PC of the month (November 2024)

November was a month of major premieres in the world of PC components. In particular, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the fastest gaming processor, was launched, immediately winning the hearts of gamers with its performance. Meanwhile, Intel Core Ultra chips for the LGA1851 platform made their debut in Ukraine, which also attracted the attention of fans of powerful desktops. To help you navigate this flood of new products, we have prepared balanced gaming configurations for different budgets as part of our traditionalPC of the Monthfeature.

Basic gaming PC of the month ($600–750)

Gaming monitors for the "Basic Gaming PC" from our partner MSI

The MSI G255F and MSI MAG 256F are based on high-speed Rapid IPS panels with a 1920×1080 resolution and a response time of only 1ms to deliver a superior gaming experience for entry-level systems. The 24.5-inch monitors have an improved sRGB color gamut of 99% and a refresh rate of 180 Hz. During the promotional period, the MSI MAG 256F (UAH 6,599) and MSI G255F (UAH 7,999) have been reduced to UAH 5,299.   

MSI G255F gaming monitor

MSI MAG 256F gaming monitor

Processors. Despite the fact that Intel is going through a difficult stage in its history, the available solutions allow it to easily close the processor position in the category of entry-level gaming platforms. Of course, we are talking about the most affordable 6-core Core i5-12400F (6/12; 2.5/4.4 GHz). In a retail configuration with a simple cooler, this model can be purchased for ~$120, while the Tray is generally sold for $110. The $150/140 Core i5-12400 modifications with an active video core don't look as attractive, but in light of potential power supply problems, they may make sense. How exactly will this help? Of course, we're not talking about gaming sessions here. If you have an iGPU, you can temporarily disable discrete graphics to extend the PC's battery life.

Are there any real alternatives to the Core i5-12400F on the Intel platform now? In fact, no. At the moment, Core i3 is out of the game, although it beckons with price tags of ~$80. We expect a wider launch of the LGA1851 platform at the beginning of the new year, when the manufacturer will introduce more affordable Arrow Lake-S chips. We can already say for sure that future Core Ultra 3 processors will have a configuration with four productive and the same number of energy-efficient cores (4P+4E). This may be the first time that 8-core Intel processors will appear in basic gaming configurations. Why are we not sure about this yet? We need to look at the results and the real price/performance ratio. The latter is important for PCs of any category, but for entry-level systems it is almost fundamental. In addition, the capabilities of the older Core Ultra models are not yet satisfying in terms of gaming performance, so we can only theorize here. Practical experience will be indicative and decisive.

Last time, we already made a trial iteration with the transfer of the basic AMD gaming system to the Socket AM5 platform. A month ago, the Ryzen 5 8400F chip (6/12; 4.2/4.7 GHz; 16 MB L3) provided this opportunity, and it was easy to buy it in an MPK package with a cooler for the equivalent of $135. However, as it turned out, this was a temporary offer that quickly became irrelevant. But the retail version (BOX) is already significantly more expensive ($165-170). In this case, if you need to save money, you can buy a Ryzen 5 8400F in Tray-supply ($125) and an additional simple air cooler (~$20+). Such a CPU+cooler set will cost $10 more than last month's MPK set, but the cooler will probably be more efficient than the standard Wraith Stealth. By the way, if you really want to, you can buy this particular AMD cooler separately for only $5-10, but if you have to buy it separately, you should give preference to a simple but more efficient "tower".

As a reminder, the Ryzen 5 8400F belongs to the Phoenix line of single-crystal chips, and is actually a derivative of the Ryzen 5 8600G, but with slightly lower operating frequencies and deactivated graphics core and Ryzen AI accelerator. It's important to note that the junior F-model, like the 8600G, has six computing cores with Zen 4 architecture. Unlike the Ryzen 5 8500G, which also has a 6-core configuration, but with two Zen 4 cores, four slightly slower Zen 4c cores, and fewer available PCI Express lines. So it's obvious that Ryzen 5 8400F will be more productive than the conventionally older Ryzen 5 8500G. Yes, the labeling system has some gaps.

As for the general capabilities of the Ryzen 8000, in the context of gaming platforms, the potential of these chips is somewhat limited by the presence of only 16 MB of L3 cache. Ryzen 5 8400F will be more interesting than the 6-core chips of the previous generation (Ryzen 5 5600), but still inferior to Ryzen 7000. The ultimate for basic gaming systems would be Ryzen 5 7500F (6/12; 3.7/5.0 GHz; 32 MB L3), but even in the Tray-variant in Ukraine it costs ~$170, and the retail BOX version is generally offered for the equivalent of $200. It's frankly too expensive for an entry-level gaming PC.

