Build Advice Looking for discussion about an up to $1500 build, considering future releases of 6800 XT and 3060 TI.

[macca2077]

Long story short, after some problems with my current build, which you can find under my previous posts, I've started thinking about building a new one. Talked with my friend about it, and we don't have a 100% winner here, because there are still some variables such as specs of 3060 Ti, for example.

Basic info:
Approximate Purchase Date: Q4 2020;
Budget Range: $1000-$1500;
System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, surfing, movies;
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080;

Current theoretical build:
PSU: Seasonic Focus Gold GX-650 650W;
MB: Gigabyte x570 Gaming X;
GPU: Sapphire RX 5700 XT 8GB or new RX 6800 XT or upcoming RTX 3080 TI; - is first option too old for this build? Should I buy the upcoming 6800 XT or wait for the 3080 Ti?
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X; - is third one worth it? It costs almost 50% more.
RAM: HyperX DDR4-3600 2x8 GB;
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 500 GB;
HDD: WD BLUE 1 TB;
Coolers: none? I'm stupid with that part.

What options are obviously with the most value? I'm not looking for 4k 60 fps gaming, more or less I don't care about 4k at all, I just wanna chill and play upcoming next gen games even on medium settings. The most important question is whether these options will be worth it overtime or not, so I don't have to think about PC builds for the next 2+ years. Also, maybe you find some of my choices to be not so good? Moreover, maybe you have much better parts in mind, that are more reliable?

Wanna hear all of the opinions.

To be honest, hoping to cheapen down the build a bit, since, once again, I'm looking mostly for 1920x1080 gaming.

Thank you!

 

[jeremyj_83]

Long story short, after some problems with my current build, which you can find under my previous posts, I've started thinking about building a new one. Talked with my friend about it, and we don't have a 100% winner here, because there are still some variables such as specs of 3060 Ti, for example.

Basic info:
Approximate Purchase Date: Q4 2020;
Budget Range: $1000-$1500;
System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, surfing, movies;
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080;

Current theoretical build:
PSU: Seasonic Focus Gold GX-650 650W;
MB: Gigabyte x570 Gaming X;
GPU: Sapphire RX 5700 XT 8GB or new RX 6800 XT or upcoming RTX 3080 TI; - is first option too old for this build? Should I buy the upcoming 6800 XT or wait for the 3080 Ti?
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X; - is third one worth it? It costs almost 50% more.
RAM: HyperX DDR4-3600 2x8 GB;
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 500 GB;
HDD: WD BLUE 1 TB;
Coolers: none? I'm stupid with that part.

What options are obviously with the most value? I'm not looking for 4k 60 fps gaming, more or less I don't care about 4k at all, I just wanna chill and play upcoming next gen games even on medium settings. The most important question is whether these options will be worth it overtime or not, so I don't have to think about PC builds for the next 2+ years. Also, maybe you find some of my choices to be not so good? Moreover, maybe you have much better parts in mind, that are more reliable?

Wanna hear all of the opinions.

To be honest, hoping to cheapen down the build a bit, since, once again, I'm looking mostly for 1920x1080 gaming.

Thank you!

For 1080p gaming the 5700XT is more than enough for now and quite a few more years. Going with a 5600X would be great, however, they are in short supply and costing more than $100 above MSRP. Here is my recommendation.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($304.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 CPU Cooler ($49.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.00 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: HP EX950 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB PULSE Video Card ($409.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Phanteks AMP 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1437.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-15 11:59 EST-0500

There are 2 SSDs instead of SSD and NVMe. The 500GB SSD would be your OS/Applications drive and the 2TB for everything else. The PSU is a rebadged Seasonic GX so it is a quality device. You do not need an extra CPU cooler as the included Wraith Prism is good. However, the recommended one here is very good and will be quieter than the Wraith.

 

[Flayed]

It is a tough call 3700x vs 5600x but I think for 1080p gaming I would lean more towards the higher IPC of the 5600x over the additional cores of the 3700x

 

[jeremyj_83]

It is a tough call 3700x vs 5600x but I think for 1080p gaming I would lean more towards the higher IPC of the 5600x over the additional cores of the 3700x

I would agree with that if you could get the 5600X at MSRP. Right now they are going for over $400 and that extra $100 can be used either for a faster GPU or SSD storage.

 

[Flayed]

Yes 400 is too much

 

[macca2077]

For 1080p gaming the 5700XT is more than enough for now and quite a few more years. Going with a 5600X would be great, however, they are in short supply and costing more than $100 above MSRP. Here is my recommendation.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($304.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 CPU Cooler ($49.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.00 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: HP EX950 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB PULSE Video Card ($409.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Phanteks AMP 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1437.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-15 11:59 EST-0500

There are 2 SSDs instead of SSD and NVMe. The 500GB SSD would be your OS/Applications drive and the 2TB for everything else. The PSU is a rebadged Seasonic GX so it is a quality device. You do not need an extra CPU cooler as the included Wraith Prism is good. However, the recommended one here is very good and will be quieter than the Wraith.

Thank you for your build!

It is expensive for me in some parts that I don't want to, such as double SSD. For the time being, one SSD for the OS is enough for me. Everything else will be stored in HDD that I already have.
In my country (Ukraine), original distributors as of now have the 7 5800X CPU, 5 5600X was recently sold out, but I think that it will be in stock soon (I can wait for a month or so). Will it be worth it compared to 7 5800X, considering the price?
In your opinion, is it worth it investing in 5700 XT when in a couple of days, 6800 XT will be released on the market?
Also, maybe you know some alternatives to the PSU/CPU Cooler? Those can't be bought in my country, sadly.
Lastly, IYHO, how long will this build be actual/of interest, considering the prices and increase of the newest CPUs/GPUs' performance?

 

[jeremyj_83]

Thank you for your build!

It is expensive for me in some parts that I don't want to, such as double SSD. For the time being, one SSD for the OS is enough for me. Everything else will be stored in HDD that I already have.
In my country (Ukraine), original distributors as of now have the 7 5800X CPU, 5 5600X was recently sold out, but I think that it will be in stock soon (I can wait for a month or so). Will it be worth it compared to 7 5800X, considering the price?
In your opinion, is it worth it investing in 5700 XT when in a couple of days, 6800 XT will be released on the market?
Also, maybe you know some alternatives to the PSU/CPU Cooler? Those can't be bought in my country, sadly.
Lastly, IYHO, how long will this build be actual/of interest, considering the prices and increase of the newest CPUs/GPUs' performance?

The 5800X is a great CPU and is all around faster than the 3700X. The biggest issue though is in regards to cost. At the MSRP of $450 the 5800X is about $150 more expensive than what you can buy the 3700X right now, that is if the 5800X is even in stock. Both CPUs using something like a 2080Ti the 5800X will be faster at 1080p than the 3700X. However, with lower end GPUs the difference will be smaller. At the same time that $150 difference would in just about move you from a 5700XT to the 6800. The 3700X with a 6800 will be far faster in gaming than a 5800X with the 5700XT.

For 1080p gaming the 5700XT is already overkill for most people, unless you have a 240Hz monitor. In the RTX 3070 review we can see a breakdown of how the GPUs perform at 1080p, 1440p, and 4k. The games used are all current and pretty GPU demanding. While we don't have absolute numbers for the 6800, AMD said it averaged 18% better performance than the 2080Ti. Take that with a grain of salt since it is vendor provided benchmarks, but you can be pretty sure that the 6800 will be at least as fast as the 2080Ti. If you think that you will need more performance than that, then you will need to move to a RTX 3070/3080 or Radeon 6800/XT.

For a different PSU there are quite a few good ones to look at. Here are some good quality PSUs by brand. For any of these going with a 650W or 750W PSU is a good place to start, especially if you are going to get a 6800XT.
Corsair: RM/x and TX-M
Seasonic: Focus PX, GX or GM.
EVGA: SuperNova G3 or SuperNova P2
Fractal Design: Ion+ (80+ Platinum version)

For a CPU cooler, if you get the 3700X it comes with a decent cooler. The only reason to change it would be if the cooler is too loud. The 5800X does not come with a CPU cooler. Here are a couple choices that will be good for either CPU.
Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo
be Quiet Dark Rock 4
Noctua NH-U12S or NH-U14S
DeepCool Assassin III
Cryorig H7

While you are going to hold off on getting a 2TB SSD, I would at least recommend getting a 1TB SSD. Yes the 970 Evo Plus is fast, but it isn't worth the added money. Here that SSD runs almost $80 and for $84 you can get a 1TB Crucial P2. Will the P2 benchmark the same as the Evo Plus, no, however, you won't notice any difference. The Mushkin Pilot-E runs $115 and that will benchmark basically as fast as a 1TB Evo Plus.

Overall longevity of the system will be quite good. Going with a CPU that is at least 6c/12t will make it relevant in gaming for a long time. I am running an i7-4770K and it is still good for gaming and every day tasks. I wouldn't recommend going with a 4c/8t CPU anymore for a mid-range gaming box, but you are looking a a 6c/12t or 8c/16t CPU. With the new consoles running Zen 2 8c/16t CPUs, in a few years we will probably see games being much more multi-threaded, especially for physics and AI. From a GPU side that is an easy upgrade down the road. The 5700XT will still be good for 1080p gaming for quite a while and the 6800/XT will be even better. My GPU from 2015 can still do some newer titles at 1080p, its biggest problem is the 2GB VRAM. Having a GPU with 8GB VRAM or more is the way to go now as textures keep getting larger.

 

[macca2077]

The 5800X is a great CPU and is all around faster than the 3700X. The biggest issue though is in regards to cost. At the MSRP of $450 the 5800X is about $150 more expensive than what you can buy the 3700X right now, that is if the 5800X is even in stock. Both CPUs using something like a 2080Ti the 5800X will be faster at 1080p than the 3700X. However, with lower end GPUs the difference will be smaller. At the same time that $150 difference would in just about move you from a 5700XT to the 6800. The 3700X with a 6800 will be far faster in gaming than a 5800X with the 5700XT.

For 1080p gaming the 5700XT is already overkill for most people, unless you have a 240Hz monitor. In the RTX 3070 review we can see a breakdown of how the GPUs perform at 1080p, 1440p, and 4k. The games used are all current and pretty GPU demanding. While we don't have absolute numbers for the 6800, AMD said it averaged 18% better performance than the 2080Ti. Take that with a grain of salt since it is vendor provided benchmarks, but you can be pretty sure that the 6800 will be at least as fast as the 2080Ti. If you think that you will need more performance than that, then you will need to move to a RTX 3070/3080 or Radeon 6800/XT.

For a different PSU there are quite a few good ones to look at. Here are some good quality PSUs by brand. For any of these going with a 650W or 750W PSU is a good place to start, especially if you are going to get a 6800XT.
Corsair: RM/x and TX-M
Seasonic: Focus PX, GX or GM.
EVGA: SuperNova G3 or SuperNova P2
Fractal Design: Ion+ (80+ Platinum version)

For a CPU cooler, if you get the 3700X it comes with a decent cooler. The only reason to change it would be if the cooler is too loud. The 5800X does not come with a CPU cooler. Here are a couple choices that will be good for either CPU.
Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo
be Quiet Dark Rock 4
Noctua NH-U12S or NH-U14S
DeepCool Assassin III
Cryorig H7

While you are going to hold off on getting a 2TB SSD, I would at least recommend getting a 1TB SSD. Yes the 970 Evo Plus is fast, but it isn't worth the added money. Here that SSD runs almost $80 and for $84 you can get a 1TB Crucial P2. Will the P2 benchmark the same as the Evo Plus, no, however, you won't notice any difference. The Mushkin Pilot-E runs $115 and that will benchmark basically as fast as a 1TB Evo Plus.

Overall longevity of the system will be quite good. Going with a CPU that is at least 6c/12t will make it relevant in gaming for a long time. I am running an i7-4770K and it is still good for gaming and every day tasks. I wouldn't recommend going with a 4c/8t CPU anymore for a mid-range gaming box, but you are looking a a 6c/12t or 8c/16t CPU. With the new consoles running Zen 2 8c/16t CPUs, in a few years we will probably see games being much more multi-threaded, especially for physics and AI. From a GPU side that is an easy upgrade down the road. The 5700XT will still be good for 1080p gaming for quite a while and the 6800/XT will be even better. My GPU from 2015 can still do some newer titles at 1080p, its biggest problem is the 2GB VRAM. Having a GPU with 8GB VRAM or more is the way to go now as textures keep getting larger.

Thank you for such an extensive answer! I don't have any other questions, you've shared a lot of information.

Have a good week and stay safe