New gaming computer

[RasmusP]

Thanks Miguel and David for turning this back into a good discussion
I guess we now have enough facts and knowledge to come down to this:
"No messing with the bios, low budget but not future proof":
- i5 9400f

"Maybe messing with the bios in the future, at least a little future proof but slightly lower fps right now":
- R5 2600

"Future proof but a bigger investment, though worth it and with messing with the bios a massive fps machine":
- i5 9600k

It's down to the OP, who seems to be scared off for now to decide what he wants

Single sticks vs dual channel: I tested this on my machine, no difference in the games I tested. Sadly can't remember the games... Was a few years ago. Then you can find video stating that memory can make a massive difference. And benchmarks in magazines that say it's 1-3 fps at most.
No idea what's right or wrong. I don't like the 4x4 thought, nor do I like single stick 8GB.
It's a bit like with the CPU. I would always always always go with 2x 8GB.

@David Turnbull what GPU do you have? Is that monitor gsync compatible?
Because I bought into gsync in December and honestly.. I should've done it years ago! Way less tinkering with settings. Just limit it wherever it feels good and doesn't fluctuate too much and you're fine. No micro stuttering with any vsync mode anymore and no input lag!
If not I would go with an AMD GPU, always.

 

[David Turnbull]

@David Turnbull what GPU do you have? Is that monitor gsync compatible?
Because I bought into gsync in December and honestly.. I should've done it years ago! Way less tinkering with settings. Just limit it wherever it feels good and doesn't fluctuate too much and you're fine. No micro stuttering with any vsync mode anymore and no input lag!
If not I would go with an AMD GPU, always.

The monitor although isnt Gsync certified it works fine with Gsync enabled although the Freesync isnt a wide band on it, its from 49hz-75hz but between that it works fine.

I have the RTX2070

 

[RasmusP]

The monitor although isnt Gsync certified it works fine with Gsync enabled although the Freesync isnt a wide band on it, its from 49hz-75hz but between that it works fine.

I have the RTX2070

Yeah I mean I for example only use 55-65 Hz on my gsync monitor with a range from 20-120.
I don't like fluctuating fps, still stutters for me. Nor do I like playing one game at 60 fps and another one at 90 fps. When I go back to the 60 fps game it will be "less smooth". Don't want to get used to it hehe.

For me gsync/freesync is more about getting rid of the awful micro stutter with any vsync mode. Especially if you're on the edge with your cpu, you'll always have some spikes for a few single frames, resulting in a little stutter.
If you use vsync in "adaptive" mode, you can't limit your fps to slightly below the refresh rate to get rid of the input lag and fast sync never worked for me.

TL;DR: That's great to hear, thanks!

 

[David Turnbull]

yeah I'm sort of the same, I much prefer to have vsync on (although off for sims to cure input lag) as switching from a 90 back to 60fps hurts my eyes, and its even worse now with the monitor running Gsync, anything thats not totally smooth makes me feel on the edge of a seizure.

 

[RasmusP]

yeah I'm sort of the same, I much prefer to have vsync on (although off for sims to cure input lag) as switching from a 90 back to 60fps hurts my eyes, and its even worse now with the monitor running Gsync, anything thats not totally smooth makes me feel on the edge of a seizure.

Amen
I also play single player games on the TV in the living room (15 meters of hdmi cable) with the gamepad and it only has 60 Hz. My aging cpu also can't run some modern games with 60 Hz vsync so I have to play them at 50 Hz vsync.
If I would run my pc monitor at 100+ Hz...
Nah, I'll try to stay happy with 60 Hz as long as I can. Or until I win in the lottery or something

 

[David Turnbull]

I think the AOC monitor is a good balance for price and performance really, with the 2560x1440 it lets your graphics card run closer to what it should and also the 75hz is a happy medium between 60-120hz, even the RTX2070 would struggle to run 120hz in most newer games so I went for something in between and for £200 delivered next day for me it was a bargain. The Gsync working on it when Nvidia added it to their drivers was a big bonus but I'd bought it before this and was happy then obviously even happier with Gsync working.

 

[Case_]

Single sticks vs dual channel: I tested this on my machine, no difference in the games I tested. Sadly can't remember the games... Was a few years ago. Then you can find video stating that memory can make a massive difference. And benchmarks in magazines that say it's 1-3 fps at most.

It used to make little difference, just like memory frequency didn't really matter. Even in the DDR3 days it often didn't matter. But right about when DDR4 started to become mainstream, these thing began to matter more and more. Not saying DDR4 was the reason for that, just that it happened around that time. And nowadays, the difference seems to be often quite noticeable for both single/dual channel and RAM speed.