Value articles

GPU prices are finally at or below MSRP, but rising memory costs could push them back up fast. With hikes expected soon, now's the moment to buy. So which cards deliver the best value globally?

After months of testing and gathering new CPU benchmark data, in this review we compare 28 CPUs across 14 games, helping you choose the best value processor for your next gaming PC.

With the recent launch of new GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia, it's time to take a look into what graphics cards are the best value right now, using the most up to date pricing in several regions.

The Core i5-13600K is possibly the best value CPU all-rounder right now, but when looking purely at gaming the Ryzen 5 7600X is a strong contender as is the 5800X3D, 5600X, and even the older 12600K.

In reviewing the Core i5-12400, there's nothing on paper that tells you this could be an amazing CPU. It's mostly a cut down 12600K, and yet this may be one of the most exciting CPUs to be released in the last few years.

In order to wrap up our 6 core/12 thread CPU testing, we had to add the Ryzen 5 5600X to the mix. We're going back to the data we recently collected for testing the Core i5-10400F and Ryzen 5 3600, all of it using the Radeon RX 6800 in a range of PC games at 1080p, 1440p and 4K resolutions.

We went out looking for Amazon's most popular monitor and what we discovered was Acer's SB220Q 1080p 75Hz IPS display. This monitor tops both the best selling and the most wished for monitors list, so that'd seem to indicate not only are customers buying this monitor, but they actually want it in significant numbers.

We were among the first to review the Ryzen 5 3600 and at $200 we found the 6-core, 12-thread processor a crankin' good deal. In short, it murders the 9600K in core-heavy productivity benchmarks and was right there for the gaming tests. But without question the most popular question we received afterwards was: should you buy the Ryzen 5 3600 or the 3600X?

The successor to our favorite best value CPU, the Ryzen 5 3600 is AMD's new $200 6-core, 12-thread processor. The chip clocks between 3.6 GHz and 4.2 GHz, features a 32MB L3 cache and a 65 watt TDP. Included in the package is the Wraith Stealth cooler and a MSRP that matches the price the R5 2600 launched at.

Following up to our best value FreeSync monitors feature, we though this review would be ideal. Today we're looking at the Viotek GFT27DB which is a brand new display release, sporting a new TN panel (ideal for gamers) that promises a lot on paper. Having reviewed several Viotek displays in the last year, we've been consistently impressed with the value proposition, so we are hoping nothing changes here in that respect.

Later this week we'll finally be able to publish our benchmarks for Intel's new 8-core CPUs like the 9900K. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to check out how CPU pricing has changed over the last few months, see what products are the best value right now, and whether we'll continue to see changes throughout the rest of the year.

There are now several Coffee Lake-based Pentium Gold chips starting at just $64. So we've decided to pit it against AMD's best value CPU, the Ryzen 3 2200G which is $100 but it gets you good integrated graphics. You have to wonder what's the best value between the two platforms.

Before the incoming 2nd-gen Ryzen parts arrive this shootout will let us establish how AMD and Intel currently stack up with all the latest Windows updates, BIOS updates, driver updates and new motherboards we have on hand, giving us an up to date reference point for the new CPUs.

Today we're discussing what we feel were the worst CPU and GPU purchases of 2017. Some were just bad from the get go while others started life as viable options that sadly proved poor choices before year's end.