Do I swap from Intel to AMD

[Lukemondo]

Hello, I’m after a bit of advice I’ve ordered the below build for my PC but having thoughts on wether to keep with Intel or swap to AMD, Im looking at changing the build anyway from the Z390-F to Z490–F motherboard (if I stay with intel, will obviously change if I switch to AMD) any advice would be greatly received!

Original order date is 15th October, and currently sat at 39 working days in pre production, so can’t see it being here before Christmas.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700K (3.6GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z390-F GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (Originally 850W changed
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

This PC will mainly be used for gaming and occasionally used as a workstation for my studies (Projects, reports, spreadsheets, nothing too intense for the workstation element)

Thanks in advance for any advice received!

 

[AgentCooper]

I would absolutely swap to AMD without hesitation, there's so many positives in doing so...

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

What monitor will you be using (make and model or resolution and refresh rate) and what's your budget for the system? We could spec an alternative AMD build for you...

 

[Lukemondo]

I would absolutely swap to AMD without hesitation, there's so many positives in doing so...

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

What monitor will you be using (make and model or resolution and refresh rate) and what's your budget for the system? We could spec an alternative AMD build for you...

Yeah I had seen that along with a few similar posts!

Monitor is BENQ ZOWIE, ZL2411P, 144 HZ, 1ms response time, will be for the FPS games, also going to be getting a 4k monitor once the PCS confirm it’s gone into building for games like assassins creed, cyberpunk etc.

I think the current build is roughly at £2200 (excluding monitors and peripherals) so roughly the same price, with a max price of around £2500

 

[AgentCooper]

Okie dokie!

So here's what I'd suggest and it would eat Intel for breakfast...

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP (Delivery before Xmas not guaranteed)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Price: £2,315.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/6NJ63KRKMd/


Now... what I would say is that you're going to need to spend about £800 minimum on a 4K 144Hz monitor in order to do the 3080 justice. If that seems a bit much for your budget what I'd heartily recommend is to drop the GPU to the 3070 and pair it with a 1440p 144Hz ultrawide monitor like the one below. It's a bit more pocket friendly and if you're going to be using it for single player titles, the sense of immersion is amazing.

AOC CU34G2X 34" UWQHD 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor - Laptops Direct

Buy AOC CU34G2X 34" UWQHD 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor from LaptopsDirect

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk

 

[Gavras]

The answer is yes, numerous reasons, as per @AgentCooper , including ability to use PCIe 4.0 M.2 such as Samsung 980 Pro.

another thought is why am I thinking about an Intel cpu that is being replaced in circa 100 days, by a new cpu that is 4.0 capable.

admittedly that cpu will be a short interim stop gap until they dig themselves out of their current hole.

So even that cpu might not be worth using.. time will tell.

For now though, AMD are just so far ahead of Intel it’s embarrassing .

 

[Lukemondo]

Okie dokie!

So here's what I'd suggest and it would eat Intel for breakfast...

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP (Delivery before Xmas not guaranteed)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Price: £2,315.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/6NJ63KRKMd/


Now... what I would say is that you're going to need to spend about £800 minimum on a 4K 144Hz monitor in order to do the 3080 justice. If that seems a bit much for your budget what I'd heartily recommend is to drop the GPU to the 3070 and pair it with a 1440p 144Hz ultrawide monitor like the one below. It's a bit more pocket friendly and if you're going to be using it for single player titles, the sense of immersion is amazing.

AOC CU34G2X 34" UWQHD 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor - Laptops Direct

Buy AOC CU34G2X 34" UWQHD 144Hz Curved Gaming Monitor from LaptopsDirect

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk

Brilliant thanks, only thing I would prefer to stay clear of is liquid cooling, currently in process of buying a new house, so PC will be getting moved quite a bit (the house is a bit of a doer-uper)

The monitor I knew would be expensive might compromise and get a 4k 60Hz as a stop gap until time/wallet allows for a 144hz one, don’t want to commit too much towards the monitor as a lot of my income will be sunk into the house.

 

[Martinr36]

Brilliant thanks, only thing I would prefer to stay clear of is liquid cooling, currently in process of buying a new house, so PC will be getting moved quite a bit (the house is a bit of a doer-uper)

The monitor I knew would be expensive might compromise and get a 4k 60Hz as a stop gap until time/wallet allows for a 144hz one, don’t want to commit too much towards the monitor as a lot of my income will be sunk into the house.

The cooler that @AgentCooper has specced for you is a closed loop, so no problem with moving it around

 

[AgentCooper]

Then go for the 3070, it’s OTT for your 1080p monitor and will do 4K at 60Hz nicely.

As @Martinr36 says, the cooler is AIO, sealed and maintenance free 👍

 

[Lukemondo]

Then go for the 3070, it’s OTT for your 1080p monitor and will do 4K at 60Hz nicely.

As @Martinr36 says, the cooler is AIO, sealed and maintenance free 👍

Thanks, I’m going to stick with the 3080 as the price difference isn’t much, roughly £100 and I know if I don’t I’ll regret it in 6months to a years time when I’ll want to upgrade it and have to pay for that as well as the 144hz 4k monitor.

Edit: Just had a look if I change the 3080 to 3070 I’d be refunded £129 (including VAT).