New budget Ryzen CPU's and AMD's game plan

[3s-gtech]

My thoughts are ‘meh’. Intel need to look at a re-design, as they’re being spanked and rightly so. Even the traditional die shrinks are only going to close the gap. The more success AMD have with this, the more they’ll be able to drive down prices to hammer Intel, and benefit the consumer (as an aside).

 

It’s the reason I’ve had AMD CPUs for years, even when they weren’t as good - support the underdog or we’re left with no competition.

[keyboards]

Amd has smashed it in recent times, would be great to see them in more business machines thus hopefully lowering prices without performance

[localzuk]

All our laptop and Chromebook purchases have been AMD models for about 18 months now. Not bought any desktops in that time either.

 

The price difference is considerable. £30 more per Chromebook difference for an equivalent Intel model when we looked. 15% extra.

[Dos_Box]

With AMD wading in with their ray tracing Big Navi cards soon there will be some decent competition in the graphics market again too.

Both Nvidia and AMD are to announce their latest GPU lineup soon and hopefully ray tracing cards will become a bit more affordable by September.

[Ditto]

With AMD wading in with their ray tracing Big Navi cards soon there will be some decent competition in the graphics market again too.

Both Nvidia and AMD are to announce their latest GPU lineup soon and hopefully ray tracing cards will become a bit more affordable by September.

 

My eldest son turns the magical 13 (for Youtube ambitions!) in few weeks, and has specced out his first self build. I'll be coming back for tips on his proposed build, which looks pretty sensible if I'm honest and includes a switch to AMD after being steadfast Intel fan until recently, but I'm not sure I can persuade him to wait until September for a GPU!

[HTCPCP]

Part of the reason why it hasn't taken off as much in business as it could have (well apart from the Intel bri... I mean rebates that the big producers get) is the point that there aren't any current generation AMD APUs (the 3000 series processors with integrated graphics are 2000 series processors with some Vega cores for the graphics).

 

I know I tend to avoid buying any computer with discrete graphics unless its for a specific purpose for work machines, so am limited by options. That being said, I'm a massive fan of Ryzen, and am really glad that after all those years in the darkness of living with A Bulldozer gen CPU, I finally have a decent AMD system again!

[Ditto]

So as promised earlier in this thread - I'd appreciate a quick check on this build my son is proposing.

Gigabyte B450M S2H - Amazon £60, but reported out of stock!

AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Processor - Amazon, £120, but listed out of stock!

Corsair CC-9011075-WW Carbide Series 100R Windowed Mid-Tower ATX Computer Case - Amazon, £40.

Corsair VS550 550 W Active PFC 80 PLUS - Amazon £45 and in stock not yet released.

ARCTIC F12 - 120 mm Standard Case Fan - Five Pack - Amazon, £17

 

I'm looking to check if this is a balanced build. Need to source probably the MB and CPU in about 7 days, but both out of stock on Amazon. Not looking to move too much from the listed component prices. Any tips on better options/deals or stock levels.

 

*** EDIT - I think MB and CPU might not be compatible, but happy to be pointed in the right direction! ***

Edited May 31, 2020 by Ditto

[Achandler]

A quick look at your CPU choice, everywhere at that price is out of stock. Seems to be due in on Friday this week at some places, then Friday next week at others.

 

Overclockers have it, but its £20 more.

 

With regards to your board and cpu not being compatible, it will almost definitely need a BIOS update which might be PITA without a working CPU, depending on the design of it. Some manufacturers boards still boot to let you bios update and some don't and it varies across their ranges.

[flyinghaggis]

If you can wait for another 2 weeks the replacement for the B450 (the imaginatively named B550) is about the be released. 15 June IIRC? This is the reason B450 boards are low on stock everywhere.

 

Aside from a couple of spec upgrades the good thing about the B550 is that it'll have out of the box support for the whole range of 3000 series CPU's so no worrying about buying a motherboard and it not being compatible with your processor.

 

I guess regarding spec it's always easy to say spend more money but would a 6-core Ryzen 5 3600 be worth considering as it's only about £30-40 more for potentially another 2 cores which I'd assume would be significantly quicker in multi-core apps?

