T-bone22

Nvidia Gsync may work fairly well with a FreeSync Premium monitor, but it is not guaranteed to be perfect. If I were in your shoes, I'd go with an AMD graphics card, building around your monitor. An RX 6800 will outperform an Nvidia 3060 at 1440p by quite a large margin.

K&AJones

If you can't really find the Deals on parts to do a build, you can always opt for a custom or pre-built from one of several companies that do it....just have to look hard at the options they offer on the custom.

Cyberpower.... Best Gaming PCs & Prebuilt Gaming PCs | CyberPowerPC

IBuyPower ..... Gaming PC Desktops | iBUYPOWER®

Skytech ......Skytech Gaming | Prebuilt Gaming PCs & Custom Desktop PCs

There's one at Cyberpower that's close to your budget that's a pretty good deal with the Intel I5-12600, 3060RTX 12GB, a Z790 Prime Motherboard...

zak52

Thanks,Ill check these out.

T-bone22

You'll always do better building your own rather than going with any of those prebuilds. Even buying the parts and paying someone to build it would be a better bargain than any of those options...

K&AJones

Oh...I 100% agree as I still want to build my first....I just threw that out as an option. If someone has say a $900-$1000 Budget, their options are a bit limited versus a $1500 Budget or one with $2000. I came close on a few over Black Friday but with each one I saw a negative in either the Motherboard (bare min/entry), Power Supply (measly 600W no-name brand) or a Case that looked good but airflow was very questionable.

For me the CPU & Motherboard options are making my head swim....it's not just choosing between AMD or Intel but more like go with one that offers a older chipset with DDR4, a sort of Hybrid with older chipset but with DDR5 or go with newer that's for the Nex gen CPU and DDR5

Jay G.

I wouldn't say always, since you have to be price conscious and likely sourcing parts from multiple places to get the best deal for each. One could overpay by buying all the parts from one retailer selling everything at MSRP, for example.

There's also the question of compatibility issues. With a home build, there's a possibility of running into compatibility issues between hardware, even if it theoretically should all work together, and the individual component makers are likely to pass the buck between them regarding who's responsible for a fix, if a fix is possible. With a pre-built, you know that it was assembled and tested before sent to you, and if it's not a custom build, it's likely a configuration that was assembled and tested hundreds to thousands of times. The PC manufacturer will also warranty and service the whole PC, instead of just individual components, so if a problem arises they'll look at all the hardware and work to fix it.

Yes, if you're willing to put in the work and have the time and patience for it, a home build will likely save you money. However, for some, the convenience and assurance of a pre-built may be worth the extra cost.

T-bone22

That is why I posted a link to Pcpartpicker... it let's you know if there are any compatibility issues on your build and scrapes the major sites for the lowest price for each component.

zak52

Will there be a big difference between
Ryzen 5 5600X

and

Ryzen 7 5800X

The 5600 has a cooler where the 5800 doesn’t.

T-bone22

Currently, there probably won't be much difference between the 2 if this is a strictly gaming PC at 1440p. But for just $30ish more, I'd go ahead and grab the 5800. I wouldn't use a stock cooler though, an aftermarket will be better and quieter.

Jay G.

Right, which is why home builds aren't "always" better, since the home builder needs specific knowledge and tools in order to build something that's both compatible and cheaper than a pre-build. It's why zak52 is asking for help/advice for so many specifics, since it's not as easy as just finding a pre-built with specs and price near what you want.

Jay G.

The 5600X is a 6 core/12 thread, while the 5800X is an 8 core/16 thread. Based on this comparison:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare...-Ryzen-7-5800X

The single-thread performance on the 5800X is only a 2% improvement, and most of the performance improvement is in having more cores. The question is, are the games going to be able to utilize those extra cores, or will they largely sit idle?

This article mentions that 6 core is the "sweet spot" for gaming right now, as most games can use up to 6 cores, but not many can use more:
https://cpuninja.com/how-many-cpu-cores-need/

Also, not quite the same CPUs, but this comparison between a 5600 and 5700X shows only marginal improvement in most games:

https://www.techspot.com/review/2488...-6-vs-8-cores/
That said, going with 8 cores may "future proof" the build a bit, as there were a few games that saw notable improvements, and it's likely to trend that way with future games able to utilize more cores.

As for the cooler included with the 5600X, from what I can find, the consensus seems to be it will work for cooling as long as you don't overclock, but it tends to be louder than other coolers, and may struggle if you overclock the CPU.
https://pcpartpicker.com/forums/topi...n-5-5600x-good
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comment...arket_one_for/

K&AJones

i'm holding off for now...not a lot coming till first part of next year and my main reason is for the XBox PC Game pass and Starfield. I tried the pcpartpicker and I actually was impressed though some parts came in higher than what some choices in the sub-directory showed...like the AMD 7 5800X at $289 while I know it was cheaper. Overall the build I was aiming for came in almost right at my budget.

but I want to see if even more discounts come after the new AMD GPUs hit soon. There's a overstock of PC components...story last week of GPU shipments the lowest in 10yrs. There's motherboards & cpu's for the new gen, last gen and previous galore. Like the 10th and 11th Gen Intel are a really good deal. Video Cards are slowly coming down, SSDs look to have the biggest drop with memory not far behind. Cases and Power Supplies...not much so as they seem to stayed close to price but there's a lot of good choices.

zak52

Thanks to all of you for basically holding my hand through this. Not being a computer guy, this is a lot to learn.

