Help with Intel build

[Mark Kaine]

So my friend's PC is about to break down... I think..  He thinks it's the RAM,  maybe it is,  but the PC keeps rebooting and only turns on after he unplugged it... It's pretty clear to me it's the PSU,  it's 8 years old so is his whole system (and the RAM might be actually defect also) 

 

So he's going to get a new PC,  but he never built one before... So I told him to get a 3600 or similar... 

 

 

But I'm having second thoughts about this (never mind he said he wants to stick with Intel)  

My problem is,  I know how big of a pain Ryzen can be,  BIOS updates,  chipset drivers...  RAM...  

 

I just don't think he can do any of those things tbh!

 

So which Intel CPU would be a good choice right now - shouldn't be over $400,  we have a budget of 1100 max. 

And I have no idea about Intel whatsoever lol.

 

Any recommendations for a nice Intel build would be welcome! 

 

I think GPU will be 2060S or something (because he's going to stick to "team green" too!  ) 

 

Thanks  

 

 

PS: also I can't build it for him... not even in the same continent... 

[xdeathshot20]

3rd gen ryzen dosent really have any issues anymore.  As long as he gets a newer b450 mobo or x570, he is good with bios update and ram is pretty good with ryzen now its not like 1st gen where only certain kits will work

[Srijan Verma]

i just completed a overclockable Intel build for $1000, you could check that in my profile

[Electronics Wizardy]

Ryzen isn't really any more of a pain than intel is. All of those are true with both intel and amd.

 

Probably 9700k for that budget.

[Mark Kaine]

7 minutes ago, Srijan Verma said:

i just completed a overclockable Intel build for $1000, you could check that in my profile

Thank you. 

 

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Ryzen isn't really any more of a pain than intel is. All of tho.

se are true with both intel and amd.

 

Probably 9700k for that budget.

The only thing that's a pain for Intel afaik is actually installing the CPU / cooler - which I'm honestly not sure he can do either.  That was my thinking going for Ryzen besides budget their coolers are so easy to install ... So it may still be an option but he wants to go Intel anyhow. 

 

 

So ok, 9600k or 9700k then,  does it even need to be a k version though?  Because he's not going to OC anything I think. 

 

^see that's what I'm talking about,  alone getting him to use XMP would be a massive pain... This thing has to just work after he put it together lol  

 

[Fasauceome]

27 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

BIOS updates,  chipset drivers...  RAM...  

bios updates are not required if you get an MSI max board, Intel has chipset  drivers too, and what RAM issues specifically?

[brob]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($199.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($89.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Phantom Gaming D OC Video Card  ($379.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME Ultra Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($93.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1003.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-18 23:11 EST-0500

[amdorintel]

22 minutes ago, brob said:

Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($89.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Phantom Gaming D OC Video Card  ($379.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 

M.2 1TB looks like a great price!

Not sure about that ram until I looked 16/18/18/38 cas 16 which for the price, is good enough!

I'm pretty sure I saw cheaper 8gb somewhere but I am not too familiar with those RX's and how they correlate to the others.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, brob said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($199.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($89.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Phantom Gaming D OC Video Card  ($379.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME Ultra Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($93.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1003.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-18 23:11 EST-0500

That's the most awesome Intel / Nvidia build ever.  thanks?

[brob]

29 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

That's the most awesome Intel / Nvidia build ever.  thanks?

If you want a comparable performance Intel / Nvidia build you need to up the budget by about $200.

[LienusLateTips]

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

That's the most awesome Intel / Nvidia build ever.  thanks?

The thing is: you're getting much worse performance with Intel/NVIDIA at the same price. The hassles you've mentioned don't exist anymore, either.

[LienusLateTips]

3 hours ago, brob said:

Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Phantom Gaming D OC Video Card  ($379.99 @ Newegg) 

Doesn't the MECH OC have a better cooler at the same price?

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, LienusLateTips said:

The thing is: you're getting much worse performance with Intel/NVIDIA at the same price. The hassles you've mentioned don't exist anymore, either.

Neither of this is correct. 

 

First one is vastly over exaggeration. 

Second one is obviously highly uninformed. 

 

And reading comprehension is a thing too. He said he wants to go Intel so why should I try to convince him otherwise when I exactly *know* he would hate the Ryzen and it would completely overwhelm him, so I'm not gonna try to do that. 

