First PC Build Recommendations

With a new PC, I would always recommend an M.2 NVMe SSD over a 2.5 inch.

The max transfer rate on an M.2 NVMe is 3X to 4X the speed of SATA.

The "sharing bandwidth" note is also shown on PDF page 7 of the user's manual -- http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM4/STRIX_B350-F_GAMING/E13031_ROG_STRIX_B350-F_GAMING_UM_V2_web_20170606.pdf?_ga=2.184984233.1408589982.1511549471-1271369653.1458008676
Basically that is saying that there is a finite amount of bandwidth available for storage. If you use an M.2 NVMe disk, for maximum performance you would only use four of the six SATA ports.

I'd lose the PSU - those NEX PSUs are not good. The only real worthwhile units from EVGA are the G2 / P2 series and a couple of the G3 series. But otherwise I wouldn't bother with the NEX or B series.

Makes no sense. The Ryzen chips will VERY RARELY support anything over 2400mhz anyhow. Almost never over 2666.

And, if you're going to use the stock cooler, there isn't much sense in getting the Arctic silver paste. It's not going to do much of anything that the included thermal pad on the stock cooler doesn't already offer. If you want to get it in case you ever have to remount the cooler, then that makes sense.

Memory prices are not likely to drop anytime soon. Most RAM manufacturers have recently moved to a new process and between the fact that there are some material shortages right now, and those companies recovering the cost of changing manufacturing to the new processes, plus, the fact that supply is decreased during the time that the production lines were down during these changes, means that it might be a while before the market equalizes again, if it even does.

We could be looking at these prices being the "new normal", much as the prices for SSD's, particularly NVME SSD's, has gone up and remained there due to similar material shortages. At least, that's what they are claiming. Personally I think it's a conspiracy to drive prices up because there is ONE major memory chip manufacturer that did not change processes, and they are still charging an increased price for their products despite no downtime or additional costs. Who knows.

Plus, RAM should ALWAYS be purchased in "matched" sets, so that all the modules have a much higher probability of playing nice together as well as running in dual channel mode, which doubles the memory bandwidth throughput.

Buying additional memory later is bad for two reasons.

One, those modules, even if they are the exact same part number, may not play nice with the first modules you purchased. There are many reasons for this and I can get into that if you desire.

Two, it's always best to get the full amount of memory you wish to run in capacities that require the use of only two sticks, instead of four, since you always want to run even numbers of matched modules so that it WILL run in dual channel. It is also an additional strain on the motherboard chipset and memory controller to run four modules as compared to only two, since more voltage is necessary for four modules than what is needed for two.

Nothing say it won't work any way you do it, but problems are not uncommon and it is best to try and avoid them whenever possible. If you want 16GB at some point, get it now, in a set. Considering the demands on system memory have been steadily increasing the last few years, I'd recommend 16GB as a minimum except where it is not financially possible. Especially if you will be running advanced video, 3d or VM applications.

Honestly, until all of the memory issues with high speed memory on Ryzen systems is ironed out, I'd probably not go any higher than 2400mhz UNLESS and EXCEPT if it is because:

1. These issues MIGHT get resolved through future firmware versions and would then make the higher speed useful.

2. Buying modules capable of higher speeds fairly well ensures that the modules will easily and with lower voltage values run well at the lower speeds we currently know are compatible/stable on these sytems.

I usually DO get memory that has been tested/proven to run at faster speeds than I intend to run them at simply so that I know they will do well, or know as much as you ever really can, at the speed I intent to run them at, plus it gives me a little headroom to run them at a faster speed later if I choose to.

I would not get faster RAM though if there is a significant difference in price that might cause you to have to decrease the choice of performance or quality of another part of the system in order to fit it into the budget. In other words, if you have to drop another item to something not quite as good just to get the faster memory, don't do it.

That board has plenty of USB 3.1, 3.0 and 2.0 internal onboard headers, plus, it also has 2 RGB headers onboard in case you choose to add some lighting that is Aura control compliant. Should be fine.

That's a small form factor PSU - you do not want to use it in a full size build. I would also lose the extra thermal compound - you don't need it.

The PSU I recommended earlier, and this below are your two best choices under 70 dollars unless you want to drop down in quality and capacity. You CAN go with a lower powered unit, but if you went with something like a 450-500w unit and decided to upgrade your graphics card later, you'd most likely end up having to replace the power supply again because you would lack sufficient capacity.

For under 70 dollars, there are no other units over 500w that are a better choice than the Seasonic I linked to earlier, or this one. There just are not any other units with this kind of quality for that price.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ B&H)
Total: $69.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-26 20:29 EST-0500


If you ONLY want something with sufficient capacity to power your current card, and don't care to have a little headroom then this would be a good choice too, but I highly recommend you choose one of the two units I recommended above if you want to run cool and quiet under big loads. It's doubtful that with one of those two units, even at full load, you'd be stressing the PSU enough for the fans to kick on full speed, meaning the unit would run quieter during gaming sesssions and last a lot longer since they are designed for much bigger loads than what your GTX 1060 would be putting on them.

If you just want to save some money and go with the bare necessity, then you could use this and it would definitely get the job done but it is nowhere near as good as the Seasonic or EVGA units above.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $39.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-26 20:36 EST-0500

The real question is whether or not you plan to overclock your Ryzen CPU or not. If you plan to use the out of the box 4Ghz OC that has been working for most people on the 1600, then the Ryzen wins out. If you play games that will utilize a lot of cores, or all of them, the Ryzen wins out.

That's because, regardless of what the paper specs on the i5-8400 says, every gaming review I've seen of the 8400 says that it's impossible to get it to run on only a single core, for the 4Ghz turbo clock, and the minute more than one core is used, none of them will run over 3.8Ghz. With all cores running it looks like the average clock speed is about 3.7 to 3.8Ghz.

But if you mostly play games that only utilize between 1-4 cores, then Intel has the upper hand in most cases because of the higher IPC of Intel processors. You actually can't go wrong either way, and that Ryzen CPU will certainly not be holding back that GTX 1060 at all, so even if the i5-8400 IS faster, it's faster for no really good purpose. Now, if you had a GTX 1070 or higher, it would be a different story. For the GPU card you intend to get, you probably won't see any difference in performance in those two CPUs in gaming, so go with whichever one happens to be less expensive at the time you purchase.

Truthfully, the stock cooler sucks. That holds true whether it's AMD or Intel. The wraith cooler is nothing to sing praises about. Yes, it's better than stock coolers from the past, but that's not saying much. I'd recommend some kind of aftermarket cooler no matter if you plan to overclock or not.

Think of it simply as long term protection for your investment. Stock coolers might keep your CPU MOSTLY out of the danger zone, but they still tend to allow them to get warmer than you really want to see on a regular continuous basis AND they are usually obnoxiously loud under even moderate loads BECAUSE they have to spin so fast just TO keep them out of the danger zone.

An aftermarket cooler, if you get a decent one from a respected manufacturer that has at least a 120mm fan on it, will extend the life of your CPU as well as your sanity since they tend to be much quieter 90% of the time.

As far as which CPU to get, I do REALLY think that between those two specific processors that whichever one you can get the CPU AND a decent motherboard for, for less, at the time you buy it, should be the deciding factor because they will both do what you are needing them to do and will do it at the necessary level.