Building a New PC in 2020

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JasonR86

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I’ve been talking about building a PC forever. Before the PS4 came out. I even created a wish list on Newegg with all the stuff I was going to buy for that PC. Multiple lists, because invariably whatever list I’d made would have been out of date by the time I had the inclination to buy the parts. So, finally, in 2020 I decided to buy those parts and build that PC. My first PC build ever.

A good question to ask, then, is why would you spend money on a PC build during a global pandemic? I have a few good reasons. One, my job is doing quite well because it is apparently pandemic resistant. I’m a mental health therapist and moved to working remotely going back to the start of March 2019. My client attendance is high because teleconferencing is convenient and insurance companies have adapted their payment methods to support remote therapy. Plus, I’m not going anywhere so I’m barely spending money any other way aside from this build. Also, I’m an idiot.

So, I bought nearly all the parts from Newegg, aside from a CPU cooler and GPU (we’ll get to the GPU in a second). Here’s what I got:

Ryzen 9 3900XT

RTX 3070

Patriot Viper Gaming VP4100 M.2 1 TB NVME Drive

Western Digital Black SN750 M.2 1 TB NVME Drive

G.Skill TridenZ RGB Series 32 GB DDR4 3200 Memory

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3 Fully Modular 850W Power Supply

MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk Motherboard

Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Midtower Case

Noctua NH-U12S 120mm CPU Cooler

The new Xbox Series controller and a USB Bluetooth receiver

Let’s talk about that 3070. As I’m sure you all know, getting a 30 series card is like finding a needle in a haystack. Unless you pay a scalper. So, I could have either waited or try my luck on Ebay, which I’d never bought anything more than $100 on Ebay. Since I’d bought everything else, I was pot committed to see the build through and had little patience and money to spare. So, I went to Ebay. I got the Gigabyte OC model which already sells about $50-100 over the MSRP of the base, reference 3070 model, which goes for $500. But, well, I paid a bit more than $550-600. It came to around $800. Which is a lot. Too much. But I was willing to take the hit for the reasons I mentioned. And, again, I’m an idiot.

Eventually, all the parts came in and I was ready to start my build. I’d watched videos online, making me basically an expert, so I was ready to go. It was all going great till I got the CPU. See, originally, I had planned to get the 3900X but saw that the XT, which is a bit faster, was on sale. So, I bought it, but it turns out the XT model doesn’t come with a fan like the X model. Which I wasn’t aware of until I opened the box. Leading me then to Amazon to get that CPU cooler and pausing the build a few days. Then the cooler came in, and the mounting brackets didn’t fit my motherboard as expected. But I’m stubborn, so I tried a good dozen different ways to mount the cooler in unique ways using hardware I had all around the house and the extra hardware from the other computer parts. Eventually, I found a way to mount the cooler. Then came wiring everything. Which I messed up. Not once, twice, three times, but an uncountable number of times. Did I mention I’m stubborn? That comes into play here. So, I thought I’d wired everything properly until I plugged the tower in. But then, it didn’t turn on. Repeatedly I tried but it didn’t turn on. Turns out, I should have read the motherboard instructions to see what I was plugging in. After being a smart guy and reading the instructions, the tower turned on.

I forgot to mention, but I also bought a Windows 10 Home USB stick from Newegg to install Windows. Which also caused some difficulty. So, at some point in the installation, you are asked to pick either an express installation or a custom installation. Express didn’t work for me; I’m assuming because I had two drives and it didn’t know what drive to install. After three or so times of trying the express install, I went to the custom install, picked the drive I wanted, and then it all went off without a hitch.

Except that the Bluetooth receiver I had for my mouse and keyboard and my new controller couldn’t connect with the mouse, keyboard, and controller through my entertainment center to my couch (I have my tower behind my entertainment center and my couch is about 8 feet away). So, I had to buy extenders from my USB ports and run them through my entertainment center so I could have a direct connection with the devices.

Then, finally, everything worked. For a month, then the Patriot NVME drive died, suddenly. So, I got a refund from Newegg, bought the Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB NVME drive, and reinstalled everything because the drive that died was my boot drive and reinstalling windows formatted my other drive (luckily all my game saves were in the cloud). Now, I think we’re all good (unless a month from now the Samsung drive dies).

In terms of game performance, it’s amazing. Cyberpunk runs great. Everything else runs perfectly. The computer is fast. Videos look great through my TV. It’s all a great experience following the initial hassle and the whole NVME drive dying part. When it works, and 99% of the time after the build it works, it works amazingly. What I’d suggest for those that do plan to build a PC is that if you are planning on getting a high-end PC, but not the top of the tier PC (like getting a 3090 for example), expect to pay more than you thought you would. Also buy the parts over time. And read instructions, have more patience than me, and plan for bits to go wrong, like my Bluetooth kerfuffle. But I’d also say the build was completely worth it.

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Justin258

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Did your motherboard have a heat sink where that NVMe drive goes? Sorry, I read that your drive died and that's the first place my tech support mind went.

Anyway, congrats on the build! I personally wanted my 1070 ti to last until the 4000 series. It may yet do so, but some part of my brain is really pushing me to buy a 3080 as soon as I can get one for MSRP.

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JasonR86

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@justin258:

Thanks! I don't believe it does and I have been obsessively checking the temperatures of everything and that drive never got over 40 degrees Celsius, even under load. I may have just bought a lemon.

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RalphMoustaccio

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@jasonr86: It sounds like perhaps you got older stock of that Noctua cooler, if it didn't come with the right mounting hardware for an AM4 socket. Apparently those weren't included in the box prior to 2019. It would be weird, but not impossible, for the vendor to have an older version still unopened and have shipped that out. If it didn't come with the right hardware, you could request it from Noctua, free of charge if you go through the process on their website. Here's some info about the correct mounting hardware. Using the factory-intended brackets is best to ensure you don't accidentally damage the board, or get poor cooling results due to insufficient mounting pressure, misalignment, etc.

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berfunkle

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#5  Edited By berfunkle

I'm kicking myself right now. Received an email from EVGA last week telling me they had 3070s in stock ( I had weeks before put my name on their mailing list ) and wouldn't you know it, I got cold feet.

And now their stock is gone.

Oh well.

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JasonR86

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@ralphmoustaccio:

I ended up using the brackets but used a different combination of hardware. It's really solid and secure and working as intended so I think I'm good. But thanks for the info.

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colourful_hippie

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Sounds like you learned a lot. If you ever do a new build you should connect your power cables before putting the CPU cooler on because that cooler always gets in the way when you start connecting shit and doing cable management.

Also still can’t get over you paying $800 for a 3070, man that stings.

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#8  Edited By frytup

I was grinding my teeth halfway through this, but glad you got it working to your satisfaction eventually. Live and learn, etc.

Some people have better luck with Bluetooth and Xbox controllers than others, but after months of disconnects and general crappiness, I eventually just sprung for the official Microsoft adapter. Well worth it in my opinion if you use the controller a lot.

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JasonR86

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@frytup: When there's a will, there's a way.

@colourful_hippie: Good tip. Yeah, that price for the card is still hard for me to swallow too.

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Justin258

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@frytup said:

I was grinding my teeth halfway through this, but glad you got it working to your satisfaction eventually. Live and learn, etc.

Some people have better luck with Bluetooth and Xbox controllers than others, but after months of disconnects and general crappiness, I eventually just sprung for the official Microsoft adapter. Well worth it in my opinion if you use the controller a lot.

I tried connecting my Xbox controller via Bluetooth twice. Both times, inputs were inconsistent and it eventually dropped out. I also gave up and went back to the adapter.