Sanity check on build parts list sought

ok, so this is my build, its intended primarily towards kerbal space program 2, but will be expected to run startrek online, starwars the old republic, sims 3, and sims 4, possibly division 2, all at full settings.

now, I've not gone with liquid cooling as to be honest, a lifetime of being taught liquid+electronics=badness is kind of hard to fight against, so she's fully air cooled.

my choice of m.2 drives is pretty simple.
the 500gb is my boot/critical software eg av, browser etc, the 1tb is my install drive for all of my games and media content, with plans to install a 2tb 2.5 ssd later for mass storage. boot drives I was told dont really need ALOT of space, just enough for the os and critical programs, to be happy.

system ram at 32gb is a direct result of trying to run kerbal space program 1 with parts packs(Real world launch vehicles are my thing), and 16gb is..a darn joke under those conditions. I practically max out my ram on my current system, Basket case.(LOOOOOONG story there behind that name..month long odyssey)

my intent with the noctua fans is a positive pressure system with all hot air exhausted out the back if possible.

the gaming plus motherboard was selected specifically due to its rear I/O, as I DO use that many usb ports.

system will be running windows 11 to take advantage of newer os features and performance enhancements.

parts are subject to change due to retailer availability, but the configuration will be near identical otherwise, build is slated for june/july due to me still saving up.

constructive criticism is requested please, thank you.

At a glance, it looks OK. Whether the graphics card is powerful enough for your purposes, I can't say. That's a good price for an 8GB card, though.

I'm not sure about your intent for the M.2 drives. If it was me, I'd use a Gen4 drive as a boot drive. If I wanted to use a Gen3 drive as a second one, it would have more capacity than the boot drive.

lol I thought I'd changed that to the gen4 version, thank you for bringing it to my attention.

anything else I should consider tweaking? I'm perfectly willing to swap for better parts...long as we dont breach $1400...gotta save some room for the tax man's cut of this purchase.

Just a suggestion to maybe want to consider. Why not go for two 140mm fans in the front plus another two 140mm fans in the top with this case? I mean, the mesh panels do a pretty good job at not restricting the airflow too much, which is one of the good things about this case, but it's still a bit noisier case compared to the Define C so going for the 140mm fan options will give you better cooling vs noise, compared to using just 120mm in each fan bay.


Further, instead of going for two separate NVMe SSDs (one 500GB, one 1TB), why not go for just the 2TB Samsung 980 Pro w/ heatsink? As for 2.5 inch SATA SSDs, unless you decide to go for at least 4TB in drive capacity and/or maybe you find a truly amazing deal, the price gap between NVMe SSDs and them has already become way too small for 2.5 inch SATA SSDs to still be worth considering IMO. By starting out with just a single NVMe SSD instead of with two NVMe SSDs, you should be able to effectively eliminate the need for SATA altogether─if we can assume that your current plan to, at some point in the future, buy an additional 2TB won't be changed before that time comes.

the 4tb 2.5 is my intention for mass storage..and the reason I didn't select 140mm fans is I could not find ones I was happy with.

my current plan is NOT to eliminate sata due to the above reason.

xraiderv1 said:

the 4tb 2.5 is my intention for mass storage

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You wrote 2TB in your 1st post, but anyway. At current prices going for 500GB NVMe + 1TB NVMe seems a bit pointless IMO. Only the 1st M.2 socket comes with the M.2 Shield Frozr heatsink so that 2nd WD Black SN770 in the 2nd M.2 socket is going to run hot if you don't mount an aftermarket heatsink on it which comes at an additional cost. By comparison, just a single 2TB "no heatsink" 980 Pro (using the M.2. Shield Frozr heatsink on it that comes bundled with the mobo from MSI) looks to be a better value IMO.

xraiderv1 said:

..and the reason I didn't select 140mm fans is I could not find ones I was happy with.

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Noctua NF-A14 PWM

xraiderv1 said:

my current plan is NOT to eliminate sata due to the above reason.

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Fair enough, but then, no one can predict that a 4TB 2.5 inch SATA SSD will still be noticeably cheaper than a 4TB NVMe SSD when the time comes, and, a pair of SN770s still doesn't give you better real world performance than a single 980 Pro for how you intend to use your rig. Granted, if one SSD breaks you still have the other one. But that's what external backup media are for. The firmware bug that was causing the 2TB version of the 980 Pro to, in a number of instances, suddenly brick itself has long been fixed by Samsung. I also like the fact it uses the base NVMe driver from Microsoft so it doesn't need a separate driver, and, as another small bonus, it also has 1200 TBW.

..typo. that should have been 2tb.

as to the fan question..I'm also trying to do this all in one go..I'm not a happy bunny that they apparently dont have 140mm noctuas. budgetary concerns are driving my one retailer only strategy(I'm looking at you amazon)

now the make/break question. will that cpu cooler fit in the selected case?

side note: you may have noticed the sudden absence of the gpu and os, thats due to circumstances beyond my control pushing my purchase timetable up. I've got a friend whose going to be visiting, he's graciously agreed to be my ride to the microcenter, unfortunately this means I dont have sufficient funds to afford the gpu and os kit.

that said, I can make bootable installation media easily enough, and I DO have a zotac geforce 1030gt I can borrow from basket case(current rig) long enough to run the setup, and do function checks on all mission critical hardware.

