Assemble that Passes # 266

Index

Budget Configuration Gaming Configuration Extra Configuration Assembla che ti Passa is a weekly column that collects the main news related to PC gaming hardware and offers three configurations, divided by price ranges, designed for those who want to assemble or upgrade your machine. As usual, suggestions are welcome and corrections welcome, as long as the tones are adequate. A further tip is to read the paragraphs that present the configurations before giving battle in the comments.

With the arrival of the Tiger Lake CPUs, the integrated graphics of Intel processors have made a clear leap, so much so that they have overcome in the performance in game also the excellent Ryzen SoCs equipped with Vega GPUs. A good business card for the Intel Xe architecture, albeit in a very low consumption version. Among other things, the speech of the increase in power does not apply to the CPU, which improves in efficiency but is satisfied with a lower power than that of the integrated solutions already in circulation. This, however, makes sense, given that these are processors designed for ultraportables, including Chromebooks. A huge market segment that not surprisingly was also at the center of AMD's timely response, ready to pull the AMD Ryzen 3000C series out of the hat with five models ranging from the 2-core and 2-thread Athlon Silver up to the Ryzen 7 3700C, equipped with 4 cores, 8 threads and 10 compute units. Enough to guarantee a major leap in gaming, with the promise of a 251% jump in graphics performance, and more power, with a promised 104% increase in productivity-related applications.

In the meantime, the first AMD Cezanne SoC seems to have appeared, which in the course of 2021 should bring the Zen 3 architecture, arriving on October 8 in a desktop version, also in the world of mobile chips with integrated graphics. Defined APU, even if the term is more suited to the chipsets that we find on the new generation consoles, the new AMD solution, pushed up to 4 GHz in boost and equipped with 8 cores and 16 threads, should enjoy an increase in IPC in the 'order of 20%, guaranteeing a good increase in performance and some advantages also for gaming. In the latter case, however, it would still seem bound to the Vega solutions, with the first alleged test which among other things shows performance in the game that is anything but spectacular. But it is likely that the software is still immature and we still expect something more from the GPU than the solutions currently on the market.

A more important leap awaits us in 2022, with the Rembrandt series APUs which, while maintaining the Zen 3 architecture, at least according to the first rumors, will switch to DDR5 memory and will be built with a production process at 6 nanometers, compared to the 7 one currently used by AMD, improving overall efficiency also in function of the transition to an RDNA 2 GPU. And it is precisely from this that we expect a new important leap in performance for integrated graphics that presumably will point to Uncompromising 1080p even with latest generation titles. However, it could give up ray tracing, given the weight on the hardware of a technology that will still be flanked, for some time, by less demanding lighting systems, however reached a high level of dynamism with the Lumen of the Unreal Engine 5 and NVIDIA's RTX GI.

If the GeForce RTX 3080 seems to creak above 2GHz, resulting in braking when consumption reaches 370W, the GeForce RTX 3090 seems to have higher margins than those emerged from the first leaks where the massive card, available from today, is just 10 percentage points higher than its much cheaper younger sister. The guys at iVadim have discovered it, in fact, by pushing a GIGABYTE model into overclocking, and raising the consumption limit with the shunt mod, exceeding a stock RTX 3080 by 30% with 3DMark Time Spy run in 4K. All with a PCB reference that gives hope for future models capable of achieving the same performance without the need for any graphic modification. Let's be clear, the relationship between expense and performance in the game is destined to remain disadvantageous compared to the RTX 3080, but on the other hand we are talking about a 24 GB card that also looks to the professional field, placing itself in a segment that today is associated with creators .

Above, instead, there will be the new framework based on the GA102 chip but in the full version, with 10752 CUDA core, 84 RT core and 336 Tensor core accompanied by something like 48 GB of memory at 16 Gbps. Enough, it seems, to get to about 40 TFLOP of power, at least as regards the shaders, but with the price of a decidedly high price and some compromises compared to the Titans. But those who need large quantities of VRAM and don't want to spend it should be able to count, in the near future, on the 20 GB RTX 3080 or the 16 GB RTX 3070. Both models have in fact found a partial but robust confirmation in some documents escaped from the NVIDIA partners, with a GALAX roadmap that in addition to confirming the 20 GB RTX 3080, mentions a GPU called PG142 SKU 0 which seems to be the RTX 3070 16 GB. In addition to this we also find the confirmation of the arrival of the RTX 3070 in October and the first mention of the RTX 3060, the awaited entry level of the new Ampere series that hopefully arrives to guarantee a high-level 1440p experience, at least on a par. of the RTX 2080, for about 350 euros.

