Steam+ Deals Mega Thread (All PC Gaming Deals)

[Neuro5i5]

This thread will attempt to provide a place to discuss past/present/future PC gaming deals. While mainly focusing on Steam games, any standout sales may also be presented. I will not be updating every Daily/Weekly/etc. sale. The tools to help individuals become a smarter shopper will be provided below.

See this POST for links to store sale pages, threads of interest and other tools to help you become a more informed PC game shopper.

 

[FinderKeeper]

Best buy has the mind frame headset on sale for 75. That one has cooling technology in the ear cups!

Ugh. This is where they get you...the peripherals.

Spoiler

I am definitely getting the Omen monitor. I noticed that Amazon has it for $210. HP is $211.49 after coupon. But getting the monitor at HP knocks the same percentage (10%) off everything else in the cart. The catch is it's a one-use deal, one purchase only. So I've added the Omen 800 headset, for $34.16; the Omen Reactor mouse, for $38.69; the Omen Encoder (brown switch, see below) keyboard for $44.99; and the Omen hard mousepad for $21.59.

Keyboard comparison:

There is a difference between the two versions of the Encoder keyboards, but I'm not really sure if it's that big a difference:

"CHERRY MX Brown is quiet with a bump in the travel path that provides tactile feedback, making it perfect for gamers who prioritize accurate keystrokes."

"CHERRY MX Red with its incredibly fast reactivity and smooth operation, its linear feel, combined with minimal spring force, is ideal for people who play fast-action games."

Can someone translate that into n00b? I'm guessing the first one is for sim-type gamers and people who will do a lot of typing, and the second is for twitch/shooter gamers who are playing competitively.

FWIW, both keyboards are regularly $100. At HP, the MX Brown is on sale for $50 while the MX Red is on sale for $70...but Best Buy appears to have MX Red on clearance for $50 (and doesn't carry MX Brown). https://www.bestbuy....21508?variant=A

Headset comparison:

Best Buy definitely has a better price than HP on the Mindframe Prime headset, but I don't know if the Mindfrrame's cooling feature alone is worth the extra cost (about double that of the 800 headset, both on sale and at regular price).

I can't tell if the sound specs are different between the two, though the Mindframe mentions 'virtual 7.1.' It seems the padding is covered in fabric instead of fake leather, the mic has a flip mute feature, and of course RGB!!1! But it would take my total peripheral spend from $140 to $180 (though the percentage savings would stay about the same).

EDIT: Best Buy's prices changed over at midnight Central. HP is going until 2am Central. So my decisions on those two items (keyboard and headset) are a lot easier now.

 

[INMATEofARKHAM]

Holy shit, you guys scared me...  I showed up to a ton of updates and thought for sure I had missed a price glitch.

 

[walletandgromice]

Quick follow-up on my 3080 FE and PSU whine issue. Replacing my 850w EVGA Gold (850GQ, LTT Tier B) with a Corsair RM850x (LTT Tier A) has changed the coil whine from a noticable painfully ear piercingly high pitched and near constant to a very occasional low tone buzzing that is very quiet. Not as good as silent but acceptably close. This could be drowned out by fan noise.

I assume that PSUs need to break in and this might change, but I'm pretty pleased so far.

 

[MysterD]

Well, I wasn't really looking forward to retiring my custom-built i7 950 rig (i7 950; 16 GB DDR3 RAM; GTX 970; lots of HDD's; W7 x64), given that I've got the CyberPower PC coming - but, it looks like that may be happening...as it's basically now doing this (retirement) crap for me.
 
CPU has been spiking to 100 degrees C on all cores, since last night. No matter what I do, it won't stop the fire (metaphorically). And after booting into Windows each time, it's at some point just shutting off on its own now, here & there...giving the "CPU is too hot error" when I restart the PC up before Windows boots up.
 
Opened-up the rig - and it looks like 3 plastic pieces came off the heatsink too. Wear & tear; 9 years of working. I've been using this less and less since the new SC15 came (i.e. the last 2 1/2 years or so), as most new games....weren't doing so hot on this old rig since then.
 
Fans and everything are running fine on the i7 950 rig.
 
Thankfully, everything else inside seems fine heat-wise, when I boot-up programs like CPUZ, SpeedFan, RAM etc etc - hard-drives; RAM; GTX 970 GPU. Looks like those things that (i.e. the hard drives) will be coming out and be part of my hard-drive dock club.
 
