The next issue of Computer of the Month is traditionally released with the support of the Regard computer store. On the site you can always arrange delivery to any point of our country and pay for the order online. You can read the details on this page. "Regard" among users is famous for quite adequate prices for computer components and a large selection of products. In addition, the store has a free assembly service: you make a configuration - the company's employees assemble it.
"Regard" is a partner of the section, so in "Computer of the Month" we focus on products that are sold in this particular store. Links in the "Computer of the Month" lead to the corresponding categories of goods in the store. The tables show the current prices at the time of writing, rounded up to a multiple of 500 rubles. Naturally, during the "life cycle" of the material (one month from the date of publication), the cost of certain goods can either increase or decrease. We advise you to purchase components where it is more convenient / more profitable / easier for you.
For beginners who still do not dare to "make" their own PC, a detailed step-by-step guide for assembling the system unit has been released. It turns out that in the "Computer of the Month" I tell you what to assemble a computer from, and in the manual - how to do it.
Starter Assembly
"Entrance ticket" to the world of modern PC games. The system will allow you to play all AAA projects in Full HD resolution, mainly at high graphics quality settings, but sometimes you will have to set medium ones. Such systems do not have a serious margin of safety (for the next 2-3 years), are replete with compromises, need to be upgraded, but also cost less than other configurations.
| Starter Assembly | |||
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 3 2300X Quad Core 4(3,5)GHz 4,0MB L8 AM3 OEM | 6 500 rub. | |
| Intel Core i3-8100 Quad Core 4GHz 3,6MB L6 LGA3-v1151 OEM | 9 000 rub. | ||
| Motherboard | AMD B350 | examples: • Gigabyte GA-AB350M-DS3H V2; • ASRock AB350M-HDV R3.0 |
4 500 rub. |
| Intel H310 Express | examples: • ASRock H310M-HDV; • MSI H310M PRO-VD; • GIGABYTE H310M H |
4 000 rub. | |
| RAM | 8GB DDR4-3000 for AMD: • G.Skill Aegis (F4-3000C16S-8GISB) |
4 000 rub. | |
| 8GB DDR4-2400 for Intel: • ADATA Premier |
3 500 rub. | ||
| Video card | AMD Radeon RX 570 8 GB: • MSI RX 570 ARMOR 8G OC |
13 000 rub. | |
| Drive | SSD, 240-256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s | examples: • Crucial BX500 (CT240BX500SSD1); • ADATA Ultimate SU655 (ASU655SS-240GT-C) |
2 500 rub. |
| CPU cooler | DeepCool GAMMAXX 200T | 1 000 rub. | |
| Chassis | examples: • ACCORD A-07B Black; • AeroCool CS-1101 |
1 500 rub. | |
| Power supply unit | examples: • Chieftec TPS-500S 500 W; • Cooler Master Elite 500 W; • Thermaltake TR2 S (TRS-0500NPCWEU) 500W |
3 000 rub. | |
| Total | AMD - 36 rubles. Intel - 37 rubles. |
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Regular readers of 3DNews, and Computer of the Month in particular, know that the builds in the rubric are not strictly tied to a specific budget - because this is a road to nowhere. However, constantly in the comments to a particular release, some users offer to reduce the cost of the same starting assembly solely for the sake of reducing the cost. I, for one, don't see the point in that. Well, instead of the Radeon RX 570, we will take a video card of the GeForce GTX 1050 level, well, we will save 2-3 thousand rubles, but what will be the result? The bottom line is that such savings can lead to a loss of 45% FPS in modern games in Full HD resolution.
Let's say we saved on the processor, namely, instead of the Ryzen 3 2300X, we took the Ryzen 3 1200 - 1 rubles remained in our pocket, but the system became 000+% slower. It didn't work out very well. In this case, perhaps it was worth taking the Athlon 20GE, because buying this chip would have saved us at least 200 rubles? Well, our tests show that this reshuffle will suit only the most undemanding users, because the new AMD dual-core processors are more than 3% slower than the Ryzen 500 3 in games. In general, you will never see such "Athlones" in the "Computer of the Month".
A similar situation is observed with Intel chips. The launch build uses a 4-core Core i3-8100. Earlier, I installed a 4-thread Pentium Gold G5400 into the system - I put it as a “gag”, saying that over time it would be good to replace this “hyperstump” with some 6-core, for example, Core i5-8400. But instead of the Pentium Gold G5400, you can take the Celeron G4900 and generally save 6 rubles. But you can immediately forget about modern games on such a system, since applications will either not start or will be terribly slow.
In general, if you do not have a designated amount of money, but you want to play, then the only solution at the moment is to buy components for the old AM3 + platform. However, it remains possible to purchase components without a valid warranty - you will find more information about this option in this article. Once again, I remind you that the "Computer of the Month" offers only assemblies based on modern platforms and only new components.
