LebGeeks

A community for technology geeks in Lebanon.

You are not logged in.

#1 February 3 2021

NuclearVision
Member

First custom pc

Hey guys,
I'm looking to get a pc, always been a laptop guy.
I allocated like 700$
And found this on pc and parts

Intel Coffee Lake i5-9400F 2.9GHz System
( 9MB Cache-LGA1151- Six Core-i5) Intel Super PC-III

Aerocool Tomahawk-A Mid Tower Case w/ Full Window + Aerocool VX PLUS 700W PSU

Intel Core i5-9400F Coffee Lake 6-Core 2.9 GHz (4.10 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 Original Boxed

MSI H310M Pro-VH DDR4 LGA1151

Kingston SSDNow A400 Series SA400S37/480G 2.5″ 480GB SATA III SSD

Kingston 8GB DDR4 2666 (PC4-21300) for desktop KVR26N19S8/8

Built-in Sound Card

No DVD

Zotac ZT-T16510F-10L GTX 1650 SUPER Twin Fan 4GB GDDR6 PCIe

Acer K222HQL bid 21.5″ FHD LED Monitor

Star 120W Speakers Black USB

A4Tech KRS-8372 Keyboard & Mouse USB

Assembly $10.00 ( included )

PC Discount

$647.00

I am mainly gonna use it as a home pc, for studying, some videos, youtube, and some gaming low settings maybe?
I am.not sure what graphics can this sytem pull (low, med or high)
And is it good for the price?
Will i be able to get more for my money if i build it my self/ or look somewhere else?
Thanks!

Last edited by NuclearVision (February 3 2021)

Offline

#2 February 3 2021

ballad
Member

Re: First custom pc

it's a good pc just get a bigger screen, you can play on med/high most games on 1080P

Offline

#3 February 3 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

thank you!
Any particular monitor recommendation?

Offline

#4 February 3 2021

AvoK95
Member

Re: First custom pc

NuclearVision wrote:

thank you!
Any particular monitor recommendation?

That monitor is the best valued 1080P screen for the money. I hope they still have it in stock. It's a 75Hz VA with HDMI and has the cable included in the box.


The system is overall good, but I would go with a Ryzen 2600X and a motherboard that supports NVMe storage (ofc I'd swap the SSD from a SATA to an m.2 NVMe as well).

You get a much faster CPU with double the threads and a much faster SSD.

The case has a top-mounted PSU which is an ANCIENT design. Heat naturally rises up, so you'd want vents up top that support some fans and have the PSU way down to suck in cold air to cool itself. In this case, it's sucking all the hot air in and nothing but the rear fan is ventilating it out which is far from enough for a modern high-end system.

I would go with a Thermaltake power supply or something from Cooler master over an Aerocool one, they're not that well known for power supplies and it is crucial to get a good one.  Check the Thermaltake Smart SE series they're pretty good value for the money.

RAM wise, they have a 3200MHz version for literally the same price, so definitely get that.

I know all of these might be above your budget if you include all of them, however, consider the following:

Just because parts fit and work doesn't mean it's correct and that they will work properly.

I gave a good list of pros and cons for you to pick what to upgrade and what not to, be sure to consider the used computer parts market. Yes I know there's a lot of trash being sold, however, you can score a sweet graphics card, and PSU, and other bits and pieces sometimes which less you pay drastically less money for so much more performance.

For this build, I'd at least source a clean GTX1060 over a 1650.

Some cards offer more than a year of warranty anyway, you could check with the dealer and ask them if the particular card you're looking to buy is still under warranty or not.

You can also keep an eye out for used RAM, I've seen 8GB sticks go as low as 20 bucks on OLX.


Of course, these are just my opinion and it is very possible for you to be satisfied with the system as is given the price and specs you're getting.

It is a good deal regardless.

Offline

#5 February 4 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

Thanks for the exhaustive list.
Just a question about the monitor.
I read trash reviews about it on youtube and all over amazon.
I was thinking kf getting the asus vp228he instead maybe?

Offline

#6 February 4 2021

AvoK95
Member

Re: First custom pc

NuclearVision wrote:

Thanks for the exhaustive list.
Just a question about the monitor.
I read trash reviews about it on youtube and all over amazon.
I was thinking kf getting the asus vp228he instead maybe?

