Description
Hey PCPartPicker!
Thank you so much for the feature! :)
In case you couldn't tell, I had a TON of fun with this build. I built my first system a year ago and made the mistake of buying outdated parts thinking I was getting a "good deal." I game on both PC and console, record (with an external capture card for console), stream, and edit videos. After some time, I realized my i5 4460, 16GB DDR3 RAM, and R9 380 weren't enough to satisfy everything I wanted to do.
Thankfully, with permission from the wife, I've spent the last 6 months slowly picking up new parts to finally put together my dream build… And I'm absolutely ecstatic about the final product! I went back and forth for MONTHS whether or not to stay with Intel (with a 7700K) or hop on the Ryzen hype train. After finally deciding to go with Ryzen, I bundled at Microcenter to get a 1700X for the same price as a 1700. Going from 4 cores/4 threads to 8 cores/16 threads is an absolutely unreal improvement.
Altogether, it ended up being about a 2 week building process. After my wife bought me the 1070 for Christmas, I told her that "all I had left to upgrade was the CPU, MOBO, and RAM, and then I promise I'm done…" Well, after my best friend paid me back with an H100i v2 for a few games I bought him while he was broke and in college, I realized the old case I had wouldn't fit all of my new parts.OOPS ¯_(ツ)_/¯ It was always a dream of mine to build in the Fractal Design Mini C, and because I now have a window to see my components, I just HAD to pick up some extra case lighting and fans (as well as custom sleeved cable extensions). After the countless eye rolls and sighs from the wife, it's all finally all finished!
All in all, I'm SO happy I decided to go with Ryzen, and would not change anything about this build even if I had the chance! Thanks for checking out my build!
Part Reviews
CPU
I wish I could rate this 6 starts! Went from 89% CPU usage while recording/streaming with 4 Cores/4 Threads to 30% usage while I'm recording, streaming, watching a YT video, and using multiple other tabs open in a browser. Absolutely flawless processor.
CPU Cooler
Keeps everything nice and cool inside of the case! The stock fans are a little bit noisy at anything above 60%, but that was easily adjusted with the fan curve. It looks fantastic, too!
Motherboard
Best mATX board they had at Microcenter at the time of purchase. Got $50 off with the 1700X bundled. The board looks great, performs well, and I'm pretty happy with the improvements MSI has made with the new BIOS versions released. Looking forward to more improvements (like getting my RAM from 2666 to 2933) but everything has been great so far! Might knock a star if there isn't any improvement to the BIOS in the next 6 months or so. But for now I have no room to complain!
Memory
Looks amazing! Only running at 2666 currenlty, but hoping to run these at 2933 after a BIOS update from MSI in the future!
Edit: Good news! After BIOS updates from MSI, I can get my RAM to run at 2933.
Storage
Wish I would have gone with a 240GB to start with. I only had about 100GB of space after I loaded my OS onto this.
Video Card
This is a fantastic little card! I'm a fan of small form factors, and this was on sale around Black Friday so I couldn't pass it up! With a good amount of air being pushed through my case, this thing overclocks like a champ. It destroys everything I throw at it with the highest settings at 1080p. I don't want a 1080 as I'd never take advantage of 1440p or 4k with my current set up, but I'm fairly confident this card is going to last me for a long time!
Case
Building in this case is a dream come true! So many AIO mounting options, perfect airflow, and plenty of room for everything I needed to hide in the back of the case as well as the PSU shroud. For only $70 on Newegg with 3 day shipping?! What more could you ask for??
Case Fan
Paired with the Corsair Lighting Node Pro, these things are fully customizable with the Corsair Link software. They look incredible, and I'm glad I went with these over the SP120's! The individually addressable LEDs in the fan are so awesome compared to the static options of the SP120s. Definitely worth it in my opinion!
Monitor
Great price/performance ratio! Easily attached to my VIVO mount.
Headphones
I love having my MixAmp to be able to quickly adjust volumes across both my Xbox and my PC. Incredibly comfortable headset for long gaming sessions.
Custom
If you play competitive FPS games on Xbox, I would highly recommend this controller over a SCUF. I've had multiple SCUF's over the years, and I can honestly say this controller blows them out of the water in build quality. Everything from the paddles to the thumb sticks are much more durable and comfortable.
Custom
I use these when I'm not gaming, as they are a bit lighter than my gaming headset. Great comfort and quality.
Custom
I love that each LED is individually addressable and easily controlled with the Link software. Everything in my case also looks great paired with 3 HD120's!
Custom
This made my non-removable ketchup and mustard cables look so much better! They're the perfect length to be able to tuck away any excess cabling with the proper space given in a case.
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