Don't forget too that if you want a TRULY budget build right now, and in 2020 this means a 4C/8T processor, you're going to have to go with Intel, with the i3-10100F
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-quietly-launches-core-i3-10100f-to-battle-the-non-existent-ryzen-3-3300x
Don't forget too that Intel next year will be first with DDR5 and PCIe 5 support, so even buying into an Intel setup right now is limited to a "must need" situation rather than "like to have".
And yes, I wholeheartedly agree with the "single chipset" solution, which AMD should have switched to with Socket AM4 when the traditional "northbridge" features were integrated onto the CPU itself, and letting the motherboard partners decide how they're going to utilize it, especially since starting with Socket AM4 AMD's MicroATX and ITX boards have finally become as powerful and as capable as the full size ATX boards, something AMD hasn't ever had, unlike Intel.
Actually if you think about it, AMD already is doing that with Threadripper. All sTRX4 boards ship with the same "chipset", TRX40, and it works perfectly fine, and there are a plethora of boards from ATX to XL-ATX, and I believe there was an mATX board in sTR4 as well, with varying features, from number of PCIe slots, M.2 slots, USB ports, etc..., so it can be done quite successfully. Personally this would be my solution for the next generation, since TR users are (quite typically) much more computer literate than Ryzen:
- One chipset, AM50
- Core feature: USB BIOS Flashback present on ALL motherboards
- Four tiers
- AM50 Gold / AM50-T3 / AM50-III - Replaces X series chipsets
- Enthusiast grade components and features
- All Socket AM5 CPUs supported
- All chipset resources utilized
- No requirement for display outputs
- Form factors ITX to XL-ATX allowed
- All PCB colors except green allowed
- AM50 Silver / AM50-T2 / AM50-II – Replaces B series
- Slightly lower quality components allowed
- Minimum support for all Socket AM5 CPUs up to 8 cores
- At least one DisplayPort and HDMI port required
- Form factors ITX to mATX allowed
- Green, Black, and White PCB colors disallowed
- AM50 Bronze / AM50-T1 / AM50-I – Replaces A series
- Lowest quality components allowed
- Minimum support for all Socket AM5 CPUs up to 6 cores
- At least one DisplayPort and HDMI port required
- Form factors ITX and mATX only
- Green PCB required
- AM50 / AM50-EO – OEM, embedded
- OEM and embedded uses only
- Form factors ITX to ATX allowed
- AM50 Gold / AM50-T3 / AM50-III - Replaces X series chipsets
In this way "hard" product segmentation is limited to minimum CPU core count support, which is not a big deal as people rocking an entry level product are quite unlikely to be rocking a high end CPU, and motherboard form factor, again not a huge deal as fewer used resources means less space is used, and lets the AIB have full control over every aspect, which lets their product segmentation team go wild like they already do with the X570 series.
The lower tiers would not be as "bad" as the requirements suggest as the AIBs would not want to be known for the worst product produced.
The problem is that if the RX 6900XT launches at $600-$650, they lose, because the 3080 starts at $700 and has DLSS, among other features, that AMD doesn't, and they're facing a market which is upwards of 75%-80% nVidia. It's going to have to be $500 as a reference edition to have a chance.
Also, TomsHardware put together a couple of charts to include the AMD numbers as well.
Here are a couple of benchmarks I just ran, quickly.
Ram is only running running at 2133MHz as I an running Blender and I want max stability.
Ryzen 7 2700X.
RX5700XT.
Borderlands 3 4K Badass.
Ryzen 2700x 3.7GHz. 4K Badass.
Ryzen 2700x 4.3GHz. 4K Badass.
Ryzen 2700x 4.3GHz. 3200MHz Ram RX5700XT 4K Badass.
I forgot to post the slides at the end of the presentation which show some information on presented data.
Here they are:
I don't begrudge them trying to make a little more money, because Zen 3 will undoubtedly sell in fewer numbers than Zen 2, simply because it's the end of the road for AM4. DDR5 and PCIe 5, and likely USB4, will be on the next platform, 19% IPC sounds good on paper but in practice it's nothing to win over current Ryzen 3000 series owners nor Intel 10000 series owners, and it really has no effect whatsoever on 4K gamers, as shown with the 3080's CPU benchmarks, undoubtedly why AMD said "ultimate 1080p processor", though if you look at them not even the 3080 can do 1080p144 minimum ultra details.
And honestly it's going to be very difficult to recommend Zen 3 over Zen 2, both at retail and the used market, and that's assuming the retail market sells out in the next year, after which the proximity of Zen 4's release makes upgrading completely out of the question. I say that because if you take a look at Newegg, they still have Ryzen 2000 series processors in stock they can't shift.
So really overall, to me, Zen 3 is just a good idea in theory, bad idea in practice, and may come back to bite them, as a quick look at their stock is showing investors are not taking the bait, they're waiting, likely, to see if Big Navi is another bomb.
