(This was "moved" from the AMD WX7100 Pro GPU build with X370 MSI Carbon thread, re its build video. My bad for not knowing where to put it, and thanks to w.meri for giving me the scoop and some good suggestions.)
Anyway, that video & thread are pretty much what I've been hoping to find for months. Money has been tight after a recent hospital stay, just before my main computer failed; but "fortunately" my WD NAS died an epic death and the warranty company gave me a full refund. …lucky?
(As per the General Guidelines post)
That plus what I can scrape together gives me about a $2000 budget, and I'm in the U.S. I have two 3.5" SATA drives that will need to go inside; the internal optical drive rarely got used, so I'll just use an external. I don't do much intensive gaming at all, but I do find life is always better in general with a decent video card. (List of usage details below.) For OS, I'll buy a Windows 10 Pro license. I already have a Logitech Unifying setup for my keyboard and mouse, which are just fine for my needs. My UPS is an APC NS1080 plus I have a BE550G from that the deceased NAS.
My Usage
(if that's at all useful)
- My biggest use is browsing and interacting in
Pagefaultfox Firefox mostly; YouTube and Netflix, of course; then lots of tabs at once on various code-heavy sites like dA, Tumblr, Discord, Twitch, Picarto, etc. A dozen or so tabs are open at once, but they're resource hogs – especially with all that new-fangled infinite scrolling. Ditto for multistreams even in the same tab. (Do enough of either and the Surface Pro 3 i7 gets hot enough to cook pancakes on.)
- MS Office 2000 (still works fine for me), Paint Shop Pro (also previous millennium) and are pretty much always open so I can write art critiques and such. (Not a pro by any stretch.) If I have to I'll move to OpenOffice and Clip Studio Paint.
- I'm using both BitLocker on NTFS and EFS (Encrypting File System) for legacy reasons (on 7TB of spinning rust); I may just decrypt those files eventually, but definitely not using the Surface Pro 3.
- Bittorrent runs when I'm not otherwise using the system – You know, for all of the perfectly-legal public domain stuff like NASA wide-field images and all that – of course!
- Very occasional GPU-loving games, like Gish or Portal.
The Build Plan (so far)
I did my own PcPartpicker list (so awesome!) for what I think will work for me. The differences from the featured build are as follows:
- Thanks to the suggestion, I'd like to go with the Ryzen 1700x, a bit overclocked, and make this computer last a while. Tips on getting started with simple overclocking would be appreciated.
- Should that be water cooled? If so, is the Corsair Hydro (bundled) good enough? (If it makes a difference, my room is about 160sqft. with a 10,000 BTU A/C to keep it around 75°F reliably.)
- If air cooling with the Hyper 212 EVO max CPU cooler is okay, is the warning on PcPartpicker about need a special kit right? If so, what do I need?
- With either cooling solution, do I need to buy my own thermal paste separately? (I'd hate to get all the parts and then have to wait another few days.) Actually, is there anything else I'm missing?
- That high-end GPU in the video would be way-overkill for me since I don't do design work or even much gaming. Sure, in Delusional Swan Fantasy Land™ I'd like to drive at least three 4K monitors non-interlaced at 60HZ, but I'll be sticking with my old 1080p screens and adding at least a 1440p later. Is the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 a decent choice? The Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti Windforce is less than half the cost, which would be nice yet also makes me nervous.
- Do DisplayPort to HDMI and DVI adapters do a decent job? If not, any suggestions for a more old-fashioned GPU (for now) would be appreciated.
- Though I do trust (and even love) Wendell, there's a lot of bad press about the M.2 heat pads. Would a Gnome Tech heat sink do a decent job?
- The G.SKILL Trident G F4-3200C16D-16GTZKW from the video looks fine to me. (Honestly, when I look at the Reddit thread about B-Die confusion all I see are TLAs and international telephone numbers/star designations. Again, thanks w.meri for the basics.) Since it was in the video I'm guessing that's pretty much ideal.
For anyone who even took the time to read all of this, thank you. And extra special thanks to Wendell, Ryan, and Krista for making all of this possible. All comments and ideas are appreciated.
P.S I tried to be more thorough with the links, but for now I'm only allowed five per post. Fair enough.
Build looks fine to me sofar.
