Final pieces to a budget build

I have been slowly squirelling away parts for my next build , I have a gigabyte b450 mh , 500 gig nvme and a 250 gig and 480 gig ssd , and a geforce 1030. I currently mostly use an AMD AM1 based kubuntu 20.04 desktop so think any AM4 is going to be a sustantial powerup. What I am wanting to use this new machine for is regular desktop duties in kubuntu and a virtual lab using hyper-v in Winders 10 so I can practice my windows server skills. So the question is what cpu/ ram combo do I go with. My budget is about $400aud so far I have come up with either a ryzen 5 2600 + 32 gig of 2666 ram or a ryzen 3 3300x with the same amount of ram given a 3600 will consume most of the budget which cpu will give me better performance for the hyper-v duties. Part of me says the ryzen 5 , but most of the benchmarks are aimed at gamers and don’t really give me the full picture. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

3300x is good. You should try for faster ram if you can because it directly affects the speed of the CPU in some applications.

How about using the AM1 system for a server to play around with instead of a VM?

The 2600 is fine but the 3300X is a pretty big jump in IPC and clocks. For any desktop use the newer chip is the one. The 2600 does have more cores but the overall performance is not drastically better.

Look, I found this on the internet. Link.

For virtual lab, I would suggest the Ryzen 5. I believe having more cores could help. Although, it is not the fastest, it has more time on the market. If there are any bugs related to the hardware, it could possibly already be fixed by development team (reliability).

In addition, If you want to use an old AM4 motherboard, it is better to use the second generation Ryzen. New CPU might not be compatible or more difficult to incorporate.

In the end, I believe both will do the trick. Consider that for both you need an external GPU. Regards.

I think the 2600 would be the better choice for virtualization. Unlike a gaming workload, the additional threads are better than the high clocks and IPC of the 3300x for that purpose.
The 1600 AF will also be a good choice depending on pricing and availability. I don’t live in AUS, so I’m not sure what that part looks like there.

The RAM speed you have selected is fine if its for budgetary or availability reasons., if you can squeeze additional speed in, such as 3200, do so. If not, it’s OK. People harp on the RAM speed advatages too much. We’re not Min/Maxing our Mains :stuck_out_tongue:

Just adding to this: The 1600AF is basically a 2600 in disguise. It might be a couple MHz slower but it is ZEN+, same amount of cores and threads, same cache (I think)…

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This is my understanding as well. They ran out of the silicon they were using to make the 1000 series chips and have put them out again as “AF” variants using 2000 series silicon but clocked slightly lower.

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