I have been out of the PC gaming world for about 8 years. From the looks of it, I picked a really bad time to build a gaming computer because I can’t even find a graphics card. I have never built a computer so any advice will be helpful.

Im going to leave off the power supply because I’m not sure which graphics card I’m going to be able to get. I’m hoping to get a RTX 3060, 70 or a 80 without paying scalper prices. One question is, which size power supply should I pick if it recommends 600W. Should I get a 650W or a 700W power supply?

Here is what I come up with. Forgive the caps, I’m on my phone and copied and pasted from new egg

Mother board:
MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK AM4 AMD B550 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU:
AMD RYZEN 7 3700X 8-Core 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 65W

HDD:
Seagate BarraCuda ST2000DM008 2TB 7200 RPM 256MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive - OEM

SSD:
Corsair Force MP600 M.2 2280 1TB PCI-Express Gen 4.0 x4 NVMe 3D TLC Internal Solid state drive

RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800)

CPU cooler:
be quiet! Dark Rock Slim, CPU Cooler, 180W TDP, Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM Fan, Compact Construction

CASE:
Fractal design meshify C

get a 2TB m.2 driver. they fill faster than u think these days with the new games being larger.

i built my computer in Jan of 2020 so I went with a i9 9900k and 2080 ti

I also went with 64Gb of mem and its worth it.

Depending on the card I'd definitely go with the biggest PSU you can reasonably afford. I say depending on the card because the 3080s and 3090s (really bad buy btw) have huge transient power spikes, I'm unsure of the new radeons. MINIMUM for a 3080 you'll want a quality 650w. Definitely doesn't hurt to go for more because you'll have wiggle room for future builds, a good PSU can last you many years and a couple a builds so you don't want to get something in the 550-650w range which might be fine today but might not be so ok if you end up with a more power hungry CPU and GPU down the line. Also, keep in mind the closer you are to max load on your PSU the more wear/tear you incur and it shortens the life span. That said, I don't think it's a huge difference, if it'd last 10 years you might shorten it to 9, who knows. Everything looks pretty good to be honest but like the above poster said if you can afford more SSD space I'd definitely look at that since games are getting huge. I would also look at a slightly bigger case, the meshify C has clearance issues with some of the bigger GPUs but that might just be if you have a radiator in the front (you'll have to look into that, I'm not 100% sure). Also, I'd go with a slightly bigger CPU cooler. The one you have is fine but you have room for a bigger one in that case and even if it's overkill you'll have a quieter fan as the the extra mass on the heatsink is doing the work at that point and not the fan. Pretty much anything from bequiet, noctua, cryorig, and scythe is good. I'll argue the 64gb ram suggestion. More doesn't hurt and I'd say 16gb is the minimum nowadays and not the recommended, but 32gb is a happy medium and will still be plenty for a good long while. Other cases to look at would be the lian li lancool ii mesh, corsair 4000d (budget pick but good), and the phanteks p400 or p500 (mesh).

pcpartpicker.com is a great resource btw, spits out estimated power use, pulls current prices from reputable retailers, and warns you of any potential incompatibilities for the most part.

edit: Also on the SSDs make sure to google whatever model you migth be looking at and look for any recent news. A lot of manufacturers put in top notch controllers and then once they start selling well they'll swap in a shittier controller that cuts the speed drastically (looking at you adata and western digital)

Its getting easy enough to find them now that I would recommend the significantly faster and slightly cheaper 5600x cpu.

On the power supply side at least for the 3080 I believe only the founders edition and a couple non OC models recommend a 750w while most of the AIB models I have seen recommend an 850w.

With the other high quality parts that are going to last you a while, 32g of ram isn't a bad idea with 16 already running the line on a couple of the new aaa games.

64GB of RAM is overkill for gaming.  I haven't seen my 16GB pegged, 32GB would be plenty.

Look at what the GPU manufacturer suggests for PSU and plug your build into a power supply calculator.

I use mine for work as well. Solidworks etc.

Just buy a pre-built one. Building yourself to save money just ain't worth it anymore. Usually about $100 more max to buy a pre-built gaming pc without a bunch of bells and whistles and it comes with a warranty. The bells and whistles just end up as totally wasted money.

Plus the pre-builts have the components available so sourcing a GPU is this market won't be a challenge like you mentioned by going the pre-built route.

I want a full custom water loop but it would total up to cost 1k or more. Just can't spend that on something to sit there and be worthless in 2 years and just more money if I need to change components.

This is only relevant to normal windows gaming PCs, not apples and all the other crap.