I'm personally not a huge fan of those Msi X370 boards,
The Msi X370 Pro gaming Carbon basiclly is a fine board for its price.
But they dont use the most efficient mosfets and vrm layouts on their boards.
There are better more decent options out there.
Like the Asrock X370 Taichi, Asus Crosshair 6 Hero, Aorus X370 Gaming K7 or Aorus X370 Gaming 5.
These particular boards have better quality mosfets and overall better vrm components on them.
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it'll last a while regardless. i went with the 1700 and do not regret it. that said, up to you; the 1700x is getting cheaper now.
up to you. certainly doesn't need to be.
this http://www.microcenter.com/product/475708/amd_am4_cpu_cooler_upgrade_kit
couple side notes: i love the 212, but the am4 kit only allows it to be mounted with the fan blowing vertically (not, for example, out the back). not really an issue. also the adapter is a little annoying to install.
i got a cryorig cooler and (even considering the cost) am very impressed. they're well-designed, well-made, easy to install, look good and keep things very cool.
I drive a 3440p ultrawide and two 1080p aux screens with my 1050ti. in fact, my old 750ti does the job. if you only need a gpu for display, you'll be fine.
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I've a 1700X and I'm really happy with it. It was a huge upgrade from my old 2500k (even though imho the 2500k still rocks 
)
Anyway, the 1700X doesn't need to be watercooled, but I still watercool mine with this AIO and it has never gone above 40° thus far. It more or less stays between 30°C and 35°C, even though it has about 30°C outside, which means it has about 26°C in the room.
Concerning the special kit: I needed one for the SilenLoop as well. On their site they claim that you need your AM4 mainboards bill to confirm you do indeed own an AM4 board. However, the mainboard was the last part I ordered, which is why I contacted beQuiet! and they sent me an AM4 kit with only the AIO's bill as confirmation.
As @MisteryAngel has already mentioned, MSI boards are overpriced, considering they use the least quality parts. I personally went with the Taichi, but I'm sure the Crosshair 6 Hero or those Gigabyte boards are fine as well.
GPU: Have you taken a look on AMD's cards? I don't really know how AMD's rx560 compares against the 1050, but I won't hurt to take a look at those as well.
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Apologies for taking so long to get back to you all. Besides ugh stuff I also want to make sure to understand and get the right details so I won't make extra work for you.
@MisteryAngel : Thanks for the MB suggestions. I definitely want something that can handle full-time operation. Better components are always a plus. I didn't realize the mosfets and others were an issue, but I know that quality capacitors can make a big difference too.
@_adrian : Good info. If the standard air cooling is enough then I shouldn't have a problem. If not for the extra money I might have gone for it anyway. Thanks for the cooler adapter link too. The last thing I want is for the cooler to rip out the CPU once the MB is vertical. Also, saving a few bucks with the 1050ti is a big help. I'm guessing that any color issues would be wholly dependent on the monitors anyway. (Not that I really need that, but I do look at and comment on a lot of artwork online.)
@Azulath : Like I mentioned to @_adrian I'd love to do something like that, and the water cooler you linked looks fantastic. I went through the manual and pictures anyway. Maybe if I get thermal issues I'll add that on later. It's weird (to me, who's been out of the loop since EISA and MicroChannel were the hot things) that a company wouldn't sell their adapters to anyone, but I guess it's a competitive thing; though if it's availability then it makes perfect sense.
You and @MisteryAngel suggesting Taichi tells me it would be a good way to go if the prices aren't too much more. (Like Wendell said, putting a $$$ processor on a cheap MB "is… Just don't do it." If everything else is the same (parts- and installation-wise) that's all the better. (If there's some compatibility issue I hope the PcPartpicker lets me know, but I'll probably post here again once I think I've got it all together.) I'll take a look at the AMDs too, especially since there's at leas a psychological advantage to having the same big brands for two of the main parts.
Again, thanks for all your advice and links, etc. I truly appreciate it. Hopefully I can get moving soon (before yet another financial hit of any kind. 
) Have a terrific weekend and take care.
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i suggest this mainly because you said "windows." 10xx series gpus on ryzen+linux are not a fantastic experience yet.
+1. i did it. don't do it. 
if only the taichi weren't so gaudy
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The Asrock Taichi is pretty much one of the best motherboards that the am4 platform has to offer currentlly.
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