Upgrade your PC this holiday season.
Upgrade your PC this holiday season.
3500X would perform better around 20% with improved RAM compatibility, especially for gaming. DDR4 options are available locally in the EU, like Estonia—3200Mhz is slightly more expensive but still a small price difference overall. Prices should remain fairly consistent across the continent.
You're weighing options for a CPU setup. The 3500X offers strong performance with its 6 cores and 12 threads, especially thanks to improved IPC. If you prioritize raw power and future-proofing, it might justify the higher price at 110€ with a stock cooler. Alternatively, the Ryzen 5 2600 with an aftermarket cooler is more affordable at 107€, but you'll need to consider cooling solutions to match its performance. It depends on your budget and how much you value multi-threaded efficiency versus raw clock speed.
Discussing GPU choices: A 1650 paired with an i7-2600 could also perform well, or you might consider a Ryzen setup and hold off until the 1650 arrives or gets an upgrade. Right now I’m undecided between these paths. Both setups (Ryzen with 16GB RAM and 3000Mhz, plus Mobo and case) seem similar in price—around 236€ for the Ryzen and 247€ for the i7+1650.
I think it should work fine. There are newer and more affordable alternatives in Germany. If an i7 2600 costs $66, a used RX 470 at $86 and DDR3 RAM around $30 would give you a system capable of 1080p at 60fps with good detail in most games. That’s better performance than the GTX 1650 and covers all your needs. Moving up to a 6-core Ryzen setup might also be worth considering for future use.
It seems my idea that 3500X is superior to 2600 could be incorrect.
Thanks to all, I believe I’ll manage the 2600 plus RX 470 with extra RAM. If that’s not enough for my needs, I can sell my old parts and upgrade to a Ryzen.