Best Bang for The Buck

[OopsOpss]

Budget (including currency): 1800 Maximum 

Country: Canada

Games, programs, or workloads that it will be used for: Average gaming and video recording.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone could give me an idea as to what I can buy. Intel for CPU and Nvidia GPU, and 32gb of RAM.

 

 

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, OopsOpss said:

Budget (including currency): 1800 Maximum 

Country: Canada

Games, programs, or workloads that it will be used for: Average gaming and video recording.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone could give me an idea as to what I can buy. Intel for CPU and Nvidia GPU, and 32gb of RAM.

 

 

Ruthless economy.  Hmm..  

1) rgb of any sort ads cost but no performance. It’s not worth avoiding though if something is cheaper. It also doesn’t hurt performance that I know of. 

2) the type of gpu matters more than whether it’s OC or not.  OC features are often just to meet a price point.  
3) With CPUs generally K chips are a not so useful premium. If you’re buying a gpu anyway you can get away with an F chip, but it makes debugging potentially a lot more of a pain.  
4) Cases look as stuff in the sub $50 range, or even go drywall screws and a piece of scrap plywood for $0.  Reviewers hate to build in low ball cases because they suck to build in, but users only build once. Who cares if you cut yourself a few times?  Bundle the cost of case and fans through.  A cheap case that needs a bunch of fans may not be cheap anymore. 

5) For fans lowball it. Only get other than sleeve bearing if a fan is going to run horizontal,  and even then 2 bearing is enough for long operation. You can cut flashing yourself so a cheap fan doesn’t matter a lot.

6) For motherboards You don’t need more VRM than you’re actually going to use, and the only worthwhile gaming board feature imho is the ability to flash bios with a USB stick.  Sometimes non wifi boards that have wifi versions simply have an unpopulated but still totally functional e key nvme for a wifi card up in one corner.  In these situations the “wifi” version is really just bundling the card with the mobo.  Not sure which way that will run price wise. there also two types of memory.  Daisy chain and something else. I have no idea which way that one goes either

7) PSU non modular or semi modular if you can’t get non.  A lot of companies that sell PSUs under their own name don’t actually make them themselves and just buy from another company.  Superflower makes a lot of PSUs for other manufacturers for example. Another thing that doesn’t actually hurt performance is ketchup and mustard cabling.  I don’t see it much anymore though.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Bombastinator

[Jonathan Lee]

Are you not open to any AMD builds? Also, what do you mean by "average gaming"?

 

Anyways 1800 CAD is a good budget to build a computer, might be tough to find a GPU right now though. You can look for bundle deals on newegg which are overall better value than trying to get all the component individually. Here's something you could go with:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-11700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($0.00) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler  ($79.98 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($0.00) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($137.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB XC GAMING Video Card 
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($0.00) 
Custom: Newegg Bundle ($1388.97)
Total: $1819.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-11 20:41 EST-0500

[OopsOpss]

1 hour ago, Jonathan Lee said:

Are you not open to any AMD builds? Also, what do you mean by "average gaming"?

 

Anyways 1800 CAD is a good budget to build a computer, might be tough to find a GPU right now though. You can look for bundle deals on newegg which are overall better value than trying to get all the component individually. Here's something you could go with:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-11700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($0.00) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler  ($79.98 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($0.00) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($137.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB XC GAMING Video Card 
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($0.00) 
Custom: Newegg Bundle ($1388.97)
Total: $1819.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-11 20:41 EST-0500

I am open to AMD builds as I have only used AMD in the past. I just want to try something new.

 

And by average gaming I mean I won't constantly be playing. 

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, OopsOpss said:

I am open to AMD builds as I have only used AMD in the past. I just want to try something new.

 

And by average gaming I mean I won't constantly be playing. 

This is the first Intel cpu except for some occasional mid tier chips lately that seems like it may be worth a look.  I am not encouraged by its compatibility issues though that may disappear with time.  Ryzen3 looks reasonably good lately with their lower prices.  B550 is a possible candidate for a ruthless system.  Pcie5 has its attractions though.

[FRARICHY]

PCPartPicker Part List: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/z68qYg

CPU: Intel Core i5-11400 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($253.96 @ Amazon Canada) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition 57.3 CFM CPU Cooler  ($47.57 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: MSI H510M-A PRO Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($118.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  ($154.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($84.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Video Card: Zotac GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GAMING Twin Edge OC Video Card  ($998.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Case: Deepcool MATREXX 55 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Amazon Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750 W ATX Power Supply  ($75.34 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $1854.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-12 03:44 EST-0500
 

What do you think?

[Herman Mcpootis]

4 hours ago, FRARICHY said:

What do you think?

terrible motherboard with an even worse PSU.

[OopsOpss]

7 hours ago, FRARICHY said:

PCPartPicker Part List: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/z68qYg

CPU: Intel Core i5-11400 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($253.96 @ Amazon Canada) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition 57.3 CFM CPU Cooler  ($47.57 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: MSI H510M-A PRO Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($118.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  ($154.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($84.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Video Card: Zotac GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GAMING Twin Edge OC Video Card  ($998.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Case: Deepcool MATREXX 55 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Amazon Canada) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750 W ATX Power Supply  ($75.34 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $1854.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-12 03:44 EST-0500
 

What do you think?

I will consider it.

[OopsOpss]

If anyone has any AMD builds they would like to share that will be good too.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, OopsOpss said:

If anyone has any AMD builds they would like to share that will be good too.

With AMD the preferred cpu lately around here for bang/buck has been the 5600 as it was as fast as a 3700 which was already faster than jaguar2 which is what the Xbox and PlayStation use. Jaguar2 is 8/16 though.  Hasn’t been a problem yet but could become one in the future.  Intel has been a lot more price competitive recently.  The 12400 in particular is I understand a good bang/buck chip.  Theres an Aussie review YouTube channel called hardware unboxed where they talk about cost per frame, which imho is a pretty good metric for such 

[Jonathan Lee]

AMD Option:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($289.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler  ($79.98 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($164.19 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($137.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Speedster QICK 308 Black Video Card  ($859.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Total: $1835.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-12 15:32 EST-0500

 

I think the intel option I gave earlier is better though. You can also consider adding about 100CAD to get a 5700G and then this would be identical to previous one I gave except AMD.

[OopsOpss]

10 hours ago, Jonathan Lee said:

AMD Option:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($289.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler  ($79.98 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($164.19 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($137.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Speedster QICK 308 Black Video Card  ($859.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Total: $1835.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-12-12 15:32 EST-0500

 

I think the intel option I gave earlier is better though. You can also consider adding about 100CAD to get a 5700G and then this would be identical to previous one I gave except AMD.

Thank you

[OopsOpss]

Alright thanks guys.