# i5-8400 + gtx1660 gaming build for your comment



## yin_allier (Jun 17, 2019)

Please comment on my proposed combination, thanks so much.

CPU:                     Intel i5-8400
Motherboard:     ASUS  ROG STRIX B365G-GAMING B365
Memory:             Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666
Graphics Card:  ASUS PH-GTX1660-O6G PHOENIX GTX1660 6GB GDDR5
PSU:                    Antec NE550C-BR (AN-PS-NEO-ECO-TUF-550) NeoEco2 550W

I want to keep built-in graphics so I didnt choose i5-9400f
I will use my existing ssd and hard disks

Some  questions:
1. Should i change to ASUS PRIME B365M-A for saving some money? its cheaper $26
2. Is the graphics card comparatively too strong and create bottleneck?
3. Should I change graphics card to TUF version of same series?
4. I will use mATX, are the sizes all OK?

thanks


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## dgianstefani (Jun 17, 2019)

Swap to the 9400, it has hardware level fixes for some of the security patches, plus a soldered IHS.
I would also get 3200mhz memory.


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## phanbuey (Jun 17, 2019)

1. Should i change to ASUS PRIME B365M-A for saving some money? its cheaper $26
- yes
2. Is the graphics card comparatively too strong and create bottleneck?
- no
3. Should I change graphics card to TUF version of same series?
- you should get something with dual fan.  Will be much quieter.
4. I will use mATX, are the sizes all OK?
- need to know what case you will use - motherboard will accommodate whatever

That being said, I wouldn't do an intel build right now and just get a 3600 in 3 weeks with a cheap b450 mobo.

Even if you do decide to go intel, your prices are going to be lower in the next few weeks.


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## dirtyferret (Jun 17, 2019)

yin_allier said:


> Please comment on my proposed combination, thanks so much.
> 
> CPU:                     Intel i5-8400
> Motherboard:     ASUS  ROG STRIX B365G-GAMING B365
> ...



It's a good combination for 1080p gaming, it will handle every game out there with ease.  

1 - depends on what features you want/need.  
2 - no, the 8400 is a rather powerful CPU for gaming 
3 - for what purpose? 
4 - they are all OK

on the side note that PSU has been out for a while?  Is this a carry over or a new PSU?


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## TheMadDutchDude (Jun 17, 2019)

dgianstefani said:


> Swap to the 9400, it has hardware level fixes for some of the security patches, plus a soldered IHS.
> I would also get 3200mhz memory.



Incorrect. Only the K SKUs are soldered. For a non-OC chip, it makes no difference anyway.

3200 MHz is typically a sweet spot, but not of huge benefit to the OP.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 17, 2019)

TheMadDutchDude said:


> Incorrect. Only the K SKUs are soldered. For a non-OC chip, it makes no difference anyway.
> 
> 3200 MHz is typically a sweet spot, but not of huge benefit to the OP.



I have a 8600k and 8600ks and 8700ks definitely aint soldered lol

On a side note - I am very weary of that power supply because it is made by Delta Electronics - Antec just slapped their brand logo on it. Delta Electronics used to be pretty big a decade ago and they made a lot of power supplies for industrial uses though im not sure if their regular commercial PSUs are any good - Nobody really gets them to build stuff. Not even Corsair


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## Countryside (Jun 17, 2019)

Strix is an overpriced b365 i would recommend ASRock B365M Phantom.

For the PSU stick to brands like Seasonic, Be quiet! or EVGA.



dgianstefani said:


> Swap to the 9400,



Most b365 boards need a bios update for the 9gen.


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## Rahnak (Jun 17, 2019)

FreedomEclipse said:


> I have a 8600k and 8600ks and 8700ks definitely aint soldered lol


Just 9th gen i5 and up K cpus.


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## Vario (Jun 17, 2019)

Edit: looks like i5 9400F is $150 on Amazon, not a bad price if your board supports 9th gen without bios update.
It might according to https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-B365-G-GAMING/specifications/

Edit2: used i5 8400s seem to routinely go for $140 shipped on eBay, there isn't that much that can go wrong with these, they don't overclock so the risk of past owner abuse is pretty low.


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## Vayra86 (Jun 17, 2019)

Why not Ryzen 5? There is absolutely NO reason to buy an Intel i5 non-K. You get half the threads, hardware with security problems and you lack the only thing that makes it all worthwhile: 4.6 Ghz or better clocks...

Change this build, srsly


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## dirtyferret (Jun 17, 2019)

Countryside said:


> For the PSU stick to brands like Seasonic, Be quiet! or EVGA.



You did not seriously just state swap out a Delta built PSU for brands that use FSP and HEC....


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## Vario (Jun 17, 2019)

Vayra86 said:


> Why not Ryzen 5? There is absolutely NO reason to buy an Intel i5 non-K. You get half the threads, hardware with security problems and you lack the only thing that makes it all worthwhile: 4.6 Ghz or better clocks...
> 
> Change this build, srsly


I agree, the Ryzen 5 2600 is the same price as the Intel i5, ~$150s.  Buying Ryzen 5 2nd gen would be foolish with 3rd gen around the corner.  He should wait until Ryzen 2 5 3600 series.
The recent Windows scheduler 1903 update may have brought the Ryzen 5 2600 (with an OC) to parity (or close enough) with i5 8400 on single thread.  2600 will beat it on multithreaded performance for sure.  But with 3rd gen Ryzen (2) about to drop, it would be prudent to wait for it.


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## Countryside (Jun 17, 2019)

dirtyferret said:


> You did not seriously just state swap out a Delta built PSU for brands that use FSP and HEC....



I will take a Seasonic or FSP over delta anytime.


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## Vayra86 (Jun 17, 2019)

Countryside said:


> I will take a Seasonic or FSP over delta anytime.



Delta soldering jobs are remarkably good, and that is across everything they do. I have little reason to avoid them tbf


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## dirtyferret (Jun 17, 2019)

Countryside said:


> I will take a Seasonic or FSP over delta anytime.


Because you are ignorant of companies like Delta and flextronics that focus on sever quality PSU and the build quality that entails.

" All three main rails under the 10mV mark? That's not Seasonic performance, that's Delta performance. It does not get any better than this, from what I have ever seen."

via Oklahoma Wold Reviews for JonnyGuru and his thoughts about Delta


" All three main rails under the 10mV mark? That's not Seasonic performance, that's Delta performance. It does not get any better than this, from what I have ever seen."

"We have less than 10mV on all rails, and this may have just set a new benchmark for ripple control. I mean, this is even lower ripple than I got with the Antec CP-850, and _that_ unit blew my mind. It’s not often you see a unit beating Delta at their own game, but here we are. "


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## Countryside (Jun 17, 2019)

dirtyferret said:


> Because you are ignorant of companies like Delta and flextronics that focus on sever quality PSU and the build quality that entails.
> 
> " All three main rails under the 10mV mark? That's not Seasonic performance, that's Delta performance. It does not get any better than this, from what I have ever seen."
> 
> ...



We are talking about a 50$ psu here let's not take this any further.


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## dirtyferret (Jun 17, 2019)

Countryside said:


> We are talking about a 50$ psu here let's not take this any further.


...yet that is exactly what you did


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## 95Viper (Jun 17, 2019)

Stop Quibbling, please.
Keep it on topic.
Stay civil.

Thank You.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Jun 17, 2019)

I would also tend to lean towards the AMD option, purely because you get two extra cores (and four threads!) more for the same sort of dough.

If I had to choose between the 8400 and 9400... whichever is cheaper. They're the same CPU give or take 100 MHz - which you won't notice - so save your money if you can.


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## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Jun 17, 2019)

Do NOT buy ryzen if you only play games. Games run better on Intel processors due to their powerful IPC and single core performance without the need of stupidly fast memory or overclocking. With ryzen you need to over clock and buy fast memory in addition to some bios tweaks to match Intel cpus performance in games. Intel is a simple plug and play solution for a convenient gaming experience, hassle free. 

Also regardin your question about 9400 compatibility with the b365 strix .... The strix launched in April and shipped with the latest bios that supports all available 9th gen cpus including the new R0 stepping ones. 

One last thing, don't listen to people telling to buy 3200mhz+ memory.  The memory controller on the 9400 and the b365 chipset is capped at 2666 mhz. Anything higher than that is simply a waste of money


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## dgianstefani (Jun 17, 2019)

It's not capped at 2666, don't listen to this moron.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Jun 17, 2019)

Capped at 2666, eh? New one on me...

Also, don't buy into the fanboi that he clearly is. Ryzen is very capable of gaming... I know I'd rather have a 4.2 GHz (boost) hex core over a gimped 4.0 - 4.1 GHz quad core without HT.

On another point, since when is 3200 MHz considered 'stupidly fast'? Since when is Intel hassle free vs Ryzen?


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## dirtyferret (Jun 17, 2019)

In all honesty I would just get the cheapest platform between the two.  You can cherry pick results all you want for AMD 2600 or Intel 8400 but as gaming CPUs they are far more similar they fan boys want to admit especially when you are pairing them with the GTX 1660.  The OP won't be making a mistake with either one.  

The other option is obviously wait for Ryzen 3 and hope the IPC gains are real rather then hyperbole marketing.  You then need to find a B450 mobo and flash its BIOS (no clue how PC savvy the OP is).  

I don't see any of the options as being a bad choice just more of a personal choice.


