Deals, Discounts, and Best PC Component Buys & Builds

It’s not even that expensive, mostly just 20nm DDR3 stuff, but whatever, demand is through the roof.

Looks like Best Buy has some cheap DDR3 RAM back in stock again click

It’s not a mistake; they had similar deals just last week and tons of people jumped on them (and actually received their orders, which is what matters most 😁). Sure, it’s a pretty sketchy shop, but IMO it's worth it

wiredotter14 said:It’s not even the most expensive stuff out there, mostly just 20nm DDR3, but honestly, demand is through the roof.

The thing is, it’s rarely found on GDDR5 cards, and almost always north of 6000MHz. I don't really follow all these memory speed designations myself.

GDDR5 is basically just DDR3 tweaked for higher speeds and lower precision, just with larger buffers than standard RAM. It usually sits around 1700-2300 MHz.

Timothy Kim60 said:Damn Facebook...

It'll probably hit other cities too. I'm curious what falls under that "other" category—maybe they'll have some CPU coolers or a couple of monitors available.

They told me it’s just whatever stock they have left at that specific branch... nothing particularly special if you ask me. I was thinking about picking up a power supply and an HDD, but I suspect I might be barking up the wrong tree if I head down there this Saturday...

A few bits and pieces 😛

eBay:

Pentium G4560 - $152
Ryzen 5 1600 - $481
SSD AData SU650 120GB - $121

Best Buy:

SSD Crucial MX500 250GB - $208
Asrock B250M-PRO4 - $169
Asrock X370 Killer SLI - $297
Intel i3 8100 - $285

Walmart:

Intel i5-8600K - $703

Newegg:

Asrock AB350 pro4 - $214

Really impressive!

Best Buy is dropping back to regular pricing (or maybe it's just eBay), but they’re also the only ones running discounts on Ryzen right now (at least for this specific model).

SSD prices are finally stabilizing, and honestly, this beast is easily the best value pick for the AM4 socket at the moment. If RAM and GPU prices hadn't gone completely off the rails, it would be the perfect time to buy, but hey, there's always something...

I'd also suggest adding

a VESA stand. With shipping and everything included, you'll be looking at just under $83. I've been hunting for these all week, and you won't find a better deal for a single monitor
.

Refurbished GTX980
$767

https://www.amazon.com/graphics-card/b?node=16310151

Used, probably a return. Comes with a 36-month warranty.

USED LINKS Krypton 807IK desktop / AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (3.0GHz), 16GB DDR4, 240GB SSD, 1000GB HDD, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060,

$3033price looks okay for right now

https://www.amazon.com/desktop-used-example-link

Freezer 33 $66

I've been eyeing this for a while now. It offers out-of-the-box AM4 support, supposedly performs a bit better than the 212 evo, features a 0dB fan mode (just a heads-up, not that it matters much to me), and the price point is solid.

To be honest, I was originally looking at something beefier, like a Noctua NH-D15 or a Thermalright Macho, but I'm wondering if that's overkill. This one should have no problem pushing my CPU to its limit (around 3.9 or 4GHz), plus it's significantly smaller and lighter than those heavyweights.

If you’re actually serious about ditching the stock cooler, then go ahead—grab this one. A Ryzen 5 1600 isn't going to hit any thermal limits with a cooler like this.

The 0dB mode isn't bad, plus you get a 6-year warranty. 🤣

Honestly, I have no clue. I'm perfectly happy with the stock settings, though I can't quite determine his maximum overclock—meaning an extra 100-200MHz plus significantly lower temps. That’s exactly why I opted for a high-end board like this 😁 (x370 prime pro). I might not get anything groundbreaking out of it, but it wasn't a massive expense either. I'll give it some thought tomorrow.

If not, then I'll probably aim for those more powerful ones I mentioned earlier (like the Scythe, which shows up occasionally on sale in the link). The catch is they don't include the mounting bracket, so you have to contact them to have it sent separately (for instance, paying something like $4 or so to Scythe). I don't strictly need a cooler of that caliber, but at the end of the day, it's practically a lifetime investment, so it's a solid move regardless.

What kind of temps and clock speeds are you seeing under the Spire?

Running at 3.8GHz, I was hitting 77°C under stress tests (with ambient temps around 79-82°F). Now, I've dialed it back to 3.4GHz and applied an undervolt—I'm seeing a max of 58-59°C now (ambient at 80°F). Swapping out the stock thermal paste also helped me shave about 4°F off my peak temps. To push past 3.80GHz, you’d need significantly more voltage, which would easily drive temperatures north of 80°C; you'd definitely need an aftermarket cooler for that. Honestly, though, it's all just tinkering for the sake of it, since those extreme temps and heavy loads don't really happen during actual gaming. 😁

Try dropping your ambient temp down to about 50°F while it's cold out and see how far you can push the OC. You'll get a much better idea of where your CPU ceiling actually is.

I might give it a shot once, but I can't just run it like that forever 😁 (especially in the heat, right?), so it's not really a viable solution.

Back when I had it with a weaker overclock (with the LLC dialed up to 4 or 5), it would hit 83-84C—though I'm not sure how much extra voltage that was pumping, maybe up to 1.35v.

I actually tried pushing it past 3.80 once, and even then, it would crash at some voltage level just to get an extra 50MHz—I don't remember the exact number, but it wouldn't even boot into the OS if I recall correctly. So, you definitely need an aftermarket cooler for that. My best guess? Using the stock cooler, it’d probably sit around 85-90C, if not higher.

To be honest, I don't really care or even need it, but then again, it's not like it costs a fortune. I'll see tomorrow once I'm back if I decide to pull the trigger and order it.

I said you should try testing it while it's cold if you're still on the fence about going aftermarket or not.
Because if your CPU just happens to top out at 3.85GHz anyway, then whatever, it doesn't matter.

Yeah, it would have to be a total dud if it couldn't even hit 3.9GHz. I don't know—judging by what I've seen so far, running at 1.275v with LLC2 gets you to 3.80GHz, and staying between 1.01875v and 1.0245v with LLC2 handles 3.4GHz (though it froze after 22 minutes, and I haven't tried anything below 1.025v yet). It doesn't seem like a bad chip; if it isn't above average, it's at least decent. It's just clearly a massive jump to hit the next level, which isn't unusual for any processor when it suddenly demands much more voltage. My point is, even if it's mediocre, he'd at least get lower temps and a quieter cooler. The stock one is just "audible," not actually loud, even at max RPM during a stress test. The thing is, until he picks up a GPU, he wouldn't even bother pushing it to max OC 😁, and honestly, there's a chance he won't even buy one this year 😁

If I were in your shoes, I’d just go for it. 😛 My CNPS10X Perform has been chugging along for over seven years now; I also picked it up during a sale at Best Buy for $83 😉

Btw, a few Gigabyte Z370 boards popped up for around $250... I guess the Ryzen 3 combo is slowly losing its appeal since it's only about $50 cheaper than an Intel i3 8100 + Z370 setup.

crimsonstag84 said:If I were you, I'd grab it. 😛 My CNPS10X Perform has been running fine for over 7 years now; picked it up on sale at Best Buy for $83 😉

Btw, a few Gigabyte Z370 boards just popped up for about $250... At this point, a Ryzen 3 build is losing its edge since it's only roughly $50 cheaper than an Intel i3 8100 + Z370 combo.

For some people, even those $50 means a lot 😉