Budget configuration

The budget configuration is the one aimed at saving but it is not certain that there is no room for an upgrade where interesting prospects arise . The proposals in this range include solutions designed for low-tech games and 1080p-oriented builds.

Now close to 110 euros, and sometimes available for less, the Ryzen 3 3100 remains an excellent choice for low-end, while settling for 4 cores and 8 threads. In fact, it enjoys some more optimizations than the first Ryzen 3000 and good overclocking margins, making it suitable for the needs of those who think about gaming, want to save money and don't need brute power.

With the price of the Radeon RX 570 on the rise the faster GeForce GTX 1650 gains further appeal, being now even cheaper, at least in some versions. One of these is the Zotac which, among other things, takes up the aggressive design of the higher-end models, making it more aesthetically appealing than many other models.



BUDGET Component Price PROCESSOR AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6-3.9GHz 115.00 € MSI B450M MOTHERBOARD 70.00 € ZOTAC VIDEO CARD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB 165.00 € HyperX Fury 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16 RAM 70.00 € EVGA POWER SUPPLY 450 BR 80+ Bronze 50.00 € HARD DISK Crucial BX500 480GB 55,00 € CASE Kolink Void RGB Mid Tower 50,00 € TOTAL 575,00 €

Gaming configuration

In the gaming range there are usually those components that allow to face the PC game without fear and to hold on for some time. The frame rate showdown is just around the corner but, with a good base, it's always possible to sell the old GPU before it devalues ​​too much so you can buy a new one just in time to take on the next hardware-smashing blockbuster.

The arrival of the new AMD Zen 4 processors, most likely destined for high and mid-range models, pushes us towards Intel with a slightly more expensive configuration than usual. In fact, we aim at the Intel 10600 in order to enjoy higher frequencies which in many cases are useful to fully exploit, at least in 1080p and 1440p, a GeForce RTX 3070.

The GeForce RTX 3070 will not be available until mid-October, but it is good to take precautions since in all likelihood what has already been seen with the RTX 3080 will be repeated, hopefully without anomalies, false openings and canceled pre-orders. In any case it is worth waiting, perhaps even the arrival of the Radeon Big Navi to get a complete picture, given the increase in power combined with a price that goes beyond the high end but is still aggressive in relation to the declared characteristics of the card.



GAMING Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i5-10600 3.3-4.8GHz 240,00 € ASUS PRIME B460M-K MOTHERBOARD 100,00 € VIDEO CARD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition 8GB 520 , 00 € RAM G.Skill AEGIS 3000MHz CL16 60,00 € POWER SUPPLY FSP Hydro PRO 600W 80+ Bronze 80,00 € HARD DISK Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SATA III 75,00 € CASE Corsair R275 Airflow Mid Tower 80.00 € TOTAL 1155.00 €

Extra Configuration

The pushed configuration makes sense only for those who aim for high resolutions, aware that luxury often does not go hand in hand with rationality. On the other hand, let's face it, who doesn't like having a nice engine under the hood even if you have to respect the speed limit?

This week we go back to spending, putting on a processor that is difficult to tame, but which combines an increase in raw power, with 10 cores and 20 threads compared to the 8 and 16 of the 9900K, still pushing the frequencies and maintaining performance in play at the top. Let's be clear, aiming only at 4K less pushed CPUs are enough, but the Intel solution stands out looking at the maximum framerate at each resolution.

While raising the CPU level, we are not aiming for the maximum for the GPU, with the GeForce RTX 3090 which, available from today even if in very few units, costs too much in relation to the increase in performance on the RTX 3080, insufficient to guarantee 8K without compromise. But we still keep an eye on it from a gaming point of view, especially after seeing how a modification and overclocking guarantee performance well above the stock ones.



EXTRA Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i7 -10900K 3.8-5.1GHz 585.99 € NZXT Kraken X63 Heatsink 140.00 € GIGABYTE Z490 AORUS Master MOTHERBOARD 350.00 € NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition 10GB 720.00 € RAM G.Skill Trident Z RGB 2x16GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 180,00 € ANTEC POWER SUPPLY HCG-850 80+ Gold 130,00 € HARD DISK Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB M.2 180,00 € CASE NZXT H710 Mid Tower 160,00 € TOTAL 2445.00 €