What did they say that was bad about the Acer monitor?

The Asus VP228HE is also a good alternative

Offline

#7 February 4 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

they bashed the color, and many mentioned they regret their purchase.
The asus has a usb hub and 1ms response rate.
I guess i'll go with that.
Pcand parts is closed currently.

Last edited by NuclearVision (February 4 2021)

Offline

#8 February 4 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

silly question, but lets say my pc has a 700w psu and 1200va ups how many amps do i expect it to run at?
Asking for 'moteur' electricity, because other family members tend to use electrical appliances that are quite vonsuming such as kettles or hairdryer etc.

thanks

Offline

#9 February 4 2021

AvoK95
Member

Re: First custom pc

Your UPS and PSU size are irrelevant.

You use the amount of power the system is consuming. On this system, I'd say the peak power consumption would be around 300W.

W/V=A

So 300/220=1.3Amps is probably your peak.

It depends on the load you are putting on your system of course. If you're web browsing, you'll be below 80W

Offline

#10 February 4 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

thank you!
I was considering the ryzen you suggested, I've been reeding online how amd are turning the tables now.
But in my younger years, I remember amd processors having issues in pcs and laptops alike with random issues.
I am no expert, but i feel like intel is more trustworthy.

Offline

#11 February 4 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

I also took your advice and will be spending a little more to get this motherboard and an nvme ssd
Gigabyte H310M S2 2.0 DDR4 USB 3.1
Anything special i should consider about the motherboar
Is this a good one?
Also, would you choose the i5-9600k(210$) over the 9400f(150$)?
I read somewhere that if i weren't OC the price differenfe isnt worth it and stick to 9400f.

Last edited by NuclearVision (February 4 2021)

Offline

#12 February 4 2021

AvoK95
Member

Re: First custom pc

NuclearVision wrote:

thank you!
I was considering the ryzen you suggested, I've been reeding online how amd are turning the tables now.
But in my younger years, I remember amd processors having issues in pcs and laptops alike with random issues.
I am no expert, but i feel like intel is more trustworthy.

There is absolutely no reason to buy an Intel CPU in 2021.

The 2600X has a higher IPC (Instructions Per Clockcycle - Can do more per GHz), and twice as many threads as the 9400F).

The only dominance Intel had was in the gaming section, which has been dominated recently by the new 5000 Series AMD CPUs.

Even Apple started making its own chips.

As for laptops, AMD laptops are cheaper, faster, run cooler, and have better battery life.


Don't be bias on CPU brands. If you go pick up a calculator, it doesn't matter if it's a Texas Instrument or a Casio, they both do the same calculations correctly.

Furthermore, you will not be focusing on gaming anyway, so buying the CPU that is better overall is much better, therefore I would go with the AMD option.


Regarding the Gigabyte board, the H310 is the cheapest chipset available for that 9th gen CPU, this is not necessarily a bad thing, you have to check the options you need and don't need compared to other chipsets and then decide on finer features between manufacturers and their product line using one of those chipsets.

VXXHvxU.png

Offline

#13 February 4 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

thank you Avok  you've been great help.
Now that you said that, I'm also considering the ryzen 3600, which i found for 220$ the same price of the 2600,
i will have to look for a good motherboard.

Offline

#14 February 5 2021

Hybrid
Member

Re: First custom pc

If you're not planing to game, or gonna do some low end graphic gaming, drop the graphic card and get a better CPU. CPUs has a built in graphic card, and it works well. You can always buy a graphic card later on

Your screen might have a speaker built in, if sound is not that important to you, you can drop the speakers (That's what I do). In case you decide to go this route, make sure the screen's sound is not low by reading some reviews.

I got the A400 500GB from pcandparts around 2 years ago for my laptop, it died 3 months ago, and i barely use the laptop. I agree to go with nvme. you won't regret it and your OS will boot in literally 5 seconds.

If you wanna check different builds, you can go to newegg and use their PC builder tool, you get to see brands, models and compatibilities without searching around.

