[SOLVED] I will be building my next system within a few months, and I'm wondering what parts some "experts" out there think I should aim for?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Kristofer_2

Honorable
Dec 31, 2015
65
0
10,640
Title is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll expand: needs to have AMD parts. I have been loyal to Intel/Nvidia for ALL of my previous builds; however, let's be real. AMD is clearly becoming the better choice. They're being creative, inventive. Before Ryzen, Intel was the clear choice for CPU's. Since Ryzen, Intel is sort of slacking, wouldn't you agree? Not that they don't produce awesome CPU's, of course they do... but honestly, AMD is the clear choice nowadays, at least in my opinion. That said, I am looking at building a new personal gaming PC within the next few months. I am definitely wanting an AMD CPU AND most likely and AMD GPU, as well. Basically just go all out AMD. If an Nvidia GPU is truly better, in any experts' opinions, then I will go for it. Other than that though, I am definitely going for AMD. The only restriction you have is the following: I am dead-set on the tower/case and the CPU cooler (NZXT H510 & Corsair H100i, respectively). I have specific preferences to these and probably won't change my mind on them. As far as RAM goes, I want a minimum of 16GB, and I'll let you go from there. Whatever speed for gaming you suggest, just throw it in. Motherboard manufacturer isn't a huge deal to me, but I strongly prefer Asus (good experience with one RMA and zero bad experience with customer service); absolutely NO AsRock or Gigabyte motherboards, though (very bad experience with them, in the past, so I may be a little biased). PSU is not important, as long as it's fully modular and has wiggle room for upgrades (more wattage than the system requires). As for storage, I was thinking NVME, maybe Samsung 970 Evo? I've had good luck with them in the past, but honestly haven't kept up with NVME drives, lately. If there's something far superior for not ridiculously expensive, feel free to throw a suggestion. Also, 250 GB is plenty, I will add a larger SSD down the road for general storage, as necessary. RGB is not necessary, at all. If a top-notch, decent-priced product just-so happens to come with RGB, that's completely fine: but it's not a priority.

Thank you all, so very much. I genuinely appreciate it. Also, it is well worth noting the semiconductor shortage and near impossibility of getting ahold of some of the top-line GPU's on the market, at the moment. Still throw in a recommendation, waiting a month or more is not much of an issue for me.

Budget should line up around $800-$1000 at most. Sacrifices can be made: for instance, 8GB RAM instead of 16GB to save some money, as another 8GB stick can be added at any point, later.

Thank you, all!

Also worth noting, a PC Part Picker link is completely acceptable. Or you can lay out a detailed list in a comment reply!


First and foremost: wow! Great responses from so many of you. What are some of your thoughts on pre-built? Maybe something like iBuyPower? Normally I would go the build it myself route 100% of the time, but given the fact that a lot of the pre-built companies are able to secure GPU's for MSRP value, and have a better chance of getting a GPU RMA fast and easier than the consumer, it may be worth it, no? I am hesitant in pre-builts, but it may be worth it just to get back into PC gaming ASAP...

Also, I agree with the comment about AMD seriously needs to get 5000 series APU's available to consumers. That's one thing that Intel still does better than AMD, more availability for integrated graphics. That's what my original thought was: CPU with integrated graphics to ride out the shortage. I mostly play things like Minecraft and simulators (not talking about MSFS), so discrete graphics not really a priority until later down, where I would start playing more intensive games). I was really hoping to go for AMD, but it is seeming that Intel may just be the better budget option, at the moment.
 
Last edited:
Solution
He even made out like PC gamers are too stupid to turn the PL off or on in said bios.

The vast majority of PC users don't even know how to get into the bios. We here are the minority, in that regard. It's not that they are stupid, they are just ignorant about it. I am sure there are some that are stupid, but the vast majority I would hope is just a lack of information, on how to do it. Quite often I see questions of people asking why their ram speed isn't running at rated, and need to be shown how to enable XMP. You expect these same people to know how to go in and change power limit settings?

larsv8

Distinguished
As for "shilling", I have had good and bad experiences with multiple brands, and lots of reasons to hate on varying companies

-I had alot of luck with some Gigabyte B450 mini itx boards (Awesome value board), but my B550 Auorus Master was a disaster.
-Gigabyte is also basically the ring leader in the combo deal hustle, making Newegg buy palates of crummy hardware in order to get GPUs
-Some of intel's CPUs just don't make sense at price / performance, but others are very strong.
-MSI got caught scalping their own products, and trying to hardball reviewers
-AMD 6900xt doesn't make much sense at that price / performance level, nor really does the 5800x
-NVIDIA tried to blacklist HUB for some weird reason.

The only company I consistently recommend is EVGA. Love their que system, good products, can't recall any scandals. I like ASUS as well.
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
He even made out like PC gamers are too stupid to turn the PL off or on in said bios.

The vast majority of PC users don't even know how to get into the bios. We here are the minority, in that regard. It's not that they are stupid, they are just ignorant about it. I am sure there are some that are stupid, but the vast majority I would hope is just a lack of information, on how to do it. Quite often I see questions of people asking why their ram speed isn't running at rated, and need to be shown how to enable XMP. You expect these same people to know how to go in and change power limit settings?
 
Last edited:
Solution
As for "shilling", I have had good and bad experiences with multiple brands, and lots of reasons to hate on varying companies

-I had alot of luck with some Gigabyte B450 mini itx boards (Awesome value board), but my B550 Auorus Master was a disaster.
-Gigabyte is also basically the ring leader in the combo deal hustle, making Newegg buy palates of crummy hardware in order to get GPUs
-Some of intel's CPUs just don't make sense at price / performance, but others are very strong.
-MSI got caught scalping their own products, and trying to hardball reviewers
-AMD 6900xt doesn't make much sense at that price / performance level, nor really does the 5800x
-NVIDIA tried to blacklist HUB for some weird reason.

The only company I consistently recommend is EVGA. Love their que system, good products, can't recall any scandals. I like ASUS as well.
It's all about the VRM's hence the reason the more expensive boards have better VRM's.
 
Are the PL's on the boards he tested on by default?
$100 B560 boards have different default settings than $200 B560 boards .. who would have thunk. Got to love the title of his video. He's one of the last people on this planet that I'd go to for advice.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3AEj3x39vQ


Here's four of the boards from that video. Now can anyone see the difference in the VRM's on the high end boards which are most likely to have looser default PL's than the $100 boards.

13-144-393-V01.jpg


ledimage.png


GIGABYTE%20B560M%20DS3H%20AC%20jpg.jpg


13-144-397-V01.jpg
 
Last edited:

AlexTheFern

Notable
Jan 21, 2021
602
132
1,140
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Walmart)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100x 57.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($92.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($85.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 256 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($37.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case ($67.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex III Super Pro 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($80.00 @ Newegg Sellers)
Total: $754.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-05-24 13:35 EDT-0400
i agree with this list, except with the motherboard. the phantom gaming 4 has pretty weak vrms. something like a b450 tomahawk or a b550 tomahawk would work pretty well, and fit in the budget.

i have a 5600x and a b550 tomahawk and it works wonders.
 
i agree with this list, except with the motherboard. the phantom gaming 4 has pretty weak vrms. something like a b450 tomahawk or a b550 tomahawk would work pretty well, and fit in the budget.

i have a 5600x and a b550 tomahawk and it works wonders.
I've read on here that AMD cpu's are more memory dependent in regards to clock speeds. Would 3600Mhz RAM be a better option for that cpu than the 3200Mhz in that build?
 
So to sum up the consensus on the motherboards. If you get a cheaper board with weak VRMs keep the CPU power locked. If you are spending another 40+ bucks on a motherboard that has decent VRMs and want to unlock the power limits for the CPU to get extra performance you also need a better air cooler than stock by a decent margin.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Why_Me

jasonf2

Distinguished
2-3 years ago I would have put much more credence into these lovely price picker specs. Unfortunately in todays unprecedented market so much of this is bent on real availability. Because of this prebuilt and even laptops become more viable in many cases than diy builds. Intel may have gotten behind the 8 ball performance wise against the latest gen ryzen but again can you find one that isn't on ebay for 200% msrp or more? This is especially true in the GPU realm.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Why_Me

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
Because of this prebuilt and even laptops become more viable in many cases than diy builds.
DIY is still the best way of getting value per dollar, especially if you have a GPU you can reuse while waiting for the GPU situation to resolve itself and don't mind doing so. Pre-built for the otherwise DIY crowd are mostly a shortcut to jump the queue on getting one of those otherwise unobtainable GPUs for a not-too-ludicrous price.
 
So to sum up the consensus on the motherboards. If you get a cheaper board with weak VRMs keep the CPU power locked. If you are spending another 40+ bucks on a motherboard that has decent VRMs and want to unlock the power limits for the CPU to get extra performance you also need a better air cooler than stock by a decent margin.
$140 - $150 for the board, $40 - $50 on the cpu cooler, $175 for the 11400F and you're looking at a build that will run circles around an AMD 3600 along with matching the 10600K + Z490 board.
 
  • Like
Reactions: helper800

jasonf2

Distinguished
DIY is still the best way of getting value per dollar, especially if you have a GPU you can reuse while waiting for the GPU situation to resolve itself and don't mind doing so. Pre-built for the otherwise DIY crowd are mostly a shortcut to jump the queue on getting one of those otherwise unobtainable GPUs for a not-too-ludicrous price.
I agree completely. Most of my computer purchases cannot stand an extended lead time and spending unreasonable time obsessing over checking inventory in the established channels. The majority of my hardware replacement unfortunately is due to something breaking and creating an immediate need. The last desktop that I replaced was replaced with a gaming laptop. In years past I wouldn't have dreamed about doing this but by the time I figured out what I wasn't getting in a discrete GPU for the dollar (that I really could get) the laptop was on the shelf and a lot better bang for the buck. I am really looking forward to inventory returning. I have worked support on prebuilds in the past and typically don't have anything great to say about them. In this environment however the big manufactures direct purchase contracts with hardware vendors are giving them a big pricing and availability advantage.
 

TommyTwoTone66

Prominent
BANNED
Apr 24, 2021
983
189
640
I started looking at what GPUs are actually available for purchase, so I could recommend you like a 1660 SUPER or maybe an older used GTX1080 or something, but it's really, really nuts out there. You literally cannot buy ANYTHING right now in terms of a GPU for your budget, I'm sorry to say.

Your best option is to find a prebuild from an OEM. I felt a little shudder going down my spine when I typed that, I'd never, ever recommend a prebuild to anyone, but that's where we are in 2021.

You could buy literally any prebuilt PC with a 30-series card in it, take it apart and sell the parts and make money on eBay, even after fees. I'd not be surprised if people were doing that right now.
 

TommyTwoTone66

Prominent
BANNED
Apr 24, 2021
983
189
640
Or just go sans-GPU for a while with an IGP if you don't have a GPU you can reuse in the meantime.

I'm currently letting my new 11400 / TUF B560M / 32GB 3200-16 do a memtest86 burn-in using the IGP right now, not much else I can do with it until the SSD gets here, probably tomorrow.
A really horrible option, but an option nonetheless. Overwatch and Hearthstone play pretty well on IGP.