Advice on remaining parts for build.

[AlphaZedd]

Hello! This is my first post in the community and also my first SFF build so please don't hesitate to provide constructive critism.​

Here is a list of the parts I have either purchased or intend on buying:

CPU: Conflicted between purchasing a Ryzen 5 3600 or waiting for the new processors later this year.​

Motherboard: Same as CPU. Conflicted between purchasing a B450 chipset or waiting for the new mobos (like the B550) later this year.​

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8) DDR4-3600 **PURCHASED**​

Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME SSD **PURCHASED**​

Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" SSD​

GPU: MSI Radeon RX 5700 8 GB MECH OC **PURCHASED**​

PSU: Intending to buy Corsair SF600 80+ Platinum Fully Modular SFX​

Case: Sliger Console **PURCHASED**​

Case Fans: Noctua NF-A12x25 (x2) **PURCHASED**​

Additional comments/questions:
In case you would like the PCPartPicker link: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HKqCV7
The Crucial MX500 will be used as a portable, external SSD using a Sabrent 2.5" SATA Hard Drive USB 3.0 Enclosure, which has been purchased.
The two Noctua fans will be behind the GPU as exhaust. Do you feel more cooling will be necessary, maybe a CPU cooler (not sure if there is enough room)?
I would love advice on the parts I have not bought yet and even the parts I have bought! Think something was not a good purchase? Please tell me! Any advice is good advice in my opinion. Thank you in advance!

 

[AlexTSG]

Welcome!

I would go with one of the new B550 Motherboards, which should be available in under a month from now. That gives you options for a future upgrade.

Here's a list of the ones that have been announced so far: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-b550-motherboards

As for the CPU, if you're mainly using it for gaming then the new Ryzen 3 3300X is a great buy at $120, and within a few frames of the 3600. You can then wait for a good deal on a newer 4000 series Ryzen in the future. For non-gaming workloads a 3600 or 3700X is quite a bit faster.

Lots of benchmarks here: https://www.techspot.com/review/2026-amd-ryzen-3-3300x-3100/

 

[AlphaZedd]

Thanks for the advice! Definitely was leaning towards the B550 chipset. Regarding the CPU, I do not have a time constraint on this build so do you think I should wait for the Ryzen 4000 series or buy a processor now and upgrade later on?

 

[AlexTSG]

Thanks for the advice! Definitely was leaning towards the B550 chipset. Regarding the CPU, I do not have a time constraint on this build so do you think I should wait for the Ryzen 4000 series or buy a processor now and upgrade later on?

I’m in a similar situation. I have an NCASE M1 v6, and a Corsair SF-600 Platinum sitting in the corner of my study waiting on the rest of the components. I’m going to wait and see if there are any price drops on the Ryzen 3000 series once the B550 boards are out.

If there’s a good enough deal then I’ll probably buy now. A 3700X around $200 for example.

Otherwise, I’m holding out for the 4000 series as they should have quite good IPC improvements, and higher clock speeds.

Even if I do get a Ryzen 3700X now, I want a higher core count upgrade on the Zen 3 architecture eventually.

 

[AlphaZedd]

Welcome!

I would go with one of the new B550 Motherboards, which should be available in under a month from now. That gives you options for a future upgrade.

Here's a list of the ones that have been announced so far: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-b550-motherboards

As for the CPU, if you're mainly using it for gaming then the new Ryzen 3 3300X is a great buy at $120, and within a few frames of the 3600. You can then wait for a good deal on a newer 4000 series Ryzen in the future. For non-gaming workloads a 3600 or 3700X is quite a bit faster.

Lots of benchmarks here: https://www.techspot.com/review/2026-amd-ryzen-3-3300x-3100/

I think I am going to do something similar. Likely will purchase a B550 board and see what happens with the market on processors.

 

[AlexTSG]

I think I am going to do something similar. Likely will purchase a B550 board and see what happens with the market on processors.

Let us know what you get, and make a build post here when you do.

 

[thelaughingman]

AMD already pushed retailers to drop 3900X price by 100 USD due to Intel 10th gen so I expect the rest of the lineup will see some adjustments too. For the motherboards definitely go with B550, I'm even contemplating selling my X570 to get a B550 haha

 

[AlexTSG]

Just saw rumors of a refreshed Ryzen 7 3750X and 3850X releasing in July.

These are still very much Zen 2 architecture, but perhaps with slightly improved clock speeds or extra cores. Could be an interesting option is they do materialize.

AMD rumored to refresh Matisse CPUs: Ryzen 7 3850X and 3750X coming? - VideoCardz.com

RUMOR: “Matisse Refresh”: Ryzen 7 3850X and 3750X AMD could be refreshing the Ryzen 3000 lineup with new SKUs, rumor claims. The user HXL (Twitter) today published the names of the new Ryzen 3000 SKUs. We have reached out to the user for more details. We were told that the information comes from...

videocardz.com

 

[AlphaZedd]

AMD already pushed retailers to drop 3900X price by 100 USD due to Intel 10th gen so I expect the rest of the lineup will see some adjustments too. For the motherboards definitely go with B550, I'm even contemplating selling my X570 to get a B550 haha

I’ve been reading about the B550 boards and they seem really cost effective and a better deal when compared to X570s.

 

[thelaughingman]

I’ve been reading about the B550 boards and they seem really cost effective and a better deal when compared to X570s.

yeah, unless you use 2 M.2 NVME Gen 4 drive then B550 chipset features are just the same as X570. In terms of motherboards, the B550 boards are just better feature-wise since it is released much later, so you get more of the latest feature - 19 key internal USB header, more fan header, no stupid VRM/chipset fan, dual M.2 slots, better VRM, etc.

 

[AlexTSG]

yeah, unless you use 2 M.2 NVME Gen 4 drive then B550 chipset features are just the same as X570. In terms of motherboards, the B550 boards are just better feature-wise since it is released much later, so you get more of the latest feature - 19 key internal USB header, more fan header, no stupid VRM/chipset fan, dual M.2 slots, better VRM, etc.

Unfortunately, it looks like there are going to be VRM fans still, at least on some of the boards. The Asus Strix I saw had one.

I'm hoping Buildzoid does a video soon covering all the B550 boards.

He has one up for the new Gigabyte Z490 ones here:

 

[thelaughingman]

@AlexTSG no VRM fans on the Asrock and Gigabyte ones, MSI still MIA. Asus is just... oh well

 

[k0n]

The VRM heatsink on the B450-I Strix was larger... of course they might need a fan now ? If i were to get a B550-I it would be the Gigabyte.

R3-3300X and a cheaper 3000/4000 later on sounds like a great option.

 

[AlexTSG]

@AlexTSG no VRM fans on the Asrock and Gigabyte ones, MSI still MIA. Asus is just... oh well

The Gigabyte may be a good option with passive cooling and the Realtek 2.5Gbps Ethernet which operates correctly, unlike the Intel i225V which looks like it will only have a hardware revision later in the year.

I saw more rumors for a refresh for some of the 3000 series. The 3600X, 3800X, and 3900X may be replaced with higher clocked XF versions on 7 July, which is exactly a year after the original Zen 2 release. Perhaps a 3800XF will actually be worth the extra $50 over the 3700X