Offline

#15 February 5 2021

yasamoka
Member

Re: First custom pc

Hybrid wrote:

If you're not planing to game, or gonna do some low end graphic gaming, drop the graphic card and get a better CPU. CPUs has a built in graphic card, and it works well. You can always buy a graphic card later on

Your screen might have a speaker built in, if sound is not that important to you, you can drop the speakers (That's what I do). In case you decide to go this route, make sure the screen's sound is not low by reading some reviews.

I got the A400 500GB from pcandparts around 2 years ago for my laptop, it died 3 months ago, and i barely use the laptop. I agree to go with nvme. you won't regret it and your OS will boot in literally 5 seconds.

If you wanna check different builds, you can go to newegg and use their PC builder tool, you get to see brands, models and compatibilities without searching around.

Not all CPUs have integrated GPUs. Ryzen CPUs like the 2600X and 3600(X) (not the APUs like 3200G and such) do not have integrated GPUs.

Boot time differences between NVMe and SATA are insignificant (sustained speed is not the bottleneck in boot times for SSDs), and so is general use. However, the NVMe drives perform copies much faster, allow workloads such as scrubbing high-resolution footage in realtime, are generally more reliable, and are soon going to be necessary for the new generation of games given what consoles do with NVMe SSDs (requiring speeds above 2GB/s).

The SATA SSD market is dying since it's pretty much a dead interface at this point (going forward).

Last edited by yasamoka (February 5 2021)

Offline

#16 February 5 2021

xazbrat
Member

Re: First custom pc

My 2 cents

Go with a path of upgrading down the line.  If you go with the Ryzen 2600, just make sure you get at least a B450 motherboard--that will allow you in time to upgrade to the 5xxx series if you wanted to (and when prices and supply allow), while with the Intel cpu, your path to upgrading is more limited.   As for the case, just make sure that it is big enough to allow for future upgrades of the GPU---a 3080 will take up 2 1/2 slots while a 3090, will take up 3.  You can upgrade the case later on if price is an issue, but it is something to consider.  For the monitor, consider something with a higher refresh rate if you plan to do a lot of gaming, otherwise go with what you can get atm---like CPU's and GPU's, a lot of monitors are out of stock keeping up with the demand for CPU's and GPU's.

Anyway, have fun with it---I am planning on doing it soon too.

Offline

#17 February 5 2021

AvoK95
Member

Re: First custom pc

NuclearVision wrote:

thank you Avok  you've been great help.
Now that you said that, I'm also considering the ryzen 3600, which i found for 220$ the same price of the 2600,
i will have to look for a good motherboard.

They're both better CPUs, the 3600 is the newer Zen 2 architecture while the 2600X is Zen+. the 2600X has XFR support being an X series CPU, which allows it to boost higher than TDP.

Meaning if you get a good cooler, the CPU will essentially overlock itself more than the factory thermal threshold. A non X CPU does not have this, meaning you will have to overlock your CPU manually.

The choice is yours, both are a good option, you will be satisfied, either way, the 3600 has been out of stock for a while though.

Motherboard wise, check out the Gigabyte B450 DS3H and the Asus Prime A320M-A.

Again, motherboard wise you have to see what features you need and don't need depending on price and product range.


If go with a B550 motherboard you open up the door for a newer 5000 series CPU upgrade in the future.

Offline

#18 February 5 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

Just had a chat with pc and parts and Vat is at black market rate? They claim its a law.
why?

Offline

#19 February 5 2021

Tech Guru
Member

Re: First custom pc

AvoK95 wrote:
NuclearVision wrote:

thank you!
I was considering the ryzen you suggested, I've been reeding online how amd are turning the tables now.
But in my younger years, I remember amd processors having issues in pcs and laptops alike with random issues.
I am no expert, but i feel like intel is more trustworthy.

There is absolutely no reason to buy an Intel CPU in 2021.

The 2600X has a higher IPC (Instructions Per Clockcycle - Can do more per GHz), and twice as many threads as the 9400F).

The only dominance Intel had was in the gaming section, which has been dominated recently by the new 5000 Series AMD CPUs.

Even Apple started making its own chips.

As for laptops, AMD laptops are cheaper, faster, run cooler, and have better battery life.


