Affordable casual 1080p gaming / light 4k edit pc

[discovisi]

Hi guys!

 

I'm considering to upgrade my PC in my living room and wanted your help.

 

How I aim to use this PC

- 65%: HTPC / media center (Youtube / Netflix) 

- 25%: Casual couch gaming (60fps 1080p AAA titles & 4K indie games) 

- 10%: Light 4k editing

- Durability of system: 3-5 years (until game streaming is perfected)

 

Components that I'd like to re-use

Power: Corsair RM650x

Case: Fractal Design Define R5

CPU cooler: Cooler Master Nepton 280L

 

GPU options I consider

- Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super Gaming OC 6GB

- XFX Radeon RX 5700 DD Ultra 8GB GDDR6

 

Intel CPU options (compatibel with my Nepton 280L)

- Intel Core i7-7740X (~€125, used)

- Intel Core i5-8400 (~€125, used)

- Intel Core i5-9400F (~€100, used)

 

AMD CPU options (not compatible with my CPU cooler)

- AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF [12nm] (~€110, new)

- AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (~€175, new) 

 

So my dilemma / question is

1a) Do I go for the AMD 1600AF on the AM4 platform (CPU + Mobo = ~€200), and not make use of my water cooling solution? 

1b) Do I go for the AMD 3600 on the AM4 platform (CPU + Mobo = ~€250), and not make use of my water cooling solution?

2a) Do I go with the i7-7740X on the more expensive x299 platform (CPU + Mobo = ~€280) and overclock the chip to ~5GHz?

2b) Do I go with a 8400 / 9400F on a cheaper motherboard (CPU + Mobo = <€200) 

 

3) Skip this entire upgrade, sell my current system, and get a NAS + external GPU for my Dell XPS 15 (9550)

 

Any responses, ideas and insights are appreciated!  

 

EDIT: the 3300x was just announced, making this post irrelevant. It seems the perfect solution for my needs

[boggy77]

the 3600 will outperform all the other solutions by a large margin. if you can afford it, go for 3600 and 5700.

is the cooler not compatible with am4? can you get a mounting kit for am4 for it?

[discovisi]

3 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

the 3600 will outperform all the other solutions by a large margin. if you can afford it, go for 3600 and 5700.

is the cooler not compatible with am4? can you get a mounting kit for am4 for it?

Thanks for your quick reply! Technically there are AM4 brackets available for my CPU cooler, but they are impossible to find/buy..

[SavageNeo]

11 minutes ago, discovisi said:

Thanks for your quick reply! Technically there are AM4 brackets available for my CPU cooler, but they are impossible to find/buy..

contact cooler master. they might send you one for free.

 

and yes ryzen 5 3600 will beat all of those. 

[Streetguru]

22 minutes ago, discovisi said:

 i7-7740X

that CPU shouldn't even exist lol

 

the R5 1600 AF is a really good value

 

The Ultra DD isn't a great cooler but the performance will be just fine, are they the same price? as it's much faster than the 1660

[discovisi]

4 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Ultra DD

Thanks for your reply! This is the specific variant Linus recommended in some GPU round-up video. 

The 5700 is ~€90 more than the 1660 super at the moment. It has seen a 20%+ price increase in the last few months due to COVID19 though..

 

I understand that the Ryzen 5 3600 / RX 5700 combo is the best, but also the most expensive. I think it is a bit overkill for my use cases, tbh.

 

I feel the 1600 AF / 1660 Super combo is the best bang for buck and plenty adequate for my needs. I could even upgrade the RAM to 32GB for the light 4K editing then.. 

[Streetguru]

2 minutes ago, discovisi said:

Thanks for your reply! This is the specific variant Linus recommended in some GPU round-up video. 

 

Better to have an overkill GPU if anything

 

Probably don't need 32GBs of RAM

 

90 more is eh, the 5700 should be at least 25% faster

 

[discovisi]

8 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Better to have an overkill GPU if anything

Yeah, I agree on this. 

 

1600AF + 5700 is my preferred combo with a ASRock B450M Pro4 motherboard.

 

Let's see what the prices do, as I'm probably going to purchase this in 2-3 months orso.