In our reviews, you're probably used to seeing beautiful, powerful, and very expensive builds and components. No wonder, because they all look good and deliver a lot of frames per second. But, frankly, most people's needs are limited to six processor cores and a video card that won't show slideshows on a full HD monitor. The top sellers just consist of such hardware, so we decided to help you choose a video card and processor for the optimal PC for the beginning of the 23rd year.
Contents:
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 та GTX 1660 Super
- RTX 3050 та RTX 3060
- AMD Radeon RX 6600 та 6600 XT
- Video card tests
- How much does one conditional frame of video cards cost?
- Conclusions from video cards
- Processor test
- Synthetic processor benchmarks
- Conclusions from the processors
- Where can I buy the best gaming PC?
Here are six graphics cards and five popular processors. We're not talking about hot new products, fine-tuning, and overclocking, but rather about saving money and typical configurations that you can find in stores.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 та GTX 1660 Super
Let's start with video cards. GeForce GTX 1660 and 1660 Super have been in high demand since 2019. They are Turing pass-throughs, and they have no rays or DLSS, but you can still play on these cards, as you will soon see. The difference between them is 6 gigabytes of GDDR6 video memory in the super version (1660 Super; the GTX 1660 uses the old GDDR5), and the characteristics of the TU116 chip are the same.
RTX 3050 та RTX 3060
GeForce RTX 3050 and 3060 differ only by one digit in the name, but the difference between the cards is serious: in short, 3050 is two-thirds of 3060. Both in terms of performance and the characteristics of the GA106 chip and GDDR6 video memory.
RTX 3050 can be considered as an option for medium Full HD settings and small cases with low power supplies. But if you have the opportunity to pay extra and take a build with 3060, then you will get a very tangible increase in gaming. It's worth it.
But the RTX 3060 is not perfect either: depending on the chosen dual-fan or single-fan variant, its price can range from 15 to 18 thousand, which is a lot for the "people's" status. However, support for raytracing, DLSS, the Nvenc codec, and a solid 12 gigabytes of video memory will not only give you a performance boost, but also a reserve for the future.
We almost forgot about a new misunderstanding - RTX 3060 with 8 gigabytes of video memory. In short, don't buy it, and the reason is not just the amount of video memory.
AMD Radeon RX 6600 та 6600 XT
And this is where a couple of AMD graphics cards come into play: Radeon RX 6600 and 6600XT. The first one fills the gap between RTX 3050 and 3060 on the performance scale.
The RX 6600 XT is less affordable, on par with the RTX 3060, and it's harder to recommend it here: its performance is either similar or higher than the RTX 3060, but the latter has a serious gap in raytracing, an NVENC encoder and DLSS.
The combination of all these factors plus the popular love for GeForce did the trick: The RTX 3060, according to the Steam poll, is in 6th place, and the RX 6600 XT and its little sister are in 50th place and below.
Video card tests
Call of Duty Modern Warfare II
First, let's compare video cards and then processors. Let's start right away with the latest Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, which was released this year. The game finally has a built-in benchmark. Extreme graphics presets, Full HD, and even the weakest cards show a good framerate. But when it comes to smoke and other alpha effects, the FPS drops significantly. RX 6600 and 6600 XT show the best results.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077, ultra-preset without rays and DLSS. Surprisingly, even on GTX 1660 the video sequence does not turn into a slideshow. As expected, the RTX 3060 and RX 6600 XT are the closest to a comfortable frame rate. Note that the RX 6600, consuming 120 watts, which is even less than the RTX 3050, delivers more than 10 more frames. Since every watt is worth its weight in gold, the RX 6600 is one of the best solutions not only in terms of price and performance, but also in terms of energy efficiency per frame.
Uncharted 4 A Thief's End
The Uncharted 4 PC port is perfectly optimized and runs smoothly on all the graphics cards in the test. There are no issues with smoothness, and the 1660 Super and 3050 can handle ultra settings. The RX 6600 pleases again. Of course, the bigger sister 6600 XT and RTX 3060 deliver more frames, but in terms of price, frame rate, and power consumption, it's hard to find an alternative to the RX 6600.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human
The second part of Dying Light – is a demanding game, and for such titles we considered the RTX 3060 level and above, especially if you want to admire the rays with DLSS or FSR. Nevertheless, even the GTX 1660 is capable of delivering console FPS at ultra in Full HD, and no one forbids lowering the graphics settings to get even more frames per second.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardiand of the Galaxy favors nVidia graphics cards, and the RTX 3050 almost managed to reach the performance of the RX 6600. If only the game would run smoother and not freeze on all platforms. As a result, the RTX 3060 is in the lead, followed by the 6600 XT and the 6600 in 3rd place. So far, this is the first game where the RTX 3060 beats its direct competitor.
Resident Evil Village
It's hard to fault Resident Evil Village for its optimization, but there is one thing. The game at maximum settings, even without raytracing, consumes a lot of video memory. Although the 6GB GTX 1660 delivers the coveted 60 frames, it often catches the articles that other test participants do not. That's why we don't recommend buying a video card with 6 gigabytes of video memory here and now.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 is still a demanding game. The top three graphics cards are trying to keep the bar at 60 frames per second, but they are far from perfect in terms of minimum FPS. The RX 6600 XT is the leader in this area, and the gameplay on it feels the smoothest. The regular RX 6600, as in most other games, remains the best choice for your money.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is known for its favoritism towards AMD graphics cards, and both RX 6600s perform well here. By the way, don't forget to enable Resizable BAR or Smart Access Memory to get a serious frame rate boost in this game on Nvidia's 3000 series or AMD's 6000 series cards. Users have to enable it themselves, because this feature is disabled by default in the BIOS.
Counter-Strike Global Offensive
And here we gradually come to the second part of this video processor test. Looking at the screen, it becomes clear why: if in previous games the difference in frame rate between the weakest and most powerful graphics cards could be up to two times, then it has evaporated. CS:GO is one of the few games in which even the GTX 1660 Super is not fully utilized in some places. And this is with the maximum graphics settings. RTX 3050 and 3060 are slightly faster than AMD's competitors due to a better optimized driver for the old DirectX 9.
How much does one conditional frame of video cards cost
Before moving on to the processor comparison, let's calculate the average arithmetic frame rate of each video card without CS:GO results and divide the prices by them, getting conditional hryvnia for each frame.
The most conventionally "favorable" frames are produced by Radeon RX 6600 and 6600 XT. Next are the RTX 3060 and GTX 1660, and you will have to pay the most for each frame of the RTX 3050 and the Super-variant GTX 1660.
Conclusions from video cards
No wonder all of these video card models are popular: despite the disadvantages inherent in any hardware, they have their advantages. GTX 1660 and the super version can help out on a small budget, and you can even play modern demanding games on them. The RTX 3050 is much faster, but the support for raytracing, DLSS, the updated Nvenc codec, and 8 gigabytes of video memory versus 6 in the 1660 will not be superfluous in the future. Enough has been said about the RTX 3060, and the Radeon 6600 and HT versions still impress with their performance and adequate price, although they lose to the green in raytracing.
Processor test
It will be more difficult with CPUs because there are not only frames, but also points, seconds, and samples. Let's start with CS:GO.
Counter-Strike Global Offensive
Let's leave one Radeon RX 6600 XT video card and see how the processors behave: Ryzen 5 3600, 5600, Core i5-10400F, 11400F, and 12400F.
To be honest, we didn't expect the Ryzen 5 5600 to be so far ahead of the Core i5-12400F. Yes, we knew that the Zen 3 was impressive in CS:GO, but we expected more from the six-core Alder Lake. Perhaps Intel would have performed better with a card from Nvidia, but it's still more interesting to compare processors with a bargain card rather than a top-end card.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare II
In the new Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, the situation is the opposite: we're stuck with the video card performance, and the FPS values are practically the same. And this is exactly the scenario that most PC buyers will face: most games will be based on the video card, so you shouldn't focus on expensive processors and RAM packages.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Perhaps three games are not enough for a processor test, but why repeat what many experienced users already know. Assassin's Creed Valhalla, you have the same FPS and the weak point is again the video card, and not the weakest one. So the rule that you should spend most of your money on the video card and buy the rest for change, although it sounds exaggerated, has not lost its relevance.
Synthetic processor benchmarks
And to finish the article, here are some more boring graphs and tests of processors in synthetics and working programs. In case someone wants to work on their own gaming PC.
Traditionally, Cinebench R23 comes first, and here the current Intel Core i5-12400F six-core is leading by a wide margin.
In the Blender benchmark, everything is about the same: The 12400F is in the lead, and the current AMD Ryzen 5 5600 top of the line was only able to catch up with the previous 11th generation from Intel.
The GeekBench 5 results clearly show how far both companies and their products have come in a few years. But you also need to keep in mind the impact of different RAM speeds: AMD platforms traditionally don't limit it, and Intel's tolerable 3200 MHz out of the box only appeared in the 12th generation.
In the PCMark 10 test, which favors Intel processors, both of AMD's popular six-core processors show excellent results. It's too early to discount the Ryzen 5 3600.
Tests in Adobe's Puget programs behave strangely, but in After Effects the balance of power looks adequate: The 10400F is weak with DDR4-2666 memory, and the rest of the systems are lined up as expected.
And finally, the WebXPRT4 test of web page display speed is something we encounter every day. Owners of the latest generations of Intel and AMD hexacore processors hardly complain about the speed of Chrome.
Conclusions from the processors
As for the winning processors, everything turned out to be predictable: the Core i5-12400F is in first place, followed by the Ryzen 5 5600 and the last generation i5-11400F closes the top three. The Ryzen 5 3600 and Core i5-10400F cannot be called bad, because the price decides everything.
There are no universal calculations such as "how many hryvnias for performance" with processors, but looking at the prices, you can easily draw conclusions. For example, for the price of an i5-12400F, you can get TWO Ryzen 5 3600s. Well, for about one and a half Ryzen 3600 you can get 5600.
To summarize: Ryzen 5 3600 in combination with RX 6600, 6600 XT or RTX 3060, with at least DDR4-3200 RAM and a motherboard to match is one of the most profitable options for gaming in Full HD and even for work. But it will not be superfluous to install a heatpipe cooler.
The Ryzen 5 5600 has gained popularity for a reason: yes, the 3600 is more profitable, but the 5600 is significantly faster than powerful cards like the RTX 3070 and higher. Besides, you won't need to upgrade your motherboard after installing this model.
Builds with Core i5-10400F and 11400F will not disappoint you either. Yes, there is a noticeable difference in performance between them, but the 10400 is cool, affordable, and not at all slow, does not have any special requirements for motherboards or cooling, and will work in the smallest cases without any problems.
But the benefits of the i5-12400F don't stop with its amazing performance. This platform can be upgraded in the future to more powerful 12th and 13th generation processors, which is something that other builds in this article cannot boast of. We recommend that you pay attention to the spacious chassis and power supply with a reserve to be ready for powerful graphics cards - the 12400F can handle even the flagship ones.
And with processors that are more expensive and newer, it's better to aim for more powerful video cards and forget about austerity. Thank you for watching! Light and warmth to your home, and take care of yourself!
Where to buy the best gaming PC
Users can order all the processors and video cards described in the article in the Artline online store. If necessary, you can consult with the company's managers to choose the right items. All available processors and graphics cards are offered at market prices. There is also a large assortment of ready-made PCs with the components described in the article.