The Socket AM4 platform does not let go so easily, offering a wide range of interesting options for basic configurations. Starting with the Ryzen 5 5600, which already costs less than $100 in the Tray configuration, and ending with the 8-core Ryzen 7 5700X (8/16; 3.4/4.6 GHz) with an approximate price tag of $145 for the version without a cooler. Incredible performance for chips of this performance level.

Of course, we can no longer talk about the great prospects of Socket AM4 in general, but it is too early to write it off completely. Although AMD's next announcements for this platform look like an attempt to fill a certain information vacuum and prolong the effect of active support/development. However, the existing chips will be enough to meet the needs of entry-level gaming platforms, and with top-end AM4 CPUs, even mid-range ones.

Video cards. GeForce RTX 3060 remains the most popular graphics card among Steam users. The second position is occupied by the mobile GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop, and the desktop version of the GeForce RTX 4060 rounds out the top three. The listed models for desktop PCs can be unquestionably recommended as the mainstays for entry-level gaming systems. For a complete set, we add the Radeon RX 7600 8GB, which will also be a worthy solution for platforms of this class. The cost of buying a video card is $300-320. This is the biggest financial burden, but it is an expected solution for gaming systems.

For users who are concerned about the local memory capacity of the video card and even in this class want to get a graphics adapter with 16 GB, the Radeon RX 7600 XT 16 GB is available. Among the Black Friday promotional offers are the following options for the equivalent of $350-370. In addition to doubling the memory, you can expect up to +10% performance gain in Full HD mode.

For cases where maximum savings are required, there is the Radeon RX 6600 8 GB. Recently, the number of offers for this model has increased significantly. Of course, at the end of 2024, it was not the number of new models in this line that increased, but the availability on sale. A graphics adapter of this series that can compete with the GeForce RTX 3060 can be purchased for ~$230-250.

We're not going to offer anything among the more affordable models from NVIDIA. Except for the GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB with TDP 70 W in case you are building the most economical system with a discrete graphics card to play on, but the performance/price ratio is not a priority.

Optimal gaming PC of the month ($1200-1400)

Gaming monitor for the "Optimal Gaming PC" from our partner MSI

The 27-inch MSI G272QPF E2 gaming monitor with a fast Rapid IPS matrix with a resolution of 2560×1440, a refresh rate of 180 Hz and a response time of 1 ms will provide an optimal gaming experience and a bright, vivid picture. The promotional price for the Black Friday 2024 offer is UAH 9599.

Ігровий монітор MSI G272QPF E2

Processors. For optimal configurations, the Core i5-12600KF (6/12+4; 3.7/4.9 GHz + 2.8/3.6 GHz) is in its place. Last month, the price of this chip was unpleasantly rising by ~$20-25, but in November the price rolled back to a more reasonable $185. The three-year-old model fits perfectly into the concept of a mid-range gaming platform in terms of performance. The 6P+4E core configuration with fairly high IPC and operating frequencies allows the CPU to demonstrate good gaming performance even in normal mode. The presence of an unlocked multiplier, which allows you to experiment with overclocking on your own, is not even taken into account here due to the use of a relatively inexpensive Intel B760 board, where this option is not provided.

If the aforementioned chip belonging to the 12th generation Core is somehow confusing, let's pay attention to the reduction in the cost of Core i5-14400F (6/12+4; 2.5/4.7 GHz + 1.8/3.5 GHz) to $190. The same architecture/layout, but slightly lower operating frequencies and power consumption. The version of Core i5-14400 with activated graphics has also fallen in price, but it's already around $220-230. The Core i5-13400F costs almost as much as its "successor". The only thing is that in the case of the 13400F, you can buy a Tray variant for $165, while the Core i5-13400 with a video core will cost $195.

If you need real acceleration, then the Core i5-14600KF (6/12+8; 3.5/5.3 GHz + 2.6/4.0 GHz) can suddenly break into the category of optimal configurations. At least now its current retail price allows it to do so. A powerful chip that has long held its own (and may continue to do so) in the higher end category has fallen in price very rapidly. Even official suppliers are now offering this model for the equivalent of $250, and if you're looking for the lowest price, you can buy a CPU for $230. Are these the consequences of the story with the instability of the top Intel Core chips of the 13th/14th generation? An act of desperation? An attempt to make room for LGA1851 models or the magic of Black Friday? Whatever the case, it's a great opportunity to get a high-performance processor at a very attractive price. Yes, you will have to be more attentive to the cooling system, and you may need to play around with downwinding for even better temperature performance. However, the end result is worth it.

