New PC build - advice needed

[SpareChange]

The Original OP build looks ok, I would suggest an R3600 over the 3700x if you need a system "now" because the R5 3600 is so cost efficient and when the new AMD processors drop soon your B550 you will not only have PCie 4.0 the new AMD processors will seriously be taking over Intel with regards to gaming performance because of an even more improved IPC and better boost clocks (4.7-4.8 range). Think of the R5 3600 as a perfect transitional processor to Gen 4 Ryzen. Nothing wrong with Intel as well and with Intel builds - they tend to have a tad less initial operational setup issues for a lesser experienced builder, and you don't need DDR4 3600+ memory to get optimal gaming performance you can get away with DDR4 2666-3000, and you have iGPU as a backup if needed with a regular K variant (non F model). I would opt for an RTX 2060 or 2060 Super on the GPU instead of a GTX 1660 though.

 

[bassfisher6522]

I prefer Intel-everything because I see AMD and ATI show up in BSODs much more frequently than Intel.

I only see this on the GPU side of it......especially the new AMD 5700 series.

AMD has released CPUs in the last few years that are significantly more powerful than Intel for the same price or less

Absolutely! My first 2 OEM PC were AMD then did my first build with Intel....that crashed 3 years later. My AMD OEM are still kicking.

 

[SpareChange]

AMD still has a few driver issues going on I actually stopped building with any of the 5600-5700 models because of it. The issues are mostly cleaned up with the last two driver iterations but I had to do the workarounds myself for a few customers. The issues were within Windows at times and specific games - which was solved with a power plan modification and GPU settings (disabling all AMD stuff within the CP) - which kind of defeated the purpose of owning the cards going forward where the nvidia cards have no issues for the most part. They would also cause BSOD's as well and maybe 10-15% of BSOD's in a lot of Windows forums are AMD driver related it also 'can' affect the older RX series at times (not just Navi) but again most of it is hardware acceleration and AMD proprietary "game" settings those need to be turned off to get stable 24/7 operations (gaming-surfing-watching movies-encoding). If someone plays only 2-3 games they might not notice it but they will notice it when surfing the web at times, or a BSOD or a still black screen.

 

[Rich-M]

SpareChange is spot on here. I had an Intel i7 8700K Cpu with M2.280 Ssd drive, 16 gb 3200 Ddr4 ram on an MSI Mortar board that was a great unit for me for about 3-4 years
and as much as I wanted to try a Ryzen system for myself I was reluctant to do so because Intel units are so much more stable and don't require the tweaking AMD units do. I built an Ryzen R5 3600 unit utilizing an AS Rock B550M Pro 4 board and I think the cpu was $170 vs nearly $400 for the 8700K cpu and I used an RX570 ATi video card and the rest of the components are from the 8700 system including an EVGA 650 watt Psu and this system rocks. It is so much more responsive than the Intel system but as SpareChange says AMD systems do require more tweaking to get to the system I was looking for and I surely had more issues in the beginning than I have ever had with an Intel system.

 

[jcgriff2]

Hey JC I realize this post is old but if you give us the make and model of PC, I am sure we can find you a card that will fit it.
Also many boards have video ports that are strictly processor video vs onboard video and processor video can be flaky to
get going. Many video cards used to come with standard bracket as you are showing in picture and also low profile brackets
so again if we knew make and model of pc we could find you a card. Here is what the bracket looks like and you just change it:
HDMI+DVI Expansion Low-Profile Bracket for nVIDIA AMD ATI Video Graphics Card | eBay

The PC was my sister's and went into the trash.

Thank you anyway.

It turned out to be a custom HP desktop designed for and only sold at Walmart for $600.

 

[Digerati]

It turned out to be a custom HP desktop designed for and only sold at Walmart for $600.

A "custom" computer sold at Walmart? Yeah right. LOL
1,000,000 identical "custom" computers. I love it when retailers do that. They sell the exact same product but it is model # TG01-0023w at Walmart and maybe TG01-0023b at Best Buy and the only difference is the Walmart model includes a 6 foot Ethernet cable in the box. In this way, they can claim they will price match any retailer for the same model number but won't have to price match because the model numbers are different.

 

[Rich-M]

Yeah exactly "you can bet your bippy" if it is made specially for a retailer, that is solely to remove guts and make the retailer more money by making the pc less value!
35 years in the retail busdiness taught me the philosophy of private label which is what this is all about. I have yet to see much in the way of computer components at Walmart that are either new or desirable.

 

[SpareChange]

Walmart actually sells Cyberpower and or Ibuypower units in-store at some locations. These models are typically what I call "stock-box" units where the motherboard is a pre-config unit with a lesser fair mobo like an Intel B series board with a non K CPU with DDR2400 or 2666 memory and usually a one fan gaming GPU and usually a lower tier PSU (500-550w Allied is common). I regularly go to Best Buys and Walmart to scout these out at times. Online Walmart also has their down lineup of gaming oriented PC's with much the same affair noted above. Not desirable for the experienced gamer or builder but more so for someone looking to get into gaming but don't really understand gaming PC parts. They also sell other OEM setups some of which aren't too bad like CLXSet/Skytech which tend to use a tad higher quality PSU's (some bronze some gold) and Skytech uses Gigabyte motherboards in some of the Intel builds. Skytech uses Asrock in a lot of the AMD builds

 

[Rich-M]

Wow I had no idea such units are in Walmarts as there is nothing anything like those in any of the Walmarts around me but again
this is a somewhat declining and retirement area where I live.

 

[SpareChange]

Wow I had no idea such units are in Walmarts as there is nothing anything like those in any of the Walmarts around me but again
this is a somewhat declining and retirement area where I live.

It varies by store. For example the Maryland Walmart store I would visit had several Cyberpower units on display and some decent gaming laptops (HP and Acer) as well as some nice Razer keyboards and mice. The one in VA here has doesn't have that they have the usual lower tier HP computers with I3's and a few I5 models without add-in GPU's so just the Intel iGPU and a lower wattage PSU (250-300w).

 

[xrobwx71]

I've purchased about 12 computers from Cyberpower direct. 2 of which have been my gaming systems at home the others at work. They are nice, stable builds. One box would not turn on out of the crate and they had me ship it back at no charge and shipped me a new one without question.