Assemble that Passes # 286
The change of course of a Vietnamese internet café, passed from gaming to mining, is the evidence of how the combination between the new GPUs and the increase in value of Ethereum and Bitcoin has brought back the same of cryptocurrencies, prompting many to invest again in this sector precisely in the year in which between high supply and very high demand the IT sector fails to satisfy market needs. No surprise, then, in the face of the widespread nervousness of potential buyers, some waiting for a card for months and faced with photos of mining farms full of GeForce RTX, something that ZOTAC sponsored directly, attracting an avalanche of criticism.
In the meantime, however, NVIDIA has brought its strategy to fruition by announcing a 50% brake on mining capabilities for the upcoming GeForce RTX 3060, coming February 25, and a series called CMP HX that looks exclusively to miners, eliminating graphics processing and consequently video outputs, with benefits for cooling. The new cards also enjoy energy optimizations, which we talked about in our piece, designed to make them more attractive than the RTX 3000 not braked and therefore usable directly. They are therefore welcome, at least in the future. For the moment, in fact, the market is bogged down and the new GPUs, while changing their name and destination, use the same precious components of the unobtainable gaming models. It is therefore not the case to expect a high availability, even if we assume there will be fewer problems in the case of the RTX 3060. We also hope that the new price downsizing that promises to be sensational. Between rumors and the early sale of some cards in Pakistan, there is talk of a price of over 700 dollars compared to the recommended price of 329 dollars. Too much, even for a series that has stood out for the maturation of RTX technologies and for the increase in efficiency.
A mining farm consisting of GeForce RTX 3070 This, however, remains a strong point of the new NVIDIA GPUs, as evidenced by the appearance of tests on a fully passively cooled GeForce RTX 3080. No fans therefore for the fanless PC of the Turametal guys who saw the powerful GPU spin at 87 degrees in the stress test, reaching a maximum of 93 degrees after 4 minutes and 20 seconds. This is certainly not the first passively cooled 3080, but it is the first that is part of a totally fanless PC, including the Ryzen 5 5600X, and that is able to get by with Furmark. Not bad in function of a completely silent PC, although noise is the last problem of the GeForce RTX 3000. Even the less successful models, unfairly branded as ovens, work at 70-72 degrees under load, maintaining a decidedly noise floor. low.
The problem with the new GeForces is finding them and finding them at affordable prices. Among other things, things are even worse with AMD GPUs, even more difficult to find and subject to even greater price increases unlike the Ryzen 5000 processors, finally more affordable and easier to buy. But the overall landscape remains dramatic as evidenced by the lack of consoles, laptop prices and the problems faced by the automotive sector, which has slowed down due to a shortage of chips. Also for this reason, companies like Intel and AMD have asked Biden to invest again in semiconductors, a sector that in the United States has shrunk a lot over the years from a global share of 37% in 1990 to 12% today. And it is a percentage destined to decline. Intel's plans in fact foresee to give up at least part of the internal CPU production to rely more and more on the TSMC foundries, already taken by storm by AMD and Apple.
Of course, building new production lines is not a simple thing and involves risks. In fact, it is not certain that demand remains as high as it is now, pushed towards the stars by the lockdowns for COVID-19 and the simultaneous launch of an avalanche of devices that raise the bar for both gaming and smart working. But it is clear that we need interventions or in any case a change of pace that prevents situations like the one we are experiencing. Hence the request for intervention by the new US government structure, seen as more open than the one led by Trump. But the problem we are experiencing is not just a question of investments. The problem is sudden fluctuations like the one we are experiencing, enhanced by the pandemic and destined to last for a long time.
The Radeon RX 6700 XT promises high-level performance for the mid-range This however does not prevent us from hoping for greater availability both for the RTX 3060, as anticipated castrated in terms of hash rate capacity, and for the Radeon RX 6700 XT, reappeared among the rumors with an alleged launch date. Already in November there was talk of March, a month that is confirmed in the reported rumors of Cowcotland which, however, speaks specifically of day 18, the same as the first episode of Justice League: The Snyder Cut. It would therefore be less than a month before we can verify the veracity of the rumors that speak of an aggressively priced card that aims to conquer the mid-range with 40 compute units, 2560 stream processors, 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus. Among other things, it will come out accompanied by the new Radeon drivers which, in addition to improving support for ray tracing and for the entire Fidelity FX suite, should bring with it the awaited Super Resolution technology, the upscaling based on machine learning that AMD is developing the response to the powerful DLSS. Of course, in this case the dedicated hardware is missing, but the extra power in terms of pure rendering of the new Radeons could be exploited precisely in this light.
