Desktop Computers

  • Guest, it's time once again for the hotly contested and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and fill out your bracket!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Once again, only you can decide!

Argarth

On the verandah
1,206
1,045
Great video. He's got some balls and thank goodness for that. Hardware Unboxed is another channel I look to for trustworthy reviews. Steve really stuck his neck out with this one though, kudos.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
14,368
6,087
He's putting a lot on the line to post that. Just showing those messages/emails could land him into some trouble.
 

Xexx

Vyemm Raider
7,385
1,603
46460CD4-C2EE-4C8A-952A-41C54CE6A5F4.jpeg

Basement is an absolute mess but fuck selling my 2080Ti, it’s new home is the test bench. Went to microcenter today, god bless that place. They had the 3100 for 129??? So got the 3600 and the MSI B550 Tomahawk.
 

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
14,368
6,087
Managed to find all of the pieces for my Hackintosh build in stock. Should be a very stable thunderbolt 3 studio machine. Now for the wait on shipping.

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700 2.9 GHz 8-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 CPU Cooler ($54.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z490 VISION D ATX LGA1200 Motherboard ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($112.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital SN750 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ Western Digital)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 8 GB GAMING 8G Video Card ($169.99 @ B&H)
Case: be quiet! Pure Base 500DX ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA G5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($145.98 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: fenvi FV-T919 PCIe x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1403.90
 

Alexzander

Golden Knight of the Realm
520
39
Do any of you have experience with recent i3 processors? I'd like to do a home office PC (Office suite, youtube, and maybe light gaming). Would an i3 10300 with integrated video and 16 gigs of ram give a snappy experience? I feel like going up to an i5 is probably overkill for what they would want to do with it, but I don't want to build a dog of a system for them.
 

Xexx

Vyemm Raider
7,385
1,603
If you want integrated video I’d wait till the 4000 APUs hit market or go for a 3400G.
 

Alexzander

Golden Knight of the Realm
520
39
It's not so much that I want integrated video, but it would be nice to cut costs. Like I said, it is mostly going to run MS Office, Zoom meetings, and Youtube.

I am planning on picking up a 3070 for my PC when they hit market later this year. Would the i3-10300 make more sense with a hand me down 970gtx?
 

slippery

<Bronze Donator>
7,886
7,701
It's not so much that I want integrated video, but it would be nice to cut costs. Like I said, it is mostly going to run MS Office, Zoom meetings, and Youtube.

I am planning on picking up a 3070 for my PC when they hit market later this year. Would the i3-10300 make more sense with a hand me down 970gtx?
You really should go with a Ryzen for your desires, but regardless the 970 will be better than integrated graphics.
 

Xexx

Vyemm Raider
7,385
1,603
It's not so much that I want integrated video, but it would be nice to cut costs. Like I said, it is mostly going to run MS Office, Zoom meetings, and Youtube.

I am planning on picking up a 3070 for my PC when they hit market later this year. Would the i3-10300 make more sense with a hand me down 970gtx?

With Slip - on the low end im not sure what intel has that competes productivity-wise with AMD - I mean for gaming high end and money not an option - intel will win (for a couple months) - However for non gaming related task its kind of a no brainer except in some single thread only task.

I am not sure if black friday will be cancelled due to covid but sure as shit will not stop cyber monday and crazy deals - the 2700x was 170 last year and i suspect it may be even lower this time around with ryzen 4000 release.

also this


if you got a microcenter nearby, this is better than the 10300 - and with your 970 its a win win. If not like i mentioned, wait till black friday if no rush.
 
Last edited:

Alexzander

Golden Knight of the Realm
520
39
Thanks for the tip. It looks like Amazon has a decent sale for the same processor now. I've always had (very) bad experiences with non-Intel CPUs, but I probably just had bad luck.

edit: looks like the Ryzen 5 3600 does not have onboard video, and I won't have a hand me down vid card until the 3000 series comes out. The Ryzen option that has a built-in GPU, the Ryzen 3400g, is a pretty bit step down from the i3 10100, which does have onboard video.


Here is kind of the skeleton of what I would be looking at:

This seems like a better bang for the buck with room for a future vid card upgrade than the Ryzen CPUs. Am I missing something?
 
Last edited:

Ao-

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
<WoW Guild Officer>
7,879
507
I need a cheap Win10 key, where should I buy it from to not-get-scammed but also not shell out $140-$200?
 

ver_21

Molten Core Raider
975
-361
Thanks for the tip. It looks like Amazon has a decent sale for the same processor now. I've always had (very) bad experiences with non-Intel CPUs, but I probably just had bad luck.

edit: looks like the Ryzen 5 3600 does not have onboard video, and I won't have a hand me down vid card until the 3000 series comes out. The Ryzen option that has a built-in GPU, the Ryzen 3400g, is a pretty bit step down from the i3 10100, which does have onboard video.


Here is kind of the skeleton of what I would be looking at:

This seems like a better bang for the buck with room for a future vid card upgrade than the Ryzen CPUs. Am I missing something?


in general, Userbenchmark favors Intel. And that particular Userbenchmark seems to give the 3400G inferior RAM. AMD performance hinges on RAM.

I've owned a 3400G but not the i3. My guess would be that, with 3200 RAM, and an easy CPU OC to 4GHz and GPU OC to 1600MHz, the 3400G is clearly better, but no clue if the price difference is worth the performance difference.

But with the 4000 series APUs coming out, I would just grab one of those in the fall. Those APUs will basically make the need for discrete GPUs for 1080P questionable, if not obsolete.

Also, you buy Intel, you get an Intel mobo...one more thing in the way of upgrading to superior AMD processors for the foreseeable future.
 
Last edited:

Alexzander

Golden Knight of the Realm
520
39
Thank you for the continued advice.

A few things on background:

- waiting until the fall is not an option; the build is to replace an ancient a10-5959 laptop that has basically already shit the bed
- this won't really be used for much other than office apps/watching TV, so I am not sure how relevant upgrading in a year would be

Out of curiosity, how stable are 3400g overclocks with the stock cooler? I'm hoping to build something that is super low maintenance. If I put the last screw in the case and it stays shut for five years (other than dusting), I would be happy.
 

ver_21

Molten Core Raider
975
-361
Thank you for the continued advice.

A few things on background:

- waiting until the fall is not an option; the build is to replace an ancient a10-5959 laptop that has basically already shit the bed
- this won't really be used for much other than office apps/watching TV, so I am not sure how relevant upgrading in a year would be

Out of curiosity, how stable are 3400g overclocks with the stock cooler? I'm hoping to build something that is super low maintenance. If I put the last screw in the case and it stays shut for five years (other than dusting), I would be happy.

Understood. There's no firm release date on the 4000s for retail yet, anyway.

I think a 3400G would be fine for your purposes. I ran mine with the stock fan and iirc I ran at a fixed OC of 3.9GHz CPU and 1600MHz GPU (OC through the BIOS, not Ryzen Master). This would run Doom (2016) at 1080P.

For mobo I'd recommend an x570 or b550 board, probably from Asus. I'd recommend MSI (I use one and have come to like their BIOSes) but they've gotten some bad attention lately.

LOL. Trash hardware matches their business practices. Color me shocked.

Speak of the devil...

Yeah, I felt so dirty filling out the review to earn my $50 rebate. On the flip side, my x570 Ace board has done well, and they've released quite a few BIOS updates over the last year.
 
Last edited:
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Alexzander

Golden Knight of the Realm
520
39
Sanity check? Any thoughts on different parts to consider? Thanks in advance for any help.

I most likely am (waaaay) over doing it on the PSU, and I am not married to the monitor. The B550 mb is apparently not compatible with the 3400g, so I went with a x570.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WYb2vW

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($147.94 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($67.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec VSK4000E U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.19 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA GD (2019) 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($87.81 @ Amazon)
Monitor: BenQ GW2480 23.8" 1920x1080 60 Hz Monitor ($119.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $706.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-04 15:54 EDT-0400
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

kegkilla

The Big Mod
<Banned>
11,320
14,738
Sanity check? Any thoughts on different parts to consider? Thanks in advance for any help.

I most likely am (waaaay) over doing it on the PSU, and I am not married to the monitor. The B550 mb is apparently not compatible with the 3400g, so I went with a x570.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WYb2vW

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($147.94 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($67.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec VSK4000E U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.19 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA GD (2019) 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($87.81 @ Amazon)
Monitor: BenQ GW2480 23.8" 1920x1080 60 Hz Monitor ($119.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $706.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-04 15:54 EDT-0400
What are you going to be using this for? Office work?
 

kegkilla

The Big Mod
<Banned>
11,320
14,738
Sanity check? Any thoughts on different parts to consider? Thanks in advance for any help.

I most likely am (waaaay) over doing it on the PSU, and I am not married to the monitor. The B550 mb is apparently not compatible with the 3400g, so I went with a x570.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WYb2vW

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($147.94 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($67.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec VSK4000E U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.19 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA GD (2019) 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($87.81 @ Amazon)
Monitor: BenQ GW2480 23.8" 1920x1080 60 Hz Monitor ($119.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $706.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-04 15:54 EDT-0400
Sorry just saw the earlier post. Only thing I would object to is the PSU. I know this will be controversial but I think EVGA build quality has gone to shit and wouldn't trust them with a power supply. A hidden gem when it comes to PSUs is Fractal design. I would spend the extra $13 and get this: Fractal Design Ion+ 560P 80 PLUS Platinum Certified 560W Full Modular Compact ATX Power Supply with UltraFlex Cables - Newegg.com

Other than that, you can definitely get better value on the monitor if you keep an eye on slick deals. For example this is on sale for $80 today and mostly comparable to that BenQ: