My first TA code from TechFast. Please note that TARYZEN basically gives you a $200 discount on any config of this system, so feel free to chop and change items. They were even kind enough to throw in a WiFi adapter at no extra charge. And delivered free anywhere in Australia. Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Enjoy :)
@idonotknowwhy: I do not know why you're such a gentle(man/lady) but thank you, I went for the b350/1660/240GB :)
RX570 is a tad below XBox One X. Watch this video for a comparison of those two cards + more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkqM6-aOEHw
I would care more about current games or games coming soon (or games in GamePass PC). Enjoy now I reckon.
It depends on whether you will be happy with medium settings in the future. You only have 24 inch 1080p 60Hz monitors (most likely without freesync support) so you are not after high fps gaming. It's fine either way (RX570 or 1660 - 1660 is slightly more future proof, but not by much; the $150 difference is the current market rate - so you are not worse off if you take the upgrade). Either choice is fine, but there is a little twist with RX570:
I don't know whether TechFast will issue you 1 code or 2 codes for the AMD GamePass for PC promotion if you stick with RX570. If they give you 2 codes, even though you cannot stack them, you could use 2 accounts and get 6 months worth of GamePass PC for free. If you opted for 1660, you are only eligible for 1 code (for the CPU).
Note: I haven't seen any official acknowledgement of GamePass voucher code(s) being provided so you need to check with TechFast. Also, there is the $1 GamePass Ultimate offer (so use the GamePass for PC 3 months voucher, pay $1 to covert to Ultimate to get 1 more month = 4 months total). Unclear when the $1 offer ends.
@netsurfer: Thank you very much, I went for the 1660 just for that extra future proofing, better peace of mind I guess :)
If the monitors end up bothering me I'll look into getting a proper monitor designed for gaming, but I've never had the luxury of going over 30FPS (I'm a life long gamer, sticking to MMORPGs on either my crappy PC or laptops), so anything is an upgrade lol
No idea about this GamePass stuff, I'll look into it and reach out to Luke!
Thanks again for the detailed response, much appreciated! Looking forward to diving into the mid/high tier gaming :D
@Surtr: Two additional comments. Not sure whether you went with the B350 upgrade or not.
It looks like the A320M does not have a m.2 slot, but the B350 does. For $39, if you want m.2, saving the trouble to buy a PCIe x4 card to do the m.2 (assuming it will boot on A320) is most likely worth $39. For gaming, you don't gain much from m.2 - but a lot of us still want a m.2 SSD.
I kinda prefer a case with front USB 3 ports (instead of USB 2 ports), but the next case upgrade is $70+ (not worth it unless you want RGB lighting as well).
Is this a good deal if you dont upgrade anything aside from mother board to the b350? also what games would it play at what fps?
Upgrade to B350 opens a can of worms in a way. You will then question whether you should gamble and pair that with DDR4-3200. That's the issue with this package. I find it hard to fault it because it basically picked the most cost effective (i.e. cheapest) combo. But, as soon as you start 1 upgrade, you realise you need another upgrade for that upgrade to make sense. In short: just upgrade to B350 doesn't make sense. Another minor issue is you don't know which A320M board and which B350(M) board.
Performance of 3600 with RX570 - YouTube video:
Ryzen 5 3600 with Radeon RX 570 26 games tested
If you prefer just look at a page, for the time being, use i5-9600K's result (closest to R5 3600 in terms of gaming).
RX 570 with i5-9600K
Thanks for the prompt and detailed reply, very insighfull.
I have one "acceptable" reason / excuse for B350 - the A320 board doesn't have a m.2 slot (A320 can support m.2, but according to the listing, the one provided doesn't). While $39 still seems a bit too much for that. It's just cleaner and it is acceptable to pay for that. If having at lease 1 m.2 slot is a must, then that's a reason to go B350 in this case.
You could check with TechFast to see if that A320 actually has a m.2 (my guess would be no).
Mhmm should I buy this now or save up for another Ryzen 7 deal in the future, my iMac died so I need a new desktop, still have a MBP and don't really need an Apple setup right now cause I'm mainly gaming.
I presume if i get the Ryzen 7 deals it would be easier to upgrade specific parts for when they get outdated?
If just gaming this is the absolute best price to performance. Ryzen 7 would give you no performance increase.