Let's go back to the Core i3-8100 processor. In March, news broke that Intel was facing a second wave of processor shortages. We see that the market has not moved away from the first wave, but so far - in April - due to the strengthening of the national currency, Intel chips even dropped a little in price. I decided to return this 4-core, even at a price of 9 rubles, taking into account rounding. The boxed version of the Pentium Gold G000 at the time of this writing cost exactly 5400 rubles - the processor fell in price by 5 rubles per month. However, the price reduction for other components made it possible to continue using the Core i000 - as a result, the starting Intel assembly turned out to be 1 rubles more expensive than the AMD system. As a result, both systems are now comparable in performance.
Let me remind you that the Ryzen 3 2300X is intended for OEM computer assemblers, but in Russia it can be purchased separately, including at Regard. As I said, in games this processor is on average 20% faster than the Ryzen 3 1300X - we are seeing a great increase in performance without paying extra. The key to success lies in the use of only one CXX module, and this is a huge advantage over the new quad-core predecessors with the Summit Ridge design. It turns out that when sending data or accessing the LXNUMX cache memory, the cores do without using the Infinity Fabric bus, which often becomes a bottleneck in existing processors with the Zen / Zen + microarchitecture.
I note that many motherboard manufacturers have not listed support for Ryzen 3 2300X and Ryzen 5 2500X. However, our observations give a clear picture: if the board supports Pinnacle Ridge "stones" (Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G), then it also supports these OEM AMD processors. Just in case, I advise you to contact the warranty department of the store so that you can update the BIOS of the motherboard to the latest version.
One of the disadvantages of the Ryzen 3 2300X is its implementation exclusively as an OEM. Still, inexpensive Ryzen chips come with good boxed coolers. In our case, it will have to be additionally spent. For a long time I chose a model costing no more than 500 rubles, but all cooling systems in this price category have a bunch of drawbacks. So I suggest taking the DeepCool GAMMAXX 200T - the same cooler is recommended in the base assembly.
As always, I suggest using boards based on the B350 chipset in AMD's launch build. This set of logic allows not only to overclock the RAM, but also to increase the CPU multiplier. All Ryzen models are known to have it unlocked. In this case, it is not necessary to increase the CPU voltage. Of course, one could save on this component of the system and take something based on the A350 chipset instead of the B320 board. Only such savings, taking into account rounding, will be only 500 rubles - and at the same time, it will significantly reduce the limits of the system's capabilities.
The launch build has been using the 8GB version of the Radeon RX 570 for a couple of months in a row, and no change is expected in April. In the case of the most budget configuration, there is not much point in chasing fancy versions of 3D accelerators. The MSI RX 570 ARMOR 8G OC model costs 13 rubles, and the most affordable 000 GB model costs 4 rubles. When using medium and high quality settings, in most cases you will not feel a difference in performance. However, when using higher settings - close to the maximum - problems will begin, given that the GPU of the video card as a whole is able to provide comfortable FPS at such parameters. Therefore, I propose to vote with the ruble for the version with 11 GB of video memory.
The GeForce GTX 1060 versions have somewhat fallen in price - this is due to the release of the GeForce GTX 1660 video card. A three-gigabyte modification (the cheapest) costs 13 rubles in Regard - more than the 500-gigabyte MSI RX 8 ARMOR 570G OC. Naturally, such devices in 8 are best avoided.
In conclusion, as always, I advise you not to delay the upgrade of RAM, but it's even better to immediately take a 16 GB kit.
Basic Assembly
With such a PC, you can safely play the next couple of years in all modern games in Full HD resolution at high and maximum graphics quality settings.
| Basic Assembly | |||
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 1600X 6 Cores 12 Threads 3,6 (4,0) GHz 8+8MB L3 AM4 OEM | 11 500 rub. | |
| Intel Core i5-8400 6 Core 2,8(4,0)GHz 9MB L3 LGA1151-v2 OEM | 13 500 rub. | ||
| Motherboard | AMD B350 | Example: • ASRock AB350M Pro4 |
5 500 rub. |
| Intel B360 Express | Example: • ASRock B360M Pro4 |
6 000 rub. | |
| RAM | 16GB DDR4-3000 for AMD: • G.Skill Aegis F4-3000C16D-16GISB |
8 000 rub. | |
| 16GB DDR4-2666 for Intel: • Patriot Viper Elite (PVE416G266C6KGY) |
7 000 rub. | ||
| Video card | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB • Palit StormX |
21 000 rub. | |
| Storage devices | SSD, 240-256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s | examples: • Crucial BX500 (CT240BX500SSD1); • ADATA Ultimate SU655 (ASU655SS-240GT-C) |
2 500 rub. |
| HDD of your choice | — | ||
| CPU cooler | DeepCool GAMMAXX 200T | 1 000 rub. | |
| Chassis | examples: • Cougar MX330; • AeroCool Cylon Black; • Thermaltake Versa N26 |
3 000 rub. | |
| Power supply unit | examples: • Be Quiet System Power 9 600 W |
4 000 rub. | |
| Total | AMD - 56 rubles. Intel - 58 rubles. |
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In the comments to the last issue, they suggested using the Core i3-8100 in the base assembly. Indeed, at a price (together with a cooler) of 10 rubles, a 000-core Coffee Lake fits here. For only 4 rubles (along with a cooler) we can already take a 12-thread Ryzen 500 12X, and for 5 rubles we can get a Core i1600-13 or Ryzen 500 5X. It is better to take advantage of these offers.