[ICTDirect_Dave]

The B550's are released in two weeks but apparently we shouldn't expect manufacturers to start shipping boards until mid-july. That was part of the reason I went for X570 with my 3600X and not the B550.

 

I've got the 3600X running nicely at 4.25GHz across all cores btw. Which is delightful! Video rendering is super-quick and it games just brilliantly.

[bald_pig]

there's a stock shortage of most components so it may be worth waiting a while for better stock/pricing

 

Also, you haven't listed a GPU, are you re-using one you already have?

[synaesthesia]

My kit turned up on Saturday - there was a large delay on getting the 3300x in so opted to change it out for a 3600 instead. Not disappointed

Only downside is the AsRock motherboard I opted for - what a crock! Assumed as they were getting so popular these days it wouldn't hurt to give them a go. Website, documentation, drivers - all laughable and the RAID system on the boards is diabolical. Will stick with it a while before changing out for something decent.

Still, performance is a very noticable increase even from my i5 4690.

[Dos_Box]

there's a stock shortage of most components so it may be worth waiting a while for better stock/pricing

 

Also, you haven't listed a GPU, are you re-using one you already have?

 

I've encountered that when building my sons new PC. Admittedly I was on a budget, but even things like cases are getting thin on the ground over the past couple of months.

Lots of people have got back into gaming during lockdown and with supplies from China drying up, almost all areas of PC building have a shortage of components.

[HTCPCP]

So as promised earlier in this thread - I'd appreciate a quick check on this build my son is proposing.

Gigabyte B450M S2H - Amazon £60, but reported out of stock!

AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Processor - Amazon, £120, but listed out of stock!

Corsair CC-9011075-WW Carbide Series 100R Windowed Mid-Tower ATX Computer Case - Amazon, £40.

Corsair VS550 550 W Active PFC 80 PLUS - Amazon £45 and in stock not yet released.

ARCTIC F12 - 120 mm Standard Case Fan - Five Pack - Amazon, £17

 

I'm looking to check if this is a balanced build. Need to source probably the MB and CPU in about 7 days, but both out of stock on Amazon. Not looking to move too much from the listed component prices. Any tips on better options/deals or stock levels.

 

*** EDIT - I think MB and CPU might not be compatible, but happy to be pointed in the right direction! ***

 

The 1300x is no doubt an interesting CPU, it all depends what you are wanting to do. The 2600 is around the same price on many sites, and while not having the same single core performance, does offer a better multithreadeded performance, and has 2 cores, 4 thread advantage over the 1300x. It

 

Motherboard - Looks reasonable, but with only 2 DIMM slots, will reduce future options. On mATX boards, I will tend towards 4 slot boards over 2.

 

Case - Corsair are normally pretty reasonable. Doesn't need to be high end or an airflow designed case, so this will be fine for normal use. The side window is Acrylic, so can scratch quite easily

 

PSU - Not the most efficient, but will do fine. Modular is a luxury, but I tend to go for at minimum 80+Bronze, but always aim for 80+ Gold rated if I can.

 

Fans - The case comes with 1 by the looks of it, an intake in the front. I would suggest getting 1 other fan, rather than a 5 pack. A Corsair, BeQuiet or Noctua fan would be quite a decent exhaust fan at the back, and offer more than enough performance for this. You should be able to get away without it too, as unless you put in a high end graphics card (which you really shouldn't be with a Ryzen 3 CPU) heat shouldn't be an issue)

 

Other things to think about:

Graphics - the CPU you are looking at doesn't have onboard graphics, so you will need a graphics card for this. If you don't wont a graphics card, The Ryzen 5 3500G is around £150 and is fine for light use, and fine for 720p gaming and light 1080p gaming

Memory - The faster the better - AMD likes fast memory. A 3200mhz kit is well worth the few extra pounds investment in performance. Ryzen optimised is a nice to have and guarantees the best performance with the processor, but not essential. Just make sure that you change the memory speed in the BIOS.

Storage - SSD for boot is key for any machines now, but that really shouldn't need saying. As always, avoid the random brand imports for these, and stick to a reputable brand - While some are really quite good value, many cut corners to bring costs down

 

 

But as per previous posts, its really not a great time to be buying components at the moment.

