The TBG $1,000 Gaming/Productivity PC Build

[Ari Altman]

Ari--

It looks like the link for the 16GB option is broken.  It goes to a single stick 16GB module.  Perhaps Amazon is out of the 2x8GB.  Do you have another recommendation for the 16GB option with this build?

Thanks,
Greg

Greg,

Thank you for pointing out that error. It actually looks like the Patriot 2x8GB kit originally linked to has been removed from Amazon. I would suggest Crucial's 2x8GB DDR4-2666 kit as an alternative. The guide is actually going to be updated today for July, and that will be one of the changes.

[socal580]

Any other major changes I should know about? 

[Ari Altman]

Any other major changes I should know about? 

The July 2018 guide is now live - check it out for yourself!

OK, I'll give you a hint: the big change is in the recommended video card, but this also leads to a very strong upgrade recommendation on the monitor. Hopefully it's all well explained in the guide, but if you have questions, feel free to ask!

[socal580]

The July 2018 guide is now live - check it out for yourself!

OK, I'll give you a hint: the big change is in the recommended video card, but this also leads to a very strong upgrade recommendation on the monitor. Hopefully it's all well explained in the guide, but if you have questions, feel free to ask!

Thanks Ari.  This computer will be a workstation in an office environment without any serious graphics demand.  Mainly email, Word, Excel, etc.  Some large pdfs.  Possibly light CAD work at some point.  I was thinking of going with the 3GB version of the graphics card on the last version of this build (PNY GeForce GTS 1060) at $229.  Any reason to go with the new Radeon card, or perhaps downgrade to the Zotac 1050 that you mention in the current build?

[Ari Altman]

The July 2018 guide is now live - check it out for yourself!

OK, I'll give you a hint: the big change is in the recommended video card, but this also leads to a very strong upgrade recommendation on the monitor. Hopefully it's all well explained in the guide, but if you have questions, feel free to ask!

Thanks Ari.  This computer will be a workstation in an office environment without any serious graphics demand.  Mainly email, Word, Excel, etc.  Some large pdfs.  Possibly light CAD work at some point.  I was thinking of going with the 3GB version of the graphics card on the last version of this build (PNY GeForce GTS 1060) at $229.  Any reason to go with the new Radeon card, or perhaps downgrade to the Zotac 1050 that you mention in the current build?

For your needs, I'd honestly start with onboard Intel graphics. If you ever get into CAD and find that your software needs acceleration, you can add a video card at that point. Save yourself the money for now. And another recommendation if you don't have large media files (photos, videos, music) is to drop the hard drive from the system and allocate the $40 or so to a larger solid-state drive, specifically the MX500 500GB, which is a simply fantastic deal. It's a better setup for an office PC than the dual-drive system.

[socal580]

Ari--

I assembled the $1000 Gaming/Productivity rig using the 500GB M.2 SSD that you recommended.  I chose to also include a 1TB Western Digital HDD.  When I go into the BIOS, the SSD does not show up (the HDD does appear).  I have not yet installed Windows.  Is there anything I need to do to enable the SSD?  I see that the red light on the SSD is illuminated when the system is powered up, so I believe that it is connected correctly.  Thanks!

[Ari Altman]

Ari--

I assembled the $1000 Gaming/Productivity rig using the 500GB M.2 SSD that you recommended.  I chose to also include a 1TB Western Digital HDD.  When I go into the BIOS, the SSD does not show up (the HDD does appear).  I have not yet installed Windows.  Is there anything I need to do to enable the SSD?  I see that the red light on the SSD is illuminated when the system is powered up, so I believe that it is connected correctly.  Thanks!

Interestingly, someone else on the Forum had a similar issue with the MX500 recently, and we didn't quite come to a resolution. Here's the thread.

The first thing I'd recommend is disconnecting the hard drive and running the Windows install program to see if it sees the M.2 drive. The reason to do this is that the M.2 drive shares resources with at least one SATA port, so to eliminate that issue, it's best just to unplug the drive. If it still doesn't work, try re-seating the drive in the slot. The fact that the red light is on has me thinking something isn't quite connected right. I believe it should be green if it's connected properly and fully recognized.

[socal580]

Interestingly, someone else on the Forum had a similar issue with the MX500 recently, and we didn't quite come to a resolution. Here's the thread.

The first thing I'd recommend is disconnecting the hard drive and running the Windows install program to see if it sees the M.2 drive. The reason to do this is that the M.2 drive shares resources with at least one SATA port, so to eliminate that issue, it's best just to unplug the drive. If it still doesn't work, try re-seating the drive in the slot. The fact that the red light is on has me thinking something isn't quite connected right. I believe it should be green if it's connected properly and fully recognized.

Ari--I went through some of the BIOS settings, and looked at that previous thread.  Too bad that guy didn't report back with a resolution.  I don't see anything in the BIOS labeled as "UEFI".  Am I missing something?  I took some photos that are attached.

I also disconnected the HDD and reseated the SSD.  It still doesn't recognize the SSD.  In reading the MB manual, it seems that the SSD should show up as a "Offboard" SATA drive.  Is that correct?  It seems like it would be an Onboard SSD, since it's on the MB.

https://imgur.com/a/2SxUpoi

[Ari Altman]

Interestingly, someone else on the Forum had a similar issue with the MX500 recently, and we didn't quite come to a resolution. Here's the thread.

The first thing I'd recommend is disconnecting the hard drive and running the Windows install program to see if it sees the M.2 drive. The reason to do this is that the M.2 drive shares resources with at least one SATA port, so to eliminate that issue, it's best just to unplug the drive. If it still doesn't work, try re-seating the drive in the slot. The fact that the red light is on has me thinking something isn't quite connected right. I believe it should be green if it's connected properly and fully recognized.

Ari--I went through some of the BIOS settings, and looked at that previous thread.  Too bad that guy didn't report back with a resolution.  I don't see anything in the BIOS labeled as "UEFI".  Am I missing something?  I took some photos that are attached.

I also disconnected the HDD and reseated the SSD.  It still doesn't recognize the SSD.  In reading the MB manual, it seems that the SSD should show up as a "Offboard" SATA drive.  Is that correct?  It seems like it would be an Onboard SSD, since it's on the MB.

https://imgur.com/a/2SxUpoi

Oh, goodness, I figured it out, and I'm going to add it to the build guide right away. The issue is that Gigabyte has implemented a divergent M.2 slot strategy, much like Asus had done before, and I didn't realize it was present in these new H370 boards. The top (longer) M.2 slot is for PCIe drives only. The MX500 drive, and all low-cost SSDs, are SATA-based models, and must be installed in the bottom (shroter) M.2 slot.

That will take care of your problem immediately.

[socal580]

Oh, goodness, I figured it out, and I'm going to add it to the build guide right away. The issue is that Gigabyte has implemented a divergent M.2 slot strategy, much like Asus had done before, and I didn't realize it was present in these new H370 boards. The top (longer) M.2 slot is for PCIe drives only. The MX500 drive, and all low-cost SSDs, are SATA-based models, and must be installed in the bottom (shroter) M.2 slot.

That will take care of your problem immediately.

That did it!  Thanks for the quick response.  I hadn't even noticed the second M.2 slot. Installing Windows now.

[Ari Altman]

Happy to help. Thanks to your posting on the forum, many other builders will now avoid this frustration!