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I'm considering to upgrade my pc on the cpu side a bit. I now have:
- i3 4160
- gtx 1060
- itx case and itx mobo
- 8gb ddr3 ram
- 1080p monitor
I feel my haswell i3 is bottlenecking my 1060 a bit playing mass effect: andromeda. I'm satisfied with other games I'm playing right now, although they are a bit older titles (Witcher 3) and indie games.
What would be a relatively cheap and worthwhile upgrade for me?
Cheap mobos for 8th gen are not available yet. Itx form factor is adding a premium too. I may consider moving to mAtx, which means I have to buy a new case, but mAtx is easier to upgrade in the future than itx.
Or should I just get an itx 7th gen cpu+mobo, or wait for cheap 8th gen mobos to come out?
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United Kingdom20323 Posts
Might be able to grab something like a 4770k cheap if you need the extra coarz - a lot of stuff will benefit from more than 2c4t.
6'th/7'th gen are discounted now but missing out on a lot vs 8'th gen and they still require a painful swap to ddr4
ryzen refresh on the horizon is interesting if you're making the jump to ddr4 and again need the extra coarz
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will it be stupid if I directly upgrade to 8th gen i5 since I only have a gtx1060?
I don't do anything demanding besides gaming so the 8th gen cpu won't be doing much until I get a better gpu in the future, and by that time cpu will become outdated.
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United Kingdom20323 Posts
Just very expensive for what you get, basic stuff to support 8'th gen CPU (8GB of 2133 ddr4, stock settings mobo) are 200 euros already.
drop in cpu is most of the upgrade (coming from a dual core CPU) for a relatively small fraction of the total price
I'd also consider a full CPU revamp (to like an 8600k, decent cooler, decent OC motherboard, 2x8GB of ~3000+ ddr4) but that's well over 600 euros and quite probably out of place for your system and usages.
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I'm considering that CPU revamp you mentioned, but unless I pair it with something like a 1080ti, CPU would just be sitting around doing nothing
From what I reed on the webz, B and H series cheap mobos for coffee lake are about to be released. Second hand haswell i7s are being sold for 200 euros here. Maybe a locked coffee lake cpu+cheap mobo+ram won't be much too expensive than that.
Here import fees, taxes and exchange rate is making hardware cost way more than it should.
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United Kingdom20323 Posts
Yeah, here too
bottom tier mobo and RAM (esp if those release soon, i'd lost track of when the release was  ) is somewhat affordable but then you're committing to never using anything but a locked 8'th gen i5 w/ slow RAM until you replace that stuff -again- and i don't like the sound of that at all compared to the other 2 options
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out of touch again for pc upgrades - just took a look on graphic cards - still super high prizes. got a 970 but since some time i am looking to upgrade - still not a good time i guess or is something recommeneded?
playing games like witcher 3 that are more demanding on 1440p or something that is not that demanding like wow.
budget 400euro lol :D
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Hey guys, I'm helping a friend with his first build. Living in Oregon, so we don't need to worry about taxes.
Survey:
+ Show Spoiler +What is your budget?
$2,500 max.
What is your monitor's native resolution?
The one I'm looking to buy is 1440p and 144hz.
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?
Starcraft II, Warthunder, Witcher 3, etc, all on max settings or as high as possible with minimum 60 fps.
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?
Streaming.
Do you intend to overclock?
Yes.
Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?
No.
Do you need an operating system?
Yes.
Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?
Yes, including a monitor, and keyboard.
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.
The monitor should be 1440p and 1440hz
What country will you be buying your parts in?
USA.
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.
I prefer newegg and amazon, but if there are good deals elsewhere then that works too.
Beta build: + Show Spoiler +Monitor: Dell 1440p 144hz $470, Acer 1440p 144hz $320Chose the dell because it has good reviews on amazon and is relatively cheap. The acer is on sale right now, but has a number of bad reviews because of DOA's and other issues. I'm thinking of getting it with warranty for a total of $370 ish, still much cheaper than the dell, and protecting it for up to four years if that's how the newegg monitor protection plan works. Keyboard: Corsair STRAFE RBG Mechanical $115My friend chose this one. CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 $30I have an older version of this cooler in my own build, and on a cursory glance of Amazon.com I didn't see any smaller or more effective heat sinks for the price. Definitely didn't go all out researching this though. CPU: i5-7600k $230, i5-8600k $243I don't really know if I need an 8600k for the CPU, but google turned up this as a recommended CPU to go with the 1080. Suggestions greatly appreciated here. GPU: MSI GTX 1080 $680I'm pretty sure this is way overpriced, not sure if it's worth it to wait or try to find a better deal on it. RAM: Adapta 16GB DDR4 2666hz $174On sale for the moment, sale ends 'monday' but the newegg page (for the moment) says it ends in two days, which implies that the sale ends monday at 11:59pm..? Not totally sure if 16GB, DDR4, or 2666 speed is necessary. Motherboard: Gigabyte 7th gen $125, ASRock 8th gen $130Not sure if there's any difference between brands other than customer service, and I'm pretty unfamiliar with both brands. These were the cheapest boards I could find with a 5 star rating on Newegg which support 7th or 8th gen Intel CPU's. Which board I get depends on if I get a 7th or 8th gen Intel CPU. Case: Rosewill Challenger $50This is my own case, has worked well in the past and the CPU cooler fit inside just fine. Not sure if there's a better case out there. My friend has almost no preference when it comes to cases, he just wants one that works well and doesn't care about the looks. HDD & SSD: $144 Samsung SSD, 3.5in WD Blue 1TB SATA 3 HDDBoth are cheap, good reviews. Unsure if there are better deals, but these seem like solid options. PSU: EVGA 600w $55PSU calculators for the rig online say the load wattage is around 415-425, and one of the calculators recommended this PSU. It has a great rep on amazon, and I didn't find any cheaper PSU's with a similar rating on Newegg. My friend is looking to do VR at some point, and I don't know if that will impact how big of a power supply he'll need to get.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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United Kingdom20323 Posts
On March 26 2018 16:21 {ToT}ColmA wrote:
out of touch again for pc upgrades - just took a look on graphic cards - still super high prizes. got a 970 but since some time i am looking to upgrade - still not a good time i guess or is something recommeneded?
playing games like witcher 3 that are more demanding on 1440p or something that is not that demanding like wow.
budget 400euro lol :D
I think that budget is not really good enough, you'd need to go to 1070-1080 range for a solid upgrade (of like ~+50-100% performance). A gtx1060 6GB would be a good increase in VRAM, power efficiency and some features but not that much of a raw power gain.
