PC Building V4 - "ok SSDs got cheap, now do RAM next" - Hardware & Software

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110042/7c2fd2a2-52da-4840-9bdc-bfaef1d36899/chrome_2018-09-29_20-22-54.png https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110042/65b3540f-24b8-448a-8b84-281848c13ad5/chrome_2018-09-29_20-22-25.png https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110042/44ab2495-fed7-45e0-a420-742fe90b97f1/chrome_2018-09-29_20-22-05.png havent bought a desktop had drive since 2012, who makes the good 1tb-2tb ones now?

WD Golds are the good ones. They cost a premium though.

Being honest, I know we keep banging on about it, but SATA SSDs are getting super cheap now, and traditional hardware failure is a total non-issue with them, thanks to being (nearly) physically invincible and having decades-long rewrite endurance. If this is going to be a secondary or archive drive (or if you simply can't shell out for a 1TB SSD right now), then yeah, WD Gold is basically untouchable as far as quality, but that's gonna be pretty close in price to an SSD anyway. Barracuda should be fine though, if that's still a bit much.

y'all can't touch my 8TB in WD blacks that had less than 400 power on hours (2x4tb) combined that i got to take home from work

My 970 Evo is the only part of my build I regret. There's no perceptible difference in speed between it and my MX500. I could've saved money and gotten more capacity buy just getting a second MX500.

Always nice to free up a SATA port.

If anything, it's a neater, tidier way of adding storage.

You can get M.2 SATA SSDs for the same price as SATA SSDs.

the 250gb one is around 70 bucks over here

WD Golds just end up being the choice for "traditional" HDD class storage, since the only other 7.2K RPM drives WD makes are Black and Red Pro, which are generally priced the same-ish; so you may as well get the one that includes burn-in testing, and a stupid long warranty. But yes, standard HDDs are becoming obsoleted in many roles, and that's why if you already have SSD storage, and can RAID disks, and don't need super fast bulk storage, Reds are a fantastic budget option.

anyone?

While I haven't used it that specific case, I've probably built 40+ systems in Cougar cases. They're not great to work in, and are made with cheaper and thinner metal.

Lmao oops, I've been running my 2600X for like a month without Precision Boost Overdrive enabled because ASRock doesn't let you enable it in my BIOS. I have to enable it through Ryzen Master.

So, final verdict time before I start buying the parts, what are your thoughts on my home workstation's final form? Anything you'd change? Keep in mind I rely on this PC for EVERYTHING I do, and it needs to stand up to anything I could possibly throw at it, from work-a-day spreadsheets to Photoshop to games to VR to simulation to Blender. ☒ ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero Motherboard ☒ Ryzen 7 1700 w/ Wraith Spire ☑ 16GB Vengeance LPX DDR4 ☑ Samsung 970 EVO 250GB (Boot/App) ☑ SanDisk 1TB Ultra 3D NAND SATA III SSD (Bulk/Game) ☒ Additional of above SSD, intended as 1:1 full system backup drive ☑ GTX 1070 Founders Edition 8GB (Check is already owned, X is on current parts list) As for the case, I'm down to just two candidates for my space: the good old Fractal Design Meshify C, or the tiny power-cube RIOTORO CR1080. I've thought about it all week and I STILL can't pick between these two, please help me break this infernal stalemate.

It might be worth springing for the 1700X, it'll get you a little more of that precious single-thread performance for games. I'm a big shill for the Meshify C, it's really compact for a full ATX case and a total joy to work in. The cable management is superb and it lends itself to a really clean internal look. Slap some good 140mm fans in the front and you have more case airflow than you could ever wish for.

Do the 1700 and 1700X overclock about the same? I'm considering OCing the everloving shit out of the CPU under a good Noctua tower if I'm still not getting stable timings for VR at stock. VR seems to favor both a good GPU and a CPU fast enough to keep up with frame and sensor data at a low enough latency. If I'm gonna OC the 1070, its partner has to keep pace.

Theoretically, yes, but the X versions are likely to be binned better. In the Ryzen 2000 series, the X versions aren't worth manually overclocking because the automatic OC does a good enough job on its own and will usually push your components to their limit.

My Ryzen 7 2700X seems to run exceptionally hot. ~55 C idle, and 75-82 under Prime95. The load temps are fine with me, that seems pretty typical for a stock cooler CPU, but the hot idle has me puzzled. System: R7 2700X Wraith Spire MSI B450m Bazooka ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 980 Ti Fractal Define Mini Airflow is reasonable, single front fan (unobstructed in the case, but it is breathing through side vents on the front panel, though it seems to send plenty of cold air back), single rear fan, and a 140mm side fan blowing on the GPU (and hopefully some cold air flows to the wraith spire.) However the Wraith Spire is a downdraft cooler, and my airflow is mainly pass-through, is that why it's not performing well? Should I switch to a tower cooler instead? It's still got the stock thermal paste application and i have IC Diamond lying around. I could try that instead. Anyone got any thoughts?

The high idle suggests bad contact between the cpu and cooler, so remounting with new paste would be the first thing I'd try.

So yesterday I found out I only had 8GB of RAM, turns out the second one wasn't pushed all the way in. 😑

Yeah, that. It was the one it came with.