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Buying a new PC urgently

If you had to buy a computer *tomorrow*, which one would you go for?


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As the poll says. If you had no time to wait for newer generations, which one would you go for?

It should be a given that you don't wait for AMD to release new 3D Vcache CPUs or Zen 4 - you just go for whatever you find today.
 
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I think the safest bet is ALD right now they have good options at every price point and motherboards that offer pretty much any features one could want. Ryzen 5000 isn't really price competitive and the amount you save going with a $140 ish B550 board vs a $180 B660 or $230 Z690 board is mostly eaten up by the cpu cost difference.

If you already have a half decent AM4 board Zen3 makes more sense though.
 
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What about Rx 5000 plus an X570 board? I found some of those have pretty good features.
 
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What about Rx 5000 plus an X570 board? I found some of those have pretty good features.

At $300 the 12600k is much better than the 5600x and at $400 ish the 12700k is much better than the 5800X is the problem... The 5900X needs to be closer in price to the 12700k to be viable and the 5950X isn't useful for most people.

I have both a 5800X/5950X both great cpus but at $400 and under ALD is much better at every tier right now till we see bigger price cuts from AMD which I doubt are coming.
 
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At $300 the 12600k is much better than the 5600x and at $400 ish the 12700k is much better than the 5800X is the problem... The 5900X needs to be closer in price to the 12700k to be viable and the 5950X isn't useful for most people.

I have both a 5800X/5950X both great cpus but at $400 and under ALD is much better at every tier right now till we see bigger price cuts from AMD which I doubt are coming.
While I totally agree with you, if you can afford it (you know) the 5950X is a joy to behold and use. 5.2 GHZ single core is nothing to sneeze at. I think that the mid tier boards like the B660 will force AMD to lower prices as their MB cost advantage will evaporate.
 
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Yeah, if the thread was urgently need a 600+ cpu then it really just comes down to the 5950X and 12900k.

I think I would still lean towards the i9 considering they mostly just trade blows and the i9 is usually $100 cheaper money I'd rather put into ram, storage, or a better mobo.
 
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Since GPU prices are where they are atm, only sensible solution for a PC imho is one with the 5600G and a mid-tier B550 board. When the market gets normalized, will check again what can be done to upgrade or get a new PC on a new platform.
 
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Since GPU prices are where they are atm, only sensible solution for a PC imho is one with the 5600G and a mid-tier B550 board. When the market gets normalized, will check again what can be done to upgrade or get a new PC on a new platform.

OP has a 3060ti pretty sure he's asking for himself.
 
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Yeah, if the thread was urgently need a 600+ cpu then it really just comes down to the 5950X and 12900k and I think I would still lean towards the i9 considering they mostly just trade blows and the i9 is usually $100 cheaper money I'd rather put into ram, storage, or a better mobo.
I had a X570-E Strix, that was a great MB until it got Gremlins. So bad that I actually thought my $1400 6800XT was broken, I had one of those store Warranties on the MB and I paid a little extra and replaced it the MSI X570S Ace Max. The thing with that board is it is wired with a bunch of PCIe switches and a super beefy VRM. It allows me to have 2 RAID cards in my PC without losing any bandwidth (chipset yes). I have long transitioned away from HDD and have all the SATA I need so losing 4/8 SATA ports to link 2 PCIe 4 NVME Drives in RAID 0 is joy. As a Gamer I appreciated it when I have to reinstall Epic Games after Windows 11 and now a MB update. This should satisfy me until AMD or Intel impresses me enough to move to AM5 or 13th Gen. If I had any lower class CPU like a 3600, 2700x, 5600x I would spend my money on a 5900X or 5950X from today until AM5 launches. What I am really looking forward to is official Direct Storage support in Win 11.
 
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Pretty much anything is going to be a massive upgrade over your 4th gen i5 I still think with the much better ST and very good MT ALD is the better bet. Your money though there are enough benchmarks out there from reputable reviewers that making an informed decision shouldn't be too difficult.
 

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As the poll says. If you had no time to wait for newer generations, which one would you go for?

It should be a given that you don't wait for AMD to release new 3D Vcache CPUs or Zen 4 - you just go for whatever you find today.
Let's cut to the chase and allow posters to back up their choices on here.

1. What is your budget.
2. What country are you located.
3. Will you be reusing and/or do you already own any components.
4. What will be the primary uses of your computer.
 
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1. $250-$300 on CPU; $150-$200 on motherboard
2. India (budget according to US pricing but prices of Alder Lake are prohibitive).
3. For the sake of discussion, assume I own everything apart from CPU, mobo and RAM.
4. Gaming primary; video editing secondary; office use tertiary.
 
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Zen3D doesn't exist yet, so that option is out. 5600X in that case.
 
