Help me build my PC 2020 Catch All

I see what your problem is. The best deals are out of stock. I filtered to show only AMD pre-builts and every time I though "that one could work..." it was out of stock.

And as far as the 3070 goes, it may be worth ~400$ more to you. But it is not worth it to me. I'd pay $100-150 more for it but anything more than that and you might as well be paying scalper prices.

If I were buying a prebuilt for myself, I would probably do something like the Corsair Vengeance a7200.

$2249 for a Ryzen 5600X + RTX 3070, or $2099 for the 5600X + RTX 3060ti

Or I would customize an Alienware Aurora R10 as high or low as I could go, and I would enjoy the compact case and not get too caught up in what-ifs over future upgrades that I would never end up doing anyway because I'd be looking to upgrade the entire platform when that time comes.

Hoping for a little advice. My nephew contacted me, and is apparently trying to put together his own computer. I want to give him solid advice, so I was hoping for some recommendations on some lower and mid range parts.

Motherboards and CPUs, mostly. I had a recently replaced GPU I could lend to his efforts, but I suppose he will also need fun things like monitors and keyboards. He is only 12, so I don't want to overwhelm him with the cost, so I plan on revealing all this info slowing.

I appreciate whatever advice all you computer sages can offer.

Get a budget from him. At least a ballpark. "Low and mid range" can cover quite a huge cost spectrum.

Well, GPU is the worst part right now because prices are sky high, so it's good that you're able to supply that.

The CPU-MB combo I went with was the Intel i5-11400 and MSI Z590-A PRO. The CPU is (1) available and (2) outperforms Ryzen at the similar price point. You don't need to get the exact board I got, it too was practically the only one available at the time, but I opted for the 590 because it had faster RAM support out of the box. If you want to save money then the 560 Micro-ATX's can be had around $100.

Ryzen is so overpriced right now, and Intel's reputation with gaming enthusiasts so bad, that the i5-11400 ~$190 is a better deal than trying to find one of the Ryzen 3300X or 5600 anywhere near MSRP. Those chips will costs $200+ and perform worse.

The 11400 is smack dab in the midrange, consumer-focused market. The i5-11400F (which is the same chip but without integrated graphics, a feature I like to have in case my GPU craps out) will save you $20+. Apparently the F is hard to find right now and priced over $200! BB has the 11400 for $190.

If you want to talk true budget CPUs around $100 then it almost comes down to: Can you get it for $100 right now? It's tough.

i5-11400(F) CPU
560 motherboard
16 gb RAM

That's a pretty midrange build that will last quite a while.

Best buy drop. Good luck.

I don't even want a card, but I'm trying anyway!

*Legion* wrote:

If I were buying a prebuilt for myself, I would probably do something like the Corsair Vengeance a7200.

$2249 for a Ryzen 5600X + RTX 3070, or $2099 for the 5600X + RTX 3060ti

At least it lets me pick and choose some of the components. This might be the best option for now. I can use this it for a few years at least. Is Corsair similar to Dell or can add or swap stuff out?

That's what I get for skipping lunch today. Should have been on my phone at 1245 and tried at least

Double

Grenn wrote:

Is Corsair similar to Dell or can add or swap stuff out?

Corsair uses standard parts AFAIK. The a7200's power supply is their own RM750, and the motherboard is one of MSI's B550 boards.

Even the Corsair One small form factor systems appear to be standard parts: mini-ITX motherboards and SFX small form factor power supplies.

They don't offer much in terms of customization, but I don't think they have any of the custom connector kind of stuff you'll find in Dells and the like. The Corsair bits are just the same standard PSUs and coolers that they sell separately.

Just got an email notification from evga that I have been shifted from the launch 3070 queue to the 3070 LHR queue and that my position in the queue remains the same.

So, I'm probably going to pull the trigger on the Corsair Vengeance Legion put me onto.

Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Mobo: B550
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Power: 750W ATX 80 Plus Gold
RAM: 16g (2x8)

Any last minute warnings or ideas?

So, how far into the weeds are we if Newegg is sending me "subscriber only blitz deals" for a 6900XT @ $1999?