Don't be bias on CPU brands. If you go pick up a calculator, it doesn't matter if it's a Texas Instrument or a Casio, they both do the same calculations correctly.

Furthermore, you will not be focusing on gaming anyway, so buying the CPU that is better overall is much better, therefore I would go with the AMD option.


Regarding the Gigabyte board, the H310 is the cheapest chipset available for that 9th gen CPU, this is not necessarily a bad thing, you have to check the options you need and don't need compared to other chipsets and then decide on finer features between manufacturers and their product line using one of those chipsets.

https://i.imgur.com/VXXHvxU.png


Not at all

I9 10900k ~ 540 USD
R9 5950x ~ 800 USD

I9 10900k ~  14nm refined based on aging 2015 Skylake Architecture
R9 5950x ~ Refined 2nd Gen 7nm

I9 10900K  ~ Headroom to OC
R9 5950X ~ Limited Headroom to OC

Yet AMD "fanboys"  want to foam very hard as if intel is gone with the wind.

Apple to Apple (Without OC)

Hardwareunbox
Techpowerup

On Par , faster  or got beaten doesnot mean dethroned Intel .. Intel is dethroned when their is a wide disparity. 7nm + vs 14nm++++ with a "similar performnace"  is a pure shame for AMD.

20201105-174939.jpg
20201105-174957.jpg
20201105-175018.jpg
20201105-175049.jpg
20201105-175108.jpg
20201105-175123.jpg
20201105-175201.jpg

Offline

#20 February 5 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

I am more confused than ever.
I can go i5-9400f for 150$.
i5-9600 for 250$ (needs cooler)
Found Ryzen 5 3600 for 230ish.
I think the 9400 may be underwhelming at 2.9ghz compaed to 3.6 ghz of the other 2.
I watched youtube videos, game seem to consume 20% less cpu power on the ryzen (it stays cooler too) compared to the i5 which have pretty similar performance (justifies notnspending 100$ more for 9600 although it has a builtin gpu).
I am reluctant to go with intel, as I read more, I have the impression that the 3600 will not be obsolete soon, these i5 are already from the past, I don't know the reasoning behind this, perhaps games will need more threads in the near future? Why does the ryzen have an edge in this category.
I am not building this to play ultra graphics games, I don't have the luxury of time to have such entertainment.
But since I am spending money anyway, I'd rather have something that stays 'uptodate' for the longest possible.

thanks guys, you are great friends.

Last edited by NuclearVision (February 5 2021)

Offline

#21 February 5 2021

AvoK95
Member

Re: First custom pc

Tech Guru wrote:
AvoK95 wrote:
NuclearVision wrote:

thank you!
I was considering the ryzen you suggested, I've been reeding online how amd are turning the tables now.
But in my younger years, I remember amd processors having issues in pcs and laptops alike with random issues.
I am no expert, but i feel like intel is more trustworthy.

There is absolutely no reason to buy an Intel CPU in 2021.

The 2600X has a higher IPC (Instructions Per Clockcycle - Can do more per GHz), and twice as many threads as the 9400F).

The only dominance Intel had was in the gaming section, which has been dominated recently by the new 5000 Series AMD CPUs.

Even Apple started making its own chips.

As for laptops, AMD laptops are cheaper, faster, run cooler, and have better battery life.


Don't be bias on CPU brands. If you go pick up a calculator, it doesn't matter if it's a Texas Instrument or a Casio, they both do the same calculations correctly.

Furthermore, you will not be focusing on gaming anyway, so buying the CPU that is better overall is much better, therefore I would go with the AMD option.


Regarding the Gigabyte board, the H310 is the cheapest chipset available for that 9th gen CPU, this is not necessarily a bad thing, you have to check the options you need and don't need compared to other chipsets and then decide on finer features between manufacturers and their product line using one of those chipsets.

https://i.imgur.com/VXXHvxU.png


Not at all

I9 10900k ~ 540 USD
R9 5950x ~ 800 USD

I9 10900k ~  14nm refined based on aging 2015 Skylake Architecture
R9 5950x ~ Refined 2nd Gen 7nm

I9 10900K  ~ Headroom to OC
R9 5950X ~ Limited Headroom to OC

Yet AMD "fanboys"  want to foam very hard as if intel is gone with the wind.

