My first PC build - AMD Ryzen 5 2400G

[RZ2019]

This is my first PC build - so bare with me, and I am so young anymore either...64

This PC is not for gaming just web browsing and some Photography work (Photoshop Elements and Lightroom) and some basic video editing. After doing some reading I have decided on the following components:

The CPU is AMD Ryzen 5 2400g
Motherboard - ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac - ITX Mini
Corsair Vengeance LPX - DDR4 - 16 GB: 2 x 8 GB - DIMM 288-PIN - 3000 MHz / PC4-24000 - CL15
SSD - Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD M.2 2280 - 500GB
PSU - Sharkoon Silentstorm SFX gold 500w
Case - Sharkoon QB One

Is it a good a configuration?

I did some further reading and some new questions came along:

Motherboard - I saw some negative reviews on ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac - ITX Mini motherboard saying that the BIOS is not updated and their customer service being lousy. Are there better, and perhaps cheaper alternatives for this motherboard choice?

PSU - for the above configuration are there any other suggestions for SFX PSU? What would be the minimum WATTS configuration required?

BIOS update - I do not understand how to do the the BIOS update after building the PC? should it be connected to the Internet? Any simple tutorial?

Any other comments or advises are more than welcomed!

 

[Thehack]

Hello. If you don't intend to upgrade to a gpu later, I recommend something like an ML09 by Silverstone.

For psu, any sfx with a 92mm fan can power a 2400g so go by your local market.

You don't update a bios unless you need to. I usually just copy the bios file into the flash drive and update it in bios. Some bios you just click a button and it pulls the file if you're connected to internet.

 

[Stevo_]

This is my first PC build - so bare with me, and I am so young anymore either...64

This PC is not for gaming just web browsing and some Photography work (Photoshop Elements and Lightroom) and some basic video editing. After doing some reading I have decided on the following components:

The CPU is AMD Ryzen 5 2400g
Motherboard - ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac - ITX Mini
Corsair Vengeance LPX - DDR4 - 16 GB: 2 x 8 GB - DIMM 288-PIN - 3000 MHz / PC4-24000 - CL15
SSD - Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD M.2 2280 - 500GB
PSU - Sharkoon Silentstorm SFX gold 500w
Case - Sharkoon QB One

Is it a good a configuration?

I did some further reading and some new questions came along:

Motherboard - I saw some negative reviews on ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac - ITX Mini motherboard saying that the BIOS is not updated and their customer service being lousy. Are there better, and perhaps cheaper alternatives for this motherboard choice?

PSU - for the above configuration are there any other suggestions for SFX PSU? What would be the minimum WATTS configuration required?

BIOS update - I do not understand how to do the the BIOS update after building the PC? should it be connected to the Internet? Any simple tutorial?

Any other comments or advises are more than welcomed!

I've just ordered a bunch of components and went with a b450 mobo instead as the b350 mobos in many cases need an older compatible cpu(pinnacle ridge?) in place before the update for the 2400G can be done(Edit: it may be possible a later version was shipped with compatible BIOS though). The b450 mobos it seems can be updated without the need for CPU in place. AMD will ship you a loaner CPU for the update, hoops, jumping, etc;
Link: AMD Boot Kit

 

[BonfireOfDreams]

The configuration as is would be completely fine for your use case. That said, there is room for adjustments to spend only the required amount for the performance results you are looking for. To add further to that thought, and as this is SFF forum I must point out that you could also shrink the case size further with those same potentially decreased costs overall.


If you are not concerned with a case that will support future upgrades to GPU, or re-purposing of PSU in a different future build:

The DeskMini A300W will be much smaller than the QB One case (volume from 14.9L > 1.92L, over 7x smaller).
The DeskMini is a barebones kit that comes with a case, motherboard, & power brick solution; forgoing the need to purchase a motherboard or PSU individually.

As it happens, the Ryzen 5 2400G processor is compatible with the DeskMini A300W.
Here's a PC Part Picker list with all the needed parts to get the kit working. It has your SSD, RAM brand/series, & processor of choice.


In using the A300 kit you will lose some features compared to your build listed above:
- Some motherboard I/O features like legacy PS/2 & advanced audio connections will be absent
- You will not be able to overclock/undervolt (though this doesn't seem to be something you'll be interested in)

If this post has changed the direction of your PC build and you are interested in purchasing the Deskmini A300 you should also know that if you are using the stock CPU cooler, the fan shroud must be removed for the cooler to fit it in the case.

 

[Valantar]

The above posts sum this up pretty well, and I especially agree with @BonfireOfDreams's suggestion of the ASRock Deskmini A300. As you don't seem likely to add a dedicated graphics card to this, it would be a near ideal setup. Your chosen ITX case is rather large, and you won't use the space for anything, so why not make it smaller? As for the PSU, a 2400G at stock settings without a GPU will consume maybe 150W in the very worst power draw spikes, and far less than 100 for the vast majority of time. As such, a 500W PSU is massive overkill. Unfortunately there are few good off-the-shelf internal PSUs in lower wattage ranges of good quality, and most are in 1U, FlexATX or similar form factors not supported by most computer cases. In other words, you'd either need to go with an overkill PSU or look for a difficult-to-find or expensive case - which I'm guessing might be a bit of a stretch for a first-time builder. The DeskMini solves all of this by supplying a high-quality 120W external PSU that plugs directly into its motherboard and is perfectly suitable for the load.

If you still want to go with an ITX build, I'd look for a smaller case (the silverstone ML09 suggested above looks good) and a B450 motherboard. B350 is likely fine (as long as it comes with an up-to-date BIOS out of the box, otherwise you'll have some trouble), but B450 boards are simply newer and more ironed-out products. Any small price premium will be worth paying.

 

[RZ2019]

BonfireOfDreams
and
Valantar
Many thanks for replies. You have opened my eyes!
I will go the ASRock A300 way!
I bought last week RAM (Corsair Vengeance LPX - DDR4 - 16 GB: 2 x 8 GB - DIMM 288-PIN - 3000 MHz / PC4-24000 - CL15 ) for my initial plan.
I already have the Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD M.2 2280 - 500GB for my initial plan.

I will return the RAM and replace it with the ASRock A300.

I will consult you and others later on for suitable RAM and extra later on.

Thanks again!

 

[BonfireOfDreams]

I will consult you and others later on for suitable RAM and extra later on.

Just a heads up: The PC part picker list I shared in my previous post has SO-DIMM RAM included.
They are Corsair Vengance series, and have the correct pin layout for the DeskMini A300. the smaller SO-DIMM RAM sticks are usually a bit more expensive than your standard RAM, but not by much. It can be difficult to find SO-DIMM that achieve higher speeds with lower CAS Latency.

In fact, some posters using high end SO-DIMM sticks have seen that in some cases they don't work properly in the DeskMini A300. And so I wouldn't worry too much about finding the best of the best SO-DIMM RAM for the build.

Good luck with the build!

 

[RZ2019]

The advise I got here, to move from my original plan to much smaller PC is great! The more I think about it, the more I explore, the more I like this idea of having a SFF PC that does just the big ones are doing...
Just as a reminder I am completely new to building PC's and I learn my way via the net. The use of the new PC is normal home use plus some basic Photoshop/Lightroom photography work and some very basic video editing.
I have NO plans of gaming or over clocking...a bit too old this this...LOL (64).

This being said, there 3 points I would like to consult the forum:

1.The ASRock A300 seems to be a GREAT idea, but along the way I came upon the InWin Chopin case.
https://www.in-win.com/en/gaming-chassis/Chopin
This seems to be a very nice case to with my original plan with ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac - ITX Mini (see original post). The ASRock A300 is based on AMD A300 chipset. The building process and the BIOS update seems to be much easier with A300 than a PC based on ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac - ITX Mini . The size and portability are better with the A300.
My question is - based on my NEEDS and USE of a PC, will I feel big difference between the two?

2. RAM: My original plan was to go with Corsair Vengeance LPX - DDR4 - 16 GB: 2 x 8 GB - DIMM 288-PIN - 3000 MHz / PC4-24000 - CL15 .
Checking the list of supported QVL Memory RAM list on Asrock site I can see only one memory with 2933 RAM speed and some with 2666.
The one I find for a good price is Corsair Vengeance DDR4 2666Mhz 2X8GB - CMSX16GX4M2A2666C18
Another option is the Kingston HyperX Impact DDR4 2666Mhz 2X8GB (HX426S15IB2K2/16
So first, which of the is better - the Corsair with C18 or the HyperX Impact with C16?
And will I feel big difference in performance, again according to my needs?

3. SSD STTORAGE: I already bought (for a great price!) the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB NVMe M.2 internal SSD.
In the supported Storage QVL list I find ONLY the Samsung 970 EVO Pro , not the EVO Plus, as I have...
My question is will my EVO Plus work with the A300?
Another sub-question refers to 2.5 SATA SSD - I plan to install a 2.5 SATA SSD 500GB later on. The list of the supported 2.5 SSD's is very limited and does NOT include 500 GB. SSD's such as Crucial MX500, WD Blue, Kingston A400 and Samsung. My question is WHY and will they work?

Again, wishing to thank in advance for any assistance!

 

[Valantar]

1: Very likely not. Performance at stock settings will be near identical. The recent review of the DeskMini A300 on this site pointed out some minor performance drawbacks that are as of yet unexplained (look at the A300 discussion thread for more), but they are small enough to be nigh on imperceptible. The main differences will be in upgradeability and parts availability, where both have both advantages and disadvantages. The Chopin uses standard ITX motherboards, meaning that you can likely keep the case through any future upgrades, and there's more choice in terms of motherboards (and RAM, as you can use DIMM instead of SO-DIMM). On the other hand, the Chopin has a proprietary power supply, meaning that you'll likely have to replace the entire case if the PSU fails outside of warranty. The A300 uses an STX motherboard, which is far more rare, and are mostly sold as a "package" with a case and power brick, meaning future upgrades will likely replace both of those. On the other hand, the PSU is a relatively standard 19V barrel jack type, meaning that it would be easy and relatively cheap to replace if it should fail.

2: There is generally less RAM available in the SODIMM form factor than regular DIMMs, simply because there are fewer PCs using them. It's also likely to be slightly more expensive. I wouldn't be put off by that, though. Any QVL 2666 or 2933 kit is likely to be just fine for your use, and you likely won't notice the difference between the two - but get faster RAM if you can (at a decent price) nonetheless - leaving potential performance on the table makes little sense. Always get the lowest CAS latency RAM you can find, unless - again - it's crazy expensive. The differences will be small, and likely not noticeable (unless you're able to do a side-by-side comparison), but they are there. RAM frequency vs. latency can get confusing as the CAS latency numbers (C16 etc.) are in cycles and not actual time, so 2933C16 is faster than 2666C16, and 2666C16 is actually faster (lower latency) than 2933C18. Sites like AnandTech have operated with a "Performance index" calculated by dividing effective frequency by CL, which in testing has been a decent indicator of actual performance.

Frequency regardless of timings mainly affects bandwidth, but outside of iGPU gaming there are relatively few consumer workloads bottlenecked by RAM bandwidth. Ryzen likes fast memory due to its internal cache and interconnects running at the same frequency as RAM, meaning that parts of the CPU run faster with faster RAM even if the workload isn't sensitive to RAM speed. This is why people argue for getting the fastest RAM possible for Ryzen. I have a 3200 kit, but it wasn't stable at 3200 (1st gen Ryzen on an X370 board) so I run it at 2933. Can't say I've noticed any difference.

3: SSD QVLs are largely irrelevant, as SSDs are far less finicky than RAM (which is still usually stable enough to work on most platforms regardless of being on the QVL). I would ignore it. The EVO Plus is simply an updated version of the Evo, with different flash memory. It'll work just fine. The PRO (no EVO there, it's a separate line) is entirely overkill for any consumer use. It's also worth looking into the WD Black SN750 or HP EX920 or 950 drives - all three are excellent in terms of performance and might be found cheaper than the Samsung Evo. The WD especially stands out as being both faster than the Evo and more power efficient.

The reason for limited QVLs is that testing takes time and resources, and testing an "anything will work" product like an SSD is likely not a priority for ASRock.


With all that said: The Chopin is a fine case, and going that route is a valid option, particularly as it lets you ditch the external power brick. Be wary that you'll need to buy a CPU cooler (or cut a hole in the case side panel) if you go that route, as the cooler bundled with the CPU is too tall to fit. The Noctua L9a is one of the few options that will - but thankfully it's very good. Again I would strongly recommend going for a 400-series motherboard instead of 300-series, at least if you're buying new and not used. It'll likely cost you $10 more, but the reason to pay the premium is simple: the 300-series were a 1st-generation product, and some had teething issues, particularly when it comes to RAM support. The 400-series is simply a more mature and polished product overall, and will very likely give you a better experience out of the box, with less tweaking required, and you'd be able to get faster RAM (3200C16 should be available relatively cheaply from quite a few brands) and get it working without any issues or major manual tweaking required.

 

[Stevo_]

Just finished first boot up in Linux with 2400G(typing on it now), went with the Corsair LPX CMK16GX4M2B3000C15R 2x8Gb(in the listing I saw a Samsung B-die memory single rank IIRC) running at 2933MHz on the MSI B450 mobo. I'm using a pcie x16 to NVME M.2 adapter and booting from that, it leaves the M.2 on the mobo open for future use and easier to get to the x16 as the mobo M.2 is on the bottom. Might be an option in place of an SSD if you go for the regular ITX.

On the cooler front, my case probably has less room for cooler than the Chopin but I'm using an after market 95x15 Titan PWM fan on the stock wraith stealth that came with the 2400G. Cheaper than going the Noctua route and so far really quiet plus the same height as Noctua at 37mm.

 

[Valantar]

One thing worth mentioning is that my cautions against 1st-gen/300-series Ryzen motherboards are unlikely to apply to the Deskmini A300 despite it being named that - this is due to the cautions being less about the chipset and more about the maturity of the BIOS and the engineering team's familiarity/experience with the Ryzen/AM4 platform. The A300 launched only recently, which means it should be just as up-to-date as most B450 platforms (even if the BIOS is more bare-bones - that's a market segmentation/use case thing).

 

[RZ2019]

Thanks ALL for FANTASTIC and VERY FAST replies! There are few forums where things are so fast and full of knowledge! This is highly appreciated!

I will almost sure go on the ASRock A300 - in the following configuration:

ASRock A300 barebone
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G
HyperX Impact DDR4 SO DIMM 2666Mhz CL15 - 8GBX2 - total 16GB
Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe 500GB SSD (main drive)
Western Digital Blue 2.5 SATA SSD 500GB
Noctua NH L9a cooler

I think, all in all, after all your comments, this is the way I will go, as it is simpler and good enough for my needs. LOL - remember I am not a young boy and this is my very first PC build - learning by doing...

Any comments and insights are appreciated!

 

[BonfireOfDreams]

Man you make me excited for you! I hope you like how the PC turns out. Your parts list is looking fantastic.

I'm a habitual "wait until next generation" kind of PC guy. I've built two Deskmini's for family (110 & 310) and own zero of my own! Guess I'll wait until Zen 2 Deskmini revision 2020 ._.

 

[Stevo_]

Thanks ALL for FANTASTIC and VERY FAST replies! There are few forums where things are so fast and full of knowledge! This is highly appreciated!