Like Zazer pointed out, Ryzen 7 offers no real advantage over 3600 in gaming, unless you care about that 1-3% gaming improvement - honestly, $200 extra for 1-3% gaming improvement doesn't make sense. If you don't have proper usage to use the 8 cores/16 threads, Ryzen 7 3700X is a waste of money (esp. for just gaming).
Use that $200 on a better graphics card. You get 30%+ (could be 50%+) gaming performance gain with extra $200 on the graphics card.
Any chance of getting a system without a gpu since I already have a 1080ti that I am happy with?
Contact luketechfast. He's helpful (but may only respond during business hours weekdays). Watch out for the default case though - only has front USB 2 ports.
Do yourself a favour bud, buy custom parts. Check hardware unboxed for what they recommend under budget build and gamers nexus for the case.
Anyone knows where can I get a cheap (legit) Windows 10 license? Thanks..
You can’t get it both legit and cheap. But the cheap ones have never failed me or anyone else I know.
i got mine from ebay, works fine
Some techtubers say SCDkey
I would love a barebones ryzen build without the GPU and AT LEAST 16GB ram. Then I can plop my 1080 in, as I don't see any need to upgrade my gpu. Doesn't seem to be an option though.
These guys will sell you a trash barebones, if that's what you're after?
I'm really new to PCs (especially Rzyen processors) so help me out here..
I need a desktop that can run processor intensive Excel formulas (I have 2018 MBP with 16g ram and quad i5 but it still can't process it).
What config will be sufficient to run those excels?
Thanks
Need to find out whether the issue is CPU or memory (or both). i5-8259u in 2018 MBP is 4 cores 8 thread CPU (and performs like a desktop i7-4770K) so it is a decent CPU. Ryzen 3600 CPU does bring significant boost in multi-threaded performance:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-8259U-vs…
Do you happen to have an example laptop, Mac, or PC configuration that will run those Excel spreadsheets?
My work desktop handles them fine but I'm not sure what processor it has. I remember the outside intel sticker says 'Xeon'?
Thanks
Your work computer use a hard drive or a SSD?
Hdd and its pretty old looking Lenovo one
I did some internet searching and apparently the storage medium used makes an impact. People were recommending using a SSD with large Excel spreadsheets.
@tyvod: A 2018 MBP has an SSD. You sure it is legit 2018 MBP, not the entry level one without the touchbar right? The one without touchbar is actually 2017 old MBP.
Your issue is likely that Excel spreadsheet uses functions (or VB code) written specifically for Windows PC. The easiest way to confirm is to run that spreadsheet on any ordinary Windows PC/laptop (or, if you know someone tech savvy enough, setup bootcamp on MBP (to run Windows 10)). The best way is to actually run bootcamp on another (external) SSD (and hold Option key during startup to switch to Windows 10), external hard drive is okay, just quite slow though. However, most people probably does a re-partition of internal SSD (coz. most guides on the Web tell you to do it that way - that's actually the slow, tedious method). One of the nice things about MBP is dual boot Windows 10 is much easier than getting a PC to run Mac OS (i.e. Hackintosh).
I don't think the issue is actually the MBP not being powerful enough.
@netsurfer: Yes, it is a 2018 model with the touchbar. Bought it from Apple this year.
I haven't tried the spreadsheet on any other windows pc/laptop as I don't have any at the moment.. The spreadsheets aren't macro enabled but all have lots of complex array formulas with around 60,000 rows of data. When I tried to run it on my mac, the fan went on at full speed and was sitting at 1% calculation even after 5 minutes so I had to force quit it.
But as you suggested, I might have to try running it on other Windows PC or laptop to see if it runs ok.
Thanks.
@tyvod: Which version of Excel for Mac? Excel 365 / 2019 (16.26)? A person suggested switch from Page Layout to Normal view (on the View menu) fixed his slow Excel problem on Mac. Another person disable some 3rd party add-ons.
@tyvod: Sent you a message and saw your reply. Yeah, try it on a PC (give that it does have VBA). If it is indeed due to the spreadsheet being written for PC only, you could consider bootcamp (I strongly suggest set it up on a portable SSD or HDD).
Parallels Desktop is another choice. Might be easier for you. https://www.parallels.com/au/
I personally use Bootcamp on external SSD, but have a couple of friends used Parallels and liked them.
@FabMan: 2018 MBP has SSD (NVMe SSD). The SSD argument doesn't make sense here. tyvod wrote a 2018 MBP couldn't do some Excel formulas, but an old PC with Xeon + traditional hard drive can.