Until recently, they asked for 5 rubles for the Core i8400-20. I think that for 000 rubles this chip can be used with a stretch in the basic assembly. For greater savings, so that the Intel configuration does not turn out to be noticeably more expensive than the AMD system, along with the younger 13-core Coffee Lake, I recommend purchasing an inexpensive board based on the B500 Express logic set and 6 GB of DDR360-16 RAM - an inexpensive kit.
By the way, over the past 30 days, the price of the Core i5-9400F has fallen - it costs ... 20 rubles less than the Core i5-8400. Perhaps it was the appearance of this novelty that affected the fact that the junior 6-core Intel depreciated so much. In any case, with such a difference in price, it makes no sense to take a chip with a blocked graphics core - it's better to take a full-fledged model.
I used to use the cheapest motherboards based on the H6 Express with 310-core Intel chips. However, last year our website published a test “Overview of 5 budget motherboards based on the Intel H310 Express: does it make sense to save money?”, which showed that such devices can hardly cope with a serious load (and some do not cope at all) even with the Core i5- 8400. Therefore, I propose to play it safe and take a slightly more “presentable” motherboard.
The base assembly of AMD, of course, already uses a board based on the B350 chipset. Practice shows that ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS and ASRock AB350 Pro4 motherboards can handle Ryzen 5 overclocking up to 3,8-3,9 GHz. Just don't set the processor voltage too high - the power subsystems of the indicated motherboards are not designed for too serious loads.
In principle, you can immediately put the Ryzen 5 2600X into the base assembly and not think about any overclocking. Such a move will increase the cost of the system by 2 rubles.
Last year, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card appeared in the base assembly for the first time. This graphics accelerator catches up with the GeForce GTX 1070, but has only 6 GB of video memory. For the past few months, I have not installed a Radeon RX 580 and Radeon RX 590 in the system, as they cost much more than the Radeon RX 570, but at the same time did not offer a noticeably higher level of performance in games. The arrival of the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti solves this problem.
In April, Regard already offers 16 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti models at prices ranging from 21 to 000 rubles. 28 rubles is a serious variation when our budget is limited to 500-7 thousand rubles. I think that in our case we need to take the cheapest version of the GeForce GTX 500 Ti. Remember when we compared 50 different versions of the GeForce GTX 60? The TDP level of the GP1660 processor is 9W. Testing has shown that even simple coolers quite effectively cool such a chip, as well as the entire external piping. I'm sure the budget versions of the GeForce GTX 1060 Ti will also work well, because the TDP of the TU106 processor is also 120 watts.
And back in March, NVIDIA introduced the GeForce GTX 1660 simpler - without the Ti prefix. Our detailed testing shows that in games at Full HD resolution, the new product is 590% faster than the Radeon RX 8, but 15% slower than the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and GeForce GTX 1070. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, any variants of the GeForce GTX 1660 did not go on sale. The officially recommended price of the next Turing adapter that does not support hardware ray tracing is 18 rubles, so perhaps this video card will appear in the base assembly over time.
As a reminder, I no longer recommend a specific size hard drive for PC of the Month builds. It's just that in the comments to each issue there are constantly discussions on this subject. Some people think that the HDD in the computer is no longer needed. Others are not ready to spend money on an SSD, believing that it is of no use in a gaming PC. Still others scoff at the volume, offering drives of 3, 4 terabytes and more. As you can see, you can't please everyone. I agree with the opinion that the organization of the disk subsystem in a PC is a purely individual approach. Therefore, do as you see fit.
