03-31-2018, 03:24 AM
The build is done. Everything worked when we powered it up for the first time. I have some thoughts about it (both good and bad).
The stock cooler on Ryzen CPUs is really good. The Ryzen 3 1200 uses a Wraith Stealth cooler which is the smallest of the Ryzen coolers, but it's really bulky and well-built compared to every other stock CPU cooler I've ever used. The fan cable is sleeved with braided fabric (nice touch). It's really quiet too, even under load. I can't even hear it over the case fans. It was absolutely simple to install too. It has pre-applied thermal paste and uses just 4 screws to install it to the backplate on the motherboard.
Deciphering and plugging in the cables for the case to the motherboard (like the front USB, power, HDD LED, etc.) continues to be a pain in the ass. I've never built a computer wherein this wasn't the worst part of the build.
Why is the CPU 8-pin power plug on motherboards in such an inconvenient location? I was able to run mine around the motherboard, but lots of times (with bottom-mounted PSUs and tight cases) you have to run the cable over the motherboard, GPU, and sometimes even the CPU to connect it.
There is almost no need for an optical drive anymore. I installed Win10 from a USB flash drive and it was super simple. I had never done that before, but 10/10 would do again.
Gigabyte's BIOS menu is not nearly as good or intuitive as ASUS.
I'm on the fence about modular PSU's vs non-modular PSU's. I've built with both (and even semi-modular ones). It makes some things easier, but there is always a bunch of extra cabling that needs to be tucked away so it can't be seen. It might not be worth the price premium for modular if you still have to deal with cable management.
The Deepcool Tesseract is an excellent budget case. I'd use it again for another build in a heartbeat.
My son's EVGA GTX 950 SC is a lot better than I thought it was. Now that it's not bottle-necked by the CPU, it's actually a pretty decent low/mid-range GPU. He's been playing BF1 at medium settings at a solid 50-60 FPS (with v-sync on). I still want to upgrade it to something like a GTX 1050ti or even a GTX 1060, but not with today's GPU prices.
The stock cooler on Ryzen CPUs is really good. The Ryzen 3 1200 uses a Wraith Stealth cooler which is the smallest of the Ryzen coolers, but it's really bulky and well-built compared to every other stock CPU cooler I've ever used. The fan cable is sleeved with braided fabric (nice touch). It's really quiet too, even under load. I can't even hear it over the case fans. It was absolutely simple to install too. It has pre-applied thermal paste and uses just 4 screws to install it to the backplate on the motherboard.
Deciphering and plugging in the cables for the case to the motherboard (like the front USB, power, HDD LED, etc.) continues to be a pain in the ass. I've never built a computer wherein this wasn't the worst part of the build.
Why is the CPU 8-pin power plug on motherboards in such an inconvenient location? I was able to run mine around the motherboard, but lots of times (with bottom-mounted PSUs and tight cases) you have to run the cable over the motherboard, GPU, and sometimes even the CPU to connect it.
There is almost no need for an optical drive anymore. I installed Win10 from a USB flash drive and it was super simple. I had never done that before, but 10/10 would do again.
Gigabyte's BIOS menu is not nearly as good or intuitive as ASUS.
I'm on the fence about modular PSU's vs non-modular PSU's. I've built with both (and even semi-modular ones). It makes some things easier, but there is always a bunch of extra cabling that needs to be tucked away so it can't be seen. It might not be worth the price premium for modular if you still have to deal with cable management.
The Deepcool Tesseract is an excellent budget case. I'd use it again for another build in a heartbeat.
My son's EVGA GTX 950 SC is a lot better than I thought it was. Now that it's not bottle-necked by the CPU, it's actually a pretty decent low/mid-range GPU. He's been playing BF1 at medium settings at a solid 50-60 FPS (with v-sync on). I still want to upgrade it to something like a GTX 1050ti or even a GTX 1060, but not with today's GPU prices.