As for the future Core Ultra chips in the optimal configuration category, we also expect the expansion of the Arrow Lake-S line and the emergence of more affordable motherboards with LGA1851 socket. Preliminarily, this category may include the base chips of the Core Ultra 5 series - Core Ultra 5 225/225F (6P+4E; 3.3/4.9 GHz + 2.7/4.4 GHz), or the next models of the Core Ultra 5 235/245 series, which already have a 6P+8E configuration. It will be interesting to see if cheaper 10-core chips without Hyper-Threading support will be enough for mid-range gaming systems, or if we will have to look towards 14-core models (6P+8E). Who knows, maybe the story with 12th/13th/14th generation Core chips within the "Optimal Gaming PCs" will continue even with the release of Core Ultra 5. In the search for balance, there will be no concessions for beginners.

For the AMD platform, the Ryzen 5 7600 (6/12; 3.8/5.1 GHz) for $200 is generally suitable as a starting option. Although in the future, it would be nice to get an 8-core 16-thread processor. This will allow the system to remain relevant for longer, and in the coming years, there will probably be no question of the sufficiency of the available number of computers. The simplest solution here is Ryzen 7 7700 (8/16; 3.8/5.3 GHz). In the tray version, this chip can already be purchased for $250, but the version in a retail package with a cooler (box) is much more expensive - ~$300.

Representatives of the Ryzen 9000 line are gradually falling in price. However, the same Ryzen 5 9600X for $275 can hardly be called the optimal solution in the presence of much more affordable predecessors. Balancing the offer between two generations of chips is not an easy task for AMD. They will manage it, although it will take time.

Overall, AMD feels very confident in the desktop processor segment. In the last quarter of this year, the company managed to increase its share to 28.7%. This is the highest historical figure. Some may even be surprised by this value. Indeed, looking at the popularity of AMD solutions in the retail market, there is a feeling of total dominance of the company. The tops of processor and motherboard ratings consist almost exclusively of AMD products. Yes, obviously, in the DIY segment, AMD's share is already much larger, but taking into account global supplies, it is growing quite actively, but has not yet reached a third.

Video cards. Everything here is so predictable that it's sad. There is no intrigue. Both GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB and Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB will provide the proper level of comfort at maximum settings in Full HD and with high picture quality settings in 1440p. In both cases, you will have to pay $600-650 for the cards. You might be able to find basic Radeon models a bit cheaper. But in general, this price calm in this segment looks almost like a conspiracy between two market participants who are happy with everything. While this is understandable in the case of NVIDIA, as the company occupies more than 85% of the discrete graphics segment, we expect more aggressive actions from AMD. We hope for an increase in activity in the near future.

AMD has already confirmed that new graphics cards with GPUs based on RDNA 4 architecture will be presented early next year. Judging by the previous statements of the management, it seems that the conditional Radeon RX 8000 series will be a tool to return the attention of the widest possible audience. So developers will focus on mid-range solutions and try to surprise with the price/performance ratio. Well, such a strategy has the right to live, given the significant increase in the price tags of video cards, regardless of their level. Somehow, mid-range graphics adapters have gradually migrated from the $300-400 category to $550-650. If the company manages to change the trends of recent years, it will not go unnoticed. Of course, any developer tries to maximize profits, but if you have to compete for quantitative indicators, financial requests can be more moderate.

AMD is already working on the next UDNA graphics architecture, which will replace RDNA 4. The new unified design should be used for a variety of solutions, from high-performance computing to console graphics. The first practical products with UDNA chips are expected to appear in 2026. Obviously, this architecture will be used for the upcoming Sony PlayStation 6.

We still expect that Intel will manage to disperse the comfortable "duopoly" in the graphics market. There are new leaks that the company intends to offer a new generation of graphics cards codenamed Battlemag by the end of this year. This would be a powerful step, especially if the company really has something to surprise with its next development. Even if there is only a paper announcement in December, and the real products appear early next year. At the very least, this would be an additional argument for NVIDIA/AMD to be moderate when setting price tags for their new graphics cards.

