I’ve been stuck on a laptop with an 11th Gen i7 and Nvidia T500 graphics for a while. I also had to live with a poor 4G connection for the past three years, so I essentially gave up on online gaming.
I’m now moving into a house with a proper connection, and I was recently given a bundle of older hardware:
For background: I’ve only ever run budget to mid-range systems. I usually play at 1080p or 1440p on lower settings, mainly Squad and Battlefield (and I’d like to be ready for Battlefield 6 when it comes out). My last rig was an AMD R5 3600 with 24GB RAM and a 1660 Super.
So far I’ve purchased the following:
What would be the best option for my budget that also matches my existing setup? On paper, the B570 looks like the best value (especially with BF6 included), but I’ve never had an Intel card before and I’m wondering if driver support is likely to improve enough to make it a safe choice. The Intel is ahead, but I think I need to hear more about them from current users. I should probably also note that I will likely only have this setup for the next two years as I plan on emigrating and not taking anything with me. So another case for value over performance.
Cheers all!
I’m now moving into a house with a proper connection, and I was recently given a bundle of older hardware:
- i7-8700K
- 64GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4
- Asus Z340 ROG Gaming-F motherboard
- Samsung 970 NVMe drive
- Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB
For background: I’ve only ever run budget to mid-range systems. I usually play at 1080p or 1440p on lower settings, mainly Squad and Battlefield (and I’d like to be ready for Battlefield 6 when it comes out). My last rig was an AMD R5 3600 with 24GB RAM and a 1660 Super.
So far I’ve purchased the following:
- Intel i5-14400F
- Alpenföhn Brocken ECO cooler (with socket 1700 adapter)
- Gigabyte B760M DS3H AX DDR4
- 64GB (4x16GB) Corsair Vengeance 3200MHz
- Samsung 970 NVMe drive
- Antec CX600M ARGB case
- Intel Arc B570 10GB (£170, includes Battlefield 6)
- Intel Arc B580 12GB (£240, includes Battlefield 6)
- Nvidia RTX 5060 (£250, but limited by PCIe 4.0 on my board, which I’ve read can cut performance by around 10%)
- Something second-hand?
What would be the best option for my budget that also matches my existing setup? On paper, the B570 looks like the best value (especially with BF6 included), but I’ve never had an Intel card before and I’m wondering if driver support is likely to improve enough to make it a safe choice. The Intel is ahead, but I think I need to hear more about them from current users. I should probably also note that I will likely only have this setup for the next two years as I plan on emigrating and not taking anything with me. So another case for value over performance.
Cheers all!
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