AMD 9700X 8 core $320 heat sink for it $50+ Gigabyte x670e aorus MB $220 DDR5 memory 32G Corsair $100This comes to a total of about $700 For no really good reason, this is specified as an AMD system, even though I am currently running Intel. This would be to run linux and would not be a gaming system. I would use my current low end nvidia PCIe card and disks. But I would be eager to move to M.2 disks.
Two things people say about AMD that I like:
1 -- This is a socket AM5 setup and AMD is very good about not changing sockets at the drop of a hat like Intel. Which may or may not matter since I am unlikely to simple upgrade the CPU.
2 -- They claim that AMD is about 4x more power efficient than Intel! This means the system runs cooler and uses less power.
3 -- Intel seems to be on a slide downhill. Right now there are issues with the current processor that Intel claims will be fixed by microcode revisions. It all sounds sketchy and sloppy.
See also some notes from 2019 when Paul was shopping for an Intel i9 system: