Description
I built this rig for gaming. I have built several machines in the past but this is my first build in over 15 yrs. I spent several months planning this build. Much like builds from my past I looked for parts that offer better value when tinkered with. And so I present Team (Blood)Red-Black. I must say that I am very happy with everything so far. I have played with overclocking both with Ryzen Master and Asus bios. I still need to do further stress testing but seems stable so far. Looks like I got a great chip with the Ryzen. I have it running at 4.2Ghz, with 1.38V, Corsair memory is running at 3333 with 16-18-18-36 timings. "Out of Box" experience is good but tweaking everything for that little extra is so much fun! I know that its not a great or overly stressful CPU benchmark but CB15 was 1286 after driver update but all other bios setting stock. After tweaking CPU and ram I get 1450 now. Gaming at 1440p with High/Ultra settings and Freesync running is amazing! Maintains very playable FPS well within the 48-144 freesync range of monitor (also fantastic, with a few negatives that I will review at a later date). Vega is undervolted and seems to maintain around the 1500Mhz and memory is supposed to be 850mhz but GPUZ, logs show it at 800Mhz. I have just started to play with the video card and obviously still need to play with it a little more to figure out the limits. Have tried playing the new Tomb Raider and Metro. Just wow! As far as the actual building part I have to say that things have become so much easier to build then in the past. Everything...well just worked ;) I will be doing individual reviews for the components in the coming days/weeks. Criticism and comments are very much appreciated!
EDIT:
After much testing I have come to the final OC for this build. Did test higher than the following but I am happy with the performance at this level (performance vs voltage vs noice etc);
Ryzen OC'd to 4.1Ghz @ 1.33V. 40c Idle and 70c load
Ram kept at stock setting and 3200mhz (for now)
Vega is undervolted to 1000mv and clocks at 1633mhz clock, 925mhz mem, Core max temp 77c @ 1850 RPM in 3DMark Time Spy score was 6974
Part Reviews
CPU
What a great value chip! I love it. I think I also won the silicon lottery. Running stable at 4.2Ghz with 1.38V, ~40C idle and ~70C under loads. Further and longer duration testing required to determine absolute stability but stable right now. Running with a DR Pro4 cooler.
CPU Cooler
Wow! Its a beauty! Absolutely stellar performance and its quiet. Keeps my OC'd Ryzen 2600 under 70C load and silent operation at idle with a 40C temp. I read/watched multiple reviews so I knew about all the pros and cons. I personally didn't find it very difficult to install but it was mentioned many times by other reviewers. It's performance and quality are top notch. I love its look, personally my favorite looking air cooler out there.
Motherboard
So far its working out great. Did a lot of homework before I purchased this board. I was going to give it 4 stars just because you can get similar performance from cheaper boards but I did choice aesthetics all other things being equal. It also lags in its VRM design for hardcore 8+ core OC. Know what you need and what you are using. I don't do any rendering, run multiple VMs, or any other heavy CPU work loads. I bought this knowing that it would max out my OC abilities on a Ryzen 2600 and that I would probably have to live w/o heavy OC in any future Ryzen CPU upgrade. I'm ok with that. Love everything else this board offers. Bios is great and easy to use. Overclocked my Ryzen 5 2600 like a champ!
Memory
Great ram for Ryzen. Have it running great at 3200mhz and stock timings. I lucked out and my set of memory was a Samsung B die. I bought this knowing that I could have ended up with a Hynix die but rolled the dice and won. Haven't even dug down deep to test this ram further but easily runs at rated speeds.
Storage
Using as a boot drive/main programs drive. So fast! No issues at all. Pros; it's fast, it's very fast, it's black! Cons; None, over than the fact that it is way overkill for what I need and wont notice much a difference between this and a fast SSD for my purposes, but its cool tech and I "needed it" :)
Storage
Using as a game library drive. Fast and cheapest GB per $ at the time of my build. Have had WD in the past and never any issues.
Video Card
Initial impressions are outstanding! Got a great price on the card and it was the catalyst for my new build. Out of box performance with my set up (lots of air flow) is great. My VRM temps are high however and this card has Hynix memory but most Vega 56 do. Buy Vega 64 if you need Samsung memory. I have already ordered some new thermal pads to redo Asus' poor installation. I knew all this however before I bought the card. I am giving it 4 stars because it could be so much better. With proper cooling and thermal solutions as well as undervolting this card can perform at/near GTX 1080 levels. Freesync2 works great with the BenQ EX3203R. Its a match made in heaven and does truly provide that next level of immersion!
UPDATE: After 3 months I have absolutely no complaints about this card. With a simple undervolt this card performs great at stock but there is lots to squeeze out of this card if that's your thing. First thing I did was replace thermal pads and paste. This dropped the VRM temps by almost 20c! Core and HBM stayed within error of margin even using Thermal Grizzly TIM. So my experience is no need to replace the stock TIM but replacing thermal pad make a big difference. Next thing I did was remove the stock shroud/fans and replaced them with 2 120mm installed using a PCI fan bracket. (Added a picture of "mods"). This works great in my set up. Better cooling and less noise, love it! I have also flashed the BOIS to a Vega 64. I did notice that once I flashed to the 64 BIOS I boosted WAY past the number set in WattMan, so the undervolt/OC was more difficult then stock.
CONCLUSION: Rating stands at 4 stars for the average user; if u tinker 5+ stars!
Final setting are as follows; S6 1567 mHz @ 1000mV in WattMan (960mV reported from HWiN) S7 1622 mHz @1075mV in WattMan (1040mv, Boost clock ~1650mHz, and ~1600 mHz sustained) Mem @ 1000 Time Spy Graphics score of 7214
Case
Beautiful, lots of air flow. Easy to build in. Great cable management. Overall great case and highly recommend!
Power Supply
Very well built. Absolutely no issues. Only time I heard the fan come one was when I was bench testing my machine, I think, maybe....haha, all the other fans where moving top speed so not sure. Provided cables are nice. Fully black, nice but a little stiff. I replaced mine with a Cable kit from cable mods and works no problem. Not much to say, did my research, found out what worked for me and finally ended up with this unit. No complaints, worked as expected.
Wireless Network Adapter
Works as intended. Wired connection was 300mb/s up, 300mb/s down, and 13ms ping. Wireless connection was 200mb/s up, 80mb/s down and 18ms ping. Machine is about 40ft from router and 1 level up, so some obstructions for the signal. Definitely great product for the price. No issues at with getting card up and running. BT works flawlessly.
Case Fan
Great performance and silent operation. Needed a high quality, all black, no RBG, no nonsense, PWM fan and that is what I got. Did a lot of research and decided one these over the Noctua. That was due to me choosing the DR Pro 4 over the DH15. If I would have went with Notuca cooler I would have went Noctua black fan as both seemed to run par for the applications I am using (according to way too much time spent watching videos, reading forms and spending dozens of hours just deciding on fans). Can run silent when needed and cool my machine when its being pushed. I highly recommend these fans!
Monitor
Real world gaming picture and performance is outstanding! Freesync 2 working with my Vega 56. Its a great pairing! Playing the new Tomb Raider and Metro with mostly Ultra setting and get ~55-60 FPS. No dead or stuck pixels but my unit does suffer from some light bleeding. Not noticed in real world but disappointing. Only been using it for a couple days now but its a beautiful monitor. HDR "works" and makes a nice visual improvement but don't expect HDR effects like your OLED TV's produce. Monitor tech ins't there yet, at least for the masses.
EDIT: Got to put this monitor through its paces when I spend time undervolting/OCing my Vega 56 and observing the monitor during 3DMark; the gaming performance is outstanding! During FireMark and Time Spy i was able to witness Freesyec 2 in action; above 48FPS Freesync works as intended with no visual tearing. What really impressed me is the LFC mode. This did a superb job of preventing tearing with very little and minor impact to the visuals until FPS dipped in the low 30's then the picture quality degraded. I was blown away at how smooth the transition was between LFC and VRR. The hand off is barely noticeable between ther two modes. Conclusion For gaming 10/10 The LFC mode is absolutely stellar! I don't think you could ask for a better gaming monitor. For media 7.5/10 The mentioned inconsistencies with the lighting along the top and bottom edge is noticeable with black borders. Absolutely recommend!
Keyboard
I was so surprised when I felt how much this little keyboard weights, so well built. Love the tenkeyless design. Performance is great. Takes a bit to get used to coming from a laptop keyboard for the last 15 years (or cheap ones at the office) but somethings just so satisfying about using mechanical keyboards. For the price you can't beat it, especially if its on sale.
Comments