Looking for a cheaper and reliable recommendation

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zerionline
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Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2020 8:13 am

Looking for a cheaper and reliable recommendation

Post by zerionline » Tue Dec 08, 2020 8:25 am

Hi Everyone,

I am looking to build a PC for my son this Christmas. I've selected Ryzen 3600X and RTX 2060 Super.

But since I am not an enthusiast when it comes to PC building, I am totally clueless as to what motherboard to go for, especially since there are all these B450, B550, and X570 motherboards out there.

The dilemma was further intensified by the fact that this article I found on reddit has emphasized a lot on selecting a motherboard with a good VRM.

[Mod: link removed]


But I am not really sure what exactly is the science behind VRM? What sort of VRM layout would be sufficient for a college-goer to play games at 4K at an ease? (obviously not at full graphic details but just being able to play the modern titles would suffice).

Can anyone from the moderators or users suggest to me the best motherboard for the CPU and graphic cards I've selected?

CA_Steve
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Re: Looking for a cheaper and reliable recommendation

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:34 am

Welcome to SPCR.

If you can find one, get the R5 5600X rather than the 3600. Massive improvements. Won't see a big bump for gameplay*, but he will for other CPU intensive tasks. I expect the R5 5600 (non-X) will be the sweet spot for price/performance..but it's not out, yet.

Most review sites (and I removed the one you listed because it's your first post and the site is just a link referral site rather than a decent reviewer) that go on about VRM circuitry are focused on overclocking. And overclocking really isn't worth it for the power/heat/noise it adds to gain a few fps.

For motherboards, just focus on the 4 main OEMs (Asus, Asrock, MSI, Gigabyte) and the features you want. You probably don't need an X570. The primary difference between B450 and B550 is the former can provide PCIe 4.0 lanes via the CPU only, while the latter provides additional PCIe 4.0 lanes via the chipset. Not going to see a benefit with a midrange gfx card and midrange PCIe SSD storage for a few years.

Other stuff to look at:
- quality of the motherboard audio
- does it use a Realtek Networking chip or Intel
- is it the bottom end of the model stack (possible fewer BIOS updates, fewer BIOS features)

* RTX 2060 Super won't provide good frame rates at 4k, except for maybe some eSports games. You might wait for RTX 3060 Ti availability - still not great at 4k, but a big bump over the 2060 Super...or the RX 6800.

Abula
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Re: Looking for a cheaper and reliable recommendation

Post by Abula » Tue Dec 08, 2020 12:51 pm

I second the AMD 5600x as one of the best gaming cpus out there, so that would be my pick.

For motherboard, i would go with B550 so you get a passive chipset, its been out more than 3 months now so bios have mature enough, that said as with x570 new bios have been released to support new ryzen cpus. Check out ASUS TUF GAMING B550-PLUS i like a little more gigbayte vrms and cooling solution, but they seem to be having issues with usb ports and the newer bios, probably will get sorted in time, but i haven't had a single issue on my Asus B550M TUF + 5900x.

For GPUs, not sure of your budget, but the RTX3060Ti seems like a very good offering, unless you have $575-650 for AMD 6800 cards.
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Olle P
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Location: Sweden

Re: Looking for a cheaper and reliable recommendation

Post by Olle P » Tue Dec 15, 2020 2:24 am

While I mostly agree with the previous replies there could be some different ways of thinking:
What's most important: Staying within the budget of your setup in post #1 or reaching a specific performance (possibly at a much higher cost)?
You get a computer with okay 1080p performance at about the same cost of just the graphics card required to run 4k...

Since the others have suggested more costly and higher performance options I'd provide some more budget friendly thoughts:
CPU: The R5 3600X shouldn't be your first choice unless you get it a very good price. The R5 3600 is essentially the very same performance at a lower price or you can spend a little more to get the R7 3700X which with eight cores should provide a longer useful life span.
Graphics card: The RTX 2060 Super is okay (good for high frequency 1080p or moderate 1440p) at the moment. Looking forward (by comparing relative performance in Cyberpunk 2077 to older titles) one can see that the Turing architecture is already beginning to feel old. If I were now to purchase a graphics card at that price and performance level I'd opt for AMD's Navi instead, Radeon RX 5700(XT). I'd expect that card to perform significantly better than Turing over time.
Motherboard: Chipset depends a bit on your choice of CPU and future plans. I don't expect any of the current motherboards to support CPUs beyond the newly released Zen3 architecture. With a B550 or a newer desing B450 motherboard it's possible to replace the initial Zen2 CPU with a Zen3 when they get a price cut as Zen4 is released (expected early 2022). Such a replacement is my plan for myself, upgrading from six to at least eight cores, depending on pricing at that time.
I'd also suggest going for a mobo with four RAM slots to allow easy expansion if desired later on.

Then we have some other important components:
RAM: Use a type that's listed as compatible with the motherboard. 3,200 MHz is the current sweet spot in pricing, and if you're willing to spend more money opt for lower latency rather than higher frequency. 2x8 GB is suitable for most users.
Storage: A low cost 1TB SSD should cover the basic need for space while providing sufficient performance. (Can be a 2.5" SATA drive or M.2 format.)
Power supply: Don't overdo it! 500W (continuous) and 80Plus Bronze is sufficient for the parts I've suggested. Increase to ~650W with a higher performance graphics card.

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