PC Part Wars -

[Takayuki Yagami]

I was looking at the required specs for Doom Eternal and it made me think about upgrading my rig. What’s the current state of Nvidia vs AMD and Intel vs AMD? I know that AMD massively stepped up their CPU game and got themselves to near-parity with lower cost with Intel CPUs. I have no idea about GPUs, but that’s a lesser concern for me if only because I’ve lost the edtra cables for my power supply.

 

[Reverend]

An AMD Ryzen will save your hundreds over a similar Intel based system with more performance gains. The grounds AMD has made in the last 2-3 years is staggering. I built out a AMD Threadripper system for 1/2 the price of an equivalent Xeon system and got nearly 30% higher clock output.

Nvidia is still a superior GPU, AMD is OK.

what's your price point? Give it to us in $$$ and not say "Cheapest possible" if that's the case I'll tell you to buy an xbox.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

An AMD Ryzen will save your hundreds over a similar Intel based system with more performance gains. The grounds AMD has made in the last 2-3 years is staggering. I built out a AMD Threadripper system for 1/2 the price of an equivalent Xeon system and got nearly 30% higher clock output.

Nvidia is still a superior GPU, AMD is OK.

what's your price point? Give it to us in $$$ and not say "Cheapest possible" if that's the case I'll tell you to buy an xbox.

I’m using an i5-6600k right now and it’s probably well past time I switched to an 8-core. I can’t find compatible CPU for my motherboard new under 300 dollars, so let’s go with that for a start.

 

[Denmark Mafia]

CPU: AMD
GPU: Nvidia

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

An AMD Ryzen will save your hundreds over a similar Intel based system with more performance gains. The grounds AMD has made in the last 2-3 years is staggering. I built out a AMD Threadripper system for 1/2 the price of an equivalent Xeon system and got nearly 30% higher clock output.

Nvidia is still a superior GPU, AMD is OK.

what's your price point? Give it to us in $$$ and not say "Cheapest possible" if that's the case I'll tell you to buy an xbox.

Replying again because I found a combo on Newegg that seems incredibly good. I haven’t built anything since my current build. https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.3954880
Late 2016 would have been right before AMD stepped up right?

 

[Reverend]

I'd spend the extra $80 on this bundle and change and get the 8core 3700 series:

Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more - Newegg.com

Newegg.com offers the best prices on computer products, laptop computers, LED LCD TVs, digital cameras, electronics, unlocked phones, office supplies, and more with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Newegg shopping upgraded ™

www.newegg.com

that's 4 more Compute Units at $20/each No brainer and you will get vastly longer life from the Ryzen 7 series than the 5. Also your RAM is going to DD4 from DDR3 which will speed everything up.

Don't forget you'll have to buy an NVME drive that to put your OS and games on. That'll be another $50-60. Sure you can use your SSD but NVME is 10X faster in bus speed than traditional 2.5" SSDs.

Set aside $500 and reuse your video card for now or use the onboard AMD one, it'll be OK for the time being.

 

[broilerrx]

Personally, I'd recommend the 3600 over the 3600X. The RAM is good. As for the motherboard, I can't recommend the B450 Tomahawk MAX enough. Compared to the bundle deal, you do save 10 bucks in total.

Don't forget you'll have to buy an NVME drive that to put your OS and games on. That'll be another $50-60. Sure you can use your SSD but NVME is 10X faster in bus speed than traditional 2.5" SSDs

A SATA-based SSD will do just fine for a gaming PC, and since you're not using a Harddrive for your operating system, a 7200 RPM harddrive will be just fine for storing games. Aside from loading times, there really isn't much difference to note. My personal recommendation is a 250-500 GB SSD for the OS and any vital applications, and a 1-2 TB harddrive for storing games.

Though if you do want to go with an NVMe drive, the Crucial P1 is a good value for money NVMe, in my experience.

