Deals, Discounts, and Best PC Component Buys & Builds

melloweagle28 said:Ouch. I could have fit that in my mini ITX case. I didn't even realize they offered a 35W processor. Honestly, it feels like it might have fallen off a truck at some point. Oh well.

@ostali:
Thanks! I'll grab it at that price then; it's a solid deal. $33 I managed to snag some Black Friday discounts on most of my other parts.

I still need a monitor. Any alternatives to the Dell S2721HGF? Pixel size and sharpness aren't my main priority. I just want something a bit larger. I'm debating whether to go with 1440p and just play at 1080p. Some people say it looks bad, others say they can't tell the difference.

Just go with 1440p. If you've never used 1440p before, you won't notice the difference.
Do you actually play enough online games to need 144Hz?

melloweagle28 said:Ouch. I actually could have fit that into my little ITX build. I didn't even realize they offered a 35W processor version—though, honestly, it feels like one might just fall off a truck at some point. Oh well.

@ostali:
Thanks! At that price, I think I'll take it; it’s not like I’m overpaying by much, especially since I managed to snag some decent Black Friday deals on most of my other components.$33

Now I just need a monitor. Does anyone know of a good alternative to the Dell S2721HGF? Pixel density and sharpness aren't my main priorities; I'd honestly prefer something a bit larger. My only hesitation is whether I should go with 1440p and just play everything at 1080p. Some people say the scaling looks terrible, while others swear you can't even tell the difference.

So, what did you end up deciding on—are you going with an mATX setup or sticking with your old case?

If you aren't some hardcore competitive gamer, 75Hz is more than enough for you. You should probably look for something with a 1440p resolution...

Zachary Nguyen2 said:Just tell them to go with 1440p; they won't even notice the difference if they've never experienced 1440p before.

Are you actually playing competitive online games? Because if so, do you really need that 144Hz refresh rate?

Nah, it’s not for me—it’s for my brother.
He mostly plays LoL and Civ6. He’s using a laptop right now, and while he might upgrade his desktop setup later, he definitely isn't into high-stakes online FPS games. It's more MOBA stuff and things like that.
144Hz isn't a requirement. Maybe 120Hz would be enough, especially if he plans on streaming or watching movies?

wanderingbison9 said:Alright, what did you actually end up deciding on—are you going with an mATX build or sticking with your old case?

If you aren't some hardcore competitive gamer, 75Hz is honestly plenty. Just look for something with a 1440p resolution...

New mATX.

Got it, thanks. I'll check out what's available.

melloweagle28 said:It’s really not my thing; I’m actually looking at this for my brother.
He mostly plays LoL and Civ6, though he’s using a laptop right now. He might upgrade his desktop setup eventually, but he definitely isn't interested in competitive online FPS games—just things like MOBAs and similar titles.
A 144Hz refresh rate isn't a strict requirement for him. Maybe 120Hz would be enough if he plans on streaming or watching movies?

But why bother with 120 Hz just for movies shot at 24 fps? Are we talking about a 5:5 pull down effect? Honestly, a lot of monitors can handle 48 Hz if you just take a moment to set up a custom resolution.

wanderingbison9 said:Why bother with 120 Hz for movies shot at 24 fps? Is it just for that 5:5 pull down effect? Honestly, plenty of monitors can handle 48 Hz if you just set up a custom resolution in the settings.

You're asking way too many questions here, 🙂
Look, I can definitely tell on my phone that everything looks smoother when it's running at 120Hz (wherever that's actually supported).
And I know from watching sports on my TV that there is a massive difference during those fast-paced action sequences.
So, I'm assuming the same logic applies here, right?

By the way, I'm currently using an ASUS G27QC

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melloweagle28 said:You’re asking quite a few questions, 🙂
I can definitely tell on my phone that things look much smoother when it's running at 120Hz (wherever that's supported).
And I know with a TV, when you're watching sports, there's a massive difference during those fast action sequences.
So, I'm guessing it works the same way here?

Right now, I'm using an ASUS G27QC.

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Yeah, you basically just confirmed exactly what I was thinking. On those standard 60Hz screens—which most phones still use—that 24 fps footage just looks choppy.

When it comes to sports on a TV, the difference usually comes down to less motion blur, because once you hit 50 fps, everything feels incredibly fluid; TVs often use motion interpolation to "invent" extra frames (so instead of 50 fps, you're seeing something closer to 100 fps), but most monitors don't typically have that kind of feature built-in. I wasn't sure, though—do you and your brother share this PC or something? Because if it's running that Intel chip, there might be an option in the software to help with that.

That ASUS sounds like a solid choice, though perhaps mainly for gaming, but I'll let someone else weigh in since there are so many similar monitors out there.

Thanks. I know this thread isn't technically the right place for this, but whatever. If they want to delete it or move it, fine.
I’m going to pull the trigger on that ASUS; it has a solid review over at RTINGS. Honestly, for the price, I haven't found anything better.

No, the computer is for my brother. I know my way around hardware well enough to build it for him. He's the one who will be using it. It needs to be an all-rounder—gaming, multimedia, some Excel work, browsing, the usual stuff.
We went with a 5600G in a brand new ATX case, everything is fresh components.

If I had realized there was a 35W Ryzen available and actually done my homework, I might have gone with a mini ITX build instead, since this case feels like overkill now. And there's no guarantee the GPU will even fit; it's a total toss-up. But it doesn't matter, I'll just try to sell the case and the PSU.