Fractal Meshify C: 170 mm air cooler max height

Be Quiet Pure Rock Slim 2: 135 mm high

No problem with height.

I don't understand your concern about case fans. If you want Noctua, they make a variety of 140mm fans.

If you want to save money, you could consider a mystery OS license. There are usually companies at Guru3D (not a piracy site) advertising licenses at much lower than white box OEM prices. I don't know what's up with them, but, as far as I know, the keys are sound. Supposedly buying an 11 key is a waste, as a 10 key will activate 11.

my plan IS to buy a 10 key, and the style of 140mm fan I want(boxy) are pricier than I care for at the moment.

Noctua fans are good, but expensive. I can't make a particular recommendation, but there are other makes that may be worthy of consideration. They'd lack the funky color scheme, though.

xraiderv1 said:

budgetary concerns are driving my one retailer only strategy(I'm looking at you amazon)

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Here in Euroland we get free shipping from amazon.de on orders of 29 Euros or above.

bobkn said:

Noctua fans are good, but expensive.

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The NF-A14 PWM is just $23.95 on amazon.com right now. IMO it's worth the price because it's so reliable, durable in every way, and it's less noisy than 120mm giving the same amount of airflow. The noise factor matters on the front and the top of the case, when that's where the noise will emanate right toward your ears. On the back, on the bottom and inside the case the 120mm Noctuas will equally be fine. Another benefit of the 140mm is that you can still also turn their speed up whenever the ambient temp in your room starts to rise due to hot weather conditions so under heavy load you won't easily be limited by a lack of case airflow. They're owl colored, which not everyone likes, but personally I think it adds a nice character.

Hi,
Frankly only 5k series chip worth considering is 5800x3d
Otherwise go 7800x3d

ThrashZone said:

Frankly only 5k series chip worth considering is 5800x3d

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Even so, it's also $120 (66.6%) more expensive than the 5700X.

hdmi said:

Here in Euroland we get free shipping from amazon.de on orders of 29 Euros or above.

The NF-A14 PWM is just $23.95 on amazon.com right now. IMO it's worth the price because it's so reliable, durable in every way, and it's less noisy than 120mm giving the same amount of airflow. The noise factor matters on the front and the top of the case, when that's where the noise will emanate right toward your ears. On the back, on the bottom and inside the case the 120mm Noctuas will equally be fine. Another benefit of the 140mm is that you can still also turn their speed up whenever the ambient temp in your room starts to rise due to hot weather conditions so under heavy load you won't easily be limited by a lack of case airflow. They're owl colored, which not everyone likes, but personally I think it adds a nice character.

Click to expand...

for 6 140mm fans I'd pay... $143, versus $95.94 for 6 120mm fans..so budgetary reasons.

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Frankly only 5k series chip worth considering is 5800x3d

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Review - The Magic of 3D V-Cache

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the company's new flagship gaming processor. It introduces 3D V-Cache, a dedicated piece of silicon with additional L3 capacity. In our review, we're testing how much the larger cache can help intensive gaming workloads and applications and compare it to the Intel Core...

www.techpowerup.com

Otherwise go 7800x3d

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is everything that gamers want: eight fast cores, in a single CCD, with 3D VCache stacked on top at a price point of $450. In our review we can confirm that 7800X3D is indeed the fastest gaming CPU available, beating Intel's 13900K and even the 7950X3D. Show full review

www.techpowerup.com

Click to expand...

hdmi said:

Even so, it's also $120 (66.6%) more expensive than the 5700X.

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and well outside my budget. the 5700x is pretty much ideal for what I want to do.

and what I want to do is kerbal space program 2(so this is what I'm speccing towards), kerbal 1, startrek online, starwars the old republic, sims 3, sims 4, MAYBE some tom clancey's the division 2... perhaps SOME twitch streaming.

xraiderv1 said:

they apparently dont have 140mm noctuas

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Noctua NF-A14 and the NF-P14 redux models are 140mm

xraiderv1 said:

for 6 140mm fans I'd pay... $143, versus $95.94 for 6 120mm fans..so budgetary reasons.

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You don't need 6 of them, as only 4 of the fan positions in the Meshify C are capable to support 140mm (i.e., 2 in the front and 2 in the top). The Meshify C also already comes with 2 Dynamic X2 GP-12 120mm fans pre-installed.

I'd forgotten the 140s are limited to four...

just to confirm, the cpu and board support 3600mhz for the ram's max clock speed?

xraiderv1 said:

just to confirm, the cpu and board support 3600mhz for the ram's max clock speed?

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The RAM you list is on Gskill's QVL (qualified vendors list) for the board. F4-3600C16D-32GVKC - QVL - G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd.. (MSI's compatibility list is pretty poor for searching for RAM, IMHO.)

3600MHz is overclocking for your specified CPU, but that's not a problem. (Even a 5950X is spec'd up to 3200MHz.)