But these are our wishes for now. What we can say for sure is that Intel is trying to improve its software. And this applies not only to continuous optimizations to improve the performance of ARC graphics adapters in games, but also to reducing the size of the driver package. Until recently, the installation file took up 1.6 GB, but new versions (starting with 32.0.101.6297) already weigh 1.1 GB. This is still significantly larger than the NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready (~690 MB) and AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin (~770 MB) packages, but the work is in full swing here, too.

According to the latest specification, the announcement of new Intel discrete graphics will take place before the end of this year. The first graphics card will be the Intel Arc B580, which will be based on the BGM-G21 GPU with Xe2-HPG architecture. The number of active computers is not yet known, but the GPU will surely have operating frequencies of more than 2.5 GHz. The video card will have 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with an effective 19,000 MHz and a 192-bit bus, which will allow for a bandwidth of 456 GB/s. The Intel Arc B580 features a PCI-E 5.0 x8 interface. When used on a platform with PCI Express 5.0, the throughput will be the same as in the case of PCI-E 4.0 x16.

The first photos of the new line of graphics cards from ASrock have already been posted on Amazon. In one of the versions, the adapter is equipped with two 8-pin connectors for additional power, in the other - with one such connector. We assume that the TDP of the video card is 200 W in normal mode.

Progressive Gaming PC of the Month ($1800+)

Gaming monitor for the "Progressive Gaming PC" from our partner MSI

MSI MAG 271QPX QD-OLED is a 27-inch gaming monitor with a next-generation QD-OLED panel with a resolution of 2560×1440, a refresh rate of 360 Hz and a response time of only 0.03 ms (G-t-G). The ultimate screen with enhanced color gamut (DCI-P3 99%) and Delta E ≤2 color accuracy, Clear MR13000 and DisplayHDR True Black 400 certifications, and HDMI 2.1 port with VRR and ALLM. Certain OLED monitors have a special offer until December 2: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and a $30 Steam Wallet code as a gift. The list of promotional models is available here. 

Ігровий монітор MSI MAG 271QPX QD-OLED

Processors. The official presentation of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor was undoubtedly the most significant event of November in the segment of top-end solutions for gaming systems. It was previously understood that the 8-core model based on Zen 5 with an additional 3D V-Cahe buffer would obviously improve the performance of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D predecessor and become the most powerful gaming processor. Practical experiments have only confirmed such expectations, with certain nuances adding to the new CPU's appeal. First of all, it is the use of the second-generation 3D V-Cahe, the layer of which was placed not on the surface of the crystal with computing cores (CCD), as it was in the past, but actually under the main silicon wafer.

This layout made it possible to significantly increase the base operating frequencies (+500-600 MHz) and even leave the multiplier unlocked for further overclocking experiments. Thus, AMD managed to solve the issue of mediocre performance of chips with 3D V-Cache in work tasks where increasing L3 does not always give a significant advantage. So now Ryzen 7 9800X3D is not only the fastest gaming CPU, but also not inferior to classic models in multi-threaded workloads. With the increase in operating frequencies, the power consumption of the chip has also increased significantly compared to that of its predecessor. However, the overall performance is quite acceptable.

The issues of price and availability remain problematic. Processors are selling like hotcakes. In Europe, there is a queue of orders until the end of December. Given the rush of demand, it would be interesting to know the actual number of chips shipped. Official shipments of Ryzen 7 9800X3D have not yet begun in Ukraine. Single offers, which already periodically appear in price aggregators, are offered for the equivalent of $800-1000. The desire to have the best solution is undoubtedly worth something, but it is beyond the scope of a rational approach.

Unfortunately, the cost of the predecessor Ryzen 7 7800X3D continues to rise gradually, which with the release of Ryzen 7 9800X3D did not turn into a "pumpkin" but only gave way to the new flagship. However, the retail price of $530-550 also makes you think about justifying the purchase, especially when used for games with 1440p/4K graphics modes.

The Ryzen 7 9700X (8/16; 3.8/5.5 GHz) can be a compromise option here. The chip with a TDP of 65 W got a lot of flak when we first met it, when improved efficiency was perhaps the most prominent feature of the new CPU. That's quite a feat for a desktop processor. However, AMD quickly adjusted the emphasis, simplifying the process of choosing between 65W - 105W modes as much as possible. Having added up to +15% performance in multi-threaded tasks and received additional optimizations at the microcode and software level, Ryzen 7 9700X has significantly improved its position. We could see this during another review of the AMD X870 motherboard. The performance is up to par, and the ability to quickly select the optimal mode looks like an advantage and an option that was planned from the beginning. In addition, the current price tag of ~$380 looks much more attractive than the starting price of $450.