Optimal Assembly
A system that, in most cases, can run this or that game at the maximum graphics quality settings in Full HD resolution and at high settings in WQHD resolution.
| Optimal Assembly | |||
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 6 Cores 12 Threads 3,6 (4,2) GHz 8+8MB L3 AM4 OEM | 13 500 rub. | |
| Intel Core i5-8400 6 Core 2,8(4,0)GHz 9MB L3 LGA1151-v2 OEM | 13 500 rub. | ||
| Motherboard | AMD 350 / 450 | examples: • Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE |
7 500 rub. |
| Intel Z370 Express | examples: • ASUS PRIME Z370-P II |
9 500 rub. | |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4-3000: • G.Skill Aegis F4-3000C16D-16GISB |
8 000 rub. | |
| Video card | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5: •Palit JetStream AMD Radeon RX Vega 56: • ASUS ROG-STRIX-RXVEGA56-O8G-GAMING |
27 000 rub. | |
| Storage devices | SSD, 240-250 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s | examples: • Samsung 860 EVO MZ-76E250; • Intel SSD 545s |
4 500 rub. |
| HDD of your choice | — | ||
| CPU cooler | examples: • PCcooler GI-X6R |
2 000 rub. | |
| Chassis | examples: • Cooler Master MasterBox MB511; • Cougar MX350 |
4 500 rub. | |
| Power supply unit | examples: • Be Quiet Pure Power 11-CM 600 W |
6 500 rub. | |
| Total | AMD - 73 rubles. Intel - 75 rubles. |
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Look, the Core i5-8400 is also in the optimal assembly. As I noted earlier, for 13 rubles you can buy this processor by reining in your toad. But the Core i500-5 model, whose frequency is only 8500 MHz higher (when loading all 100 cores), already costs 6 rubles. I do not want to go into details why this is happening, but the point of buying this chip at this price disappears completely.
Let's do it differently. Take, in addition to the Core i5-8400, a board based on the Z370 Express or Z390 Express chipset. Yes, we have a processor that cannot be overclocked. However, we can speed it up with the help of fast RAM. Our tests show that the "Core i5-8400 + DDR4-3200" bundle is not inferior to the "Core i5-8500 + DDR4-2666" tandem in terms of performance. In addition, such a board will eventually allow replacing the younger 6-core with something more interesting and productive.
In March, a review of the ASUS Prime Z390-A motherboard was released on our website. My colleague Sergey Lepilov claims that the tested device will be an excellent “workhorse”, since it has nothing superfluous, but at the same time has everything you need for everyday work or entertainment, and it is offered for quite reasonable money. If you need to overclock the processor or memory, then you are welcome - there is a functional BIOS and well-cooled power circuits of sufficient power, as well as comprehensive monitoring and control of seven fans at the same time.
With the choice of processor for the AM4 platform, everything is quite simple. I'm betting on a Ryzen 5 2600X chip. The beauty of this processor is that it ... does not make sense to overclock. In games, its frequency (with a good cooler) varies in the range from 4,1 to 4,3 GHz. It remains only to choose a memory kit for this chip, which will be guaranteed to work at a high frequency.
A less banal option would be to buy the younger 8-core Ryzen 7 1700 (16 rubles). I recommend overclocking this processor to at least 000 GHz - in this mode of operation, the systems will show approximately the same level of performance in games, but in resource-intensive tasks, the assembly with Ryzen 3,9 will be noticeably faster. Without overclocking, the Ryzen 7 5X is faster than the Ryzen 2600 7 due to a decent difference in clock speed.
I still encounter A320, B350 and X370 based motherboards with old BIOS versions. By installing second generation Ryzen in such a device, you, of course, will get an inoperative system. You can update the firmware of the motherboard yourself, armed with a first-generation Ryzen processor, or ask it to be done at the warranty department of the store where the board was purchased.
This month, for optimal assembly, we continue to focus on the GeForce GTX 1070, GeForce GTX 1070 Ti and Radeon RX Vega 56 models. Since just a huge number of GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and GeForce RTX 2060 appeared on sale, the cost of the first three crept down. The action of unprecedented generosity continues - ASUS ROG-STRIX-RXVEGA56-O8G-GAMING is still on sale for 27 rubles. It is gratifying that the GeForce GTX 000 and GeForce GTX 1070 Ti are also getting cheaper, but these cards are gradually disappearing from sale. I have already said that we have the last couple of months to snatch these, of course, excellent gaming accelerators with 1070 GB of video memory for a sane amount. And then, apparently, you still have to focus on the GeForce RTX 8 or take the inexpensive GeForce GTX 2060 Ti.
Regular readers know my attitude towards graphics adapters with six or less gigabytes of video memory. So, in previous releases, I still put a GeForce GTX 1070 or Radeon RX Vega 56 in the system, because in two or three years these devices will still be in service, but the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and GeForce RTX 2060 may have problems - especially the latter, since ray tracing seriously increases VRAM consumption.
Source: 3dnews.ru