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Pemalite on 10 March 2020
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JEMC said:

If gaming is secondary (or even less), but you still want a powerful enough PC so that it lasts as much as possible, you need to go with the newer and more powerful processor (I'm not going to say that it's twice as fast, but the 3600 is cleary superior to the first gen Ryzen).

Based on your two setups, I'd go with:

  • Motherboard: ASUS Prime B450M Gaming - It's more than enough
  • CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 - It's worth the price difference. Alternatively, you could look for deals on the 8 core processors from the Ryzen 2xxx series
  • GPU: RX 580 8GB - Don't buy the 4GB variants
  • RAM: 2x 8GB DDR4 - Always get them in pairs as they'll work better. ALso, Ryzen performs better with faster RAM. If you can find a 3000MHz or 3200MHz unit in your price range, go for them.
  • HDD: Forget Seagate, their HDD are more prone to fail than the rest (Backblaze publishes quaterly reports and they always fail the most). Go with Western Digital (HGST).
  • SSD: Brand isn't really important, but capacity is. I have a 240GB unit and, despite having the games on a separate drive, it's almost full. If you have to install extra software for your studies, you'll face that problem a lot sooner. Go with at least 500GB, of whatever brand.
  • Power Suppy: 450-500W And don't go for the cheapest one because if it fails, it can destroy your whole PC.

Case isn't very important and depends more on a personal taste. Just make sure it has one or two fans.

The Ryzen 1600 AF is not actually a first gen Ryzen, it's actually a second gen.
It's got more in common with the Ryzen 2600 than anything else... It's actually a *very* decent budget CPU all things considered.

SpokenTruth said:

That's why I listed Seasonic.  I don't advise any other brand until it's a Seasonic rebrand (Seasonic designed and made but with a different company label slapped on it - happens a lot with PSUs).

I've used Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, ASUS, XFX, EVGA all been decent units.

Corsair for instance is more than happy to use CWT/Channel Well Technologies for some PSU's... But still drop a 7-10 year warranty on them.

BraLoD said:
About cooling options if I stick with the more expensive setup.
I read 3600 heats up real easy, so getting a case with frontal airflow and 2 coolers, and 1 pumping hot air away from the back and 1 from the top should be more than enough... right?
My friend that got the setup 1 said the Ryzen default cooler is good too, tho.

That will be fine. What have you nailed your components down to exactly? Just so we can see your current line of thinking.



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--