In this case, there are less and less arguments for Ryzen 7 7700X (8/16; 4.5/5.4 GHz), the number of offers of which has significantly decreased over the past month, and the price has increased from $310-320 to $340-350.

At the end of October, Intel launched a new LGA1851 desktop platform with Core Ultra 200S processors. The developers managed to significantly reduce the power consumption of the chips and, thanks to architectural improvements, compensate for the abandonment of Hyper-Threading technology. However, an unpleasant surprise was the performance of Arrow Lake-S in games, where they not only did not improve the performance of their predecessors, but even usually have lower performance. Although on average we are talking about a decrease of ~5%, these are definitely not the results you expect from a new generation processor.

Intel does not officially deny the problem. Recently, Intel vice president Robert Hallock admitted in an interview with HotHardware that the launch of Arrow Lake-S did not go as planned.

"I can't go into all the details yet, but we found a number of multifactorial issues at the OS level, at the BIOS level, and I will say that the performance we saw in the reviews was not what we expected and not what we planned. The launch simply did not go as planned. It was a learning lesson for all of us, inspiring a pretty big internal reaction to get to the bottom of what happened and fix it." - Robert Hallock, Intel

Frankly speaking, the results were hardly a surprise for Intel. Even on the manufacturer's presentation slides in the gaming category, a significant number of projects used Intel APO for comparison, which implies the presence of additional profiles to improve load redistribution to P/E cores and the corresponding increase in fps.

It would be very interesting to hear the official version of why the results of internal tests differ from those of independent reviews. And, of course, we expect effective measures that will really improve the performance of the new CPUs. There is no hurry, given that a month after the start of sales, only Core Ultra 7 265K (8P+12E; 3.9/5.5 GHz + 3.3/4.6 GHz) for ~$500 officially appeared in Ukraine. If you want, you can already buy Core Ultra 5 245K/KF locally for the equivalent of $360.

Without additional gaming acceleration, it's hard to recommend new chips for top-end gaming systems. Especially in the presence of very attractive alternatives. First of all, we are talking about the same Core i5-14600KF (6/12+8; 3.5/5.3 GHz + 2.6/4.0 GHz) for $250. This is an incredible price tag for a chip that will be even faster in games than the aforementioned LGA1851 models. Yes, the power consumption under load on all computing units is slightly higher, but the performance in games is comparable.

The price of the Core i7-14700KF (8/16+12; 3.4/5.6 GHz + 2.5/4.3 GHz) has also dropped, but the chip still costs ~$400, so this option is worth considering if, in addition to gaming, you need additional CPU processing power for some work tasks. But here you also need to take into account the additional costs of a more efficient cooling system - the power consumption of this model under load is significantly higher than that of the Core i5-14600KF.

Video cards.The segment of graphics cards for advanced configurations is also a complete idyll. GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB and Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB compete on equal terms for the right to empty your wallet for ~$900. NVIDIA GPU models usually have an easier time of it, given the composition of the top charts and the overall share of both manufacturers.

According to Asian sources, NVIDIA is actively preparing to announce solutions based on the Blackwell architecture, reducing the supply of chips for current-generation graphics adapters. First, such restrictions affected GeForce RTX 4090, then RTX 4080 SUPER and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, and now it's the turn of RTX 4070. It takes time for graphics card manufacturers to reconfigure their equipment to produce new graphics cards in sufficient quantities. It is expected that the flagship GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 may debut at CES 2025 in January. Meanwhile, the GeForce RTX 5070, and possibly the RTX 5070 Ti, is scheduled to be released two months after that.

According to the latest leaks, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti will use the GB203 GPU in a variant with 8960 active cores, and the total power consumption of the video card will be 300 watts. This model could be a potential replacement for the current RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. Of course, if the new "Ti" gets 16 GB of GDDR7 memory, and not 12 GB, as is the case with the RTX 5070.

We have already mentioned AMD's emphasis on the Radeon RX 8000 line. At the same time, there is still hope that the company will be able to offer competitors at least for the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, if not for the flagship RTX 5090/5080. Otherwise, the situation with prices for powerful graphics cards may turn out to be disappointing: the price tag for GeForce RTX 5090 is already predicted to be $1900-2000. Is this a result of the enormous popularity of AI computing, which brings huge profits, or a consequence of the lack of competition in the top segment? Perhaps both. In any case, there is always an opportunity to make a choice by "voting with your wallet."