Ryzen 7 1700 Budget Workstation Solver Build
Update 02.04.19: A new version of this build has now been released. You can view it here.
The following build is an entry level machine for working with solvers. I believe this is a good build for people for whom it is not economic to build something more higher end like the Threadripper 1950x build I posted or would simply prefer doing the heavy lifting on a server machine and use their local machine primarily for viewing solutions and some light solving, such as low SPR simulations (HU pots with an SPR of 4 or less), preflop HU simulations or other preflop simulations with high levels of abstraction. The cost of this build at the time of writing in USD based on US hardware prices is approximately 1000 USD.
CPU:
8 core/16 thread processor. Often considered the best value for money on the Ryzen AM4 platform. Comes with a stock Wraith Spire cooler. You can even do some light overclocking with this cooler.
Motherboard:
AM4 B350 chipset motherboard with support of up to 4 sticks of DDR4 64 GB RAM. Not much to be said, this board is clean and has everything you need for a budget workstation build.
Memory:
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 2133MHz (PC4 17000) C13
Probably the most crucial part of this build. 32 GB is the smallest amount of RAM I would recommend for a solver build. In Monker Solver this enables you to start basic preflop simulations for PLO, as well as analyze low SPR pots as mentioned above, such as 3-bet pots.
Storage:
Good value for money SSD with plenty of storage.
Video Card:
Basic graphics card for office work and video. Supports up to two external monitors running at 4k resolution. Connection options are HDMI, DVI-D and VGA.
Case:
MasterBox 5 Mid-tower Computer Case – Black
Versatile Cooler Master brand case.
Power Supply:
Corsair CX 550 Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Non-Modular PSU
Ample power for this build with room for add-ons, such as a more powerful gpu if desired.
Optional:
Western Digital BLUE 1TB 3.5″ HDD
For storage expansion, at approximately 50 USD, this is a good value for money option for additional storage.
Upgrade Options:
The most obvious upgrade option here is to upgrade the RAM. I selected 2×16 GB RAM sticks, so that another 2 could be added to the MSI B350 PC MATE motherboard as an upgrade option. The AMD AM4 platform only supports dual-channel memory configurations, so these are efficient allocations of RAM. To upgrade the RAM, simply buy another kit of the Corsair Vengeance LPX RAM. Make sure to buy the same kit with the same speed and timing (CMK32GX4M2A2133C13).
If you would like to see a build suggestion for different hardware, please post your suggestion in the comments below.
How does 64gb C16 ram compare to 64 gb C14 ram when running solver?
Is it worth it to pay for the C16 ram upgrade?
Hi Steven. With RAM the goal is to aim for lower latency. CX denotes the CAS latency of RAM, and lower is better (C14 would be better than C16). However it is not the only factor that determines the speed of the RAM. RAM also has timings and clock speed.
Whether it is worth it to upgrade to faster RAM depends on the effective increase in speed in Monker and how important the time savings would be to you based on your workflow. The most significant factor is to use DDR4 over DDR3 RAM. I would recommend only building with DDR4 RAM.
Also, for this specific build, keep in mind that this is meant to be a budget build. The goal was to build a machine within a budget of around 1000 USD. For the high-end workstation build that you can find here, I recommended much faster RAM.
This is the 64gb 3200 C16 I’m looking at.
Its around $200 more than the one you recommend here.
I’ve addressed most of what I had to say above. I do expect this specific model to perform slightly better, but I wouldn’t expect the performance difference to be dramatic. To put this into numbers, if I had to guess, I would say at most a 10-20% speed difference.