12400f + h610 still good? best bang for buck to get on blackfriday

[jm_bmw]

Hey everyone,

I am looking to build a new system on blackfriday, best bang for buck this time (used to build top tier and end barely using it lol).
I play on 1080p 144hz res and will use mainly for older games and emulators, so cpu will be required a little more here.
No worries about gpu, I will probably get something second-hand, any RTX 2070-3060 or RX6600-XT class will do.

I have questions on what best cost benefit cpu+mobo combo I can get? does it still worth getting a 12400f w h610 DDR4? or ZEN3 /AM4? will basically be stuck w it.

Or better throw a little more and get b660/b760 DDR5 to have room to upgrade down the line? In fact, would like to go AM5, w 7600 and b650, but the total cost seems higher (both cpu and mobo).

Let me know what you think, appreciate any help!

 

[iameatingjam]

Yeah the 12400f in an incredible value now that you can get it for $100. Very capable for that price.

 

[Assimilator]

Second-hand Zen 3.

 

[jm_bmw]

Yeah I thought about getting used am4 /5900x, but checking vs 12400 in gaming, amd seems to be losing here.

I also dont like the idea of a used mb, dont see an issue w other components but motherboards just have too many connections/things that arent easy to test/check before buying, some people also dont know how to manage properly and can damage it upon installing-removing.

Further checking 12400 d4 vs d5 the difference seems minimal, the only issue w h610 to be locked at max 3200Mhz.... I was thinking to get used bdie kit to compensate being on d4, but will not take advantage on this board.

 

[Selaya]

id rather 5700x3d-b550/450 tbh.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Yeah I thought about getting used am4 /5900x, but checking vs 12400 in gaming, amd seems to be losing here.

I also dont like the idea of a used mb, dont see an issue w other components but motherboards just have too many connections/things that arent easy to test/check before buying, some people also dont know how to manage properly and can damage it upon installing-removing.

Further checking 12400 d4 vs d5 the difference seems minimal, the only issue w h610 to be locked at max 3200Mhz.... I was thinking to get used bdie kit to compensate being on d4, but will not take advantage on this board.

Yeah, Alder Lake is faster than Zen 3 in gaming. If you're on a super tight budget, it's a safe bet. Keep an eye on any potential sales on the Core Ultra 5 245K (14600K successor) as well, they have not been selling well and Intel might just discount.

 

[Assimilator]

Yeah I thought about getting used am4 /5900x, but checking vs 12400 in gaming, amd seems to be losing here.

Why are you talking about gaming and 5900X in the same sentence? If gaming is your focus on AMD, you should be looking at 5700X3D or 5800X3D (or 5600X3D in the USA).

I also dont like the idea of a used mb, dont see an issue w other components but motherboards just have too many connections/things that arent easy to test/check before buying, some people also dont know how to manage properly and can damage it upon installing-removing.

Every single motherboard I've bought over the past decade (5+ boards) has been second-hand and I have never had a problem. Stick to Ebay, buy only from positively-rated sellers, and if you should get a lemon invoke buyer protection and get a refund.

 

[jm_bmw]

id rather 5700x3d-b550/450 tbh.

Why are you talking about gaming and 5900X in the same sentence? If gaming is your focus on AMD, you should be looking at 5700X3D or 5800X3D (or 5600X3D in the USA).

Thanks! I was looking for higher clock/cores on 5900x to compensate being a older gen, completely forgot the x3d here. Found one in my region but the guy is asking a lot.. I mean... more than a entire new 12400 combo just for the cpu. I will add to the list to check tough, when BF comes.

Every single motherboard I've bought over the past decade (5+ boards) has been second-hand and I have never had a problem. Stick to Ebay, buy only from positively-rated sellers, and if you should get a lemon invoke buyer protection and get a refund.

Luck you, I had a bad experience w a used z390, the guy had knocked out one of the audio caps close to the m.2 screw and the back of the board was all scratched (apparently from the mounting stands...) it was working fine but I just don't trust it anymore, socket pins are also easy to damage, prefer to get a new one and avoid any hassle.

