Weird- when i posted my description didn't appear. Maybe i didn't use the article posting feature correctly. Here's the write up for my PC:
Built this as an upgrade from my tired Intel Ivybridge build in 2012 (StormCUBE on mt Builds.GG profile). I set out as i did in my previous build to create PC that would meet all the needs - from my day job as a graphic designer / web developer to watching movies and gaming after hours.
The one piece of the build that set me on the path for Ryzen was the B450 Mortar Titanium motherboard. I had seen this around online a few times over the past year or so and figured that if i'm gonna build a new PC, it better look the part. I believe I snagged the last one in existience. A least at respectable price that is... I picked it up for $225cad. Anywhere else that was selling for well over $350.
And so the build began.
With the mobo purchased it was time to source a case worthy of featuring the art piece the MSI board was. MetalicGear, a Phanteks partner/company, just released their V2 Neo case and i'm glad they did! The V1 of their ITX and MATX sure caught my eye but the V2 addressed some quality control and airflow concerns that i had (and the PC building community as well!). With my previous build being ITX in a somewhat large case for the form factor (Bitfenix Prodigy Rev1) i figured a sleek case that would proportionally fit the hardware was the way to go. I've never be one for ill-fitting components in oversized cases so with a few days of checking clearances and fittment compatability the case was ordered and on its way.
Ram had to be RGB - this is 2020. I went with white heatspreaders to compliment the white tube sleeving on my AIO and the aluminum theme of the mobo/case. 3000mhz may be a touch slow given Ryzen loves more hertz but i've been running the completed system since May 2020 and the 2x8gb kit is definetly more of a bottleneck than ram speeds at this point in time. mID 2021 I dropped in an extra 32gb so the system and google chrome are all happily chewing up my now 48gb of ram. hahaha.
For brains, I settled on the Ryzen 5 3600 as a great balance of everything i need to do. Was also a treat to hear, when I was building it, from a LTT video on the topic of "Why is everyone buy this cpu?" (which happened to focuson the my CPU). I've been a big fan of Linus and the team, but also have my own backgorund of self learning and component research and it was a nice virtual pat-on-the-back to hear Linus commend the builders who bought the 3600.
Each piece of my computers ends up having some random story about how i found or aquired it! You can't plan these things, you just roll with it. The build reuses my existing Nvidia GTX1070 which just so happened to be a auction-site special from the former NCIX (I got it for $500cad on some random/weird firesale - an epic deal considering it was regularly $675cad at the time), PSU (a meh 750w that does the job and for the life of me i can't recall how i even own it), Corsair GTX H100i AIO (Newegg refurb special, that turned out to be brand-new overstock) and some corsair white rgb fans.
Since the original build i have swaped in a 16gb RadeonVii gpu (some cooler lapping and mods were made and that card should last a while now that it runs a lot cooler under load). Maybe one day a rtx3080 will find a home here, but that will have to wait. Some "EZDIY" rgb fans were added in as well.