Buy it, unpack it, plug it in, frag newbs. Done.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have picked out another case and I’m going to try and get more ram. Those high terabyte SSDs are pretty expensive. If I start to run out I’ll just add one later.




This is another option I looked at. I checked out xidax, letsbld, originpc, digitalstorm, Corsair had a pretty good pre built system called the “vengeance” but that one is sold out. Are there any other pre built companies I should check out?

Ibuypower has been good. Look up linus tech tips on YouTube. They have tons of videos about pre-builts and their customer service also. Jayztwocentz is good also.

I have always built my own up to 2018. With the market the way it is now its just not worth it unless building and upgrading PCs is truly a hobby. Figuring out the components compatibility between all the mfgs and physical fit, price fluctuations, having to build it and keep boxes and receipts for warranty is just not worth the miniscule cost difference. The companies have really gotten good at providing a solid pc at a comparable price and they have the gpus in stock. Lol. I won't build another, I'll deff buy a pre-built. Most of them are the components you would buy from msi, Nvidia, amd, Intel and others anyways, they just get white box parts in bulk that have predetermined compatibility and build charts and sell them. Its not the stripped down components that were custom made with cut corners for Dell and compact back in the day.

Try this out. Pick out a pre-built from someone like ibuypower and then use pcpartpicker to build a comparable rig. Match mfg for components as close as possible. Last time I looked, it was about 100 difference usually, but then I had to add in windows oem OS for $25 which just killed the idea even more.

Also, ultrawide monitors 34 inches or more are tits...... deff splurge on one if possible. I have a samsung CF791 and will never go back to a standard monitor. I hate having to use my work laptop. Lol.

The SSDs are expensive but you can save money buy going sata ssd and not m.2 ssd. You won't notice the performance difference at all. I have both and can't tell, at all.

Origin, digitalstorm storm and Corsair are designer prebuilts. You are paying for name and fancy fluff. The others you listed are junk. Ibuypower is components in a tower that just work. I'd look strong at them, prolly who I go with later this year.

Yeah, buy it, unpack it, plug it in, and poof.

Pre-builds use sub-par parts.  They go the absolute cheapest they can and sell the systems for as much as they can.

Typically don't last long, especially the power supplies.

I never, ever recommend pre-built systems to anyone.  Buy parts and throw it together yourself, it's too damn easy to do.

Also, grab a new Ryzen, they beat the shit out of the previous generation.  5600x have been in stock a lot lately.

I just went thru this in November. I wanted to upgrade/update my old fx8350 to anything quiet...


I picked my parts, Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB of gskill ripjaws ram (BTW, I've been happy with the ram, also you saying it's your first build, remember if you only go with 2 sticks to put them in the right spots, not next to eachother, it's marked on the motherboard which slots to use first), gigabyte b550m aorus pro motherboard. I was pulling my video card and hdd's from my old system, hell I had planned to put all the new stuff in my old case, but ended up buying a new case and powersupply so I could accommodate my radiator.

I'm running a old rx590 fatboy for the gpu, and it's actually getting worked now, I couldn't really game on the old system cause something on the mobo would overheat.

Anyhow, if you can up the ram, I'd do it, but you'd be fine if you don't too, I haven't found any issues just running 16GB.

As for a power supply, I'd go ahead and get something in the 7-850 range, just in case you do manage to score a 3080 or get one down the road.

To me, it looks like you've got a solid build sheet.

GPU's are a bitch right now. That rx590 fatboy I think I paid about 200 for, last time I saw a price listed for one of them it was around 500... I wouldn't even attempt to get any of the new cards, I'd try to find a rx 580 or 590 or the nvidia equivalent to run for now, and they'll push the games fine, but you might have to back the settings down to medium (gasp!) Other cards to look for depending on budget would be like the 2070 and such.

Anyhow regular game rotation here is iracing, world of warships, and warzone. Not had a issue that wasn't self inflicted.

Biggest win for me was the liquid cooling. I went from having a high pitched whine the entire time the computer was on, to the only time I hear this one is when the GPU fans ramp up. (I've got a aggressive fan curve set, by 70c the fans are running full tilt)







Also I'm not a RGB fanboy, I don't mine a bit, and the cooler is the only thing that is RGB, but almost all of the RGB controller software is buggy, I had to wire in the included controller which I wasn't going to bother with at all, but I couldn't stand the orange color it was lighting up so um yeah. RGB looks pretty but can be a pain in the ass.