 

[Macro Device]

I highly doubt Zen 3 will cut it from $ per FPS perspective. Very highly:

0. 12400F beats almost everything Zen 3 in games (with only 5800X and X3D models having more edge).
1. 12400F is a little less sensitive to RAM speed so you can cheap on it out and still get respectable performance. Of course cheap 2666C19 sticks will be garbage even on this platform, but no nonsense 3200C14 is plenty.
2. Cooling is just a matter of a working cooler. I do just fine with a Laminar RM1. Zen 3 CPUs are a struggle to cool.
3. CPUs and motherboards themselves cost about the same as Alder Lake so there's no win, either.

AM5 allows better performance even on a 7500F/8400F but you still face the platform being generally considerably more pricey than the LGA1700. So yeah, 12400F is a sweet spot there.

 

[jm_bmw]

Yeah doing some more research there's nothing at 12400F performance X cost apparently, I even found a new B760m board cheaper than H610 lol, this will probably solidify this choice. Pairing w used 2x16gb 3200-3600 ram seems solid enough.

zen3 / am4 is more expensive, and will get me stuck at D4 anyway... why bother. By going cheap on this combo I can get a better gpu.

 

[iameatingjam]

Yeah doing some more research there's nothing at 12400F performance X cost apparently, I even found a new B760m board cheaper than H610 lol, this will probably solidify this choice. Pairing w used 2x16gb 3200-3600 ram seems solid enough.

zen3 / am4 is more expensive, and will get me stuck at D4 anyway... why bother. By going cheap on this combo I can get a better gpu.

What gpu are you thinking? You could probably pair that with a 4070 super or 7800xt or 7900 gre. Higher the resolution the more you can away with of course.

Also awesome you were able to get a b760m board. That means you can do ram overclocking.... if you're into that sorta thing.

 

[jm_bmw]

What gpu are you thinking? You could probably pair that with a 4070 super or 7800xt or 7900 gre. Higher the resolution the more you can away with of course.

I am not sure yet but those would be too much for my needs, it will be mostly for older games/emulators. I was thinking new 6600-50xt or 7600, the 4060 would pair nicely too but its price doesn't budge since launch... impressive. I will also look for used 6700-6800xt and 30 series (60ti-70-80), maybe find a better deal there, only issue w used cards is that we never know if it was burned during the mining boom.

Also awesome you were able to get a b760m board. That means you can do ram overclocking.... if you're into that sorta thing.

Indeed! I do enjoy tunning ram, used to play a lot w it by watching buildzoid hints. Will try to pair a b-die kit or even micron e-die (remember it was cheap and came in those Ballistix 3600C16 bundles).

 

[Macro Device]

That means you can do ram overclocking.

One can optimise timings on H610 as well. This yields almost the same results for gaming since you virtually can't go past 3600 MHz on non-K Alder Lakes. 3200 VS 3600 is a difference but it's not deciding. Perhaps 1 or 2 percent better 1% lows on the latter (if timings are tuned equally, i.e. e.g. C16 VS C18) but almost impossible to tell.

I will also look for used 6700-6800xt and 30 series (60ti-70-80)

Plain 3080 is a beast for its money. Disregard "tiny" 10 GB VRAM buffer, it's still a no nonsense 1440p High / 4K Med-High GPU with only a couple games capable of kneeing it. In Russia, at least, they're available for just north of 300 USD and compared to 6800 XT, it's give or take the same performance for give or take same money but with DLSS, CUDA and better RT onboard. If you got an option to come and see the GPU in person before actually purchasing it it's a very good sign. Even better if the owner admits to mining on it and can elaborate on how exactly they had their mining operation running. Love buying ex-mining GPUs, only one and a half failures in a hundred purchases. Insanely cost efficient, too, especially if you buy GPUs in bundle with PSUs, boards and other equipment. The only question is what to do with all this stuff but you'll figure.