So if you then said the issue could be SSD, it doesn't match what happened.
It's more likely that spreadsheet is written for Windows PC (not compatible with Mac Excel).
Hey Luke, are you going to be repeating Ng the r5 2600 1660ti deal? I believe it's better value for gamers.
Do you guys reckon https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/471282 the techfast deal for $1399 for the R7 7000 deal, (or the $1299 for the R5 2600) is more value for money or this one? I'm really indecisive as to whether I want to spend more for a better system or if I want to just stick to a relatively cheaper one for my first desktop pc after gaming on a laptop for many years. I don't think I'm the type that wants to be constantly looking for new computer part deals as upgrades, so whatever PC I get probably won't get updated for a while other than a new case and PSU perhaps.
I've done some research on benchmarks for these combos but I just wanted to know what other people thought?
Edit: I'll be playing a range of games, like indie games, maybe an MMO or two and stuff like The Witcher 3
If you’re playing mainly indie games this one will do fine. But if you like beefy games that look fantastic, like The Witcher 3, then you’re probably interested in Cyberpunk 2077. And if you want that to run well, and for your system to be reasonably future-proof, go for the $1299 R5 2600 one. $1399 for the R7 if you have the extra cash, as you may need the cores for future games. But for the next few years the R5 2600 bundle should do you fine!
So both seem like decent value? I noticed that for the more expensive deal, the CPU and GPU alone could make up the cost of the build, whereas with the cheaper deal, the CPU and GPU only add up to about $550 or $600 out of the $600 total it costs.
Thanks for your advice!
Will try to make it as blunt as possible about the two deals:
This deal: Ryzen 3600 (the best value for money current gen CPU) paired with RX570 (the best $/fps graphics card - BUT at best medium level in today's standard / cannot beat XBox One X). Throw in bear minimum RAM (slowest DDR4) and just give you enough SSD to boot Windows and maybe 1 current gen game. Dirt cheap case with just USB 2.0 front ports (so must use back ports on board for USB 3.0).
The other deal: RTX 2080 graphics card paired with last gen Ryzen 2700 or 2600 (because those two CPUs are dirt cheap now), again bear minimum RAM and just enough SSD to boot Windows and 1 current gen game. It's basically about that graphics card to be honest.
Like Zazer pointed out, for gaming, get the one with a good current gen graphics card.
The core components (CPU and GPU) are good values. You will need at least a 1TB hard drive (SSD preferred) to do some proper gaming. Everything else in the package is inferior products (or really money saving parts).
Right at this moment, they both seem to be good value for money (but you do get some so so parts). In a few weeks time, we don't know - because RTX 2080 Super is coming soon (it is unclear how much that card will cost). With RTX 2070 Super being basically a RTX 2080 (non Super), you really need to think about whether you want a RTX 2080 right now.
@netsurfer: Good comparison. Thanks for taking the time. I would recommend for Tenebraene to go for this model since it doesn't look like they do any intense gaming and should be fine with this one for 1/2 the price, at least for a year or so.
@Zazer: @Zazer To be honest it's hard to tell how much I'll be playing those kinds of intensive games because I haven't been able to in the past few years, so now I'm not even 100% sure if I really will be spending that much time playing those games. I'm really tempted by the idea of high fps on high settings!! The last time I tried to play an MMO I had to change the graphics settings in a txt file where the game was installed, and that got me about 15 fps.. So I guess, even 30fps might feel very smooth to me, at least if don't become accustomed to 60fps.
If I got the RTX 2080 system, I feel like I wouldn't upgrade the core computer components for at least 3 - 4 years? I wouldn't mind playing on lower settings for a while. But even with the RX 570 I'm hoping to not have to upgrade it soon (a year or so at least?)
If you're saying to get the RX 570, what would you recommend upgrading and when? CPU, motherboard, and RAM all in one go?
@Tenebraene: Look, honestly if you want to be set for 3-4 years I'd go for the R5 2600 system and be done with it. No point getting into this again in a year, the 2080 will do fantastic for your use case for years to come. You'd get probably 140fps+ at high settings on all games at 1080p resolution, which would be a massive upgrade for you and leave you in a very good place for coming games and the future. The 570 would be a compromise on many fronts, in pricing, performance and upgradability. Honestly it's not worth upgrading the CPU, motherboard and RAM of the 570 deal, the performance will still pale in comparison to that of the 2080 system.