 

I wasn't sure,  but after this thread, I definitely am, not going to mention Ryzen to him again. 

 

 

[boggy77]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$369.99 @ B&H
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler	$69.95 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 AORUS ELITE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$169.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$59.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Corsair MP510 960 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$119.99 @ Corsair
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB OC Video Card	$239.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case	Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	$55.88 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1185.77
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1165.77
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-19 05:08 EST-0500

 

[Mark Kaine]

How about this? 

 

It's slightly over limit, no K CPU (he's not going to OC anyways) but he won't have a low tier GPU

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor	$309.99 @ Best Buy
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler	$69.95 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 AORUS ELITE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$169.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$59.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$69.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card	$389.99 @ Newegg
Case	Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	$55.88 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1245.76
	Mail-in rebates	-$40.00
	Total	$1205.76
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-19 16:57 EST-0500

With different PSU:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor	$309.99 @ Best Buy
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler	$69.95 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 AORUS ELITE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$169.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$59.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$69.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card	$389.99 @ Newegg
Case	Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	$55.88 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$64.98 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1210.75
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1190.75
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-19 16:58 EST-0500

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Why would you put that board/cooler with a locked cpu ? Either go with the 8700K or change the board to something cheaper like the Z390 UD and a cheaper air cooler around $30.

[Mark Kaine]

33 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

Why would you put that board/cooler with a locked cpu ? Either go with the 8700K or change the board to something cheaper like the Z390 UD and a cheaper air cooler around $30.

Because I have no idea about Intel

 

I knew the cooler is overkill tho. Any suggestions which? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Because I have no idea about Intel

 

I knew the cooler is overkill tho. Any suggestions which? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are sticking with the 8700 then the Gigabyte Z390 UD for $99.99 is a better option. It has a pretty good VRM so you could put a 9900 on it in the future. Something like an Arctic Freezer 34 would do fine for the cooler.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ Best Buy) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports CPU Cooler  ($32.64 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 UD ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Team T-Force VULCAN 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card  ($408.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case  ($55.88 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Phanteks AMP 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1102.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-19 18:32 EST-0500

 

[Mark Kaine]

22 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

If you are sticking with the 8700 then the Gigabyte Z390 UD for $99.99 is a better option. It has a pretty good VRM so you could put a 9900 on it in the future. Something like an Arctic Freezer 34 would do fine for the cooler.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ Best Buy) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports CPU Cooler  ($32.64 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 UD ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Team T-Force VULCAN 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card  ($408.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case  ($55.88 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Phanteks AMP 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1102.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-19 18:32 EST-0500

 

I see, thanks that looks nice. 

[Meganter]

But why overspending on a 8700+2060S when you can have a 3600+5700XT for less and better?

[LienusLateTips]

21 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

 

Second one is obviously highly uninformed. 

So.... the 5700XT, within 10% of the 2070 Super, and up to 20% more powerful of the 2060S at the same price, is uninformed?

 

Just an example game:

[GoldenLag]

On 12/19/2019 at 4:42 AM, Mark Kaine said:

BIOS updates

They are like any other boards. 

 

And if you were to help your friend there are plenty of boards to choose from .

 

Like B450m AC from ASrock or all the Max board MSI offers. 

 

On 12/19/2019 at 4:42 AM, Mark Kaine said:

chipset drivers

You can ignore those........ Because windows will solve it in some "eh" way. And its a thing on every motherboard ever. 

On 12/19/2019 at 4:42 AM, Mark Kaine said:

RAM...

Kinda dissappeared with second gen...... And currently the IMC is fantastic.

 

21 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

First one is vastly over exaggeration. 

Second one is obviously highly uninformed. 

Actually is fairly accurate in the price category we are looking at. 

 

Take this from someone who configures builds every day. 

 

21 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

He said he wants to go Intel so why should I try to convince him otherwise when I exactly *know* he would hate the Ryzen

By what reason would he hate a better product to buy at his price category? Due to the sticker that comes with it?

 

21 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

I wasn't sure,  but after this thread, I definitely am, not going to mention Ryzen to him again. 

So you wont mention it to him. Because people said you were wrong/missinformed about something?

