If you needed to buy a combo today, which way would you go and why?
Both come out to around $400 depending on the motherboard and I'm not sure the direction to take. Will be paired with a DeepCool Gammaxx 400 air cooler either way.
Will be for basic computing (web browsing, basic documents etc) and will be paired with a GTX 1080 for gaming.
Had my mainboard blow up (i7 6700k) and I need to buy now, can't wait for supplies to stabilise or for new releases.
From what I have been reading cores are going to become more important after games filter through from PS5 and whatever the new Xbox is called.
I voted for Ryzen for my personal situation, but I feel there's no wrong answer, it just really depends on your situation, preferences and priorities
I picked Ryzen just because you can upgrade later with the same board.
Ryzen.
Ryzen, buy a board which you can future proof B550 its safe and cost effective and will last you a few generations.
I'm pairing a Ryzen 5 3600 and a B550M board with a 1060 Ti.
I believe the current 5000 series is the last that will support AM4.
Also, screw Intel and their anti consumer tactics.
I don't like them either, I was a proud owner of an AMD K6-2 350 back in the day, I also had a cytrix CPU. It just seems like thanks to AMD, intel is becoming competitive again.
Several scenarios and respective price breakdown one may consider (skipping the ones where an individual already knows the features he/she needs, and hence just jump on the suitable platform):
*Options with upgrade path allowing newer gen processors (namely intel 11th gen Rocket Lake S, and AMD Ryzen 5000 series), without restraining performance as much as possible:
10400F, $215 (MSY) + ~$30 for cpu cooler = ~$245, plus:
Z490 board, only option allowing upgrade to next gen, with memory overclocking, and PCIe 4.0. Important to choose a decent board with capable power delivery to allow as wide as possible the range of potential processors upgrade (11900K has so far been reported to have the same 125W TDP/PL1 sustained power draw, 250W TDP/PL2 burst power draw, as 10900K.)
E.g MSI Z490-A PRO $238.50 (Futu eBay Plus deal)
= ~$484 (round to whole number)
H470 and Q470 boards technically allows an upgrade path for 11th gen CPUs, but no CPU overclocking, fixed memory, no PCIe 4.0 (although same for AM4 B450), most importantly, limited option of decent boards (while Q470 is workstation/enterprise chipset so not easily purchased). The seemingly decent Gigabyte H470 Aorus Pro AX is even more expensive than Z490. Might as well just go Z490.
3600, ~$305 (CA eBay Plus deal), or ~$287 (Amazon US via Prime member free delivery), plus:
B550
MSI B550-A PRO, allows memory overclocking, CPU overclocking, handles all current Ryzen CPUs fine even when overclocked
$229 (CentreCom, Umart)
= ~$534 (or ~$516)
B550M micro-ATX boards, if you want to save a little and the features are sufficient.
MSI B550M BAZOOKA $189 (PCByte free shipping)
ASRock Steel Legend ~$190 (PCByte incl shipping)
= ~$495 (or ~$477)
While AM4 B450 doesn't allow PCIe 4.0, but it pretty much allows a fully functional upgrade path for all the announced and future 5000 series Ryzen CPU. PCIe 4.0 doesn't bring much of a difference for gaming for the current gen hardware, and unlikely for the next gen gpus in the mainstream segment.
MSI B450 Tomahawk Max, ~$185 (HarrisTech via Amazon, SkyComp)
= ~$490 (or ~$472)
MSI B450M Mortar Max, again micro-ATX, purpose of further savings, ~$140 (CA eBay Plus deal)
= ~$445 (or ~$427)
*Options with no regards to upgrade path, budget is king, and save as much as possible:
intel H410 boards start at $89, while AM4 A320 boards start at $65.
10400F will start at $334, while 3600 starts at $370 (or ~$352).
Mate! Appreciate your work!
I feel you can't really go wrong with either option especially for your usage (if only the Ryzen 3300X's MSRP isn't a unicorn, it'll be quite suitable for you actually just realised 3300X's AU MSRP is similar to the 10400F. 10400F is definitely the choice over 3300X. comes down to MB prices then.), but just such a pity that the Ryzen prices aren't as good as before so not as good value.
Going with intel does come with caveats (mainly upgrade path and board power delivery capability), but as you've already got the cooler, that'll make the intel option quite a bit more enticing as well. So it'll come down to the features you need the board to have (e.g. how many USB ports, type of USB front panel connection, built-in WiFi inclusion, on board audio, other IO ports etc etc). Then see which option will be cheaper.
Personally I went with Ryzen also because the future upgrade options will be less power hungry (while it often doesn't matter to most people, but well, I mind), while 10400F are very much on-par in terms of power draw.
Good call on the power draw issue. This PC is always on, it lives in the garage and runs a plex server as well as streaming games via ethernet around the house to various devices using parsec. I think considering that the Ryzen option is looking even more attractive.
I went with a 3600, mainly because I was already down the path with a B350 board which has been good to me.
I considered switching to Intel as I was pissed AMD blocked an upgrade to 5000 series. But was a bit worried about i5 performance for gaming (Gamers Nexus have been preaching i5's suck for 1% lows for a while, wasn't worth the risk, the i7 is too expensive and Intel have spent far too long treating consumers like shit).
3600 will suit me just fine with a 3080 when I can get a realistic price and I'll replace the lot with next gen Ryzen and DDR in a year or so.
If you're gaming on the 3080, so presumably 1440p or above, the 3600 might be able to hold until the 'second gen' of the DDR5 platforms (to avoid possible general mess of new first gen DDR/everything). But yea, it'll depend on how much you can resist the upgrade itch lol.
The 1600 AF was plenty good enough for me, but then after upgrading a component one after the other, it kinda became a roll as it makes me think/look up what I can upgrade next.
I bought,
I5 10400f $199
ASRock h410m HDV M2 $78
16gb 3200mhz cl16 dr4 $89. (Not overkill, just awesome value @2666mhz 14-14-14-34)
Between those 2 CPUS buy on price, but the AMD probably has a better upgrade path.
Nice.
Are you using the stock intel cooler?
I just had the same dilemma, but on an mItX build. Went 3600.
Basically, B550M boards for AMD are cheaper than Z490 and even some decent comparable Z460 boards for Intel. But the B550M has gen 4 PCIE for longevity (a few years later if u need more drive space, get a gen 4 nvme).
The idea that you can plug in a 5950X, going from a 3600 to 16 high performance core that's efficient is just too good to pass up when the 10400f + MB + cooler combo comes out similar in price to the 3600 + B550 board.
Gaming perf is close between 3600 & 10400F (assuming high speed DDR4), productivity faster on 3600, better upgrade path on B550.. shouldn't even be a contest.
LGA1200 boards are too expensive. Buy a B450 for $70 from CCPU, then buy a 1600 AF for $169 from Mwave. All up $249 and you'll have a 6 cores with HyperThreading. This is your best choice for the money.
https://www.ccpu.com.au/show_prod.php?class_id=motherAMD940&…
https://www.mwave.com.au/product/open-box-amd-ryzen-5-1600-a…
I'd personally go a 10100f and b460 board. Job done for around $250. In gaming the 10100f is less than 3% lower than 10400f, and comparable with Ryzen 3600