An NVIDIA RTX 3070 paired with an 8-core Tiger Lake chip, and it’s almost priced like a standard desktop RTX 3070 setup. 😬

Is it actually normal for a gaming laptop to ship with free DOS instead of an OS?

Yeah, gaming laptops seem to pop up way more often than business models, which almost always come pre-loaded with an OS

At the end of the day, you really have to shell out a significant amount of cash just to get decent hardware these days, whereas when it comes to software and gaming, there are always ways to make things work within a tighter budget, don't you think? 😬

It strikes me as pretty bizarre, honestly, because Windows is fundamentally built to be a gaming platform.

melloweagle28 said:It just seems weird to me because Windows is a gaming platform.

The Windows market share on non-Apple machines is basically identical whether it's for business, home use, or gaming—we're talking well over 90% across the board, with the rest being mostly ChromeOS.
If you skip the pre-installed Windows, you get a cheaper laptop and then you just deal with the license yourself—legally, "gray market," or whatever.
Or you don't bother at all; you can run Windows without activation, you just can't change your wallpaper or a few other minor things.
Otherwise, you just buy the laptop that comes with Windows already on it.

wiredotter14 said:...
If you can't get it sorted, you can actually just keep using Windows without activation, though you won't be able to swap out your wallpaper or tweak a few other minor settings...

The "Activate Windows" watermark will pop up in the bottom right corner, but I have a feeling it might eventually disappear on its own. From what I understand, there isn't really any legal issue with running unactivated Windows for your personal use, is there?

On my main workstation, I'm running legally activated Windows (not the OEM only version), but on my secondary machine—which mostly just functions as a render node—I've left it unactivated, so that little watermark in the corner doesn't bother me at all.

It’s not even illegal, and you still get your regular security updates and everything. Honestly, Microsoft couldn't care less if people are running unactivated or "grey" copies of Windows. Selling licenses to individual home users is just a tiny fraction of their revenue anyway; they'd much rather have an active user getting security patches who might eventually subscribe to something like OneDrive or Microsoft 365

Ryzen 5 Pro 4650G is back in stock. As far as I can tell, it's only showing up at the Mall of America right now, but the price remains remarkably reasonable $533.

I have no idea what kind of nonsense they're pulling here, because there is absolutely no logic in a 4-core/8-thread Ryzen 3 4350G costing more than a 6-core/12-thread Ryzen 5 4650G.😵

The crew over at Mall of America clearly had a few too many drinks,😵 because if you look closely, the second or third link for those Renoir chips actually shows them in stock.

If you filter specifically for AMD processors on the Mall of America site, the Renoir options seemingly vanish from the list. However, if you just do a standard Google search, there they are, sitting right there in the second and third direct links. It’s just more of the same nonsense; I recall seeing this kind of mess on their site about six months ago.

https://www.mall.com/processors?p%5BSO...D=am4%20socket

https://www.mall.com/processors/amd-ry...-100000148mpk-

https://www.mall.com/processors/amd-ry...-hcadnjak-65-w

It looks like Apple has them available now, Ryzen 5 Pro 4650G, though the price seems $600 quite $67 higher than what you'd find through Mall of America.

https://apple.com/shop/group/pc-components?sortOrder=olcso

ADM updated their inventory again, $533 but everything is marked as "available on order," which basically means they have zero stock on hand.🍿

https://www.adm.com/cpu-amd-sam4-0915/153/

Aren't those processors specifically intended for OEM use rather than being sold directly to individual consumers? That would explain why the database doesn't list them among the standard products available to the general public.

wanderingbison9 said:Aren't those processors intended for OEM rather than being sold to end users? That’s why the database doesn't list them as standard retail products.

On paper, sure,😁 the AM4 Renoir APU is OEM only, but AMD couldn't care less about those kinds of distinctions. If a Renoir APU shows up, it gets sold through regular retail channels just like anything else. You could mention Germany or Austria, but there isn't much else to say beyond that.

Both ADM and Protis (if you're actually following the market) have had the R5 3500X in stock, which was a model specifically for the Chinese market. How it ended up in the US is irrelevant; AMD doesn't care, they just want to move the inventory.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-5-3500x

The Ryzen 5 PRO 3350G (10CU), is the exact same story—strictly OEM. In reality, it’s basically an R5 3400G (11CU) with one CU disabled and overclocking locked out. You can see for yourself that ADM sells this specific model. It's widely available across various US states; these AMD OEM chips are listed and sold in standard retail stores all the time.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/...en-5-pro-3350g

Mall of America is a general e-commerce store selling everything from needles to toilet paper, so it isn't a specialized PC hardware site or a dedicated tech retailer. They make quite a few mistakes, such as the same kind of error seen with the R5 4650G, which they failed to categorize under AM4 processors. If you filter for Teamgroup USB sticks, specifically the C211 model, you'll only see the 32GB version. Yet, if you Google it, you'll find the 128GB model is readily available. There's zero logic to it, just typical e-commerce store errors; the 128GB model exists and you can buy it without any trouble. We're playing a little game of hide-and-seek here, and while I could point out several other examples, there really isn't a need.😵

To make things even more interesting, as you can see, the Teamgroup 128GB C211 is actually the cheapest 128GB USB stick at the Mall of America. But go ahead and dig around; you won't find that model listed under the 128GB USB sticks section at all.🙂