Sometimes patience actually pays off. I pulled the trigger yesterday and ordered a Z370 Extreme4 from HGSpot, $35 and honestly, the price was lower than any other shop out there. 😛
👍
Man, I had this gut feeling that something big was coming. Either an 8-core release or some massive discounts. Well, here we go—they're bundling the 8c16 with the R5 1600 like it's nothing (must be a week 28 or 36 thing). I was actually planning to just sit tight until Black Friday or Cyber Monday at the end of the month, especially since I had a hell of a time hunting down an SSD last time and I'm in no rush. But clearly, waiting wasn't the move. 😁
I suspect we'll see similar deals during those holidays, and honestly, I think standard prices might drop too. I highly doubt AMD is going to let the i5 8400 undercut them or even match their pricing.
wiredotter14 said:So, do you have everything you need now?
I'm still missing the motherboard. I'm torn between the B350 Prime Plus, the B350-F, or maybe the ASUS X370 Pro if it hits a sale in the next few days. I've pretty much ruled out the MSI X370 because the Krait seems to get terrible feedback—I heard about one guy who had to RMA his board three times. But hey, we'll see.
Does this apply here in the States too? I saw it mentioned, but I don't know anyone who actually uses it. If we decide to go for it, can we really just sign up and cancel Prime without any penalties or hidden fees? I'm asking because I don't want to get caught in one of those "3 months of free Max" traps where they hit you with a massive bill if you try to cancel after the trial ends. 😁
They might have it if you check their website. Personally, I get my orders from places like Amazon or Newegg shipped across the country the same day I order, and they show up at my door the next morning. I wouldn't bother paying Best Buy's prices.
The power supply is low-end, but it should technically handle the listed components. That said, this budget GPU doesn't seem to have a 6-pin slot, so you won't even need to pick up any Molex to 6-pin adapters (10-$5.00)
Your suggestions definitely fit within the budget. Honestly, if you were planning on spending more than what a Pentium G4560 - Newegg costs, I think it’s smarter to skip the 1151 socket entirely since it's basically end-of-life. The older i5 chips just aren't a great value anymore when you consider how much better Ryzen performs, or even the newer i3 and i5 generations that haven't really hit the shelves here in the States yet—and we won't see many budget boards like the B360 for another year. My advice? Just go with an R3 1200 and a B350M Pro4.
The real question is what kind of software we're actually talking about here and how many cores or threads it really demands. I’m having a hard time swallowing the idea that a Ryzen 7 1700 wouldn't cut it, especially since sticking with that would save you a massive amount of cash.
To get the exact model of your power supply, you'll need to check the label on the unit itself. You'll have to pop the side panel off your case and take a look at the sticker on the PSU to be sure.
Of course you can. As long as your monitor is plugged directly into the motherboard's video output, you're running on integrated graphics. Once you grab a dedicated card, just pop it into an available PCI-E x16 slot and plug the monitor straight into the card to actually use its power.
I’d personally recommend this one or this one. You didn't mention which specific power supply model you're running, but honestly, this GPU shouldn't be an issue even for most budget-friendly "big box store" rigs.
Double-check whether your monitor uses a DVI or HDMI port. If it only has a VGA input, you'll need a VGA to DVI or VGA to HDMI converter—and make sure it's a true converter, not just a cheap adapter.
It looks like retailers like Amazon.com, Newegg, and Neutrino Mobile have really stepped up their game with competitive pricing lately. I actually picked up some RAM from Neutrino Mobile, and it arrived within a single day; based on the reviews I checked out, they seem pretty reliable. It’s also a nice perk that both Amazon.com and Neutrino Mobile offer free shipping on orders over $333 .
IPC and clock speeds still carry massive weight when it comes to gaming, which is why Intel still holds a bit of an edge, even if they offer fewer cores and threads at certain price points. That said, the GPU is still king. While most people can swing a $200 CPU or maybe stretch a little further, financing a high-end graphics card—where you actually start seeing those marginal CPU gains—is a whole different beast. Honestly, from a pure price-to-performance standpoint, it’s rarely worth the headache.
g4560 8GB DDR4 H110 Pro-VD 1TB WD Blue HDD Hexa 400W Case (optional)
$778 Cash price
You could ditch the HDD and swap in a larger SSD for much faster performance if you don't need massive storage capacity.
Click here for the budget option, or check out this one which comes with a 5-year warranty and better specs (though you probably wouldn't notice the speed difference anyway).
I'm not entirely sure about your Windows requirements, but if this is for a business, you might be legally required to use a Pro version rather than Home, so double-check that first. The cheapest options Nabava.net lists are usually found over at google.com for $233
When it comes to gaming, this chip holds its own or even takes the lead. The only time it struggles is in titles like Civ VI or similar heavy strategy games. In multi-threaded workloads, the R5 is noticeably faster. Personally, I’m not interested in the 8400 because I have no intention of dropping hundreds of dollars on a motherboard just to support a locked CPU, and I'm certainly not waiting around for the B360 to drop. I'm also wary of how quickly Intel chipsets hit EOL—with the Z390 already announced for next year—plus the fact that next-gen consoles will likely run on Zen 2, not to mention the long-term AM4 upgrade path...
I guess you should never say never; price drops or sudden sales can always catch you off guard.