Also, using m.2 storage, put your frequently played games on it. It'll be faster. Thats my next upgrade, m.2 stick or 2. I'm going to wait awhile for GPU's to come down in price before I upgrade it.

Lol. If you buy junk. Most pre-builts use the same parts sold to builders, just white boxed and bulk ordered to save cost. Not stripped down or crappier capacitors or other parts then if you bought it yourself.

Avatar matches mentality.

If you think that, sure.

PreBuilts have to be closely watched. Good video of Walmart's PreBuilt vs iBuyPower PreBuilt as a comparison of what to expect with PreBulits.



Walmart's is atrocious, but iBuyPower is "decent". Price is good, be sure to inspect it when you get it.

As long as you are happy with your purchase, who cares?

And most of the brands you listed are junk. Yes, most of the parts are white boxed and bulk ordered to save costs... except for the power supply which is the single part that can take everything else down with it. Some of them ship with OK power supplies, some don't, and none of the ones I've seen ever list the specific power supply it ships it with. If you pay attention to some of the 3080s, 3090s,  and even the new AMD cards you'll see that a quality PSU is important since they're drawing a shit ton of power and a garbage tier PSU isn't going to handle their transient power spikes very well. Also, since you mentioned the warranties, most of those brands generally come with a full 1 year warranty and a 3 year limited warranty with more coverage for more cash in some instances. My EVGA 3080 comes with a 3 year warranty with the option to purchase more for a pretty cheap, motherboard is 3 years, RAM is limited lifetime warranty, SSDs are 5 years, etc etc. That said, sometimes the discounts on a prebuilt are steep enough that you could afford a quality PSU to swap in and still save money. BUT, OP didn't say anything about saving money as the purpose of his build. I'd still argue that building your own is the better value even though it'll likely cost more as the quality of components is much higher. Then again I've always been one to put together my own ARs too with quality parts instead of buying a bargain bin radical or whatever because "ItS tHe SaMe thINg"


edit:
Now I remember why I came in here.
OP, PSUs can be slightly tricky as you can spend a ton and get an OK one, or spend less and get a better one, usually spending the least will guarantee you get garbage though. There are definitely some landmines in the $80-120 range though.
Here's a tier list from the linus tech tips forums: here, obviously it isn't the end all be all of all things PSUs but it's pretty simple to understand and is a good resource.

Also, although reddit is a cesspool if SJW bullshit the tech subs are pretty legit, the buildapc sales subreddit here is a very good resource as you have plenty of people in the comments to say why or why not something might be a good deal and "the real deal is usually in the comments", I've scored a lot of decent stuff while looking at a post for one thing and somebody will usually have a comment with the same/better thing for cheaper somewhere else. Lastly, I have that same motherboard that you listed in your OP and while I like it and have had zero issues do just keep in mind that on the B550 chipset if you plan to add a second m2 drive at some point then whatever is in the second m2 slot won't be running at full speed since b550 boards provide full speeds on the 1st pcie slot and the 1st m2 slot, x570 boards provide full lane speeds on all slots though. Not really a big deal for just games though but that is one reason to maybe look into a bigger m2 drive to start with. You could definitely do without that 2tb hdd unless you're one to store lots of photos/videos, I personally don't and only use mine for games and have a gigabit connection so I only have SSDs in my PC now and keep only what I play installed.

FWIW, I have a 3700X and if I were building right now I'd go with a 5000 series processor. Don't get me wrong the 3700X is awesome, but there just isn't much reason to buy one vs a 5800X if you can find one. When supply stabilizes later on I plan to upgrade to the 5950X and then ride that thing for quite a while.

What's the 2TB HDD for? File storage or games? If games, I'd personally drop down to a 500GB or 250GB SSD for your OS, ditch the 2TB HDD, and upgrade to a 2TB SSD. It's really nice not running SATA cables and power cables to drives in your case 500GB & 2TB m.2 SSD's are what I run in mine. I really don't need the speed of the 2TB SSD, a HDD would have been fine, but I decided I didn't want to run cables and I didn't want to deal with disks.

I'd think about 32GB of RAM, maybe drop down to 3200mhz RAM if it works out price wise, but 3600mhz is obviously better if you can swing it. I use mine more for work, but I went with 32GB thinking it would be a bit of overkill and I frequently see it using 16+ GB.

You're going to be waiting a while.  Got an email from a sales rep I've been working with and the outlook was not good, to say the least.  

Scarce GPU supply + high demand + plus new tariffs (up to 25%) = $$$$$$$

3080 MSRP going up from $700 to $875.