 

[Ruru]

Plain 3080 is a beast for its money. Disregard "tiny" 10 GB VRAM buffer, it's still a no nonsense 1440p High / 4K Med-High GPU with only a couple games capable of kneeing it. In Russia, at least, they're available for just north of 300 USD and compared to 6800 XT, it's give or take the same performance for give or take same money but with DLSS, CUDA and better RT onboard. If you got an option to come and see the GPU in person before actually purchasing it it's a very good sign. Even better if the owner admits to mining on it and can elaborate on how exactly they had their mining operation running. Love buying ex-mining GPUs, only one and a half failures in a hundred purchases. Insanely cost efficient, too, especially if you buy GPUs in bundle with PSUs, boards and other equipment. The only question is what to do with all this stuff but you'll figure.

Still a strong 4K card even with its 10GB. I was actually surprised how well this runs majority of even newer titles without hiccups.

 

[jak_2456]

Regarding GPUs, I've used a 6700 XT for quite some time now at 4K and it's been a great experience; however, I mostly play less-demanding sim racing games. I do think that the 3080 might work too for a lot of games, but you should research what games you play and how much VRAM they typically use at 4K. If they use less than 10 GB and you don't really mind dropping settings if you end up playing a new game with higher VRAM requirements, it'll be great. eBay's sold listings in the US suggest that you should expect to pay around $350-400. If you want more than 10 GB, RX 6800 XTs sell for around the same amount. Go with the NVIDIA card if you don't need a lot of VRAM and want the features that come with it, but go with the AMD card if you want the VRAM and don't care about NVIDIA's features.

 

[Ruru]

Regarding GPUs, I've used a 6700 XT for quite some time now at 4K and it's been a great experience; however, I mostly play less-demanding sim racing games. I do think that the 3080 might work too for a lot of games, but you should research what games you play and how much VRAM they typically use at 4K. If they use less than 10 GB and you don't really mind dropping settings if you end up playing a new game with higher VRAM requirements, it'll be great. eBay's sold listings in the US suggest that you should expect to pay around $350-400. If you want more than 10 GB, RX 6800 XTs sell for around the same amount. Go with the NVIDIA card if you don't need a lot of VRAM and want the features that come with it, but go with the AMD card if you want the VRAM and don't care about NVIDIA's features.

Went from 6700 XT to RTX 3080 and even though I now have 2GB less of VRAM, the pure performance boost was significant. And used 4K since day one with both cards.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Built my media PC with a 12400f, no regrets. Yes my main 5800x3d is faster but unless you are rocking $1000+ GPUs and 100+ hz monitors you wont notice a difference at all. And for the price intel is absolutely the bang for buck champion.

 

[jm_bmw]

Plain 3080 is a beast for its money. Disregard "tiny" 10 GB VRAM buffer, it's still a no nonsense 1440p High / 4K Med-High GPU with only a couple games capable of kneeing it. In Russia, at least, they're available for just north of 300 USD and compared to 6800 XT, it's give or take the same performance for give or take same money but with DLSS, CUDA and better RT onboard. If you got an option to come and see the GPU in person before actually purchasing it it's a very good sign. Even better if the owner admits to mining on it and can elaborate on how exactly they had their mining operation running. Love buying ex-mining GPUs, only one and a half failures in a hundred purchases. Insanely cost efficient, too, especially if you buy GPUs in bundle with PSUs, boards and other equipment. The only question is what to do with all this stuff but you'll figure.

I had this exact card before, 3080 10G w a 13700 (non-K) + DDR5 6000C32, indeed a pure beast! would play anything effortlessly. I did even OC ram to 7000s just for fun and it had great scores all around, this still a great combo btw.

Since I was busy barely playing any games or using it at all (plus the buzz on 13-14gen degradation and arrow lake coming on the corner) decided to sell w fear it would depreciate too much... thinking by now I should have kept it... degradation seems to affect only K SKUs in a few cases, not even sure how to test/know this, and arrow lake was a joke, all it did was value older gens...

Gamers nexus just launched a video on this subject, the 5700X3D has great value IF I can find a good price/ used board (since AM4 doesn't has pins on cpu socket it should be fine) also used 12700 non K or 12600K seems a good option too.... still not sure, will keep looking for a good deal and wait BF to check prices and decide.