The RTX 3080 is nVidia’s latest, and the first release in the 3xxx line. If you want the tl;dr straight away: It is good, and we recommend buying it if the price fits your budget.
If you want the slightly longer list of pros and cons, without reading reviews for hours (we do that for you), then you have come to the right place.
If you missed the nVidia Ampere reveal, you can read a recap here. Ampere, like nVidia’s previous ~2-3 generations of chips, should be really good. Just… be sure to stay realistic and not to get your hopes up too high, or believe too deeply in marketing material. Every modern product launch promises to dramatically alter your life, but few genuinely deliver.
While we wait for the new cards to launch and undergo benchmark testing, we have some other updates:
Nothing lasts forever, and that includes “hot” runs of success. AMD’s last two years have been a series of CPU hits, helping AMD dominate the full spectrum of consumer CPU market segments. At one point, AMD had 15 (out of 16) of our tiers! This success came on the back of the efficient 7nm CPU architecture, AMD’s decision to have hyperthreading on everything, and competitive prices. Well done, AMD.
Well… till now.
Welcome to our biggest round of updates for the main chart in several months!
There are some major CPU (and accompanying motherboard) updates that are coming to the guide, but in this changelog we’ll also list off some smaller changes that are on their way as well. All of these listed changes are either implemented or coming soon to all country versions of the chart.
(Image originally by vperemen.)
A virus! A virus! My PC parts for a virus! Or maybe I’ve got the sentiment backwards there…
Anyway, the global pandemic is affecting all of our lives, with some of us under lockdown, and some affected directly by the virus. Let us take a moment to say that Logical Increments is not going to offer any medical advice: We are not doctors, and we are not qualified to give any medical advice. Instead, get your medical advice from the Ministry of Health, or CDC, or another qualified medical official.
But the virus is affecting the hardware marketplace in general, and Logical Increments in particular.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! Also: Greetings.
The topic of this month has been the Coronavirus epidemic, so you are probably expecting some sage advice in this update. We will not give you any medical advice, because… we are not qualified to give medical advice. We research computer parts, not medicine! So please visit the official website of the Ministry of Health (or Department of Medicine, or Center of Disease Control, or etc) of your country, and follow their advice. They are professionals, and they know the best ways to deal with this.
As for us: We are professionals too, we know the best ways to buy PC parts! And this update brings changes to our main chart, mostly in the CPU column.
At times there are earthquakes, and at times there are hurricanes. Volcanoes sometimes erupt, and meteors sometimes strike the earth. And when they are in the mood, sometimes AMD releases a 64-core, 128-thread consumer CPU that makes you sit up and wonder if you are in a dream. 64 cores! Sixty (60) four (4) cores (cores)!
Remember when 6-core CPUs became normal barely 2 years ago? “Haha, you foolish weaklings”, says AMD, as it unveils a CPU that is TEN TIMES more powerful. We need to send a letter to Dr. Lisa Su to inform her that this is a mistake, and it is not the year 2030 yet!
Some of the low-tier AMD CPUs released last year are now in a position to be added to our main build chart.
After many rumours and much debate, the RX 5600 XT has been released. Originally slated to be a GTX 1660 “killer”, AMD re-positioned this card to compete with the RTX 2060.
From the reviews, you can see that it competes well with the 2060, beating it by a tiny margin. The 5600 XT is a $280 card, and the 2060 was a $350 card, so a victory is neat! More than just having high performance and a good price, though—this new card also uses little power, runs cool, and runs quiet. When you check all the main boxes, you have a winner!
But is it all sunshine and rainbows?
MSI has a lineup of MAX (yes, allcaps) motherboards. These differ from the non-MAX editions in that they have a more MAXIMIZED bios, and thus can support a wider range of CPUs. Some have a slightly better heatsink.