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## Vario (Jun 17, 2019)

TheMadDutchDude said:


> Capped at 2666, eh? New one on me...
> 
> Also, don't buy into the fanboi that he clearly is. Ryzen is very capable of gaming... I know I'd rather have a 4.2 GHz (boost) hex core over a gimped 4.0 - 4.1 GHz quad core without HT.
> 
> On another point, since when is 3200 MHz considered 'stupidly fast'? Since when is Intel hassle free vs Ryzen?


i5 8400/9400 is a hex core.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Jun 17, 2019)

D'oh! Forgot about that.


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## Basard (Jun 17, 2019)

Perhaps an i3 8350k?  Could save a few bucks and also get an unlocked chip?

Is it only the z370 chipset that allows overclocking with Intel, right?


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## dirtyferret (Jun 17, 2019)

Basard said:


> Perhaps an i3 8350k?  Could save a few bucks and also get an unlocked chip?
> 
> Is it only the z370 chipset that allows overclocking with Intel, right?



Typically the i3-8350k costs as much as the 8400 and only makes sense when you are OC it and play older games and/or MMO/Moba games like WoW and LoL.

You would need a Z370 or Z390 Mobo to OC the 8350k.


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## londiste (Jun 18, 2019)

Waiting for Ryzen 3000 series is a good advice. That is only 2 weeks away.

i5-8400/9400 vs R5 2600 is a matter of taste more than anything. i5 still wins out in gaming for now. With OP mentioning wanting to keep integrated GPU just in case that probably makes him lean towards i5 anyway.

i3-8350k is 4 core/4 threads which today is not enough for some games.
i5-8400 is a locked CPU - no overclocking - but Z370/Z390 motherboard does allow using memory speeds faster than DDR4-2666. This has noticeable effect in some games (Battlefields and Divisions come to mind).
i5-9400 is basically the same CPU except 100MHz faster and potentially has some security fixes in hardware. If at the same price, go for i5-9400.



yin_allier said:


> Some  questions:
> 1. Should i change to ASUS PRIME B365M-A for saving some money? its cheaper $26
> 2. Is the graphics card comparatively too strong and create bottleneck?
> 3. Should I change graphics card to TUF version of same series?
> 4. I will use mATX, are the sizes all OK?


1. STRIX has better NIC and audio, a few more/faster USB ports, looks better (might be a matter of taste) and integrated backplate is convenient. Other than this there is very little difference.
2. i5-8400 does not bottleneck GTX 1660Ti. I am running i5-8400 with RTX2080 at 1440p and there are very few cases where i5-8400 limits anything.
3. Might be a good idea, 1 fan cooling solution with what seems to be the flower-type heatsing underneath is not very good. It works and is sufficient but you get better thermals and less noise with a better cooler. TUF seems to be next one up price-wise.
4. Any size motherboard is fine. Unless you need some specific features bigger motherboard size provides - several PCI-e slots, 2-3 M.2 slots, many fan headers or whatever manufacturer has decided to put on the board. Normally, one puts a CPU, memory and a GPU on the board, perhaps one M.2 drive and for that even micro-ITX works just fine.


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## yin_allier (Jun 18, 2019)

Thanks so much for all your advice.

Some more questions.
1. Should I keep ASUS motherboard + ASUS graphics card for better compatibility or just change to Asrock + some other brand graphics card?
2. which motherboard & graphics card brand would you recommend?
3. Any other PSU recommendation?

Thanks so much.


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## londiste (Jun 18, 2019)

yin_allier said:


> Some more questions.
> 1. Should I keep ASUS motherboard + ASUS graphics card for better compatibility or just change to Asrock + some other brand graphics card?
> 2. which motherboard & graphics card brand would you recommend?
> 3. Any other PSU recommendation?


1. For compatibility it does not matter.
While this probably does not apply to you based on parts you mentioned there is only one situation I can think of where having same brand might be useful - controllable RGB lighting. Manufacturers tend to have specific utilities for controlling that stuff and having a single tool would be preferable.

2. Brand is overrated. Look for features, technical aspects and looks that are important to you. A few things that immediately come to mind:
- Ports and slots on the board, their location might matter if you want to arrange things neatly in the case (location of 24-pin ATX connector, SATA connectors parallel to the board etc). 
- Quick google about VRM quality won't hurt even if you do not OC.
- Fan control possibilities is often hard to check but glancing at the manual for the number of fan headers, where they are and whether they work with PWM or voltage controlled fans might be relevant.
- Board looking aesthetically pleasing might be nice, especially if you have a windowed case. As mentioned above, integrated backplate does save a bit of hassle.

3. 80+ Gold and above is what I would recommend looking for. Even lowest/cheapest 80+ Gold PSUs are pretty good and you can't go much wrong with those.


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## BarbaricSoul (Jun 18, 2019)

yin_allier said:


> 1. Should I keep ASUS motherboard + ASUS graphics card for better compatibility or just change to Asrock + some other brand graphics card?



There are no compatibility issues caused by using different brands



yin_allier said:


> 2. which motherboard & graphics card brand would you recommend?



I like ASUS, AsRock, MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte.... Seriously, all brands make good motherboards, you need to set your requirements for a motherboard (SATA slots, PCIe slots, OC'ing, M2 ports, and so on) and pick a board that fits those requirements




yin_allier said:


> 3. Any other PSU recommendation?



Is the SeaSonic - S12II available where you shop?


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## dirtyferret (Jun 18, 2019)

londiste said:


> 3. 80+ Gold and above is what I would recommend looking for. Even lowest/cheapest 80+ Gold PSUs are pretty good and you can't go much wrong with those.



Gold efficiency (especially when only rated @ 30c) is a weak standard to rate PSU









						RAIDMAX RX-500AE 500 W Power Supply - Newegg.com
					

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yin_allier said:


> Thanks so much for all your advice.
> 
> Some more questions.
> 1. Should I keep ASUS motherboard + ASUS graphics card for better compatibility or just change to Asrock + some other brand graphics card?
> ...



1 & 2 - look at the specs of each one and get the ones that match your needs.  For the most part, mobo & gpus using the same chip at similar prices are more about personal taste that which one is "better performing".  

3.  using the budget you have for the Antec PSU check these out (I'm not sure where you are shopping).  I don't include MIRs since you still pay for them out the door.

Seasonic III -better PSU then the SII mentioned above with a DC-DC platform, better protection, and makes less noise








						Seasonic S12III 550 SSR-550GB3 550W 80+ Bronze, ATX12V & EPS12V, Direct Output, Smart & Silent Fan Control, Power Supply - Newegg.com
					

Buy Seasonic S12III 550 SSR-550GB3 550W 80+ Bronze, ATX12V & EPS12V, Direct Output, Smart & Silent Fan Control, Power Supply with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




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if you want modular this Antec (seasonic OEM) is $5 more then the Antec you mentioned on Amazon and tough to beat at it's price point (especially with a seven year warranty)





						Amazon.com: Antec EarthWatts Gold Pro 550W Power Supply 550 Watt 80 Plus Gold PSU with 120mm Silent Cooling Fan, Semi Modular, 7 Years Warranty, 99% +12V and ATX12V 2.4 - EA550G PRO Black: Electronics
					

Buy Antec EarthWatts Gold Pro 550W Power Supply 550 Watt 80 Plus Gold PSU with 120mm Silent Cooling Fan, Semi Modular, 7 Years Warranty, 99% +12V and ATX12V 2.4 - EA550G PRO Black: Internal Power Supplies - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



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## Mac2580 (Jun 25, 2019)

dirtyferret said:


> You did not seriously just state swap out a Delta built PSU for brands that use FSP and HEC....


Guys I dont think the unit OP is referring to is a Delta made unit. It probably has a single 42A 12V rail. Mine has 2 x 30A rails, its quite an old unit I doubt you will find any still for sale. I would agree that a Seasonic unit would be my first choice, but Delta is a decent brand in my opinion.


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## alchemist83 (Aug 15, 2019)

dirtyferret said:


> Typically the i3-8350k costs as much as the 8400 and only makes sense when you are OC it and play older games and/or MMO/Moba games like WoW and LoL.
> 
> You would need a Z370 or Z390 Mobo to OC the 8350k.



Only makes sense why? 8350K @ default 4GHz, runs games great. ALL. I dont OC. I own alot of games. Like every game I ever tried (100's). Also I think you got it wrong with the game requirements aspect. MMO/MOBA needs more cores. FPS, driving etc it pisses over. The biggest let down of the 8350K is the lack of cores, but if acquired cheaply is fine even then. Cos clock speed works just nicely. But 8400 is better value for cores. I chose 8350k over 8400 for MHz. And I got it cheap.

This madness about PSU that everyone wants to yap about - should stop I think. Start a new topic / debate cos is way off topic now. 
A decent brand with warranty, 80+ certification and enough wattage will suffice. Rest is personal choice / budget.


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 16, 2019)

Mac2580 said:


> Guys I dont think the unit OP is referring to is a Delta made unit.




Actually, you were very correct. It appears i gave misinformation. Delta has made some of Antecs other 550w models but the particular model the OP has was made by CWT and based on their 'GPK series/platform'


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## dirtyferret (Aug 16, 2019)

alchemist83 said:


> Also I think you got it wrong with the game requirements aspect. MMO/MOBA needs more cores. FPS, driving etc it pisses over.



You thought wrong


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## Hyderz (Aug 16, 2019)

Ryzen 5 3600(non-x) $199 
A B450mobo and 3600mhz ram ( this gen sweet spot for infinity fabric).
You will have one sweet setup for the next 3 years combined with the 1660.


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