Not just a Gaming Build - Rate my Config

Power supply is fine, cooling is fine and 32 GBs of RAM is good for your needs. One suggestion and one thought for you to think about.

Suggestion is to swap the Storage #1 from SSD to NVME, your OS will boot much faster, up to 5 times faster according to the gurus around here.

Something to give thought to is......... AMD released their new CPUs that are crushing it AND their new GPUs are being released soon. Their 6800 and 6800XT comeing out Nov. 18th and the 6900XT coming out Dec. 8th.
Might be worth holding off a bit, unless DS has them in their configurator already. Had you put the config # up we could check it as far as possible better components.

Edited by fwfdfireman - 10 Nov 2020 at 2:51am

Awesome feedback guys. I'm going to reach out to DS to see if I can make the Storage and OC adjustments.

Yes now that I've already bit the bullet I can mentally justify dropping another 75 bucks or so for a better drive.. is there any concern with the motherboard not being upgraded? Am I maxed out on PCi slots

No worries on the board. you will have one slot left over from using one for the GPU. The M.2 slot doesn't count as a traditional PCIe slot. My take is: this is DS, they have carefully selected the budget boards for reliability and long-lived trouble free service. I can't remember the last time anyone had a faulty board here. Asus and MSI, whichever one they have for you, are very good brands. I think they both come with at least a 3 year factory warranty.

I do often recommend the next selection higher, but only when the budget allows. The somewhat better boards usually just come with an extra PCIe slot, a few more ports you'll likely not need. A USB hub could take care of that if it ever arose. They are better to overclock the CPU, but we're not concerned with that.

Well I contacted DS and got them to change the Storage 1 to the NVMe and the Storage 2 will now be the Samsung SSD. 1 TB each. Upgraded the motherboard to Pro and cancelled the Overclock on the GPU.
Cost me like $375..

Agreed.   

Be sure to create a smallish partition for Windows, your browser, maintenance software like CCleaner and Malwarebytes, etc. Size is up to you, but the smaller it is, the faster you can scan it for boogymen, and the easier you can clone it to an external device for backup. Remember, the more apps you put on the same drive with Windows, the more you will have to re-install if you ever have to do a clean install of Win down the road. To do that if it's ever necessary, you have to wipe the whole drive. Windows can load software from anywhere on your system.

Windows itself has a partition Wizard. You should have installed your browser and other programs you want to scan regularly for viruses, adware, malware, etc, including the programs that will do the scanning for you. I'm not going to tell you what to have, but on this Forum is a section that is still relevant entitled "Must Have Software". Google anything you wish. Google is your friend for everything. You can get these instructions from Google, but you can also get them from Windows > Disk Management > Help. When you have installed all the basic stuff you think you want, you will have used up some space on your drive. Whatever that may be, you can probably double it for a reasonably sized C: drive with plenty of room to add more stuff.

Type Computer Management into the search box. When the window opens go down to Storage > Disk Management. Right click your C: drive and select Shrink Volume. Win will "Query" your drive for amount of space and a window will open where you can select a number of megabytes the C: drive partition will be. Whatever you are comfortable with, empty space won't slow anything down.

When you have all that figured out, click "Shrink", and Win will re-size the partition. You will be asked to re-name the leftover space, typically, D:.

When files are saved on your C: drive it will only be files that are relevant to the programs you have there. When you have a program on another drive, those files will be saved there. Windows will ask you every time you install something what drive you want to use, and then it will automatically look for that program, file folder, whatever in the drive you selected. It may be best to install Steam (if you use it) on your C: drive, but you can direct Steam to install all your games on a different drive. In the rare case you would have to do a clean install of Windows, only the files/apps/games that are on the same partition would have to be re-installed.

Google can tell you almost everything except "the meaning of Life". These instructions are an overview of how it's not that hard to partition a drive, but you don't have to rely on me. There are free apps that can do the same job, but there is a learning curve involved, and if you are only going to do this once, Windows can do it.

As far as what you want on your slimmed down primary drive, you can Google that too for suggestions. if you don't know Google, you can ask it anything and get a pretty accurate list of answers. Heckova lot smarter than I am!

Thanks for the support everyone..

Originally posted by Cretae A pleasure, not a bother. I just googled "what utilities should I have in my new computer?" and there are some great choices. As I said, you can ask Google anything. The AI is very, very good at coming up with replies in answer to everyday questions in common language. There is no formal "format" that will get closer to what you want. Just ask straight out. It almost always works. It seems to be especially good at "how do I..." questions. You don't need all the utilities suggested by any stretch. Just pick and choose the ones YOU think are ones that you will use and are not beyond your knowledge base. If you don't know what the problem means, you won't need a solution for it probably ever. Google the name brand parts in your rig to see if the website has some special software for that part. Samsung, for example, has a maintenance app for your SSDs. Download the software you want and see how much it all takes up including Windows and your browser, and maybe double it. Remember, you can re-size again later. If you set aside even as much as 150-200 GB, you'll have a HUGE amount of storage left.

Perfect! i will definitely research more into what utilities I should use. I plan to do around 200 go for my windows, software, etc. and keep my most played games in another partition on my NVMe and just random pics, videos, etc on the HDD. I’m starting to understand of all of this technical stuff thanks to you guys. You guys are the best!

Originally posted by Cretae Originally posted by TStorm6900 Thanks for the support everyone.. It's a pleasure! Here's hoping you are going to have a great experience from your upgraded system.

Order Update. Ordered on Nov 8th fully expecting delivery before Xmas. Made a very early config mod Nov 10th. Did not delay order in any way.
Called customer service on Nov 24th considering upgrading fans.. agent informed me of a order mod fee of $69 so i decided to let it be.. The agent informed me that no changes were made and the order would continue through the stages.. Order sat in Stage 4 for a while until i decided to check the status, on Dec 2, which is when i found the outstanding balance for the fan upgrade that i did not actually request. Agent quickly resolved the issue and was very nice and helpful. I was told the account showed that i did not want to process the request and it was not put through but for some reason the invoice was generated putting my order on hold for payment.

I was informed my order was upgraded to VIP to expedite the process. This seemed like the right thing to do and i was happy. My order was bumped to Stage 5 immediately.

Now Dec 10th my order is still on Stage 5, so i called an agent who said my order would ship end of the month maybe and there is no VIP status attached to my order and that noone put my order on hold ever.. he was short, unhelpful, and the exact opposite of the previous agents i spoke to.. ughh

Looks like your order went into Stage 7 today, you should receive it by XMAS as long as UPS/FedEx don't hold things up.

Congrats! Let us know how it goes. Merry Christmas back atcha!