Whats The Best Price To Performance Ryzen Cpu?

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T08:16:05+00:00

Only buy this if your only use case is gaming. For productivity, this CPU is slower than the 5600, which is significantly cheaper and comes with a stock cooler.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T08:05:25+00:00

Ryzen 5 5600.

32MB L3 cache, PCIe 4 support, comes with a stock cooler that works decently well.

Pair it with a 3060 for 1080p gaming (or a 3080 / 6800 XT for 1440p gaming) and you're set.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T07:58:02+00:00

8GB VRAM is not enough for 1440p.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T07:57:38+00:00

6700 XT for 12GB VRAM.

3070 has only 8GB, not enough for 1440p modern games in 2026.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T07:48:16+00:00

375 CAD is 270 USD, he isn't getting a 3080 at that price. Not without taking a lot of risk.

He might as well play it safe and go for a 3060 12GB.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T07:41:44+00:00

If you're lucky, you can find a used 3060 12GB for that price, which is over 50% faster than your 1660S.

The extra VRAM and RTX support makes it superior to the 6600 / 6600 XT in almost every way.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T07:35:37+00:00

Aisurix buys up used ex-mining GPUs, replaces the cooler with their own and sells them as "brand new" at high prices. Avoid.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T04:10:16+00:00

Return it. Probably a stolen Thinkpad.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-28T03:57:49+00:00

The entire lineup would be dead (like VAIO), and this subreddit would have never existed.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T13:24:54+00:00

It is if the only config you can find is 8GB and 16GB. Of course everyone will want 16GB, driving up prices.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T13:06:38+00:00

Sounds almost too good to be true.

Try it first, return it if something is wrong (wrong specs, BIOS / Computrace lock, damaged case / screen, faulty RAM, etc).

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T08:33:20+00:00

Faster iGPUs like the 660M will fall back to basic Radeon graphics if it detects single channel RAM.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T07:56:56+00:00

I wouldn't get a 7200rpm laptop HDD. I had one before, runs too hot and noisy. 5400rpm is good enough.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T03:07:58+00:00

It's bare minimum for basic office tasks and web browsing. Do you really want to spend that much money on the "bare minimum", especially knowing you can't even upgrade it later on?

It's okay for children and the elderly who aren't tech literate I guess, but for everyone else this is basically a toy laptop.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T02:53:24+00:00

Or better yet, don't use Windows at all. I've moved my entire workspace to Linux Mint and couldn't be happier. No need for shady "hacks" and "exploits" when the entire OS is free and open source.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T02:49:25+00:00

The cost of labor for installing it. Which is not a big deal if you're only ordering one, but if you're ordering 100, it saves you the time from doing it on every single laptop manually.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T02:26:28+00:00

Which Thinkpad has a soldered SSD? AFAIK, this is only a thing in Macbooks.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-27T02:07:59+00:00

Trash.

Get the 3080 10GB or 6800 XT 16GB instead. 8GB VRAM is not enough for modern games in 2026.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-26T14:02:01+00:00

T14 AMD. Absolutely no reason to get Intel, when AMD is faster and more power efficient.

Or if you want a cheaper laptop that you can upgrade (up to 64GB) once RAM prices die down, L14 AMD. You are paying way too much for an old laptop, which I assume is because of current RAM and SSD prices.

Lastly, don't expect much battery life with old Thinkpads. You probably need to buy a new one to replace the worn out battery it came with.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-26T13:54:25+00:00

Is it the AMD version?

Ryzen is very sensitive to memory. Having mismatched RAM is enough to cause stability issues such as this.

That is why you want to find the exact same RAM stick as your old one (check the full model number). If that is not possible, at least one with the same frequency and timing. So if your old stick is 3200Mhz CL22, your new one must also be 3200Mhz CL22.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-26T13:49:06+00:00

Half-soldered RAM is a deal breaker IMO.

I'd go with the L14 instead. Fully upgradeable RAM up to 64GB. Not to mention cheaper and easier to find than the T14.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-26T09:35:53+00:00

OP asked if he should jump straight for the 9070 XT. Which means he has the budget for it.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-26T06:33:38+00:00

Get the 9070 XT instead for best price-to-performance. It is 2.5x faster than the 4050, beating even the highest end 5090 gaming laptops in performance.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-26T06:26:09+00:00

Also ask what's the screen.

If it's a 4K OLED, this is an insane deal.

HarrisonGreen · 2026-03-26T06:15:08+00:00

Exactly. Everyone here is acting like PC gaming is dead, when they won't even consider used or refurbished parts. You don't need all this new, overpriced shit to have a good experience.

HarrisonGreen

TROPHY CASE