K&AJones

I think I picked out my...First Build....just WOW....

RocShemp

What are everyone's thoughts on mini PCs?



A friend of mine recommended the NUCX i7 to me. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Minisf....652897.0.html

GoVegan

They're perfectly fine if space or portability is a concern. I've done plenty of gaming on a higher-end laptop. The main issue with them is cost. They largely use laptop components, so they're noticeably more expensive than an equivalent desktop.

RocShemp

I basically want a console-esque PC (in terms of form factor) since it'd be used for couch gaming, hooked up to the AVR of my HT setup.

K&AJones

Cyberpower has this compact Syber Series that might fit the bill. I haven't seen these or something like anywhere else nor the case and means....

Syber C Series - Console Sized PC Gaming | CyberPowerPC

RocShemp

Huh. Didn't know about these.

GoVegan

Yeah, then a lot of these would be perfect. Their only real limit is the video card, but I've been using a laptop for playing games on a 70" TV (and to play VR games on the Quest), and it still works fine. Not maxing out the settings, but looks and plays good. Bluetooth Keyboard and mouse, and a PS5 controller.

zak52

I ended up going with the Ryzen 7 5800X.

I’m only going to buy one more part for him for Christmas. I went to Microcenter today to look for a motherboard. I told the guy that worked there that I wanted one with wifi and was compatible with the cpu I picked up. I didn’t want to figure out how to upgrade the bios. These are the two options he gave me that were around $200 and under.

B550M-A Prime WiFi II AMD AM4 microATX Motherboard
https://www.microcenter.com/product/...tx-motherboard

X570 TUF Gaming Plus (WIFI) AMD AM4 ATX Motherboard
https://www.microcenter.com/product/...tx-motherboard

Are either of these motherboards worth buying or should I look for something different? The guy obviously said the Tuf Gaming motherboard would be much better.

K&AJones

Over at Amazon that X570 TUF Board is one of the more popular ones with 6,600 reviews...mostly positive...

The MSI B550 Tomahawk is suppose to be a good one and fits your budget....

The ASUS ROG Strix B550-F is another one....

I think when I was doing research for AMD board a few months ago, this was mentioned a lot ....Gigabyte B650M AORUS Elite....

zak52

What is the typical lifespan of a motherboard before it needs upgrading?

I’ll probably go with the Tuf board and be done for now. The budget probably went up a couple hundred. I’m going to let him pick out his gpu, than I’ll help him pay for the rest.

lwhy?

I posted in Tech Talk, but I'm looking for a general use PC that can play some pixel art and 3d farming games on Steam like Travelers Rest, Dave The Diver, Coral Island, and My Time at Sandrock.

Here's the general requirements for what I'm looking to play:
MINIMUM:OS: Windows 7 SP1+Processor: SSE2 instruction set supportMemory: 8 GB RAMGraphics: Graphics card with shader model 4.0+DirectX: Version 10Storage: 600 MB available space

MINIMUM:OS: Windows 7 64 bitProcessor: Intel Core i3 Dual CoreMemory: 8 GB RAMGraphics: NVIDIA Geforce GTS 450 / AMD Radeon HD 3850DirectX: Version 9.0Storage: 4 GB available spaceSound Card: Windows Compatible Audio DeviceThis would be the high end of what I would want to use the computer to play:

MINIMUM:Requires a 64-bit processor and operating systemOS: Windows 10 64 bitProcessor: Intel i3 ProcessorMemory: 6 GB RAMGraphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GBDirectX: Version 10Storage: 8 GB available space
​​​​​​I'm somewhat interested in these three at Best Buy:https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-envy...?skuId=6498473

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavi...?skuId=6477687

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-envy...?skuId=6498472

I'm mainly looking for a PC to surf the web, work on taxes and spreadsheets and play a few lower resolution Steam games. I have a PS5 and a Switch to play high resolution games on. My budget is $1000. I haven't bought a PC in eight years, do I'm really out of the loop on what I need. My preference is 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB hard drive a mix of SSD and HDD is fine.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Jay G.

All of those Best Buy listings are for PCs which only have integrated graphics (built into the CPU), not a separate dedicated graphics card. Which, considering the games you want to play, is probably fine. Still, they seem overpriced for what they deliver.

For pre-built PCs, I like to check OEM outlet stores, since they'll give you a discount over new for a open-box or refurbished PC, but still give you a full manufacturer warranty,

Right now, Lenovo Outlet has the Lenovo Legion T5 26AMR for $656.59. 16GB (2x8GB) RAM, 1TB HDD & 512GB SSD, AMD Ryzen 5 5600G CPU, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER graphics card.
https://www.lenovo.com/us/outletus/e...mr5/90rb001nus

It has 4 slots for RAM, so you'll have two slots free for upgrading later:
https://www.crucial.com/compatible-u...gion-t5-26amr5

The CPU isn't the most powerful when comparing against some of the Best Buy options, but it should be more than enough for the tasks and games you want to run:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare...-Ryzen-7-5700G

Also, it's running Windows 11, which is important for future compatibility, if you plan to hold onto this one for 8 years again. Especially when looking at outlet items, which may be older hardware, be sure it either is running Windows 11, or has a CPU that can run Windows 11.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...r-requirements