.0 slot for the GPU it can add to heat issues for the GPU. One side of the block vents directly within about 10 mm of the back of the GPU. If I leave the BIOS at auto clocks will average anywhere from 4000 MHz to 4175 MHz but at full speed hangs pretty much in the 4200's and occasionally over 4300 MHz.

Down the road I might go AIO or even a closed loop but not really planning much until my next GPU upgrade.

 

[Bloax]

RAM 32 GB Corsair Vengence, 3600 speed,cheap price,more GBs

The reason for the choices is that Sammy B has the best (sub)timings of all the DDR4 memory chips by a mile, though I would personally repeat my recommendations from another thread;

with a relatively cheap, if more expensive THESE DAYS Patriot Viper Steel kit
And a faster Team Group bin that's slightly more expensive. (but still much cheaper than the gskill kit in the article)

With what the Viper Steel sticks go for these days, you can grab the 3200 CL14 G.Skill sticks if they're the same price; as I myself am using those and gotten perfectly good results with them.


If you want a higher-end option than more-or-less-the-same grade of b-die, then you should rather be looking at non-RGB* sticks of dual-rank b-die;

G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory

pcpartpicker.com

Such as this 3200 CL14-14-14 2x16 GB kit, though it's a bit harder to find consistent Sammy B dual-rank sticks, as the

(Frequency / tRCDRD) >= 200

rule doesn't always appear due to dual-rank b-die potentially being a little temperamental.
A dual-rank b-die kit will have a slight (I can't tell for sure, as I have not tested it myself due to price ) performance advantage over single-rank sticks, while the dual-rank frequency penalty doesn't really matter as you're still capped by FCLK.

* RGB is a detrimental element for signal integrity, which dual-rank sticks already have a bit of a problem with



The reason that you would shoot for Sammy B memory is because memory is by far the biggest bottleneck for Zen 2 performance - and you're stuck at 3666-3800 MT/s due to your FCLK capping out at 1833-1900 MHz, seemingly depending on power quality (cleanness).
Which means that memory types such as Micron E that can easily clock up past 4200 MT/s, but suck at subtimings, find themselves getting stomped if you're after serious performance rather than Pretty Good.

Not to mention, that in my experience squeezing every penny out of my 3200 CL14 kit - Ryzen DRAM Calculator uses very safe Samsung B-Die settings, thus you're unlikely to have any problems whacking them in - all while getting 90% of the total benefits for 10% of the effort. It's a great deal - and Zen 3 will still be on DDR4, so your investment into speedy memory will last.

I'm also not certain how much better dual-rank BAD-die will perform, given that they're likely to have different subtiming walls than single-rank - but seeing that DRAM calculator doesn't really spit out settings too different between the two, and seeing that I would recommend that you'd at least use those, it shouldn't really matter.



Now, none of this really matters if you're for some reason stuck in 60 Hz land - but even LG's OLED TVs with great input latency are putting out 120 Hz these days, and if you're really out for a Visually Pleasant experience; they're the best place to go these days, especially seeing that models from 2019 and onwards undo burn-in during standby.
oh and of course, if you're shooting for 240 Hz madness - RAM overclocking is mandatory for a proper experience

 

[Brian_Conrad]

Bump for Summer Update and transition to Live Guide format.

 

[twzTechman]

For most folks (like me) I generally don't build a complete system from scratch - rather it's a continuous series of upgrades. If done with good timing, you can get just below the top performance for a really good value. I just upgraded my Ryzen 2700 to a 3700 keeping my same MB. Only cost $250. I won't do another CPU upgrade until next summer or even later). It will involve getting a new MB, RAM, and SSD (to get PCI 4) and will be a bit more expensive.

My next big upgrade will probably a new video card - waiting to see how the next gen cards fall out. By spacing out the upgrading, I am staying very current, without breaking the bank.

 

[Daniel_Doty]

First and foremost: That's a great build guide David!!!!!

For most folks (like me) I generally don't build a complete system from scratch - rather it's a continuous series of upgrades. If done with good timing, you can get just below the top performance for a really good value. I just upgraded my Ryzen 2700 to a 3700 keeping my same MB. Only cost $250. I won't do another CPU upgrade until next summer or even later). It will involve getting a new MB, RAM, and SSD (to get PCI 4) and will be a bit more expensive.

My next big upgrade will probably a new video card - waiting to see how the next gen cards fall out. By spacing out the upgrading, I am staying very current, without breaking the bank.

Pretty much where I've been the last few years as well. Try to upgrade chip, video card, and hard drive.............Until now...........I'm rethinking my build strategy. I've been running Intel stuff for a few years now and thinking I want to go with AMD once again. Man, that is a total rebuild from the ground up.

Several years ago, back when AMD was at the top, I knew I should have stayed with AMD hardware, but no, lets "keep up with the Jones" LOL, and started running the Core 2 series of chips.

Well, now I need to completely replace my systems to get back with AMD. Go figure.