 

You wanted to be helpful to your friend, by extencion we want to be helpful to you. You had concerns, we adressed those and proceeded to suggest a good build for the budget. 

 

By all means, go intel+nvidia on this budget, but keep in mind you are getting a worse experience for the money. From opening the first box, to the last game the system will play.

[trevb0t]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$339.99 @ Best Buy
CPU Cooler	Corsair A70 61 CFM CPU Cooler	$29.99 @ Best Buy
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 UD ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$99.99 @ Amazon
Memory	GeIL EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$54.99 @ Newegg
Storage	ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$59.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Hitachi Ultrastar 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$34.95 @ Amazon
Video Card	Zotac GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB GAMING AMP Extreme Video Card	$399.99 @ Amazon
Case	Cougar MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case	$44.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	be quiet! Pure Power 11 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$69.90 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1134.78
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-20 15:55 EST-0500

Here is an Intel build you could look at:

 

I agree in broad strokes with a lot being said.

 

Zen 2 is powerful and inexpensive enough that there are perhaps two Intel CPUs worth looking at that currently exist. (Excluding MAYBE the extreme series, but those cost more than your build's budget.) Going this route leaves less room for common comforts in the build as I'll exhibit. (Though this build WILL work just fine and game well enough.)

 

Those two chips are the i7-9700K and i9-9900K/KS. The Ryzen 5 3600 has effectively removed the i5 from the equation, and even the previous gen i7-8700K is knocked out in almost all comparisons.

 

That said, the 9700K is still pulling great FPS in current gen gaming. It does lack hyperthreading, which doesn't necessarily mean it's going to age well. It still could at 8 cores. The 9900K is out of the question at this budget.

• No included CPU cooler, so budget must meet that.
• High price point for a small boost over the $200 3600. (Reference below. Between a 6-15% improvement depending on title. Average around 9-10%)

• High price makes things like silent fans, good overclockable gear, flashy case, etc. out of the question if you want a decent performing GPU to pair it with.

A70 cooler, Z390 UD, MX-330 are all decent and well priced units. For cooling, you can expect a little more noise than you might with a system pooling less toward the two main components. It won't sound HORRIBLE, just not super quiet either. A small OC could be achieved, though I doubt you'd get it to/over 5ghz.

 

The 2060Super is frankly the wrong card at the budget. It's begging for a 5700XT, which performs competitively with the 2070/Super. (As seen below.)

The 2070 Super is out of the question in this price with the 9700K, but that level of performance could be achieved by grabbing the 5700XT. There is no more work to installing it than there is for installing the 2060 Super.

 

I am not trying to steer you in any particular direction. I am simply saying that if your friend wants Intel/nVidia at his budget in the only possible way they make sense, he's losing performance (at the GPU level) and losing a lot of comfort (quieter/better cooling systems, power draw, nicer case/appearance, better MOBO and PSU, etc. This could also be applied to gaming peripherals like mice/keyboards/headsets.) He's making pretty small gains in the CPU department to justify the sacrifice.

 

With the build below and the data posted you could argue that the difference between the 3600 and the 9700K will be of lesser impact than that of the 5700XT and the 2060 Super. (And hey, I fit the 3600X in there for a small performance boost from the data above even!)

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor	$199.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Scythe FUMA 2 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$59.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$114.99 @ B&H
Memory	GeIL EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$54.99 @ Newegg
Storage	ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$59.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Hitachi Ultrastar 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$34.95 @ Amazon
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB THICC III Ultra Video Card	$399.99 @ Amazon
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$96.99 @ Walmart
Power Supply	be quiet! Pure Power 11 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$69.90 @ Amazon
Case Fan	Fractal Design X2 GP-12 (Black) 52.3 CFM 120 mm Fan	$13.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1105.77
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-20 16:37 EST-0500

• More comfort, very quiet with solid cooling. Overclock is easily supported on both the CPU and GPU (and RAM...)
• Much sexier case with more (and quieter) cooling included, meaning the important parts will only work better.
• This WILL perform better. The CPU gap is smaller than that of the gap of GPU improvement. 
  • Setup won't be any harder than that of the first build. Drivers and all of that are the same easy process.
  • Note I used the 3600 in the post, and finagled a slightly more powerful chip in the second. Even less gap.