frontpage Posted by tDames | Staff • Last Thursday
Jun 12, 2025 5:46 PM
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frontpage Posted by tDames | Staff • Last Thursday
Jun 12, 2025 5:46 PM
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X + Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX v2 + 32GB G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5
+ Free Store Pickup Only$350
$540
35% offMicro Center
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There are a lot of instances where they are the fastest. The struggle is finding what game you're playing and what monitor you're on. X3D is not, by any means a bad decision. Its also not always the best.
People who advocate for X3d above everything else are supported by 1080p playback. If you play at 1440 and definitely at 4K, the GPU is often the bottleneck and frame rates all level out but the 1% lows will be better with the X3D.
However, that was when the bundle price was $380. The bundle price (as of this time of writing, at $350), is an incredible deal.
To recap (as of 6/14/2025)
I recently jumped into the world of mini PCs and I am loving the quiet and simple experience, but this low price (plus a nearly 50% higher benchmark across the board for everything) are making me want to dip a toe back into BYOPC land after 11 years.
Can anyone recommend a really small ATX case, the smallest that will fit this mobo and a 3090fe? MCs own parts picker rarely describes if the cases will handle a 3-slot GPU (regardless of form factor). Bonus points for no visual nonsense (windows, RGB, LCDs, etc). My OG is a Fractal Define R4. TIA!
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There are a lot of instances where they are the fastest. The struggle is finding what game you're playing and what monitor you're on. X3D is not, by any means a bad decision. Its also not always the best.
When looking at 4K and above gaming, one thing a lot of people miss is the GPU busy time. If the CPU is new enough, there might not be a difference between, lets call it all of the latest gen AMD and Intel CPUs (this is a broad brush assumption for discussion and is very game specific) as they my all be generating enough frames to get the GPU to 99% utilization. The difference between then may be a relative 1 - 2% in FPS. But if you go back a few generations or down to like a 13th Gen I3, then the CPU may be the bottle neck.
4K and above gaming requires a tighter balance of components. Too fast of one and old of the other is what creates the bottleneck.
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