Bundle (B850 + CL36 RAM) for $460 vs separate (B850 + CL30 RAM) for $600 worth the extra $140?

Posted by _rlyw@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 7 comments

I'm building a new PC coming from an i5-9400F + GTX 1660 Ti. Here's what I've picked so far:

· GPU: Gigabyte RTX 5070 – $655
· CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X – $192
· SSD: Kingston NV3 1TB – $165
· Case: Lian Li O11D Mini V2 – $122
· PSU: MSI MAG A750GL – $109
· CPU cooler: I have an old cooler from my i5-9400F. Not sure if it fits AM5.

The motherboard + RAM choice is killing me:

Option A – The Bundle ($460 total)

· MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI + 32GB DDR5-6000 CL36 RAM
· Full PC cost with this bundle: \~$1,760

Option B – Buy Separate ($600 total for mobo+RAM)

· ASUS Prime B850-PLUS WiFi – $186 (good deal)
· Patriot Viper Venom 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 RAM – $414
· Full PC cost: \~$1,900

That's $140 more for CL30 RAM instead of CL36. Is it worth it for gaming? I mostly play single-player games and some competitive shooters.

A couple more things:

· I can delay buying the new SSD and a new cooler to save money now. I have an old 500GB Samsung 970 EVO I can reuse.
· My old Intel CPU cooler probably won't fit AM5. Should I just buy a new one (Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE – $59) or try to find a bracket?

What would you do?
· Go with the cheap bundle and put the $140 toward a new SSD/cooler?
· Pay up for CL30 RAM and a better motherboard?
· Something else I haven't thought of?

[-]

PokerLawyer75@reddit

I wouldn’t buy your 600 package cause it’s an ASUS motherboard. ASUS needs a full ok boycott.

Any_Deal_7332@reddit

You can probably push the bandwidth higher or the timings to 30 anyway. Are they both 6000MTs?

NinjaVikingTV@reddit

Brother we are talking about 2ns (nanoseconds). Its gonna be a 1-2% difference I would save the money

kawaii_Summoner@reddit

The real question here should be 9600x vs 7800x3d/9800x3d.

The RAM timings on X3D CPUs are 1-3% performance difference, which is virtually impossible to see outside of a benchmark.

But for competitive shooters, the CPU gap from a 9600x to 7800x3d could be a huge gain in 1% lows.

totallynotcrabppl@reddit

If it was like $10 difference, sure get the RAM with the tighter timings, but for $140 same your money, you won't notice the difference

ppetrelli0@reddit

I don’t think is worth to pay the extra 140 for CL30 vs CL36. Not at all

CL36 are going to perform perfectly and unless you are the kind of people who is happy looking at benchmarks numbers, you won’t notice a thing while playing.

Save the money or invest it into SSD/cooler

0w0565@reddit

Go for the bundle that cost $460. There’s really only a 1% difference between CL36 and CL30 RAM. It’s not worth $140 more.