CPU, Motherboard, and RAM recommendations?

Hey there,

Can anyone weigh in on this build? My budget is capped at around $450-$500.
I’m currently running a Core i7-3930K, but let's be honest—it just isn't cutting it if I want to play PUBG competitively. My focus is strictly on PUBG.
I was leaning towards the Ryzen 5 3600, but looking at the FPS numbers, it seems like the i5-9600K maintains a 5-10% lead. I'd love to hear what you all think.

I think the Ryzen 5 3600 is probably the better buy right now compared to any i5 out there. You're paying $167 more for a 9600K, and honestly, it only seems to offer a tiny edge if you're playing on low settings with a high-end GPU.

RAM:
or maybe a slightly better bin: 2x

CPU:

Motherboard:

Is the Core i7-3930K seriously not up to par for delivering competitive-level performance? 🤔

Not necessarily, since PUBG is pretty sensitive to IPC and latency. The Core i7-3930K is a bit slower than, say, a Ryzen 5 1600, which actually performs noticeably better in this game compared to older chips or certain Intel setups. I think I saw someone mention they jumped from a Core i7-3930K @ 4.6GHz to a 9700K @ 5GHz and ended up with about 30-40% more FPS, plus way fewer drops during intense fights or when moving through big areas.

It’s just not cutting it. Even with an overclock to 4.5 GHz, I still can't get anywhere near a playable experience.
In public matches, my FPS is great—usually staying north of 100—but once I jump into Faceit or tournaments, things fall apart during the late game. The frame rate tanks down to 30-50, making it completely unplayable.

What kind of resale value could I expect for a Core i7-3930K, an MSI X79A-GD45-4D Intel X79 Socket, and 16 GB of HyperX Fury DDR3 1866MHz RAM?

X79 boards are pretty hard to come by these days. I’d say you could probably snag $500 for the whole setup. If you're buying just the board, maybe expect to pay around 700-$250.

Honestly, PUBG optimization is a complete mess right now, so you really just need $1000 to ensure your processor actually performs the way it should. 😉

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