CPU recommendations?

Alexander Moore67 said:$33 is the actual difference, specifically $44

Where is the best place to actually pick stuff up? Like, where can I find the most decent deals?

Thanks

slypuma6 said:Where’s the best place to buy? Where can I find the lowest prices?

Thanks

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ryzen+1600af

Your best bet is ordering online for in-store pickup, but stock levels are constantly shifting.

Amazon issued me a refund for my SSD because they failed to deliver the power supply on time.

Is this power supply actually any good? EVGA SuperNOVA I’m thinking about ordering it from Best Buy for this build.

It seems you always manage to pick the most unreliable power supplies 😬 If you're looking at Instar within this price range, then this Corsair isn't a bad way to go.

Edward Thompson86 said:Is this power supply any good? EVGA SuperNOVA I was thinking about ordering it from Best Buy.

Listen to people and buy something decent. A solid PSU is the foundation of a stable build, and you need that running 24/7.

Edward Thompson86 said:The folks over at Best Buy gave me a refund on my SSD because the power supply didn't arrive on time.

Is this EVGA SuperNOVA a decent choice for this build? I'm thinking about picking it up at Micro Center.

I wouldn't touch that one if I were you.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/...59175/product/

Which CPU should I pair with an EVGA RTX 3070 for 1080p at 60fps?
Is it better to go with an R5 2600, an R5 1600AF, or an R5 3600?
Or will my current R5 1600 @ 3.9GHz OC be enough to get the job done?

It depends...

Jonathan Ramos32 said:Which CPU should I pair with an EVGA RTX 3070 for 1080p at 60fps?
Should I go with a Ryzen 1600, a Ryzen 1600AF, or a Ryzen 3600???
Or is my current Ryzen 1600 @ 3.9GHz OC actually enough?.....

There is absolutely no point in swapping a 1600 for a refresh that only offers a measly 3% IPC bump and maybe a tiny bit more overclocking headroom (like the 1600AF or 2600).

If I were in your shoes, I'd hold out for the Ryzen 5 5600 (non-X). If you're going through the trouble of upgrading, you might as well jump straight to the latest generation.

I'd have to swap out the motherboard... which means the R5 3600 is basically my only realistic option here.

Jonathan Ramos32 said:I might have to swap out the motherboard... which means an R5 3600 is really the only way to go here...

Just walk us through how you landed on that, especially since the Ryzen 5000 series is basically the only real upgrade option left.

Jonathan Ramos32 said:You’d probably need to swap out the motherboard... which means an R5 3600 is really the only viable option here.

If you're running a 300 series chipset board, there's talk about some BIOS tweaks making it work.

Alexander Moore67 said:Just walk us through your logic there—the only real way to go is upgrading to the Ryzen 5000 series.

Actually, the 3000 series is a solid upgrade too; you get an 18% IPC boost, 400-500MHz more clock speed, and potentially even more cores. On Intel platforms before Ryzen came along, you'd have to wait through three whole generations and two different sockets just to get something similar without adding extra cores.

Timothy Kim60 said:If you happen to be running a 300-series chipset motherboard, have you ever wondered how much headroom you actually have for future upgrades? There’s some talk going around that they might be working on a BIOS update, isn't there?.

I’m really hoping things work out that way too. My own strategy was to pick up a decent X370 motherboard paired with a super affordable Zen 1 processor—which is exactly what I ended up doing—all while holding onto the hope that Zen 3 would actually be compatible with the board, just like they promised it would be since it's the final generation for the AM4 socket. ☕

Alexander Moore67 said:Just explain your reasoning here, because the only actual worthwhile upgrade is moving to the Ryzen 5000 series.

Look, if they don't release a BIOS update for the X570 boards, how am I even supposed to install a Ryzen 5000 series CPU???

Jonathan Ramos32 said:But if they don't drop a BIOS update for the X570 boards, how am I supposed to install a Ryzen 5 3600 series processor???

Chill out, man... just be patient.

I don't trust those hacks at Apple for a single second....

You’re definitely buying at a tricky time, especially since we should be seeing replacements for the 5700XT rolling in soon—hopefully within the first month.

If you absolutely have to pull the trigger right now, fine. I'd suggest pushing that Ryzen 5 1600 to 3.9GHz alongside the RX 5700XT; it's not like you're forced to swap out the CPU immediately.

I just picked up an RX 5700 XT for a steal, so now I'm thinking about grabbing a Ryzen 5 3600 and jumping up to the 5000 series... 🤔

It’s entirely up to you. You’ve got a few ways to play this:
- Wait for the theater release and drop $50
- Put down $30 right now
- Just make do with what you've already got

So you say you're aiming for 60FPS. Which games are failing to hit that mark for you right now?