What are considered reliable and high-end components these days?
Posted by Radiant_anodized@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 16 comments
Hi everyone, after some research I bought a really reliable (build your own) desktop pc 7 years ago and now it's time for a new one, but I find myself in unfamiliar territory as I don't know what component and parts are considered worth it and which are not, I am not looking for much guidance (I can do my own research on the matter) I just need to be pointed in the right directions.
I guess my question is, what are considered reliable and high-end components these days?
The desktop pc in question will be used for everything between gaming and work.
Thanks in advance and sorry for the very amateur question (feel free to let me know and I'll delete the post if it doesn’t fit this subreddit, I am not used to using Reddit much.)
ltecruz@reddit
AMD is our new best friend for CPUs. AMD is our best friend for budget and mid tier GPUs. On the High end (4080 super+) it is still Nvidia land. The rest is still subjective, all brands have good components and shit ones. I can give you a lot of tools to let you find the best components if you want (like tier lists, if you may).
Radiant_anodized@reddit (OP)
Whaat! I still remember helping out a decade ago on a local tech forum, Nvidia was king, did they really fall that hard?
Also I would love a tier list, don't hold back any information you think could be worth knowing.
ltecruz@reddit
GPUs - https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
CPUs - https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html
PSUs - https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/
SSDs - https://www.zachstechturf.com/ssdtierlist
Motherboards - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NQHkDEcgDPm34Mns3C93K6SJoBnua-x9O-y_6hv8sPs/edit?gid=513674149#gid=513674149;
https://www.techspot.com/review/2699-amd-b650-motherboards/
Pcpartpicker.com to plan your build
Radiant_anodized@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the guides.
Any suggestions on Ram and is watercooling relevant for a gaming pc these days?
ltecruz@reddit
RAM usually comes down to: 3200/3600 CL16/18 DDR4 or 6000 Mhz CL30 DDR5. These are the sweet spots for stability and performance.
Watercooling as in AIOs? Yea they are relevant, but mostly not necessary for 85% of CPUs. One of the most widely used coolers is the Peerless Assassin or the Phantom Spirit, they are air and perform stupendously well. And they just cost around 30$.
DNosnibor@reddit
NVIDIA is still king in terms of market share and having the highest performance if you're willing to pay for it, but AMD has some good value options.
Radiant_anodized@reddit (OP)
I am more surprised at Intel fumbling their I series processors, AMD Ryzen seems to be on top currently or am I missing something?
DNosnibor@reddit
What's your budget?
In terms of reliability on Windows, I'd definitely say AMD CPU + NVIDIA GPU is probably your best bet. AMD GPU drivers have improved a lot, but NVIDIA is still probably a bit more consistently stable in that regard. AMD drivers are better than NVIDIA's on Linux, though, and a lot of people don't have any issues with them on Windows either.
Unfortunately Intel is not very competitive for gaming right now either on the CPU or GPU front (yes, Intel makes GPUs now).
Radiant_anodized@reddit (OP)
Closely within 1.979 USD.
I live in Europe if that makes any difference.
UraniumDisulfide@reddit
I get the impression that if you’re asking a question like this, you likely are just better off asking someone else to put together a part lost for you. At the very least, you should ask for a second look at whatever build you decide on.
Radiant_anodized@reddit (OP)
That's the think, I haven't chosen a sepecifc build, I am just reading around trying to get a feel for what's relevant today and trying to avoid any traps when I make a purchase hopefully later today.
UraniumDisulfide@reddit
Well yeah, but I’m saying whenever you do choose a build. And I still think just asking r/buildapcforme is gonna work out best for you if you’re so uninformed on the modern pc market.
JonWood007@reddit
Brief history:
2017- Intel started out the year with kaby lake, a refresh of raptor lake, AMD released first gen ryzen, it offered more cores and a lot of CPU for the money, but the latency and other issues really killed it for gaming performance. Later in the year, intel releases coffee lake (8000 series), finally bumping core counts for intel. Still behind AMD, but intel's were better so...
2018- AMD releases its second generation of ryzen, although architecturally it was more Zen 1.5 (called zen+). Offers mild performance gains, making it more competitive with intel, but still largely behind in single thread performance. Intel releases the coffee lake refresh (9000 series). Same thing as 8000 series, but no hyperthreading on i7s and a new 8 core i9.
2019- AMD releases Zen 2 (3000 series), still behind intel due to latency but the architecture is equivalent to intel otherwise. Intel still had a gaming edge however.
2020- Intel releases 10000 series, finally matching AMD on core counts. Vs zen 2, a little faster for gaming but otherwise similar. The 6700k/7700k's level of performance is now available in a quad core i3. AMD releases 5000 series, and finally takes gaming crown. The fix their latency issues on 8 core or less CPUs as their chiplets are now 8 cores instead of 4. AMD gets more expensive because they have a product that commands a premium.
2021- Intel releases 11000 series. it flops, and is kind of a minor bulldozer moment for intel. Equal or worse than 10000 series. Releases 12000 series at the end of the year, amounts to a massive architectural jump and makes up for their 11000 series failure. 12000 series amounts to a massive single core jump, combined with implementing ecores, or low powered cores into the platform. We also see the first DDR5 boards released with the 12000 series, although the LGA1700 platform could be adapted to use either DDR4 or DDR5.
2022- AMD releases 5800X3D. X3D is stacked cache, and further compensates for AMD's latency issues. Leads to a massive jump in performance. Intel releases 13000 series, which further improves on the 12000 series, making the cores faster, and giving people more for the money. AMD releases AM5 at the end of the year, although it's expensive at first. 7000 series parts generally matched the 5000 X3D parts in gaming but were superior in productivity.
2023- AMD releases 7800X3D. X3D tech on their new platform. Leads to unrivaled gaming performance for intel. Intel releases 14000 series, but this is just a 13000 series refresh.
2024- Problems arise with 13000/14000 series, apparently the CPUs have voltage issues that fry them and all CPUs were affected. They fixed this with bios updates, but it was a HUGE controversy.
AMD releases 9000 series, and it's underwhelming. Intel releases Core ultra 200 series, and it's even more underwhelming as they had a cringey zen 1/bulldozer moment. AMD releases 9800X3D which rubs it in further, being the unrivaled top gaming CPU on the planet, while core ultra 200 CPUs end up regressing to 12th gen levels of performance in gaming while being a 13th/14th gen sidegrade in productivity.
For GPUs:
2017- Nvidia 1000 series continues to dominate, AMD releases vega, it's generally unpopular, as it reaches 1070/1080 levels of performance.
2018- Nvidia finally replaces 1000 series with 2000 series. We see a massive price bump because screw you, we're nvidia, you'll pay us anyway. They develop DLSS, which upscales stuff, and ray tracing, which is like really fancy shadows/lighting that requires specialized hardware. These features only available for high end consumers though in any useable form.
2019- AMD releases 5000 series, which offers nvidia 1000 series performance for cheaper prices. Lacks the specialized tech nvidia implemented into their stuff. Generally flops as a result.
2020- Nvidia releases 3000 series. However, prices go to the moon because of COVID, crypto, and massive increases in demand.
2021- AMD releases 6000 series, matching nvidia in price/performance at the lower levels and offering 2000 series type ray tracing performance. AMD implements FSR, its open source answer to DLSS, but it's inferior to DLSS largely. Prices for all GPUs remain exorbitantly high.
2022- Crypto bubble finally bursts toward the end of the year. Prices return to the new normal. 6000 series AMD cards far more affordable than 3000 series nvidia cards, but nvidia has superior high end performance and technology so most people buy nvidia anyway.
Intel releases their first gen of cards but they're largely experimental and kinda twitchy compared to nvidia and AMD, I wouldnt consider buying them unless youre an enthusiast with extra money to burn.
2023- AMD releases 7000 series, largely a sidegrade to 6000 series, flops, and over the past 2 years, 6000 and 7000 series cards have largely coexisted in the market and both being viable. Same happened with the 4000 series. AMD released 4000 series, largely coexisted along side 3000 series.
2024- New models for the 7000 series, but nothing new. You are now here.
For CPUs, I'd look into:
Intel- 12th/13th/14th, 200 series
AMD- 5000/7000/9000 series
For GPUs:
Nvidia- 3000/4000 series
AMD- 6000/7000 series
Radiant_anodized@reddit (OP)
What a read I almost got nostalgic, unlocking some forgotten memories.
Thank you for explaining all of that, now I have more stuff to look into as well, and also thanks for the quick recommendations at the end.
Clemming2@reddit
AMD is winning for once.
nvmbernine@reddit
Oh they were winning once before, actually.
Back when intel made their first attempts at a 64 bit processor (the Itanium), AMD didn't fancy playing catch up again like with x86, so they made their own 64 processor (the x86 ISA extended to 64bit) and at such time AMD64 was king.