Ask the Experts - Page 3

What's the best value entry-level PC for gaming in early 2021 based on an Intel CPU?

Which direction should I go to get in the here and now? My gaming PC is at the bottom of the gaming rung, and I only have a budget of $1200 right now. My current build:

• ASUS Z87-A
• ASUS ROG GTX 1070
• Intel Core i7 4770K
• 16GB Crucial DDR3 Memory
• Thermaltake Smart 650W PSU
• Acer Predator XB1

Hi, I just picked up a Ryzen 7 3800X, ASUS Prime X570-P, 32GB of Viper Patriot 3600MHz DDR4, and Seagate NVMe. This is to replace my AMD FX 8350, GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD7, and Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1866MHz RAM.

My question is, I have an R9 390X that I was looking at upgrading for an NVIDIA RTX 3080 or Radeon 6800 XT. However, I am very put off by pricing at present.

Do you think it would be best to stick with my R9 390X until prices get back to normal or upgrade now to something slightly better and then upgrade later again to the card I want?

Hi TweakTown. Should I buy upgrade my GPU only or the rest of the setup?

I am planning to buy the new RTX 3060 Ti for the upcoming games. My current GPU is ASUS Strix GTX 1060 6GB. I am currently playing at 1080p. But I want to crank it up higher to 2K or possibly 4K. Recently, I saw a used GTX 1080 Ti, look at the reviews, all positives accept slow shipping. The seller will give it 1-month warranty coverage from the date of purchase. The price is $433. Here are my specs:

• Motherboard: ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming
• CPU: i5 6600k
• GPU: ASUS GTX 1060 6G
• RAM: 2x 4GB 2400MHz GSkill Ripjaw
• Storage: Silicon Power 512 SSD, HGST 512 HDD, Kingston SSDNow 240GB
• PSU: Thermaltake 650W fully modular PSU

Any advice would be appreciated!

I am looking to upgrade my work graphic rendering system. I am looking at a GIGABYTE X570 Extreme or Master with three GIGABYTE RTX 3090 Turbo blower style GPU cards. My concern is, will the 3rd card block the pins at the board's base, USB, etc. Any advice is appreciated.

I recently built a PC. The system specs include:

• AMD Ryzen 5 2600 clocked at 4.1ghz all cores
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
• ASRock b45/ac
• 16GB DDR4 3000MHz RAM
• 500GB SSD
• 600-watt 80 Plus power supply

I have the resolution set to 1080p, and it runs fine, but I was playing Godfall the other day, and my GPU usage was 100%, my CPU was around 15-25%, but I was getting approximately 15-18 FPS with a lot of stutter on low settings and stuttered non-stop on medium settings.

What might be the reason for this, and how to run games faster and better?

Does this build make sense, mainly for MS Flight Sim?

• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• GIGABYTE Radeon RX 5600 XT
• GIGABYTE B550M DS3H mobo
• GSkill Trident Z DDR4 3600 16GB memory
• Corsair RM550X PSU

I am having a hard time picking my next motherboard upgrade for under $200.

My setup is:

• Thermaltake 500W 80 plus white PSU
• GIGABYTE A320M-S2H MB
• AMD Ryzen 3200G 3.6 GHz CPU
• 8 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR4 Ram
• EVGA GTX 1060 3GB GPU
• 250 GB Silicon Power M.2 SSD

Is it better to play at a higher FPS and lower Hz refresh rate or lower FPS and higher Hz refresh rate? To explain a little better, would it be better if I played my games at 100 FPS on 60Hz or if I played at 100 FPS on 144Hz?

Since my monitor is a BenQ XL2411 but only have a 1060 6GB graphics card, I cap out at about 100-120 FPS on Apex Legends, which is my currently most played game, but I have similar FPS on other games as well. I just wanted to know which would be the optimal experience.

What will be the best mobo combo for Ryzen 5 1500X, and is it worth buying Ryzen 5 1500X if you are having a low budget, or would you opt for i3 10th Gen or i5 or i7?