I will almost sure go on the ASRock A300 - in the following configuration:

ASRock A300 barebone
AMD Ryzen 5 2400G
HyperX Impact DDR4 SO DIMM 2666Mhz CL15 - 8GBX2 - total 16GB
Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe 500GB SSD (main drive)
Western Digital Blue 2.5 SATA SSD 500GB
Noctua NH L9a cooler

I think, all in all, after all your comments, this is the way I will go, as it is simpler and good enough for my needs. LOL - remember I am not a young boy and this is my very first PC build - learning by doing...

Any comments and insights are appreciated!

Ha, I'm 61 so no excuses !

 

[RZ2019]

A small question/advise about SSD.
My original intention was to use M.2 NVMe 500GB (Samsung 970 EVO) as a main drive SSD and a scond 2.5 SATA SSD (500GB) as a secondary one.
I can see that there are no big differences in prices between 2.5 SSD and M.2 NVMe SSD - like for example the Samsung 860 EVO.
What would be better in your opinion?

 

[BonfireOfDreams]

If you go the 860 EVO route, make sure you get the 2.5 SATA 860 EVO as the DeskMini motherboard M.2 slot only supports NVME M.2 drives, SATA M.2 drives won't work.

 

[RZ2019]

 

[RZ2019]

Just a short update and refresh.

I have posted my original post about building my first EVER PC, and decided it would be a SFF based on Asrock A300.


Here are the components I have decided to use and already bought them:

ASRock A300 barebone PC

Noctua NH L9a CPU cooler

HyperX Impact DDR4 SO DIMM 2666Mhz CL15 - 8GBX2 - total 16GB

Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe 500GB SSD (main drive)

Samsung 860 Evo Basic Internal SSD 500GB. (secondary drive)


My original plan was to use the AMD Ryzen 5 2400G CPU, but I have decided to wait for the new AMD Ryzen 5 3400G.


I am not a pro but from what I manage to understand after seeing some reviews and Youtube clips the main differences between the AMD 2400 and 3400 are mainly aimed at gaming.




The original Asrock A300 does not require any BIOS changes using the 2400G while the 3400G does require changing the BIOS.

The AC power consumption is a bit higher in the new CPU.

Is the ASrock A300 ready for the new CPU?

The new CPU is more expensive.

Will my DDR4 RAM (HyperX Impact DDR4 SO DIMM 2666Mhz CL15 - 8GBX2) match the new CPU?

Are these correct?


As a reminder - this PC is NOT for any kind of gaming, just web browsing, MS Office and some photography work such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and some basic video/slideshow work.


Based on all the above - do I really need the new CPU?

Or should I stick to my original, cheaper and more easy plan and use the AMD Ryzen 5 2400G?

Does it justify the price increase in the new CPU and perhaps some complications in assembling the PC for a complete novice like me?



Thanks for all your comments and advises?

 

[W4RR10R]

From everything I've seen on this site and other reviews, for your use case, and in the A300, the 3400g won't provide much if any tangible improvement. I personally dont think the extra $25 USD for the 3400g is worth it for the A300.

The price coupled with the fact that its a guarantee that you won't have to update the bios to use the 2400g, the 2400g is IMO is the best choice.

I really enjoy my Deskmini, my setup is currently equivalent to what you have specced out. It was a fun and simple build. The hardest part was connecting the wifi antenna to the card and waiting for windows to install.

 

[RZ2019]

I am just about to have the last component for my build - and I have a question:
My original plan was to have 2 SSD's -
Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe 500GB SSD (main drive)
Samsung 860 Evo Basic Internal SSD 500GB. (secondary drive)
After doing some reading I prefer having one 1 TB SSD instead of the above.
My work with the Mini PC is not for gaming just web browsing and some Photography work (Photoshop Elements and Lightroom) and some basic video editing.
Will I feel a big difference between Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe 1TB. SSD and Samsung 860 Evo Basic Internal SSD 1 TB. SSD?
There is almost 50% price difference between the 2 SSD's and I ask myself is it justified?
Thanks for any comment!