Welp, after being in the EVGA queue system since 3080's launch day and striking out on Best Buy drops for the last five+ months, I managed last week to catch an EVGA 3080ti FTW through Amazon (not 3rd party) for EVGA's retail price. It was just delivered!

Hate paying this much, but I'd already been saving for a new card for a couple years, and at least it's not scalper pricing. Plus, knowing I can finally turn off Twitter/Brobot notifications and close out my FixItFixItFixIt YT browser tab is freedom I've not known in some time.

Of course, we're leaving for vacation this week with no time to install it beforehand, so I guess I'll have to stash it away until I get back. Because timing. Still . . .

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/3oKIPf3C7HqqYBVcCk/giphy.gif)

That was the best feeling, finally being done with the chase.

Grenn wrote:

Any last minute warnings or ideas?

Make sure to leave a little extra money aside for the Steam summer sale.

Grenn wrote:

So, I'm probably going to pull the trigger on the Corsair Vengeance Legion put me onto.

Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Mobo: B550
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Power: 750W ATX 80 Plus Gold
RAM: 16g (2x8)

Any last minute warnings or ideas?

I pulled the trigger on the cpu and mb, but waited for a ram sale and snagged 2x16 GB. I think that was a good call on my end, but ymmv.

I just ordered the EVGA 3070 on the Newegg shuffle. Not the card I wanted, but it can bridge the gap, and I guess beggars can't be choosers.

kazar wrote:

You're odds of getting the shuffle is something like 1 in 100,000 anyway.

kazar wrote:

I just ordered the EVGA 3070 on the Newegg shuffle. Not the card I wanted, but it can bridge the gap, and I guess beggars can't be choosers.

Well played, good sir.

What unnecessary combo item did you have to buy with it?

peanut3141 wrote:
kazar wrote:

You're odds of getting the shuffle is something like 1 in 100,000 anyway.

kazar wrote:

I just ordered the EVGA 3070 on the Newegg shuffle. Not the card I wanted, but it can bridge the gap, and I guess beggars can't be choosers.

Well played, good sir.

Tell me about it. I had no expectation on getting selected.

Stele wrote:

What unnecessary combo item did you have to buy with it?

EVGA 700W PSU.

Just got that email from EVGA, that I'm jumping queues to the new SKU. It would have been nice to have SOME indication of my place in line, no such luck though.

dejanzie wrote:

Just got that email from EVGA, that I'm jumping queues to the new SKU. It would have been nice to have SOME indication of my place in line, no such luck though.

Have you checked your time against the Google Doc someone set up to report queue orders? It's not perfect, but it lets you at least get a sense of if the "line" you're in is progressing and how close you might be. See link.

Unsurprisingly, I couldn't help but install my card last night. I've been doing upgrades/builds since '90 (Ad-Lib soundcard, ftw!), and find there's always The Thing you don't think of when doing this stuff. In this case, I got a new power supply in and routed the power cords. Got the card in (with a quick, short-lived panic it wouldn't fit due to a bump-out in the case). Everything booted up and looked good. I started up a game, and my UPS goes absolutely apesh** because it's not equipped to power what I'm drawing now. Never once occurred to me that would happen.

Not having the battery backup, for now, isn't the end of the world and is far from the worst that could go wrong, but looks like it's time to start saving for a replacement.

Thanks Ubrakto. I'm not sure whether that list applies to EMEA wait lists, but at least it gives some indication.

This article implies that the cryptomining clamp down in China might lead to greater gfx card availability in the near term.

https://www.pcgamer.com/cryptocurrency-miners-in-china-are-beginning-to-sell-off-gpus-for-cheap/

I read another similar article that said the same but also warned of buying cards from ebay (and similar type sites) as the "new" card you're buying might have been sat in a cryptominer's rack having its neck being wrung (I.e. ran full-on) 24/7 for the last year.

So, the Merphle method finally worked for me -- but for a Zotac card.

While I'm still within the cancellation window, anyone have horror stories about Zotac that might be worth me considering going back in to stock chasing hell?

As long as you're getting a brand new card I think you take what you can get right now.

And maybe hold your old card for an emergency for the first month at least.

Then sell it to me if it's better than my old 1060

Lol. Your 1060 that is now a 4K card with FSR ;P

I only have the 3gb version so no ray tracing for me.