Edited June 1, 2020 by HTCPCP

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Lots of people have got back into gaming during lockdown and with supplies from China drying up, almost all areas of PC building have a shortage of components.

Which is why it' is a seller's market right now.

 

If you're considering an upgrade and you still have a halfway-decent setup, now is the time.

You may pay a little more upfront, but if I can claw back £410 of the £430 I spent upgrading from 4th Gen i7 to Ryzen then I assume lots of others can too.

 

I still can't believe I bought a 3600X for £178 and sold a 4790K for £180!

 

When supplies return to normal in a couple of months there won't be so many people willing to spend more upgrading older systems and the value of your current parts will plummet.

[bald_pig]

The 1300x is no doubt an interesting CPU, it all depends what you are wanting to do. The 2600 is around the same price on many sites, and while not having the same single core performance, does offer a better multithreadeded performance, and has 2 cores, 4 thread advantage over the 1300x.

 

If you're going down that route you might as well get the 1600 AF for even less, it's a rebranded 2600.

[HTCPCP]

If you're going down that route you might as well get the 1600 AF for even less, it's a rebranded 2600.

If you can get it anywhere near RRP, prices between the 2 flick around so shop around. I wouldn't be surprised if it has been given the chop by AMD now the Ryzen 3 3000 series has been launched.

[Dos_Box]

If you're going down that route you might as well get the 1600 AF for even less, it's a rebranded 2600.

 

I was looking for one of those, but the price was silly high over where it should be, and hard to obtain since lockdown.

[Ditto]

there's a stock shortage of most components so it may be worth waiting a while for better stock/pricing

 

Also, you haven't listed a GPU, are you re-using one you already have?

 

His ambitions long term for the GPU are way too expensive. His pre-upgrade idea is GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 OC 4G. Even with a large family, he'll be hard pressed to get all he needs, but was recently given a GT 1060 by a neighbour, so that might have to do in the near term future. The shortage might become an issue with so little time to get stuff. The funny thing is we were going to get a bike for him, but they are in short supply too! OH reluctantly accepted getting some of the PC components to avoid no physical present on his birthday!

[Ditto]

But as per previous posts, its really not a great time to be buying components at the moment.

Yeah, it's looking like not a great time!

[Ditto]

Which is why it' is a seller's market right now.

It certainly is a it mad out their. I've sold a couple of webcams that I had spare and have made the best part of £250 for a £70 investment! I sold same son's Trek bike for £100 meaning it cost £12 for 18-24 months use. Annoyingly the buyer is a semi-trader and seems to have sold it on a day later for something nearer double that. It's looking like I'll get £60+ for an i7 2600K! The downside is now trying to buy a bike or PC components!

 

Currrently, I'm thinking maybe just get the CPU and a motherboard. Ebuyer are saying the processor is due in on Friday. Unfortunately asking him to delay his 13th birthday isn't going to wash!

[Achandler]

@Ditto

 

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/amd-ryzen-3-3300x-quad-core-4.3ghz-asus-b450m-a-motherboard-cpu-bundle.html

 

Seems instock as well

[Ditto]

Thanks for all your input. The deed is done, so ended up blowing the budget and have gone for Ryzen 5 3600, X570 MB and the windowed case, but have kept it all under £400. With stock levels as they are, decided not to risk delaying as we needed to make sure we had something for the day. Hopefully he gets enough money to buy the other components to get something up and running by the summer holidays.

[Dos_Box]

Thanks for all your input. The deed is done, so ended up blowing the budget and have gone for Ryzen 5 3600, X570 MB and the windowed case, but have kept it all under £400. With stock levels as they are, decided not to risk delaying as we needed to make sure we had something for the day. Hopefully he gets enough money to buy the other components to get something up and running by the summer holidays.

 

What GPU will you be using?

[bald_pig]

What GPU will you be using?

 

On the last page:

His ambitions long term for the GPU are way too expensive. His pre-upgrade idea is GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 OC 4G. Even with a large family, he'll be hard pressed to get all he needs, but was recently given a GT 1060 by a neighbour, so that might have to do in the near term future. The shortage might become an issue with so little time to get stuff. The funny thing is we were going to get a bike for him, but they are in short supply too! OH reluctantly accepted getting some of the PC components to avoid no physical present on his birthday!