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.
This month, we here at Logical Increments have decided to donate to The Turing Trust, a charity organization that brings computer access and IT education to schools in sub-Saharan Africa.
Our donation will take the form of 10% of all profits earned during the month of September. You can help us support them directly by donating to The Turing Trust, or indirectly by simply purchasing PC hardware through a link on our site this month.
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.
AMD is releasing two new low-tier CPUs at the end of May (the R3 3100 and R3 3300X).
Due to their specifications and pricing, it’s very likely that one or both of them will be added to our main chart—but not immediately.
(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.
New to the redesigned site, our mouse recommendations (and explanations) are back, fully revamped for 2020.
The Logical Increments PC Buying Guide helps people pick suitable parts for building a PC, for any budget, large or small. The main guide chart and our many guide articles are available to all users entirely for free, and without filling the site with annoying banner ads.
Over the years, many users have asked for ways to help support this site. For that, we thank you sincerely! If you want to help out, here are three ways that you can do that: