Not as dramatic as in the US and Western Europe, but still a pleasant price reduction for video cards in Ukrainian stores allows you to assemble the same computer cheaper, or a little more powerful for the same money. We bring to your attention three already traditional PC configurations for games and professional work (programming, video editing, batch photo processing, 3D modeling and CAD drawing). And given the large difference between cash and non-cash dollar rates, prices in the articles will now be indicated in hryvnia.
The article was written with the support of the brands 2E, Biostar and Deepcool.
Basic computer ≈ 17000 UAH
The most powerful among 8-thread processors – the Core i3-12100F based on the Golden Cove architecture – is gradually getting cheaper, but it is still significantly more expensive than its counterparts: the Ryzen 3 4100 and especially the Core i3-10105F. The latter is also extremely unpretentious to the motherboard and RAM. The savings on a set of 10105F, H510 and 2×8 GB DDR4-2666 MHz, purchased not as a kit, but separately, is almost UAH 2000 compared to 12100F, H610 and DDR4-3200.
It is wiser to invest the freed money in a better video card: instead of the base Radeon RX 6500 XT, buy an RX 6600 without the XT suffix or GeForce RTX 3050. However, even the RX 6500 XT is three times more powerful than the older Radeon Vega 8 integration, not to mention the Intel UHD Graphics 700 and , especially the 600-series. To extend the relevance of the RX 6500 XT, the FSR 2.0 smart upscaling technology is called upon, which significantly surpasses the first version in picture quality, even if it is still inferior to DLSS.
Don’t discount the first Intel Arc A380 gaming disc with XeSS upscaling technology. Although according to the first tests, it is even inferior to the younger Radeon RX 6400 and is approximately on the same level with the GeForce GTX 1630. It is especially depressing that the Arc A380 paired with a Ryzen processor is slower than with a Core. But it’s good that, in principle, it starts up, because the Intel DG1 multimedia video card does not start at all on AMD motherboards.
2E Runa (G2107-500) is an inexpensive full-size Midi-Tower computer case, which is immediately equipped with one 12 cm fan and a power supply unit with a peak power of 500 W (nominal 350 W). The kit is cheaper than buying it all separately. Made from 0.5mm thick steel and tempered glass. Accommodates high CPU coolers up to 16.4 cm and long video cards up to 32.5 cm. Also, if desired, you can install 5 more fans or a 240 mm CBO radiator. In addition to the ARGB fan, the patterned ribbon on the front panel also glows. There are three USB ports on the top panel, of which one is a fast version 3.0. The power supply has a 12cm fan and one 6+2-pin video card connector.
Optimal computer ≈ 36000 UAH
At the end of socket AM4, AMD released two very tasty priced 12-thread Ryzen 5 processors – 4500 and 5500, both converted from APUs by disabling the iGPU. The first is built on the Zen 2 architecture, but costs about the same as an 8-thread Core i3-12100F. And the second one is already on Zen 3 and with a price tag even lower than that of the i5-11400F, not to mention the 12400F. In addition, motherboards based on the AMD B550 chipset, already with VRM heatsinks, are priced cheaper than the Intel B560 and, especially, the B660.
Also, the Ryzen 5 5500 has a single die under the lid, like an APU, and not separate chiplets, like the 3600/5600, for example. This allows you to get by for quiet cooling, if not with a boxed cooler, then for sure with a small tower. Yes, and the Ryzen 5 5500 RAM accelerates in synchronous mode over 4000 MHz, which partially eliminates its small 16MB cache and narrow PCIe 3.0 x8 video card bus.
For about 20 thousand hryvnia, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and Radeon RX 6700 XT video cards are sold, respectively. The RTX 3060 Ti is slightly weaker in terms of raw performance, and it also has less video memory (8 vs. 12 GB). But for now, GeForce is more comfortable due to the wider distribution of DLSS upscaling than FSR 2.0. While popularization of AMD’s new technology is only a matter of time, the scales may soon swing towards the RX 6700 XT, or rather the slightly overclocked factory RX 6750 XT. Unless, of course, by that time the Radeon RX 7000-series on the RDNA 3 architecture has not been released.
Biostar B550MX/E Pro is a mid-sized Micro-ATX motherboard with socket AM4. The AMD B550 chipset is compatible with Ryzen 3000, 4000, and 5000 series CPUs, as well as 4000G and 5000G (but not 3000G) APUs. It has two slots for graphics cards and M.2 SSDs, but only one each works at high speed PCIe 4.0. There is also a third M.2 Key-E slot for installing a Wi-Fi adapter, immediately with antennas removed. The heatsinks on the chipset and VRM are small, but even the upper chain of mosfets, which is responsible for the iGPU, is cooled. The audio subsystem is represented by a 7.1-channel Realtek ALC897 codec, and the network subsystem is represented by a gigabit Ethernet RTL8111H. There are no decorative RGB LEDs, but there are POST code diodes that help to calculate the problematic PC component.
Progressive computer ≈ 64000 UAH
AMD’s 16-thread processors – Ryzen 7 5700, 5700X, 5800X – are good with their large 32MB cache as well as moderate 105W heat. But for about the same price, the Core i7-12700F looks better with a similar number of more powerful Golden Cove cores and Hyper-Threading virtual threads (8 – 16), plus four additional energy-efficient Gracemont cores for undemanding background tasks. Of course, the 5800X3D with 96 MB of L3 cache takes the lead in games, but it also costs a third more.
True, it is not easy to cope with the hot temper of the 12700F – in auto-overclocking on all cores of Velocity Boost, it releases 180 watts of heat. You need a water cooling system or a double-tower supercooler. At the same price, air tends to be quieter and more durable, and the recumbent tower also blows air around the VRM on the motherboard. But water allows you to move the processor heatsink away from the video card so that they do not heat each other.
More and more rumors are sprouting about the 4000-series GeForce video cards, codenamed Ada Lovelace. By the way, this is not the first time that NVIDIA has named a video card architecture after a female scientist. In 2004 – 2007 there was a GeForce 6000 and 7000 named Curie. It was this architecture that was used in the PlayStation 3. The GeForce RTX 4000 promises a big jump in performance, however, as well as power consumption – up to 800 watts. In the meantime, of the older video cards, the GeForce RTX 3080 and Radeon RX 6900 look the most advantageous.
Deepcool AK620 is a dual-tower supercooler with a heat sink of up to 260W. The heatsink consists of two arrays of aluminum fins through which six nickel-plated copper heatpipes run to resist corrosion. The ugly soldered ends of the tubes are covered with decorative overlays. And the intermediary contact plate distributes heat more evenly to all tubes in the case of a multi-chip processor layout. A pair of complete 12 cm fans is built on a durable FDB bearing. Their rotation speed varies from 500 to 1850 rpm, and the noise level does not exceed 28 dB. The height of the cooler is a moderate 16 cm, and the weight reaches almost 1.5 kg. The cooler is compatible with RAM modules up to 4.7 cm high. In addition to the black version, there is a white AK620 WH.
