ltmon's bits

With a lot more time being spent indoors likely in the coming months, and a big-0 birthday present past due, I’ve finally decided to get a real PC and just leave the Thinkpad for work and stop thrashing it with virtual machines, data crunching, software synths, DAWs and occasional games.

This build is to be a solid mid-ranger, for gaming and music production as well as some software development/virtualisation. It probably will get a CPU upgrade at some point in it’s lifetime, but we’ll see what happens.

I’m also wanting something that looks really clean and neat and it’s going to be a Stormtrooper colour scheme. A few components just might have been chosen for looks rather than value.

Orders have now been placed, so no criticism is allowed or I might feel bad. This is the first time I’ve built a PC in a decade, so hopefully I haven’t stuffed up too badly.

Read on for parts list…

Can’t be bothered formatting the product list, so here’s a wall of text.

Vendor: PCCG

Qty. Product Unit Price Total Price
1 AMD Ryzen 5 3600 with Wraith Stealth $279.00 $279.00
1 Samsung 860 EVO M.2 SATA SSD 1TB $219.00 $219.00
1 NZXT H510 Mid Tower Case Matte White/Black $135.00 $135.00
2 Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2×8GB) 3200MHz CL16 DDR4 White $139.00 $278.00
1 CableMod PRO ModMesh Cable Extension Kit White $69.00 $69.00
1 Cryorig H7 Ultra CPU Cooler $69.00 $69.00

Yes, 32GB RAM. Because all RAM slots must be filled (I don’t make the rules, I just follow them). Also, white RAM is faster.

Vendor: ShoppingExpress

Qty x SKU Product Price Subtotal
1x RX-5700-XT-MECH-OC MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT MECH OC 8GB GDDR6 Graphics Card $559.00 $559.00
1× 32GK650F-B LG 32GK650F-B 32” QHD VA 1ms 144Hz FreeSync Gaming Monitor $425.00 $425.00
1x B450-TOMAHAWK-MAX MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX AMD AM4 ATX Gaming Motherboard $181.00 $181.00
1x CP-9020178-AU Corsair RM650× 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular ATX Power Supply $165.00 $165.00
1x ArcherT6E TP-Link Archer T6E AC1300 Wireless PCIe Adapter $52.00 $52.00

ShoppingExpress has nothing like the reputation for reliability and customer service that PCCG has, but the sale price on the 5700 XT was too good to turn down (and once I was buying one item, I also saved a bit on the rest of the parts here). I know there are driver issues to deal with the 5700XT, and the MSI hasn’t got the greatest/quietest cooling (although a few mods can improve it). So basically it’s fingers crossed on all that.

Vendor: MechanicalKeyboards.com

Product Qty Price Subtotal
Ducky One 2 Skyline Double Shot PBT Mechanical Keyboard
-Switches: Cherry MX Brown
-Free Bonus: Limted Edition – Frozen Llama MK Sticker
1 $99.00 $99.00

Because clackity clack.

Future? – More/better case fans? – Possibly some (tasteful) case lighting? – Any other suggestions?

I’ll be getting into Borderlands 3 pretty early, I think. Other game suggestions are welcome.