Both are good value, which one you should get depends on the type of games you intend to play and how long you intend to stick with it before upgrading.
If you want good advice, don't seek it in an ozb techfast thread. These systems are shockingly bad, yet garner hundreds of endorsements each month from people whom I can only surmise, have no idea what they are talking about. Go to youtube and check gamers nexus and hardware unboxed - they both specialise in value for money hardware reviews.
While I agree OZB techfast thread might not be the best way to seek advice, this time around, there are at least a couple people trying to help out.
Yes, gamers nexus and hardware unboxed are good, so are digital foundry and sites like AnandTech. However, you still need to watch out for the graphics cards they used to test. Unless you join Patreon, they probably won't answer your questions. Some people here are asking really straightforward questions.
Trying to help. Similar to the way Mother Teresa tried to help the dying, perhaps.
I think the second part of your comment was alluding to the fact that when doing raw CPU benchmarks, GN and HWUB use top tier GPUs so as to ensure that frames are not GPU bound during a CPU test. That has nothing to do with the advice provided on building a cost to performance system. You do not need to join their Patreon to get secret advice on this topic.
Aside from that, I'm not really sure what point you were trying to make here. Although you're trying to be helpful, you're also encouraging people to make a terrible investment - seemingly without having done any research to support your recommendation.
@Budju: Mate, I didn't neg you (but I think you neg me - that's fine I get neg'ed all the time).
Basically, you were saying do your own research, rather than asking for people's second opinion. He isn't after technical side to be honest.
If we go purely by your so called Gamers Nexus and Hardware Unboxed reviews - this deal picked the CPU approved by both and a GPU approved by both.
I asked people to look at the benchmark for the same CPU and GPU combo and try to find them links. Believe me, if there is a GN or HU youTube with same setup, I would tell people to watch those.
You know very well GN and HU won't test this particular combo yet (it doesn't properly show the CPU's true power). Why don't you ask either Steve to give us a review on this deal?
@netsurfer: It would be nice if he could demonstrate how much the ram and motherboard gimp performance, but i don't think he'd bother purely to help the oz bargain community.
Regular GN HWUB viewers… we are a different bunch of people. Buildzoid (GN) told us flat out m.2 SSDs are overkill for most people and he has zero m.2 SSD, but I bet most of us still buy m.2 SSD(s). Most of us lied to ourselves that sequential read/write means a lot to us day to day.
We think we are so smart watching those videos and reviews. The reality is we are more likely to buy things we don't need. DDR4-3200 or DDR4-3600 are not needed for most people.
The right thing to do is realise we don't need a new toy and stop gaming and stop wasting time watching GN, HWUB and actually spend time doing things that bring in more money.
Honestly:
Future proofing is only the second best reason to get something. Need it now and will benefit from it now is always the best reason.
I do disagree a bit. For myself I'd like to pick all parts myself, but for someone who doesn't know where to start then this is a great option for them, it'll meet all their expectations and more, even if it's not performing at 100% of it's capability.
That's a good point. I picked the parts and assembled an AMD system last week. It wasn't fun. Problem with cherry picking bits is that the parts picked may not work correctly out of the box. A lot of time wasted on tweaking things for at best 3% gain and not a bargain.
any one know if the SSD is SATA SSD or M2 SSD? (and if the default motherboard support m2 and USB 3.0 at all?)
SATA, the A320M motherboard does not have a m.2 slot. You need at least to go up to B350 board option (if you expand motherboard section, and compare the two, m.2 is missing in A320M).
USB 3.0 ports are available BUT the case doesn't have any front USB 3 ports, only front USB 2 ports. So you kinda have 2 less USB 3 ports and have to plug USB 3 devices to the back ports.
Some people think it is this board: https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=8…
Thanks. So in order to have m2 and usb 3.0, we need to do the case upgrade($79) and B350 upgrade($29). As eventually, I want to have 16*2 DDR4 (as B350 motherboard only has 2 DIMM) and M.2 SSD, the 128G SATA SSD, and 8G DDR4 are basically useless to me. letting alone that If I want to use the full potential of the CPU, the underpowered graphics card may need to be upgraded within 1~2 years.
So the more I think about upgrading, the less attractive this deal became.
