Slowly building gaming PC. Ryzen 5 2400g or RX560 or GTX 1050 for better vfm?

eftaps

Prominent
Dec 30, 2017
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510
Hey all,

The new desktop Ryzen APUs are almost here and i am in big dilemma on how to proceed with all this crazy pricing in GPUs that seem to be getting even worse in 2018.

My current options if i buy a GPU that i can afford are:
a) Gigabyte Radeon RX 560 2GB for 131 euros.
b) Gigabyte GeForce GTX1050 2GB Windforce OC for 146 euros.
c) Palit GeForce GTX1050 Ti 4GB Dual OC for 178 euros.

All 3 GPUs come with a 6-pin power supply connector so they can be better overclocked and achieve more value from the GPU and with 2 fans for lower noise and better temperatures.

So if i go and buy today a GPU i am stuck with a low end GPU and CPU and i will probably have to upgrade both sooner or later, probably starting with the CPU, so i guess it will be better to buy the cheapest one on the list; the RX-550. Will the 1050 Ti give nice performance in games in 2019 paired with a zen+ or zen2 CPU? My guess is not so much, a 1060 or 1070 will boost performance by far with the newer and much better CPU and GPU prices will be much better than today (at least i hope they will 😛).

But there is a completely different approach! Maybe i can just upgrade the CPU to a Ryzen 5 2400g. It's iGPU won't be as good as an RX-560 which is the cheapest on my list, but at least i will have decent graphics for now (at only around 180 euros) and a much better processor than the one i currently have (plus the fact that my ram will run at 3000MHz which is supported with Ryzen according to my mobo QVL).

If i buy this APU i will have time to raise more money for a 1060 and maybe even see the prices drop around summer-autumn in GPUs.

Well there is catch here i think. I am concerned that i will be stuck with a CPU with only 4 cores/8 threads and with only 6MB L2/L3 cache, in comparison to a 1st gen ryzen 5 1600 that has 6 cores/12 threads and and 3 times more L2/L3 cache (3/16Mb) at the same price. So i am afraid that my GPU will be bottlenecked by the Ryzen 5 2400g and i will end up needing to upgrade the CPU as well in 2019.

I am trying to find the best futureproofing scenario with the minimum money spent but it's very hard given all those factors. I will try to resell anything i upgrade, but the resell value often is not that good, so let's leave it out of the equation.

Any ideas?


Current computer setup:
amd a8-9600, asus prime a320m-k, 2*4GB corsair vengeance LPX DDR4 3000MHz
(currently running at 2133MHz), Corsair CX500 PSU
 
Get the gtx 1050 and weather the storm until you can find a better gpu, don't buy an apu and then realize the performance is horrible. better off buying a ryzen 5 1400 and pairing it with a gtx 1050. you can sell it after for a small loss and buy a 1060 or so
 
The only real reason to buy an APU is because you will be using the included onboard graphics. If your plan, at any point, involves buying a videocard then DO NOT buy an APU. You trade performance for lower cost when you buy an APU. If you then go ahead and spend more money on a videocard, you have defeated the one benefit an APU offers and now you are stuck with a slower APU instead of a faster CPU.
 
IMO, it looks like a better plan to buy an APU if we take account of after selling the individual components (cpu and/or gpu) and the time factor.
If i start by buying the ryzen 5 2400g i will pay 180€ for it minus 40-45€ for selling my a8-9600 (starting price now 55€ new) which sums up to 135-140€. Trying to sell the a8-9600 later will be much harder and probably i will have to give it away even cheaper. If i wait long enough (until lets say summer-autumn 2018), hopefully, i can get a gtx 1060 for about 200€ or even less, so the total will be around 340€. The cpu will surely be worse compared to a ryzen 5 1600 or even worse the newer zen+ models, but it will be sufficient i guess for 1080p gaming in 2018-2019.

On the other hand if buy an rx560 (cheapest choice, better vfm) i will pay 130€ for it and probably another 180€ for a zen+ cpu with the specs of ryzen 5 1600 (6c/12t, 16mb L3 cache). Assuming that i will sell my current a8-9600 apu at a later point i will get around 30€ back, so the total is 280€. The processor will be more than enough for many years, but i will have to upgrade my gpu by the end of the year. Let's say that i can get a gtx 1060 for 170€ (less than estimated before as this will be bought a few months later, around winter 2018) and i can sell my old rx560 for about 70€. This will make the final cost around 380€, which is 40€ more than the 1st upgrade path.

Considering the fact that the ryzen 5 2400g can not severely bottleneck (at least i assume by comparing it with a ryzen 5 1400) a gtx 1060 and the fact that i will have to sell one less component in the after market, so less hassling, it seems that the 1st option is still viable and maybe better. And even if i need to sell the ryzen 5 2400g at some point in the aftermarket, i don't think that it will be that hard to actually sell it, or the price too low. Also keep in mind that i live in greece, so the prices are a little higher here and something like amazon is not really a good option.

(if only i knew the recommended specs for the upcoming Anthem...)