So, I'm pouring one out for namely my old PC here and especially the super-hot i7 950. RIP, bro.

 

[walletandgromice]

Well, I wasn't really looking forward to retiring my i7 950 rig - but, it looks like that may be happening...

Just buy a new heatsink and fan when you see one of those ID cooling sales for like $20.

My oldest rigs give their lives to become one with my basement NAS.

Linux doesn't judge my Core 2 Duo, and your first gen i7 is basically brand new in comparison.

 

[MysterD]

MechWarrior 5's Steam-release has been delayed to 2021, also to avoid Cyberpunk 2077's launch:

https://www.vg247.com/2020/11/27/mechwarrior-5-steam-delay-cyberpunk-2077/

Info:

- MechWarrior 5 was planned to be coming to Steam and GOG on Dec. 10th, 2020.

- Dec. 10th, 2020 was the date recently that Cyberpunk 2077 got delayed to.

- MechWarrior 5 is avoiding Cyberpunk's release date & moving itself back to 2021.

 

[Mooby]

CDP's games are absurdly overhyped.

 

[Ex~]

MechWarrior 5's Steam-release has been delayed to 2021, also to avoid Cyberpunk 2077's launch:

https://www.vg247.com/2020/11/27/mechwarrior-5-steam-delay-cyberpunk-2077/

Info:

- MechWarrior 5 was planned to be coming to Steam and GOG on Dec. 10th, 2020.

- Dec. 10th, 2020 was the date recently that Cyberpunk 2077 got delayed to.

- MechWarrior 5 is avoiding Cyberpunk's release date & moving itself back to 2021.

Boy are they gonna feel silly when Cyberpunk gets delayed to 2021.

 

[Syntax Error]

Just buy a new heatsink and fan when you see one of those ID cooling sales for like $20.

This. You can buy a 212 style cooler for $20-$25.

 

[Nothing-]

Assassin's Creed games are massively overhyped. 

Blizzard is incredibly overhyped. 

 

[Wa1terSobchak]

Assassin's Creed games are massively overhyped.

Blizzard is incredibly overhyped.

Your mom is overhyped.

 

[eulogywerd21]

Well I had to RMA my 3080 Ventus so the dream of the RGB-less build is temporarily put on hold, possibly indefinitely as I was in the meantime able to snag an Aorus, and look! It has a little screen!

What happened with the Ventus?

 

[bradnoyes]

What happened with the Ventus?

Not sure what was happening with that card but as soon as I installed it my PC started doing random freeze/restarts when I was in the desktop--it would do this anywhere between 1-3 times per day. Thought it might be the PSU (the Ventus was originally in my older build with a 650W PSU) but it did the exact same thing in my brand new build with a 1000W PSU. I put a different card in the new build and over the course of a week never had a restart, and my older PC has also never had another restart once I took out the Ventus. The only correlation between my two different PCs freezing/restarting was the Ventus, and they both stopped doing once it was removed.

I've only had the Aorus for a day and so far no issues but I'll really be in the **** if this one does the same thing. Then I'll actually have to put some effort into finding out what's wrong, and that's inconceivable.

 

[walletandgromice]

Then I'll actually have to put some effort into finding out what's wrong, and that's inconceivable.

That sounds reasonable to me. $700+ components should "just work".

Relatedly my rig is no longer whining at all after 5 minutes of use with the Corsair RM850x and my 3080FE.

If I hasn't bought that EVGA "gold PSU" in the before time for $65, I'd be pretty mad.

 

[MysterD]

Assassin's Creed games are massively overhyped.

Blizzard is incredibly overhyped.

I still think the best AC games were AC2 and AC: Brotherhood. Don't know if they'll ever top that type of magic, fresh-ness, polish and whatnot...ever again in the franchise.

Also, Blizzard hasn't been Blizzard since D2: LoD, TBH. After that and once the real core crew left (The Schaefers, Bill Roper, and David Brevik) - yeah, it has felt like slowly but surely Blizzard did a corporate take-over and everybody that made Diablo what it was....basically left, at some point.

Don't get me wrong, I still like AC games and Diablo games - but, things ain't been the same since both Blizz and UbiSoft the reached THOSE heights in those franchises.

 

[eulogywerd21]

Not sure what was happening with that card but as soon as I installed it my PC started doing random freeze/restarts when I was in the desktop--it would do this anywhere between 1-3 times per day. Thought it might be the PSU (the Ventus was originally in my older build with a 650W PSU) but it did the exact same thing in my brand new build with a 1000W PSU. I put a different card in the new build and over the course of a week never had a restart, and my older PC has also never had another restart once I took out the Ventus. The only correlation between my two different PCs freezing/restarting was the Ventus, and they both stopped doing once it was removed.

I've only had the Aorus for a day and so far no issues but I'll really be in the **** if this one does the same thing. Then I'll actually have to put some effort into finding out what's wrong, and that's inconceivable.

What's the different card/it's power draw?

I remember having a similar issue when I got my 1080 because I was splitting the power on a single cable. After using 2 dedicated PCI-E, it never had any further problems with the freezing/dropping the display signal. The new card I have coming, apparently requires 3x8(!) for power, which is just... jesus. Hoping I don't have those issues again.

 

[bradnoyes]

What's the different card/it's power draw?

I remember having a similar issue when I got my 1080 because I was splitting the power on a single cable. After using 2 dedicated PCI-E, it never had any further problems with the freezing/dropping the display signal. The new card I have coming, apparently requires 3x8(!) for power, which is just... jesus. Hoping I don't have those issues again.

I thought the Aorus was going to be 3x8 and was surprised to see it was only 2x8. The thing is a beast. Anyway, the card I previously had in my old build was an EVGA 2080 Super XC, which I sold to help pay for the 3080. And the card I have in my second PC is a 5700xt. Neither of those cards ever caused a restart.

I got the Aorus in a NewEgg combo that included a Gigabyte P850GM, which I was going to return but I think I'll hang onto it. Doesn't hurt to have a spare PSU and it will be good to troubleshoot if I still get restarts with the Aorus. I'm using two dedicated cables from a 1000w platinum PSU to power the Aorus (just like I did with the Ventus) and the Ventus had the exact same issue in two PCs that otherwise function perfectly, so I don't think it's the PSU but you never know. I'll probably find out by the end of today if I'm still getting restarts, and then I guess I'll have to try the Gigabyte PSU.

 

[Mooby]

Assassin's Creed games are massively overhyped.

Blizzard is incredibly overhyped.

Keep going!

 

[Insomniac_34]

Alright, so since this is now a PC Hardware thread, I suppose I'll ask for some help/advice:

I just ordered an Intel 10400 + MSI Z490-A Pro from Best Buy for ~$261 after tax + Amex offer. I don't really follow Intel and Z490 pricing, but am I correct to think this is a fairly decent deal? I'm aware of the downsides of going Intel these days (worse in productivity tasks, no PCIe 4.0, no OC for this particular CPU) but gaming performance looks fine and it was actually in stock. As someone who wanted a budget-conscious CPU upgrade from a 2500K that doesn't live near a Microcenter, this seems like a good buy, right? Or was there a better alternative in that price range?

 

[gospelman]

Intel 10400 + MSI Z490-A Pro from Best Buy for ~$261 after tax + Amex offer.

While I'm unfamiliar with the amex sorcery you mention, roughtly 150 cpu / 100 board seems pretty solid for current prices. I didn't realize bby had started bundle discounts until looking at that.

An alternate direction - what I've been doing - is keeping an eye on the current AWD 20% promo the last few days. I grabbed a Strix Z490-H for $103, even though I don't expect to buy a 10th gen cpu. I just doubt I'll find it cheaper and can update it via bios flashback for a future build. Unnecessary for a 10400 though.

 

[eulogywerd21]

Piggy backing on the AWD suggestion, I just snagged an Excellent condition Open-box LG 27GN950-B, which was $90 off, to take advantage of my new GPU. This information in no way contributes to you MOBO/CPU concerns, just wanted to express my feeling of achievement, in an otherwise shitty year.

 

[Insomniac_34]

Thanks for the reminder on the Amazon Warehouse promotion. I noticed it a couple days ago but completely forgot about it until now. Although truth be told, I've never been particularly comfortable with purchasing used/open-box PC parts. I suppose if the deal was simply too good to pass up then I'd make an exception. Having Amazon returns certainly helps.

And FWIW, it was a $25 off $250 purchase using your Amex card. $286 after tax prior. I actually ordered some DDR4-3200 Ballistix the other day just in case something decent looking turned up so I suppose I'm good to go barring a change of heart.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

Thanks for the reminder on the Amazon Warehouse promotion. I noticed it a couple days ago but completely forgot about it until now. Although truth be told, I've never been particularly comfortable with purchasing used/open-box PC parts. I suppose if the deal was simply too good to pass up then I'd make an exception. Having Amazon returns certainly helps.

And FWIW, it was a $25 off $250 purchase using your Amex card. $286 after tax prior. I actually ordered some DDR4-3200 Ballistix the other day just in case something decent looking turned up so I suppose I'm good to go barring a change of heart.

I think in that price range you did the best you possibly could. In an ideal world you might look at the Ryzen processors, but everything seems to be sold out or overpriced right now.

FWIW, I tried ordering a 1080 off AWD a few years back during the mining crazy and it was an obvious damaged customer return with scratches on the board so I had to send it back.

 

[Insomniac_34]

I think in that price range you did the best you possibly could. In an ideal world you might look at the Ryzen processors, but everything seems to be sold out or overpriced right now.

Ryzen has always been my first choice but unless I'm F5ing throughout the day I'm not getting anything decent for $200 or less.

 

[Nothing-]

This Denver game sure is something.  "The South Park fans are getting rowdy," says the announcer.

Spoiler

37 total yards of offense in the first half.  (They had no Quarterbacks on their roster for today. All were put on the COVID list yesterday for being 'close contacts'.)

 

[MysterD]

Alright, so since this is now a PC Hardware thread, I suppose I'll ask for some help/advice:

I just ordered an Intel 10400 + MSI Z490-A Pro from Best Buy for ~$261 after tax + Amex offer. I don't really follow Intel and Z490 pricing, but am I correct to think this is a fairly decent deal? I'm aware of the downsides of going Intel these days (worse in productivity tasks, no PCIe 4.0, no OC for this particular CPU) but gaming performance looks fine and it was actually in stock. As someone who wanted a budget-conscious CPU upgrade from a 2500K that doesn't live near a Microcenter, this seems like a good buy, right? Or was there a better alternative in that price range?

Sounds good to me. Basically, you paid $130 for the two pieces each. Sounds like a cheap, solid, and good budget upgrade. It's not like it's easy finding any new AMD CPU's right now. [shrug]

What GPU and RAM are you putting w/ this?

 

[Insomniac_34]

God damn Mongolians! Stay away from my shitty football game!

Sounds good to me. Basically, you paid $130 for the two pieces each. Sounds like a cheap, solid, and good budget upgrade. It's not like it's easy finding any new AMD CPU's right now. [shrug]

What GPU and RAM are you putting w/ this?

Keeping my RX 580 for now (because the GPU situation isn't much better than the CPU situation) and adding these Ballistix. Whole upgrade all together with a better CPU cooler will come out to about $330-ish after tax.

 

[Tibor]

Thanks for the AWD heads up. Just got a 2TB ssd for $153 or so. Though it says it won't show up for almost a week.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

God damn Mongolians! Stay away from my shitty football game!

Keeping my RX 580 for now (because the GPU situation isn't much better than the CPU situation) and adding these Ballistix. Whole upgrade all together with a better CPU cooler will come out to about $330-ish after tax.

Yep, I'm still running an RX 580 and it still holds it's own. Nothing that you can get right now (meaning that is actually in stock) would be a significant upgrade or worth it and the 5700s in stock are way overpriced at the moment. It's a waiting game to see what the 3060s and 6700s might look like.

 

[walletandgromice]

Piggy backing on the AWD suggestion, I just snagged an Excellent condition Open-box LG 27GN950-B, which was $90 off, to take advantage of my new GPU. This information in no way contributes to you MOBO/CPU concerns, just wanted to express my feeling of achievement, in an otherwise shitty year.

Not afraid of dead pixels with a return/open box?

 

[eulogywerd21]

Not afraid of dead pixels with a return/open box?

If it turns out less than stellar, that's not the end of the road. Returning it is always an option. These are hard to come by/sought after, so I took a (very) small chance.

 

[MysterD]

Keeping my RX 580 for now (because the GPU situation isn't much better than the CPU situation) and adding these Ballistix. Whole upgrade all together with a better CPU cooler will come out to about $330-ish after tax.

"Adding" 16GB of Ballistix?
I'm guessing...you already have 16 in there?

Or are you replacing?

I definitely get it, w/ the GPU situation being crummy and all. Do you plan on changing that at some point?

Looks like the 580 is solid for 1080p60fps for High-to-Ultra on games; looks like it'll hold you over well for a bit...until that GPU situation gets better.

Do you have 4gb or 8gb version?

 

[Insomniac_34]

"Adding" 16GB of Ballistix?
I'm guessing...you already have 16 in there?

Or are you replacing?

I definitely get it, w/ the GPU situation being crummy and all. Do you plan on changing that at some point?

Looks like the 580 is solid for 1080p60fps; looks like it'll hold you over well for a bit...until that GPU situation gets better.

Do you have 4gb or 8gb version?

Well what I meant was I'm adding the 16 GB to the previous zero, for a grand total of 16 GB. I'd like to upgrade the GPU at this point next year but only for something decent in the $300 range. Using an 8GB 580 now. My framerates are fine for what I need for the most part but frametimes can sometimes be a mess with a 4C/4T CPU. So at the very least I'm expecting games to just run more smoothly overall.

 

[MysterD]

Well what I meant was I'm adding the 16 GB to the previous zero, for a grand total of 16 GB. I'd like to upgrade the GPU at this point next year but only for something decent in the $300 range. Using an 8GB 580 now. My framerates are fine for what I need for the most part but frametimes can sometimes be a mess with a 4C/4T CPU. So at the very least I'm expecting games to just run more smoothly overall.

Awesome @ 8GB worth of VRAM. Very nice! At least, some stuff will boot...even if it ain't performing the hottest.

But right now, 1080p60fps looks and sounds fine for this set-up. 16 GB of RAM, 10400 CPU, 8GB VRAM on the RX 580 - that sounds like a solid budget rig to me.

I'm curious what's going into the $300 range from NVidia and AMD, as I think those NVidia 3060's variants might be in the $300-400 range...? Gonna be interesting to also see what AMD does here too.

 

[etcrane]

Anyone try Baldur’s Gate 3? Haven’t bitten yet, but tempted. I’m slowly saving up steam credit using GameStop coupons.

 

[weretable]

Assuming it shows up as expected in Jan/Feb, I am interested in seeing how the 3080 TI performs.  If my wallet has recovered from the abuse I have been subjecting it to, I might be join the crowd camping web sites sometime in late winter, I am just not sure yet which card I will be hunting.  Probably the TI but it might not be as big a jump from a 3080 as I expect, who knows.  I am holding off on getting some games like Control until I upgrade whether that is a few months or a year from now.  Not that I need to be in a hurry to get a new card or any games that I might not want to play before upgrading, I have so much to catch up on.  Although I guess I might play some stuff in 4K now if I had a better card. 

Right now, in between sessions of Demon's Souls I am playing Borderlands 2 yet again, this time doing all of the DLC stuff I never got around to playing and I still have some TPS stuff to do and BL3 backlogged on top of that.  I know I am barely going to be leaving my house over the next few months between the plague and hating cold weather in the first place, so I made myself some little goals of stuff to get done around the house and also clear as many games as possible off my backlog, we'll see how it goes.  I'll probably set BL2 aside after I finish off the various DLC or I'll just end up going through the entire thing on higher difficulties, I've really been enjoying it after not playing for quite some time.

 

[Nothing-]

Assuming it shows up as expected in Jan/Feb, I am interested in seeing how the 3080 TI performs. If my wallet has recovered from the abuse I have been subjecting it to, I might be join the crowd camping web sites sometime in late winter, I am just not sure yet which card I will be hunting. Probably the TI but it might not be as big a jump from a 3080 as I expect, who knows. I am holding off on getting some games like Control until I upgrade whether that is a few months or a year from now. Not that I need to be in a hurry to get a new card or any games that I might not want to play before upgrading, I have so much to catch up on. Although I guess I might play some stuff in 4K now if I had a better card.

Right now, in between sessions of Demon's Souls I am playing Borderlands 2 yet again, this time doing all of the DLC stuff I never got around to playing and I still have some TPS stuff to do and BL3 backlogged on top of that. I know I am barely going to be leaving my house over the next few months between the plague and hating cold weather in the first place, so I made myself some little goals of stuff to get done around the house and also clear as many games as possible off my backlog, we'll see how it goes. I'll probably set BL2 aside after I finish off the various DLC or I'll just end up going through the entire thing on higher difficulties, I've really been enjoying it after not playing for quite some time.

It will prolly perform like a 3090 but the price will also prolly be ~$999 making the gains pointless. Even at $899 are you still spending $200+ over an RTX 3080? I don't think that there is a point in waiting for it.

 

[bradnoyes]

Another new build alert!

Spoiler

It can't run Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K/120fps but at least I don't have to worry about a faulty PSU. Definitely worth the three months it took to build.

 

[io]

I have a funny custom-built PC story:

6 years ago I built a budget gaming PC for my son with help from CAG.  It was the only time I ever did that and I think it worked out pretty well.  I probably need to look into some upgrades but that's for another post.  If I can find the specs I'll post them and see what you guys think.

So... It was in my son's room as he went through high school and community college.  He's now a college junior and didn't bring it with him.  He told me the hard drive was bad - making noise.  I hadn't looked at it in years.   My younger son took over his room and just last week wanted to get the PC working.  Sure enough, it is making a horrible rattling noise.  It is also dirty and dusty so I start to clean it.  Then I realize something big is loose inside the case. 

I opened it up and the -ing CPU fan (the motherboard is mounted along one side, vertically) is laying down loose on the video card.  The rattling noise was the fan turning on and bouncing around on the graphics card!  He must have knocked it over at some point and then this started and he didn't tell me.  The fan is held in by 4 pegs that snap in and it had come loose - had to have been a fall to knock them all loose.

I was able to put it back up there and now it is quiet again.  After a Windows 10 upgrade (my son had wiped it clean and re-installed Windows 8 which left it without even having a network adapter driver), I was able to get it up and running for my younger son and he's happily playing Terraria, which this PC can handle just fine.

So, it ended well, but I almost wanted to drive down the freeway to where my older son lives and smack him .  Oh yeah, there was also sticky Coke residue that had leaked through the top USB/microphone ports and dripped down on top of the outer case of the DVD-ROM drive.  I'm really surprised the thing worked after all that - especially with the CPU fan having been detached for so long.

 

[DD83]

I saw io posted and figured we got another smackdown for not staying on topic.

All this computer talk going on in the pizza thread... tisk tisk.

 

[Syntax Error]

Bought a Dell Optiplex 7020 that looked like it was abused by its previous owner.  I know most of these come from offices that have either updated their systems or liquidated but this thing looked like it was kept in a barn.  Emptied it out, cleaned it up, filled/smoothed the dents, repainted the exterior, did what I could to smooth the gouges in the plastic, refreshed the plastic and it looks almost presentable now.  Interior got a new PSU (which was fun since that requires a special adapter due to Dell's dumbass 8-pin motherboard power) to support an RX 480 8GB video card.  That's not installed yet though since it was too long and tomorrow I need to snip out the top shelf of the drive cage to make room.  Rest of it is an i5-4950 and 16GB DDR3.  A little more intensive than the usual "Throw a low power 1050 in there" Optiplex gaming builds but it gave me a holiday weekend project anyway.

Spoiler

 

[weretable]

It will prolly perform like a 3090 but the price will also prolly be ~$999 making the gains pointless. Even at $899 are you still spending $200+ over an RTX 3080? I don't think that there is a point in waiting for it.

Oh you might be right, but I want to wait until after the holidays are over to spend more money either way so there is no point in even looking for 3080s right now, might as well see if the TI shows up soonish and what it looks like from a price/performance standpoint and then decide.

 

[Syntax Error]

Oh you might be right, but I want to wait until after the holidays are over to spend more money either way so there is no point in even looking for 3080s right now, might as well see if the TI shows up soonish and what it looks like from a price/performance standpoint and then decide.

EVGA has a "Step Up" program where you can send back your current card and pay the difference to a better card provided you request it within three months of the original purchase. So, provided the 3080 ti launches in January as rumored, I figure I'll see how it fares and put my name in the queue for it. Probably won't actually GET it for longer than that but I should be able to register for it in time.

 

[Tibor]

I have a funny custom-built PC story:

6 years ago I built a budget gaming PC for my son with help from CAG. It was the only time I ever did that and I think it worked out pretty well. I probably need to look into some upgrades but that's for another post. If I can find the specs I'll post them and see what you guys think.

So... It was in my son's room as he went through high school and community college. He's now a college junior and didn't bring it with him. He told me the hard drive was bad - making noise. I hadn't looked at it in years. My younger son took over his room and just last week wanted to get the PC working. Sure enough, it is making a horrible rattling noise. It is also dirty and dusty so I start to clean it. Then I realize something big is loose inside the case.

