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About LinkBacksI'm building a new pc for the first time in 5 years and going Ryzen.
I've seen the 1600 AF is the 2600 in disguise and cheaper, but then the 3600 has the same core and thread count but is it worth the extra cash?
I'm building a new pc for the first time in 5 years and going Ryzen.
I've seen the 1600 AF is the 2600 in disguise and cheaper, but then the 3600 has the same core and thread count but is it worth the extra cash?
All depends on budget and what prices you can find them for right now. The 3600 (£190) and B550 mobo (£120) is probably worth the extra long term but if you can find a 2600 and B450 for dirt cheap (say £120 and £70 like they were earlier last year) then I would say you can't go too far wrong with that either.
Right now I would get the 3600 and B550 for better performance, compatibility with PCI-e 4.0 and a stress-free upgrade route to 5000 series without fiddling around with BIOS like you have to on the B450 boards. And also because the 2600 isn't great value right now like it was last year.
You can get the 3600 off AliExpress for £130ish
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001...6a7f2067hvUT2R
I've used RE Store (the seller) a number of times, no issues so far, and delivery in around 10 - 12 days. No customs charge.
I went for the 1600AF as it was the cheapest route into AM4 for me at the time, given new CPU's are out and about have you tried looking at used stuff?
What are you running on the machine?
What is your budget?
I usually see the 2600 and 2600X at quite expensive prices these days, so the 3600 seems worth the extra money.
But then for the last build I did upgrading my wife's machine, I figured that over the 5 years she usually has a machine for a 5600X was actually worth the extra £100 over a 3600. So what was intended to be a cheap B450 + 3600 ended up as a B550+5600X+NVme SSD
I'm not looking forward to next month's credit card bill, but it is a stonking machine
The Ryzen 5 3600 is the best choice in performance and price/performance of the 3 listed parts. However,don't ignore the Core i5 10400F which is excellent value for money,or the upcoming Core i5 11400F. Rocketlake is also going to allow running RAM at XMP on B560,so a B560 and Core i5 11400F might end up being a solid combination. Rocketlake also brings PCI-E 4.0 to the Intel consumer platforms too.
Remember,that AM4 is going to probably have no further CPU generations on it,if Zen4 is an exclusive DDR5 platform - Intel Alderlake which is out next year will be DDR5.
20% VAT is now added at the checkout IIRC.Originally Posted by cptwhite_uk
Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 21-01-2021 at 03:50 PM.
Echo the questions about your budget and intended use of the computer.
I think out of the options you've listed I'd plump for the 3600 - the prices are all a bit mad right now but I'd go as recent as you can afford. I built my first machine in about 10 years in the summer and I chose the 3600 - seemed to me like the best middle ground out of all the options. The only bummer is that the prices have crept up since then (got mine for <£150 at Amazon and now the cheapest there is around £180).
The machine needs to be able to remote into my office PC, write code and play games.What are you running on the machine?
What is your budget?
I usually see the 2600 and 2600X at quite expensive prices these days, so the 3600 seems worth the extra money.
But then for the last build I did upgrading my wife's machine, I figured that over the 5 years she usually has a machine for a 5600X was actually worth the extra £100 over a 3600. So what was intended to be a cheap B450 + 3600 ended up as a B550+5600X+NVme SSD
I'm not looking forward to next month's credit card bill, but it is a stonking machine
I've been looking at this build as of recent:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (12nm) 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor (£128.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard (£119.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£75.00)
Storage: Corsair MP510 240 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£40.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For £87.99)
Power Supply: Corsair CXF 750 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£69.99)
Total: £521.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-21 15:14 GMT+0000
My budget is around the £500 mark not including the GPU.
It doesn't need to be an all singing all dancing pc but I want it too look nice hence the RGB.
I also know the board doesn't support front usb type c but the case was a steel at its price, it has wifi which I need and having looked at other boards this appears to be the best value for money whilst also allowing me to overclock the cpu to that of speeds the 3600 has once I replace the cooler with an AIO in the near future.
I know the tomahawk is £30 cheaper and doesn't require the 750 PSU but i figured going for the carbon pro and a bigger psu would allow me to upgrade more easily in the future without having to replace the parts.
The used market seems pretty bad for prices at the moment and for a little extra I can get new with a warranty. Last thing I want to do it buy something and not be able to test it because I don't have a full rig to chuck it in.
Having seen alot about PCI-E 4.0 its not worth it yet and I would never get a gpu that takes advantage of it due to the cost. I would rather build something current now that I could upgrade to say a 5950 in the near future when they are cheaper and add some more ram etc.
Yep as of the 31st of December.
Id agree on the 10400 being a good deal. How well the performance on the 11400 will be though is still to be seen.
So was doing some browsing last night looking at the used market and was able to get a open box board from amazon so the current build is as follows:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (12nm) 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor (£128.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For £104.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (Purchased For £77.05)
Storage: Western Digital Green 120 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For £10.00)
Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For £87.99)
Power Supply: Corsair CXF 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£74.95)
Total: £481.99
I went with the gigabyte because I know and have used the brand before plus it supports front usb type c for my case. There don't seem to be too many reviews on it, but from what I gather the OC capabilities are over kill because of the heatsink on the vrm, could be wrong though.
Just need to decide on the processor...
You don't do a build for a year or two,but for the next few years. Think how fast even a mainstream GPU will be in 4~5 years,or the fact almost all NVME SSDs will be on PCI-E 4.0,so trying to save a few quid here and there right now on the motherboard isn't really worth it.
The motherboard is overpriced for a B450. You can get far superior B550 motherboards for less or similar money.
The Ryzen 5 1600 is also not fantastic in the current market for £130,especially since the specifications indicates its the 14NM Zen version(YD1600BBAEBOX). Its not the Ryzen 5 1600AF. A Core i5 10400F is faster for similar money. My Ryzen 5 2600 cost me £137.
Edit!!
Also Ryzen CPUs,especially Zen2/Zen3 tend to not respond that well to traditional overclocking. Stock settings seem to do 95% of the max clockspeed,and using PBO will get you the other 5% - if anything faster RAM seems to yield more improvements.
Second Edit!!
OK,WRT to Ryzen 5 - it seems Amazon is listing both the 1600AF and 1600 together:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Processeur-.../dp/B07XTQZJ28
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Ryzen-1...mputers&sr=1-4
But the issue is £120 for any B450 motherboard is not worth it. Even the ones with the best VRMs,can't compare to similarly priced B550 motherboards. However,OTH only B450/X470 will work with Zen/Zen+ CPUs.
Third Edit!!
For example you can get an X470 for £80:
https://www.cclonline.com/product/29...board/MBD2703/
It doesn't do RGB,but has red lighting accents.
Just use a USB or PCI/PCI-E Wifi card for £10. £30 saved there would get you close to a Ryzen 5 3600!
Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 22-01-2021 at 01:24 PM.
Thanks for the reply that was really helpful.
I've tried to post today but keep getting a message stating it needs to be moderated.
Since this post yesterday I was able to get the Gigabyte X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING for £104 from Amazon, which whilst its an "open box" from their warehouse sales, if I have any issues its easily returned to them. This board also has the front panel usb type c connecter on the board.
I was also able to get an open box 2600 for £110 on ebay that was bought in December. The seller has forwarded me their receipt in case I have any issues, but I will still have eBay protection if its DOA.
So current build is looking like this:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (Purchased For £110.00)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For £104.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (Purchased For £77.05)
Storage: Western Digital Green 120 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For £10.00)
Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For £87.99)
Power Supply: Corsair CXF 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For £74.69)
Total: £463.73
That motherboard does seem rather expensive for what it is. WiFi adds a lot of cost and narrows choice (and gives you wifi you can't upgrade in future).
Slap in something like this, and you might get a cheaper motherboard with better wifi:
£25 Wifi Card https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-WB...dp/B07FBSV1XZ/
Edit: And you have posted while I was typing. Looks a decent build, let us know how you get on.
Can't argue with the price of the CPU. Looks like a quality build with an upgrade path to Ryzen 5000 down the line. Hopefully you have some more storage lined up!
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