As for GPU, Nvidia does have the more stable stuff, though in terms of value, the 5700XT is on par with the 2700S for $100 less. AMD is supposed to get their drivers sorted out, and if they do pull it off, then by all means, I'd recommend a good 5700XT model, like the Gigabyte OC, or the Sapphire Pulse. If you're willing to do a BIOS flash, then you could flash a 5700XT bios onto a 5700 for a performance boost. I've heard the Red Dragon is a good model for the 5700. Otherwise, if you'd rather go into the $300 range, then I'd recommend the 2600, preferably the EVGA KO, since the 2600 FE was superglued together, making maintenance a bitch (such as replacing thermal paste)

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

I'd spend the extra $80 on this bundle and change and get the 8core 3700 series:

Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more - Newegg.com

Newegg.com offers the best prices on computer products, laptop computers, LED LCD TVs, digital cameras, electronics, unlocked phones, office supplies, and more with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Newegg shopping upgraded ™

www.newegg.com

that's 4 more Compute Units at $20/each No brainer and you will get vastly longer life from the Ryzen 7 series than the 5. Also your RAM is going to DD4 from DDR3 which will speed everything up.

Don't forget you'll have to buy an NVME drive that to put your OS and games on. That'll be another $50-60. Sure you can use your SSD but NVME is 10X faster in bus speed than traditional 2.5" SSDs.

Set aside $500 and reuse your video card for now or use the onboard AMD one, it'll be OK for the time being.

That was the plan due to me having lost the extra cables for my PSU. The wires shouldn’t change for that. Do you have any idea the Corsair liquid cooler brackets worked for both chips, or should I replace that too after having used it for so long? Forgive me if I ask stupid questions. The other two builds I’ve done have been from scratch. Will reinstalling Windows for the new chipset automatically format my hard drives or do I need to wipe them beforehand?

 

[Reverend]

That was the plan due to me having lost the extra cables for my PSU. The wires shouldn’t change for that. Do you have any idea the Corsair liquid cooler brackets worked for both chips, or should I replace that too after having used it for so long?

You'll need to buy new brackets. The AM4 socket on the Ryzen is incompatible with Intel sockets. Like trying to put a Ford engine in a Chevy.

A SATA-based SSD will do just fine for a gaming PC, and since you're not using a Harddrive for your operating system, a 7200 RPM harddrive will be just fine for storing games. Aside from loading times, there really isn't much difference to note. My personal recommendation is a 250-500 GB SSD for the OS and any vital applications, and a 1-2 TB harddrive for storing games.

Though if you do want to go with an NVMe drive, the Crucial P1 is a good value for money NVMe, in my experience.

I second this recommendation.

If you have an SSD already and $$$ are an issue stick with your SSD. I went 100% flash for my system as I don't plan on upgrading till PCI-E 5.0 is out. You can always swap reload the OS on an NVME drive at a later day/time.

NVME is nice to have (Sub 5s boot time) but not required.

 

[broilerrx]

That was the plan due to me having lost the extra cables for my PSU. The wires shouldn’t change for that. Do you have any idea the Corsair liquid cooler brackets worked for both chips, or should I replace that too after having used it for so long? Forgive me if I ask stupid questions. The other two builds I’ve done have been from scratch. Will reinstalling Windows for the new chipset automatically format my hard drives or do I need to wipe them beforehand?

The only drive that will be formatted is the drive you host your OS on, and considering you're going from Intel to AMD, a clean install is recommended. If there's anything on the boot drive you don't want to lose, then back it up before you upgrade and reinstall. Unless you're using an old AIO, it should've come included with an AM4 bracket, which uses those plastic clips that are already installed on the motherboard. If you don't mind me asking, how long ago did you buy the AIO?

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

The only drive that will be formatted is the drive you host your OS on, and considering you're going from Intel to AMD, a clean install is recommended. If there's anything on the boot drive you don't want to lose, then back it up before you upgrade and reinstall. Unless you're using an old AIO, it should've come included with an AM4 bracket, which uses those plastic clips that are already installed on the motherboard. If you don't mind me asking, how long ago did you buy the AIO?

I built the computer in late 2016 and haven’t really touched it beyond getting rid of dust inside.

 

[BananaSplit]

Like people recommended, an AMD Ryzen is your best bet. I currently own a Ryzen 7 2700X which was a big upgrade from an old Intel i5 and its kinda funny to see lot of games rarely reaching 20-25 percent in usage now.

I approve the hardware bundle @Reverend linked above but be aware that if you plan to use a nvme ssd the motherboard will disable 2 SATA ports (among the six in the ASUS TUF B450 mobo). This is a known documented behavior and motherboard user manuals often specify it. Nvme SSDs also run rather hot compared to other drives (and heatsinks have the potential to make things worse) but it should be okay as long as your computer case has good airflow, but they're still a bit of a luxury in the end.

Nvidia GPUs are your best pick namely because they dont have shitty drivers often present in AMD GPUs. Right now if you're still playing in 1080p, a GTX 1660 Super does wonders. The RTX line is kinda a meme with the raytracing unless you're willing to spend astronomical amounts of money in high-end.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

Like people recommended, an AMD Ryzen is your best bet. I currently own a Ryzen 7 2700X which was a big upgrade from an old Intel i5 and its kinda funny to see lot of games rarely reaching 20-25 percent in usage now.

I approve the hardware bundle @Reverend linked above but be aware that if you plan to use a nvme ssd the motherboard will disable 2 SATA ports (among the six in the ASUS TUF B450 mobo). This is a known documented behavior and motherboard user manuals often specify it. Nvme SSDs also run rather hot compared to other drives (and heatsinks have the potential to make things worse) but it should be okay as long as your computer case has good airflow, but they're still a bit of a luxury in the end.

Nvidia GPUs are your best pick namely because they dont have shitty drivers often present in AMD GPUs. Right now if you're still playing in 1080p, a GTX 1660 Super does wonders. The RTX line is kinda a meme with the raytracing unless you're willing to spend astronomical amounts of money in high-end.

I can just throw in another SATA drive if it’s an issue. Have a 400-ish ssd as a boot drive and a 2TB hard drive as is.
Edit: Order placed. Last of the Christmas money should cushion the sting a bit.

 

[BananaSplit]

I can just throw in another SATA drive if it’s an issue. Have a 400-ish ssd as a boot drive and a 2TB hard drive as is.
Edit: Order placed. Last of the Christmas money should cushion the sting a bit.

There is zero gain in using a nvme for vidya to be honest, the differences compared to a sata SSD are at best one second apart in loading times. Nvme SSDs are more meant for people who constantly write things such as video editing. It's not like the overlap between a HDD and SSD.

I do recommend using a sata SSD at least for games with huge large files, which is certainly going to be the case for Doom Eternal I assume. The drawback is that a few of those large games can eat all the storage easily. I have six of those games that use about 350 GB in my SSD.

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

All AMD for price and performance. AMD drivers are all good now

 

[Peasant]

I've been doing a fair bit of research for a build of my own lately, and I'm going with the Ryzen 7 3700x. Every metric I've looked at suggests that buying anything more expensive for gaming is a waste of money. Intel still has somewhat better benchmark numbers at the high end, but given the recent issues the company has faced I'd say it's safer to stick with AMD. On the GPU front Nvidia still firmly controls the high-end market, but AMD has released some rather compelling budget cards.

As a side note, I would really like it if there were more options for high-end hardware that don't include retarded LEDs everywhere. When did we collectively stop ostracizing people who bought that shit?

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

I've been doing a fair bit of research for a build of my own lately, and I'm going with the Ryzen 7 3700x. Every metric I've looked at suggests that buying anything more expensive for gaming is a waste of money. Intel still has somewhat better benchmark numbers at the high end, but given the recent issues the company has faced I'd say it's safer to stick with AMD. On the GPU front Nvidia still firmly controls the high-end market, but AMD has released some rather compelling budget cards.

As a side note, I would really like it if there were more options for high-end hardware that don't include exceptional LEDs everywhere. When did we collectively stop ostracizing people who bought that shit?

2014-2015 we stopped ostracizing it. Tbh my only issue with AMD now is that they need to get their Memory speed under control whennever 1440p 144hz is available. It just runs all day.

 

[broilerrx]

I just looked at the GPU requirements, for anyone who's still looking into it, and currently, a 970 isn't very steep all, especially if you can find a good one used. Though if you're looking into a new GPU, the 1650 Super is a good card if you're just shooting for 1080p/60fps, and should get you a good framerate in Doom Eternal, especially if it's as well optimized as Doom 2016.

EDIT: If you're going for the 1650 Super, make sure you go for the Super, and not the regular 1650. Aside from a couple of models that don't have a 6 pin connector, which are a pain in the ass to find, it is not a very good card in general. The Super, on the other hand, for 10 dollars more, is a far better card