I opened it up and the -ing CPU fan (the motherboard is mounted along one side, vertically) is laying down loose on the video card. The rattling noise was the fan turning on and bouncing around on the graphics card! He must have knocked it over at some point and then this started and he didn't tell me. The fan is held in by 4 pegs that snap in and it had come loose - had to have been a fall to knock them all loose.

I was able to put it back up there and now it is quiet again. After a Windows 10 upgrade (my son had wiped it clean and re-installed Windows 8 which left it without even having a network adapter driver), I was able to get it up and running for my younger son and he's happily playing Terraria, which this PC can handle just fine.

So, it ended well, but I almost wanted to drive down the freeway to where my older son lives and smack him . Oh yeah, there was also sticky Coke residue that had leaked through the top USB/microphone ports and dripped down on top of the outer case of the DVD-ROM drive. I'm really surprised the thing worked after all that - especially with the CPU fan having been detached for so long.

Hah, classic. Did you get any pics of the evidence to shame your son with?

 

[io]

Hah, classic. Did you get any pics of the evidence to shame your son with?

Dammit, no, but I should have!

 

[Insomniac_34]

Alright, back for more help and now with a decision to make: Which of these CPU/motherboard combos would probably be best in the long run?

Intel 10400 + MSI Z490-A Pro ($262)

 -or-

Ryzen 3100 + MSI B550 Gaming Plus ($224 + $30 Steam Gift Card from MSI)

The Ryzen combo is actually what I wanted initially before the 3100 went OOS at BB last week (just came back in). The 10400 is obviously better now but I like the B550 board a lot more (PCIe 4.0, more rear USB). I like the upgrade path for AMD as well, assuming they eventually get their inventory issues sorted. I'm guessing with an RX 580 for the next year I wouldn't notice much if any difference between the two CPUs.

So yeah, leaning Ryzen to save a few bucks and have a better upgrade path but I also like the idea of just going with the 10400 and not worrying about another upgrade for the next 3-4 years.

Someone please talk me into one of these two so I can finally stop stressing about it.

 

[CheapLikeAFox]

What would your upgrade path look like for AMD?  What would you eventually purchase and when? 

For the time being you're losing a little with the 3100 but not a ton, especially since you've got the 580 so you're going to be limited anyway.  If you get a new GPU in the future, the 10400 would be better but if you then upgraded to a faster Ryzen you could get better performance overall.  I'm leaning AMD just because 3100+580 is not losing out by a ton to the the 10400. 

 

[walletandgromice]

Hard to recommend the 3100. The 3300x is a lot more processor for only $20 more, but it's unfortunately made out of unobtainum.

Personally, I used to always go with a dirt cheap motherboard and the best CPU I could get for the money. $262 could probably get you a Ryzen 3600 CPU ($200, or less if you luck into the brief windows when Walmart has them in stock for $175) and a cheap 550 motherboard with what's left.

Even easier if you have a microcenter near by...

 

[Insomniac_34]

What would your upgrade path look like for AMD? What would you eventually purchase and when?

Preferably a 5600X within the next year or so, although with how things are going who knows how viable that will end up being. Ideally I'd be able to get one whenever I upgrade the GPU.

Hard to recommend the 3100. The 3300x is a lot more processor for only $20 more, but it's unfortunately made out of unobtainum.

The 3300X is like mass voter fraud or books titled "Berenstein Bears". Like, yeah, people can say it exists all they want but I've yet to see any proof.

Closest Microcenter is a 2 hour drive unfortunately.

 

[gospelman]

Intel 10400 + MSI Z490-A Pro ($262)

-or-

Ryzen 3100 + MSI B550 Gaming Plus ($224 + $30 Steam Gift Card from MSI)

Ultimately I would opt for whichever platform you'd rather be on going forward. To me, this sounds like am4. I bought at 3100 near launch and think it's a great chip, even relative to 3600's at msrp. I've literally never seen a 3300x in stock at msrp, so I wouldn't even factor that. Plus it's cheaper and oc'able as opposed to the locked intel chip. If it puts you in a more desirable position down the road I would do that. Negligible difference with a 580 between the two anyway.

As an overclocker, this is my favorite cheap am4 board. True 6-phase vrm with 60a power stages.