My first gaming PC, any advice?

[Futuristick]

It's my first time making a gaming PC, and I need something below $1,000 CAD. So I decided to make a Ryzen 3 build. Any advice?
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/qJRG7h

 

[ErikNZ]

Definitely add a 120 GB (or bigger) SSD for your OS. If you also want to add your most favorite games I'd recommend something larger than 250 GB as games can get pretty large these days. An SSD will give you much quicker boot times and game loading times, especially as the Blue Caviar WD drives aren't the quickest. But even with Black Caviar drives, the difference between traditional hard disks and SSDs is huge.

A while ago I replaced one of my 120 GB SSDs with a Crucial MX300 275GB which was on offer, which isn't a very expensive SSD, it's pretty quick and gives you plenty of space. It's what I use for my games / steam library with the 120 GB for my Windows OS and programs.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/rrvZxr/crucial-mx300-275gb-25-solid-state-drive-ct275mx300ssd1

 

[TrexAverell]

For that budget, I think an SSD is more a luxury than a real need when it comes to "PC Gaming"

If you can add extra $, trying to get a RX 570 or a GTX 1060 3Gb is better imo

 

[Futuristick]

For that budget, I think an SSD is more a luxury than a real need when it comes to "PC Gaming"

If you can add extra $, trying to get a RX 570 or a GTX 1060 3Gb is better imo

Yeah, I wanted the 1060, but I'll try to get a bit more.. Another few months of waiting.

 

[Futuristick]

Definitely add a 120 GB (or bigger) SSD for your OS. If you also want to add your most favorite games I'd recommend something larger than 250 GB as games can get pretty large these days. An SSD will give you much quicker boot times and game loading times, especially as the Blue Caviar WD drives aren't the quickest. But even with Black Caviar drives, the difference between traditional hard disks and SSDs is huge.

A while ago I replaced one of my 120 GB SSDs with a Crucial MX300 275GB which was on offer, which isn't a very expensive SSD, it's pretty quick and gives you plenty of space. It's what I use for my games / steam library with the 120 GB for my Windows OS and programs.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/rrvZxr/crucial-mx300-275gb-25-solid-state-drive-ct275mx300ssd1

I'm pretty split between getting an SSD or not. I've asked alot of people, but it's pretty much 50/50. Plus, I don't have the extra $100 I need for it.

 

[ErikNZ]

I don't agree that in 2017 an SSD is luxury to be very honest. An SSD can make a huge difference in your every day PC experience.

This article is also interesting in that it shows benchmarks on the same PC with the GPU with SSD vs HDD:
https://www.tweaktown.com/articles/7911/upgrade-test-gtx-760-vs-1060-ssd-hdd-system/index5.html

However, the great thing about SSDs is that you can always add one later. You'll just have to reinstall your Windows OS again or use tools to grab an image and move it across though I would typically just do a reinstall anyway. So you don't need an SSD now but it should be on your list of first things to buy in the future. Also not having an SSD will make you appreciate having one all the more.

Alternatively you could turn this around and say.. how much storage do you really need? Do you really need a 1 TB HDD if this is your first PC? So you could take out that HDD and go with something like the Crucial MX300 275GB SSD for starters and then later add an HDD. All I'm saying.... don' t underestimate the impact an SSD makes on your system.

EDIT: I also noticed that you're only buying 1 stick of RAM. Is that because you're planning on adding an additional 8GB DDR4 stick later? Typically I would use always 2 sticks of the same so that the memory runs in Dual Channel mode which is faster than single channel. Your motherboard has 4 slots so I would recommend getting 2x4GB DDR4 now and add 2x4GB DDR4 later. (By the time you will need more than 16GB you would have to sell the lot again but by that time, this will be an ancient rig anyway).

 

[Futuristick]

I don't agree that in 2017 an SSD is luxury to be very honest. An SSD can make a huge difference in your every day PC experience.

This article is also interesting in that it shows benchmarks on the same PC with the GPU with SSD vs HDD:
https://www.tweaktown.com/articles/7911/upgrade-test-gtx-760-vs-1060-ssd-hdd-system/index5.html

However, the great thing about SSDs is that you can always add one later. You'll just have to reinstall your Windows OS again or use tools to grab an image and move it across though I would typically just do a reinstall anyway. So you don't need an SSD now but it should be on your list of first things to buy in the future. Also not having an SSD will make you appreciate having one all the more.

Alternatively you could turn this around and say.. how much storage do you really need? Do you really need a 1 TB HDD if this is your first PC? So you could take out that HDD and go with something like the Crucial MX300 275GB SSD for starters and then later add an HDD. All I'm saying.... don' t underestimate the impact an SSD makes on your system.

Yeah, an SSD is definitely the first thing I'm going to get in the future. Probably followed by a better fan too. I've spent my whole life with 500+ GB computers, so a 275 GB SSD would probably be annoying.. Also, what do you think about using the Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX case?

 

[ErikNZ]

And what about the RAM? I'd recommend getting 2x4GB DDR4 if you're not planning on adding another 8GB DDR4 stick in the very near future.

This may come in handy:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/does-dual-channel-memory-make-difference-in-gaming-performance/

Especially as it proves me wrong Which is fine. Still I would always like my RAM to run in Dual Channel.

 

[Futuristick]

And what about the RAM? I'd recommend getting 2x4GB DDR4 if you're not planning on adding another 8GB DDR4 stick in the very near future.

This may come in handy:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/does-dual-channel-memory-make-difference-in-gaming-performance/

Especially as it proves me wrong Which is fine. Still I would always like my RAM to run in Dual Channel.

Yeah, an SSD is definitely the first thing I'm going to get in the future. Probably followed by a better fan too. I've spent my whole life with 500+ GB computers, so a 275 GB SSD would probably be annoying.. Also, what do you think about using the Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX case?

And what about the case I mentioned?

 

[delrey]

What games do you play? That's very important when picking out parts and where to spend the money on the most.

 

[ErikNZ]

And what about the case I mentioned?

Sorry had missed that. In your part picker list, you had an ATX case but the Thermaltake Core C1 is a mITX case?
So that means you'll have to also get a mITX motherboard.

I think mITX cases look cool, can be very handy if you want to be "mobile" (LAN parties? do they still exist?), you just have to be very aware of the dimensions of your case when looking at GPUs, CPU cooling etc.