Budget configuration
The budget configuration it is the one aimed at saving but it is not certain that there is no room for the upgrade where interesting prospects arise. The proposals in this range include solutions designed for low-tech gaming and 1080p-oriented builds.Reappeared, but at prices still a little too high, the Ryzen 3 3100 can't dethrone Intel Core i3-10100F, despite an increase of around 10 euros. Those looking for brute multicore power, however, can also look at the 6 cores and 12 threads of the Ryzen 5 2600, among other things overclockable even if at a significantly higher price.
With the exhaustion of the MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Aero ITX is missing the last opportunity to aim for 1080p without compromise by spending little. We are in fact forced to slide on the GTX 1050, apparently destined to officially return to the field precisely due to the current situation that particularly affects the low-end, where there are not even new generation alternatives.
BUDGET Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i3-10100F 3.6-4.3 GHz 105,00 € ASROCK H410M-HDV MOTHERBOARD 85,00 € VIDEO CARD Asus GeForce GTX 1050TI 4 GB 225,00 € RAM G.Skill Aegis 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16 80 , 00 € POWER SUPPLY EVGA 450 BR 80+ Bronze 45,00 € HARD DISK Kingston A400 480GB SATA III 50,00 € CASE Kolink Nimbus RGB Mid Tower 50,00 € TOTAL 640,00 €
Configuration Gaming
In the gaming segment there are usually those components that allow you to face the game on PC 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 Ryzen 5 5600X has dropped in price but is still a bit expensive. Therefore, after choosing it last week, we are replacing it with the Core i5-10600KF which needs a new motherboard and does not support PCIe 4.0 anyway, but guarantees excellent gaming performance and costs much less.
At this time, taking a mid-range GPU is strongly discouraged, unless you find an RTX 3060 Ti at very low prices. This is why we place it as a placeholder, even though we know that we are talking about custom cards that are already expensive at the recommended price and that suffer from considerable increases, forcing us to wait a long time to avoid paying exaggerated surcharges.
GAMING Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i5-10600KF 4.1-4.8GHz 210,00 € ASUS TUF GAMING B460M-PLUS MOTHERBOARD (WI-FI) 130,00 € GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 Ti EAGLE OC 8 GB VIDEO CARD 565,00 € RAM Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16 105,00 € POWER SUPPLY FSP Hydro PRO 600W 80+ Bronze 75,00 € HARD DISK Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SATA III 85,00 € CASE EMPIRE GAMING Diamond ARGB Mid Tower 75.00 € TOTAL 1245.00 €
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?New drop to 470 euros, currently stable, for the Ryzen 5800X that between power and price stands out as a high-end solution, as long as you don't need the monstrous power of solutions like the 5900X or 5950X, still subject to decidedly high price increases.
The Ryzen 5800X, however, is more than enough to guarantee an agile system, good raw power and the possibility of squeezing a GeForce RTX 3080 whose return is, however, slowed from a new surge in prices that make it even less convenient than the already demanding Radeon RX 6800. The RTX 3070 remains, subject to less excessive surcharges.
EXTRA Component Price PROCESSOR Ryzen R9 5800X 3.8-4.7GHz 470.00 € Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black 90.00 € MOTHERBOARD MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS 165.00 € VIDEO CARD GeForce RTX 3070 Dual 8G 8 GB 785.00 € RAM G.Skill Trident Z RGB 2x16GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 180,00 € ANTEC POWER SUPPLY HCG-850 80+ Gold 130,00 € HARD DISK Sa brent Rocket 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 € 170.00 CASE Thermaltake View 31 TG RGB Mid Tower € 150.00 TOTAL € 2140.00