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1. $250-$300 on CPU; $150-$200 on motherboard
2. India (budget according to US pricing but prices of Alder Lake are prohibitive).
3. For the sake of discussion, assume I own everything apart from CPU, mobo and RAM.
4. Gaming primary; video editing secondary; office use tertiary.
If you can wait for the Alder Lake cpu's and B660 DDR4 boards to arrive in India I would look at the i5 12400F + B660 DDR4 board + 2x8GB set of DDR4-3200mhz CL16 RAM.

https://www.primeabgb.com/buy-onlin...ards/?filters=motherboard-chipset[intel-b660] <--- the B660 DDR4 boards are just now beginning to arrive in India.

If you cannot wait until then I would do something like this. Check Amazon for these same items.

https://www.primeabgb.com/online-pr...aming-b560m-plus-intel-b560-matx-motherboard/
ASUS TUF GAMING B560M-PLUS ₹12,499

https://www.primeabgb.com/online-pr...ion-rocket-lake-processor-12m-cache-4-40-ghz/
Intel Core i5-11400F ₹13,499

https://www.primeabgb.com/online-pr...x-400-v2-blue-cpu-cooler-dp-mch4-gmx400v2-bl/
DEEPCOOL GAMMAXX 400 V2 CPU COOLER ₹1,300

+

2x8GB 3200mhz CL16 RAM.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/intel-core-i5-11400f-processor-review,1.html


Zen3D doesn't exist yet, so that option is out. 5600X in that case.
Have you seen the prices of the 5600X in India? Lisa Lu and the rest of that AMD lot cater to the wealthy.
 
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The 5600x is actually my choice - it's not very expensive as compared to what it is in the US.

At about INR 24,000 it's equivalent to roughly $320, an amount which I am prepared to pay. My only concern is that if I go for it, will it be competitive with future i5s and Ryzens?
 

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The 5600x is actually my choice - it's not very expensive as compared to what it is in the US.

At about INR 24,000 it's equivalent to roughly $320, an amount which I am prepared to pay. My only concern is that if I go for it, will it be competitive with future i5s and Ryzens?

I think that is a good way to look at it, because even if Alder Lake did arrive there tomorrow, who knows what the cost would be. It does seem like USA gets preferential treatment on cost of electronics regardless of any other country. So if you can get something at MSRP USA price, that is probably fair.

I don't know what Intel is like overseas anymore though as far as stock goes.
 
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the i5 12600k(and other Alder Lake CPUs) is going to arrive at the end of this month.
 
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I think that is a good way to look at it, because even if Alder Lake did arrive there tomorrow, who knows what the cost would be. It does seem like USA gets preferential treatment on cost of electronics regardless of any other country. So if you can get something at MSRP USA price, that is probably fair.

I don't know what Intel is like overseas anymore though as far as stock goes.
The 11400F is going for $180 USD in India vs the 5600X which goes for $320 USD there. No way will the i5 12400F go for anywhere near $300 in India or anywhere else for that matter.

This board in the links down below is going for less than $200 USD. That's on par with US pricing.

https://www.primeabgb.com/online-pr...re-series-cpu-max-128-gb-ddr4-5333mhz-memory/

 

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the i5 12600k(and other Alder Lake CPUs) is going to arrive at the end of this month.

10 cores and 16 threads? am i reading that right? i don't know much about alder lake but that seems weird to me on the numbers.

anyways, thats only like $30 more after conversion from my math than the 5600x. seems like you should get the 12600k honestly. almost doubling your cores and your increasing your IPC for $30 more... seems like a no brainer, regardless of brand.
 
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the i5 12600k(and other Alder Lake CPUs) is going to arrive at the end of this month.
The i5 12400F will most likely sell for at or under $200 USD in India.

 

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The i5 12400F will most likely sell for at or under $200 USD in India.


OP said they are willing to spend $320, the 12600k coming on that website is listed at ₹29,999 which is like what $30-50 more than what they are willing to spend.

Seems logical to me should just try to save up a little bit more, 10 cores and a bit better IPC, makes a lot of sense. I'm not a fan of Intel, but if that price/conversion is correct, I would pay $30-50 more for a 10 core vs 6 core of similar generations.
 
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OP said they are willing to spend $320, the 12600k coming on that website is listed at ₹29,999 which is like what $30-50 more than what they are willing to spend.

Seems logical to me should just try to save up a little bit more, 10 cores and a bit better IPC, makes a lot of sense. I'm not a fan of Intel, but if that price/conversion is correct, I would pay $30-50 more for a 10 core vs 6 core of similar generations.
Agreed but finding a Z690 DDR4 board for $200 or less in India might be a chore. If he can find one then the 12600K would be the logical choice.
 

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Agreed but finding a Z690 DDR4 board for $200 or less in India might be a chore. If he can find one then the 12600K would be the logical choice.

Fair point. I mean it's only 10-15 days away until it should all be in stock, so if it were me personally, I'd just wait and see what is physically on the self last week of January/first week of February and go from there. An upgrade like this should not be taken lightly, as the future is very uncertain...
 
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