1st build in 9 years. Trying to decide between AMD and Intel. Have about $1600 budget

kjoiner

Hello,
I built a PC back in 2011 with an i7 950, nVidia GTX460 and 12GB of RAM.  It's worked well, but I think it's time to build another one.  The new one will be for general usage and some gaming.  I'm trying to decide between an Intel i5 10600 and an AMD Ryzen 3700X.  I'm more familiar with Intel, but it seems like you get a lot of value with AMD.  Here are 2 systems I configured.  Let me know what you think.  Thanks!
AMD build
https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=6bafecd1-87d2-454d-9db4-7ba15e0f9be5

Intel Build
https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=02ca44e2-8e9e-4eb8-8e64-dfda452eef45

TSPhillipT

Hello @kjoiner

Both builds look great!  My personal recommendation is the Ryzen 3700X though I did notice you are doing 2x16GB on the Ryzen build while the Intel build has 2x8GB.  Unsure if the builds were supposed to have varying amounts of RAM.  I prefer the 3700X more due to the extra Cores and Threads helping with content creation and streaming which is what I do with my current build.  If you are looking for just pure gameplay, go with Intel, but if you are looking for a more well rounded processor, the 3700X would be my recommendation.  

Mikyla

Go with AMD, right now the value for the price is so much better than intel. 

kjoiner

Hello, @TSPhillipT and @Mikyla

Thank you so much for the responses and feedback!  I am leaning toward the 3700X and have actually done a few more configurations and the AMD will save a few hundred dollars vs. Intel.  Thanks for catching the difference in RAM.  That also helps steer me toward the AMD.  I did another build using the ASUS custom builder and came up with this configuration:

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/create-build.aspx?load=9303c2bc-c682-4cd4-9713-93389f8a2aac

For the cost savings vs. Intel I was able to add a Radeon 5700XT.  
I think I'm zeroing in on what I can get but if you don't mind taking a look at the ASUS config and letting me know if there anything I should change or upgrade I would really appreciate it.  I'm at $1450 and so that leaves me another $150 to possibly use to stay within my budget.  Do you prefer the 5700 XT  or should I also consider an nVdia 2060?  Should I consider any changes to the monitor?

The only other factor I plan to check out is running Solid Edge CAD on this system at home.  At work, I run Solid Edge with an i7 8086 with an nVidia Quadro 2000.  I don't expect my home system to run as well as my workstation but I just need to double check there are not any major issues.

Thanks again and let me know what you think!


Thanks!
Kyle

TSTonyV

When I click the link for that custom build I end up getting an error and it doesn't take me to our configurator. Can you double check the link and make sure you copy/pasted it correctly?

As for your video card question, the 5700XT is a more powerful card, but the RTX 2060 Super does have access to the NVENC hardware encoder if live-streaming is something you were considering. The 5700XT's do have a reputation for bad drivers, but I've heard that's been improved recently. 

kjoiner

@TSTonyV .  Sorry about the bad link.  It was basically the same build as the others but with mostly Asus parts.  My final config will be:
Ryzen 3700x
5600X GPU
Asus 570 TUF motherboard
The rest will be the same parts in my previous links. Now I just need to get the parts while they're in stock.
Kyle

TSTonyV

I think that would be a solid build. I don't know much about SolidWorks, but if it scales well with cores and threads on your CPU, the 3700X is definitely the way to go. The 10600k is a better gaming CPU, but in any situation that's multi-core heavy, the 3700X would beat it with the extra two cores it has available. 

kjoiner

  Hi @TSTonyV,
CAD software like Solid Edge and Solidworks are single core for solid modeling tasks.  Multi core, at least for Solid Edge, doesn't factor in until you are creating detail drawings from the solid models.  Also, Solid Edge uses Keyshot for rendering which also can take advantage of multiple cores.  Interestingly, in Keyshot, you can select how many cores to use for rendering.

Kyle

TSTonyV

Good to know! You know your use case better than me, so as far as I'm concerned, if you're just gaming or doing things that scale better with single core performance, Intel is the way to go. Otherwise, Ryzen can't be beat. No matter what you choose I think you'll be happy. There's great options all around at this price point. Once you get it all together you should post it!

RichHerman

From a general use perspective, both builds are well above and beyond what you probably need; but I get it!  I'm personally building a AMD system based on the X570 chip set (taking a Bugatti to the grocery store), and I'm waiting to see what happens to CPU pricing when the Zen3's get released into the wild; like you, I build a machine once a decade.

From a sheer gaming perspective, the Intel will come out on top, overall.  But you have a winner, one way or the other.