APC’s best-value builds, updated monthly

Competent.

We’re not sure if we should be celebrating the fact that scalper prices are finally coming down with these graphics cards, but, er, scalper prices are finally coming down with these graphics cards – so, hooray! Instead of being near three times the RRP, they’re now only twice as expensive, at least with the RX 6700 XT; the RTX 3060 is still three times the price, but it’s down from last month. We have a hunch that the only folk buying these cards at these prices are scalpers, trying to make a quick buck, but because the demand is decreasing as the cryptoboom seems to be easing off slightly, the prices for these GPUS are falling, too. It’s a slow meander down, sure, but it does look promising.

At the time of writing, the value of Bitcoin has also tumbled, as the US Biden administration has announced potential tax changes for high earners, which will no doubt also have an effect. As demand for mining falls, due to the volatility of some of those coins, availability and reasonable prices for GPUs are likely to become more commonplace as well.

We haven’t changed too much otherwise across the two builds – motherboard and memory prices are still slowly creeping up, so we’ve had to go for the cheapest compatible parts we could find. Hyper 3600MHz kits are especially cheap right now, with the RGB version cheaper than the non, and they offer more speed than we’re used to fitting out in this budget build, so while that lasts we’re taking advantage and slotting in these lovely 3600MHz kits.

We’re still waiting on Intel to release its lower-end processors in its 11th Gen lineup, but once it does, the Core i3-11100 or 11300 with Intel Xe graphics (if the company goes that route) could be a potent budget gaming chip. The same goes for AMD, we’re also expecting to see a new series of Ryzen 5000 chips with integrated graphics, similar to the current chip we’re recommending, but based on the Zen 3 architecture.