TechSpot PC Buying Guide: H2 2022

[Amir Shoam]

With next-gen products around the corner, is it a good time to buy or build a new PC? This PC Buying Guide update gets you four recommended component lists, meant for different budgets and purposes.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/guides/2514-pc-buying-guide-h2-2022/

 

[rayrv9a]

I'll be joining the world of VR gaming this year so this article is very timely. Is the Value Gaming Rig as described suitable for a VR headset as opposed to only using a monitor for visualization? Or would I need to jump to the $2k system?

 

[UdyrL]

These guides are great for people unsure about what parts to pick within their budget, but please be a little more diligent with suggestions:

"With current memory prices, we see no reason to get less than 32GB."
But you can get 16GB at 40-50% the price of a 32GB kit, so there's a budget reason for a value oriented build.

"Corsair 400D Airflow, and the main reason for that is in its name."
Yeah... no. The 4000D is a great case, but not all airflow named units are good. As a build guide, this can lure people into cheap "airflow" cases that are not good.

Please keep updating the guide based on new products and price changes.

 

[Ted Ingersol]

Agreed. 32GB of RAM is unnecessary unless the user plans on streaming on Discord or Twitch while gaming, while watching YouTube etc. It's not a budget build to needlessly spend more when it's not needed. Asrock also makes other motherboards, the X570 Taichi is overkill for most users. The X570 chipset only really shines when you want another PCIE x4 4.0 slot for an M.2 SSD. Beyond that reason, it's unneeded and the B550 chipset is a better option.

 

[Slappy McPhee]

Agreed. 32GB of RAM is unnecessary unless the user plans on streaming on Discord or Twitch while gaming, while watching YouTube etc.

The one convenience that the article fails to mention is that having the 32gb memory setup lends to being able to run a VM or two without issue which can be advantageous for plenty of users from time to time.

 

[McMurdeR]

What does light productivity mean in this day of age? Even casual office workers are going to use spreadsheets and open a lot of browser windows for their cloud apps, and these things consume RAM like mad. I'd spend the extra 50 quid on 32GB.

 

[Nobina]

What does light productivity mean in this day of age? Even casual office workers are going to use spreadsheets and open a lot of browser windows for their cloud apps, and these things consume RAM like mad. I'd spend the extra 50 quid on 32GB.

Spreadsheets and browser tabs require 32GB? That is waaaay off.

 

[toooooot]

2022, the most dissapointing year for upgrade ever.
New stuff coming out, new stuff at new inflated prices.
Have you guys seen those new am5 boards? They are outrages, costing 400, 500 hundred dollars.
I wish I could go back in time and remove China and all of its flu labs from the world.
I swear... I would.

 

[brucek]

+1 for 32GB when it's an inexpensive upgrade. My active in-use RAM is often in the 18 - 20 GB range, which means I'd be paging if I only had 16 GB. And you want to have enough "extra" RAM for your O/S to be able to cache frequently used files, etc.

 

[UdyrL]

What does light productivity mean in this day of age? Even casual office workers are going to use spreadsheets and open a lot of browser windows for their cloud apps, and these things consume RAM like mad. I'd spend the extra 50 quid on 32GB.

No, it doesn't consume that much; and now imagine spending $50 extra on each of the 10 computers needed for a small office. $500 down the drain for additional RAM that will rarely, if ever, be used.

 

[Ben Myers]

Nice share..but I think cpu at least I5...I3 really not good idea now...

It's fine for everyday office-type work.

 

[Ben Myers]

These guides are great for people unsure about what parts to pick within their budget, but please be a little more diligent with suggestions:

"With current memory prices, we see no reason to get less than 32GB."
But you can get 16GB at 40-50% the price of a 32GB kit, so there's a budget reason for a value oriented build.

"Corsair 400D Airflow, and the main reason for that is in its name."
Yeah... no. The 4000D is a great case, but not all airflow named units are good. As a build guide, this can lure people into cheap "airflow" cases that are not good.

Please keep updating the guide based on new products and price changes.

If one looks at the historical trend of memory pricing, 16GB > 2x8GB > 4x4GB. So to outfit any of these motherboards with 4 memory slots, get 4 sticks of memory that add up to the amount of memory required. I prefer to outfit the computers of my clients with 32GB these days, when I suspect the need for more memory. It's not so much that I make more money. It's simply that the computer performs better. None of my clients have complained yet about having too much memory. This is in direct contrast to the computers sold in big box stores without enough memory, so the manufacturers can compete better on price. The price may be low, but performance is awful. Ditto with hard drives instead of SSDs.

 

[erickmendes]

Waning: this is a joke, don't take it as real pc building advice.
Each RGB fan add 10% FPS, and if you use a full set you get an additional 20% set bonus.
waning: this is a joke, don't take it as real pc building advice.

 

[mbk34]

My advice would be wait to see what new GPU prices are like. If they are still price gouging then don't bother buying any new PC hardware.

 

[UdyrL]

If one looks at the historical trend of memory pricing, 16GB > 2x8GB > 4x4GB. So to outfit any of these motherboards with 4 memory slots, get 4 sticks of memory that add up to the amount of memory required. I prefer to outfit the computers of my clients with 32GB these days, when I suspect the need for more memory. It's not so much that I make more money. It's simply that the computer performs better. None of my clients have complained yet about having too much memory. This is in direct contrast to the computers sold in big box stores without enough memory, so the manufacturers can compete better on price. The price may be low, but performance is awful. Ditto with hard drives instead of SSDs.

Just like your i3 vs i5 comment above, 16GB is more than enough for everyday office-type work, and the user will not run out of memory for the time being. If your client requires more than 16GB, they're running specific tasks that are not your "regular" office work.

Spending extra money on memory that will never be used is a waste of juice for any office without the power to spend on "nice to have". More memory =/= faster performance if the limit is not reached.

 

[derflo]

I'll be joining the world of VR gaming this year so this article is very timely. Is the Value Gaming Rig as described suitable for a VR headset as opposed to only using a monitor for visualization? Or would I need to jump to the $2k system?

The value rig will work for VR but if you want to play the most demanding games with high settings you might want to spend a little more on the GPU and get a 3070 or a 6700XT.

The rest of the system is fine, if the i5 13400 is already out when you're building your system I'd go for that as well since there's gonna be a big upgrade this gen. If it's not out by then the 12400 will still get you through the next 5-7 years.

 

[Pooctox]

For the value gaming rig, I'd said forget the CPU cooler and downgrade to 16GB ram, SSD to 512GB.
Take that extra money for 6700XT.

 

[godrilla]

2022, the most dissapointing year for upgrade ever.
New stuff coming out, new stuff at new inflated prices.
Have you guys seen those new am5 boards? They are outrages, costing 400, 500 hundred dollars.
I wish I could go back in time and remove China and all of its flu labs from the world.
I swear... I would.

Hopefully my year on prediction will be correct that this black Friday will be the best time to upgrade and we will see a battle between retail and second hand market in pricing like we never seen before. Just for reference an 8 core 2700xt was selling $120 on black Friday following the 3700xt/ x570 launch 3 years ago.