In order to have m.2, you'd need to purchase the B350 upgrade, yes. USB 3.0 is still available without an upgrade, you would just have to plug 3.0 devices in from the back of the case, not the front panel.
2x16GB DDR4 and 1x8GB DDR4 is a big difference in price. If you aren't buying the 32GB now, then you'll need something until you do. The 8GB should last fine until you upgrade. Alternatively you can upgrade through Techfast and they'll insert the 2x16GB sticks for you. The 128GB SATA SSD, though relatively slow and small compared to a decent NVME drive, is still an extra 128GB of storage, so not useless.
This graphics card will be fine for the next few years, as you said, but of course for $600 you won't get a machine to last you five years, you do get what you pay for. This machine is a great starting point for someone making their first venture into PC gaming, but if you intend to advance further you will obviously have to pay for upgrades at some point. It seems like you'd prefer a more powerful system so I'd recommend you go for their R5 2600 system with an RTX 2080, that's a better match of CPU and GPU and should last you 4-5 years seeing as you seem to be looking for longevity.
Things to note / watch out for this bundle:
All graphics card options offered are below mid to lower mid tier cards.
Good comment.. So basically motherboard upgrade is a must (for M.2 slot) as well as the case upgrade (if you want to have usb 3.0 header and 3.5 slot). Maybe Luke can reply to confirm about the GamePass?
It's confirmed that that is the motherboard. No m.2 slot, no USB 3.0, correct. Only 2 DIMM slots, but even with the B350 upgrade there's still only two.
Is RX570 good enough for Total War Three Kingdom at Ultra/Extreme settings?
Currently using 1050 ti and it struggles at times.
If I just want the gfx, case and psu, is it cheaper to get them separately or buy this package and sell the MB, RAM, CPU, SSD?
My current setup is:
Ryzen 2400g
B350 MB
1050ti
InWin Chopin (120w)
16gb ram
1050ti is powered with pcie riser cable as InWin chopin cant fit a gpu
Cheaper to buy separately for sure, plus you get to choose which brand card to get, can get a good quality PSU and a good case as well. Not worth purchasing and reselling other parts.
RX 570 will usually give you 20-30% better performance, so you can get an idea of performance on that game by estimating that.
I got a deal with techfast via ebay a few months ago.
Ryzen 3 2300x / RX570 8GB VRAM for $440.
It's been great so far, no issues, gaming at 1080p over 60fps no worries.
absolute noob here - anyone know if this is good for gaming MMORPGs like say dragon nest? and also for video editing etc?
Yes, should handle MMORPG's with ease. Video editing it depends on how heavy the editing is, if it's pretty hardcore, with long amounts of 4k footage, it may struggle, but just for a few short videos here and there it should be fine.
Woohoo. 7 business days has lapsed and no shipment notification. Now what?
Our current estimated build and testing time is within 7 working days
That's what they say on their website, I'd say give it a couple of days and there's been nothing by midday tomorrow or Friday, shoot Luke a message and I'm sure he'd be happy to investigate for you.
What's your order number and I'll check for you? The vast majority have gone out.
What's the longest someone has waited?
9 maybe 10 days. There are exceptions with customers whose systems have had issues and needed rebuilds etc. Happy to look into yours if it has not shipped, when you provide the details.
Why does this charge me for shipping?
Because it costs money to ship it?
Description says shipped free. It's ok Luke has taken care of me.
Received the PC today and couldn't be happier.
Anyone considering TechFast, I would definitely recommend.
what type of graphics card did you receive? is it the biostar one?
In my case it was an asus, but as always mentioned in these posts, nothing is certain with regard to the brands
The deal states free shipping in Australia, but I’m trying to order one of these and $29 shipping is being added. Can this be fixed?
PM Luke mate.
I'm also getting charged for shipping, is there any way to avoid this?
PM Luke mate.
Luke sorted it out for me - great service.
Glad to hear it.
Nice system! Love the little case, perfect size!
Has anyone else has issues getting the onboard lan to work?
Under device manager it is stating for Other devices > PCI Device that the drivers for this device are not installed (code 28).
I have installed the drivers from the biostar website but still not recognising.
Anyone else had similar issues?
Lower lifespan.
1. The GPU is a lot worse.
2. The b350m can probably run the ryzen 4k processors next year. This biostar motherboard will not.
3. You'll fill that 120gb SSD a lot faster than the 240GB.
Yeah.. Your specs are better than the base config.