APR 2022 97
Sponsored byNOT TOO MUCH CHANGE on the mid-range front this issue, but on the
plus side, there were some cost savings to be made. The dependable,
but 18-month-old, AMD Ryzen 5 5600X dropped by $30 this month,
perhaps reflecting Intel’s competition in this price bracket. That’s
not to knock this six-core, 12-thread processor, though, which is still
Approximate Price: $1,910 or $2,361 Approximate Price: $1,689 or $2,087
AMD INGREDIENTS INTEL INGREDIENTS
PART PRICESTREET
PRICECase Lian Li PC-O11-Dynamic $170PSU 750W EVGA SuperNOVA GA 750 W NEW $95Mobo ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 NEW $140CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5600X $230Cooler 280mm Cooler Master Masterliquid
ML280 Mirror ARGB
$75GPU MSI Gaming Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB $899 $1,350RAM 16GB (2x 8GB) Acer Predator Apollo
CL16 @ 3600MHz
$109SSD 500GB Samsung 980 Pro NVME
M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD
$100HDD 4TB WD Blue 5400 HDD $60OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM
(Windows 11 Compatible)
$32PART PRICESTREET
PRICECase Lian Li PC-O11-Dynamic $170PSU 750W EVGA SuperNOVA GA 750 W NEW $95Mobo ASUS Prime Z690-P LGA 1700 $210CPU Intel Core i5-12600K $280Cooler Cooler Master MASTERLIQUID
ML240L RGB V2 NEW
$68GPU MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB $570 $968RAM 16GB (2x 8GB) Corsair Vengeance RGB
Pro SL RGB CL16 @ 3600MHz
$109SSD 500GB Corsair Force MP600 M.2 PCIe 4.0 $95HDD 4TB WD Blue 5400 HDD $60OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit OEM
(Windows 11 Compatible)
$32more than capable of complementing the Radeon RX 6800 XT, a new
entry last month. Speaking of graphics cards, the Nvidia RTX 3070
GPU we picked last month had a significant street price reduction
for this issue, down around 10 percent to $968. No such sales for the
RX 6800 XT in the AMD build, however, which dropped only slightly
to $1350. As capable as the card is, that’s a hefty premium.
Last month’s power supply option, the Corsair RM750x, went
up in price slightly this month to $100. We like this fully modular
power supply and there are often retailer offers around that bring it
down by $20. If not, then the 750W EVGA SuperNOVA GA is slightly
cheaper and just as capable, thanks to its 80+ Gold Rating and fully
modular design. It’s only available in black, however, so stick with
the Corsair if your build isn’t going to be of the stealth variety.
The other tweak we made this month was to the AMD’s
motherboard. The Asus AM4 TUF Gaming X570 Plus WiFi went up
about $5 this month to hit a $190 price point—still good value for all
that it offers, but more expensive than ASRock’s gaming focused-
board. The ASRock doesn’t offer Wi-Fi, so if that’s important, factor
in a USB dongle or powerline adaptor, but otherwise it offers all the
important features you’d want from a mid-range board, including a
PCI Express 4.0 M.2 slot for the super-fast Samsung 980 Pro drive.
The final point to note is that last month’s Intel cooler, the
Enermax Liqmax III 240 RGB, had gone up by $25 over last month.
So we elected to swap in the Cooler Master MASTERLIQUID
ML240L RGB V2, another 240mm cooler that boasts RGB lighting,
but one with a slightly more tolerable price point.MID-RANGE