Apple to Apple (Without OC)

Hardwareunbox
Techpowerup

On Par , faster  or got beaten doesnot mean dethroned Intel .. Intel is dethroned when their is a wide disparity. 7nm + vs 14nm++++ with a "similar performnace"  is a pure shame for AMD.

https://i.ibb.co/gjJmp9Y/20201105-174939.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/p208CpP/20201105-174957.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/44tgLRP/20201105-175018.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/gZ9vNj3/20201105-175049.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/y5LHDqL/20201105-175108.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/qxQn602/20201105-175123.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/j6CrtmP/20201105-175201.jpg


No one is talking about those components here and your comparison is invalid and also irrelevant to the topic at hand.

You are just plain wrong.

You also completely copy-pasted the exact same post you previously made and have proven wrong multiple times in multiple ways, please go seek your thirst for attention elsewhere and avoid adding confusion to an already complicated topic

NuclearVision wrote:

I am more confused than ever.
I can go i5-9400f for 150$.
i5-9600 for 250$ (needs cooler)
Found Ryzen 5 3600 for 230ish.
I think the 9400 may be underwhelming at 2.9ghz compaed to 3.6 ghz of the other 2.
I watched youtube videos, game seem to consume 20% less cpu power on the ryzen (it stays cooler too) compared to the i5 which have pretty similar performance (justifies notnspending 100$ more for 9600 although it has a builtin gpu).
I am reluctant to go with intel, as I read more, I have the impression that the 3600 will not be obsolete soon, these i5 are already from the past, I don't know the reasoning behind this, perhaps games will need more threads in the near future? Why does the ryzen have an edge in this category.
I am not building this to play ultra graphics games, I don't have the luxury of time to have such entertainment.
But since I am spending money anyway, I'd rather have something that stays 'uptodate' for the longest possible.

thanks guys, you are great friends.

The 9400F is a 6 Core 6 Thread CPU that only exists to compete with Ryzen chips in the gaming segment for a cheaper price.

The Ryzen 5 2600X and 3600 feature 6 Cores 12 Threads.

As I have mentioned before, Intel chips were better at gaming until Zen 3 came out.

But even older Zen 2 and Zen+ CPUs (being the 3600 and 2600X) are better CPUs overall that are much more capable.

It just makes no sense to go Intel in 2021.

Offline

#22 February 5 2021

Hybrid
Member

Re: First custom pc

NuclearVision wrote:

Just had a chat with pc and parts and Vat is at black market rate? They claim its a law.
why?

It's true, it was announced last week. Social media was going crazy about it.

Offline

#23 February 5 2021

NuclearVision
Member

Re: First custom pc

I hate to admit that it makes sense ...

Offline

#24 February 6 2021

nosense
Member

Re: First custom pc

NuclearVision wrote:

Just had a chat with pc and parts and Vat is at black market rate? They claim its a law.
why?

it's more like they have to use LBP for receipts at the market rate, and automatically this will make the VAT at market rate.
They can't do receipts in US dollars and count it as 1500lbp anymore.

for what it's worth, pc and parts was always charging vat in dollars not lbp on 1500 like other reputable shops.

Offline

#25 February 6 2021

AvoK95
Member

Re: First custom pc

VAT is meant to be 11% on the total amount of the invoice.

If your invoice was let's say $100 at a rate of 9000 and you're paying in LBP your total invoiced in LBP would be 9M.

If you take VAT at 1507.5 on that $100 in an LBP invoice, technically speaking that would be incorrect and illegal as you are not paying the full 11% of that 9M amount.

Your correct VAT amount in LBP would 990,000 and not 16,500.

The workaround was to bill everyone in USD as the governmental rate is still 1507.5 and get paid in LBP at the black market rate as an equivalent to being paid in cash USD and thus be able to receive the VAT payment in LBP.

The reseller has the right to choose which way to invoice the customer and of course, it might be related to the invoicing software they are using.

So in conclusion one can bill you in USD and have you pay VAT in 1507.5 or bill you in LBP and have you pay 11% on that LBP amount which will be equivel to the black market rate.

Offline

Board footer