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United Kingdom20323 Posts
On March 26 2018 17:03 Fencar wrote:Hey guys, I'm helping a friend with his first build. Living in Oregon, so we don't need to worry about taxes. Survey: + Show Spoiler +What is your budget?
$2,500 max.
What is your monitor's native resolution?
The one I'm looking to buy is 1440p and 144hz.
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?
Starcraft II, Warthunder, Witcher 3, etc, all on max settings or as high as possible with minimum 60 fps.
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?
Streaming.
Do you intend to overclock?
Yes.
Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?
No.
Do you need an operating system?
Yes.
Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?
Yes, including a monitor, and keyboard.
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.
The monitor should be 1440p and 1440hz
What country will you be buying your parts in?
USA.
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.
I prefer newegg and amazon, but if there are good deals elsewhere then that works too. Beta build: + Show Spoiler +Monitor: Dell 1440p 144hz $470, Acer 1440p 144hz $320Chose the dell because it has good reviews on amazon and is relatively cheap. The acer is on sale right now, but has a number of bad reviews because of DOA's and other issues. I'm thinking of getting it with warranty for a total of $370 ish, still much cheaper than the dell, and protecting it for up to four years if that's how the newegg monitor protection plan works. Keyboard: Corsair STRAFE RBG Mechanical $115My friend chose this one. CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 $30I have an older version of this cooler in my own build, and on a cursory glance of Amazon.com I didn't see any smaller or more effective heat sinks for the price. Definitely didn't go all out researching this though. CPU: i5-7600k $230, i5-8600k $243I don't really know if I need an 8600k for the CPU, but google turned up this as a recommended CPU to go with the 1080. Suggestions greatly appreciated here. GPU: MSI GTX 1080 $680I'm pretty sure this is way overpriced, not sure if it's worth it to wait or try to find a better deal on it. RAM: Adapta 16GB DDR4 2666hz $174On sale for the moment, sale ends 'monday' but the newegg page (for the moment) says it ends in two days, which implies that the sale ends monday at 11:59pm..? Not totally sure if 16GB, DDR4, or 2666 speed is necessary. Motherboard: Gigabyte 7th gen $125, ASRock 8th gen $130Not sure if there's any difference between brands other than customer service, and I'm pretty unfamiliar with both brands. These were the cheapest boards I could find with a 5 star rating on Newegg which support 7th or 8th gen Intel CPU's. Which board I get depends on if I get a 7th or 8th gen Intel CPU. Case: Rosewill Challenger $50This is my own case, has worked well in the past and the CPU cooler fit inside just fine. Not sure if there's a better case out there. My friend has almost no preference when it comes to cases, he just wants one that works well and doesn't care about the looks. HDD & SSD: $144 Samsung SSD, 3.5in WD Blue 1TB SATA 3 HDDBoth are cheap, good reviews. Unsure if there are better deals, but these seem like solid options. PSU: EVGA 600w $55PSU calculators for the rig online say the load wattage is around 415-425, and one of the calculators recommended this PSU. It has a great rep on amazon, and I didn't find any cheaper PSU's with a similar rating on Newegg. My friend is looking to do VR at some point, and I don't know if that will impact how big of a power supply he'll need to get. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Definitely get 8'th gen stuff instead of 7'th gen, the generation jump is huge - +60% multithreaded performance. You'd need a huge discount to justify losing that
I'd get a higher end cooler than hyper 212, it's pretty much entry level thing that got popular a long time ago because it was constantly on sale for $19.99 and the current (2011) gen CPU's were a bit easier to cool than these. The performance reflects that, it's workable but better temperatures are always nice for OCing
There are some significant CPU performance gains on some games with faster RAM, on the scale of +10% to even +20% FPS between 2400c16 and 3200c16 on some popular ones (WoW, Witcher 3). You can also go without that but i wouldn't personally consider anything below 3000 for an OC coffee lake system
For mobo don't just buy the cheapest for OC, look at this pic and avoid the bottom tier if you're not sure
https://i.imgur.com/fQnHcaQ.png
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I'm looking for a really cheap laptop which I can install linux on and use as an on-the-go programming computer.
Any ideas? I just want a nice keyboard. (readable screen would be nice too)
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+ Show Spoiler +On March 20 2018 19:35 mantequilla wrote:
I'm considering to upgrade my pc on the cpu side a bit. I now have:
- i3 4160
- gtx 1060
- itx case and itx mobo
- 8gb ddr3 ram
- 1080p monitor
I feel my haswell i3 is bottlenecking my 1060 a bit playing mass effect: andromeda. I'm satisfied with other games I'm playing right now, although they are a bit older titles (Witcher 3) and indie games.
What would be a relatively cheap and worthwhile upgrade for me?
Cheap mobos for 8th gen are not available yet. Itx form factor is adding a premium too. I may consider moving to mAtx, which means I have to buy a new case, but mAtx is easier to upgrade in the future than itx.
Or should I just get an itx 7th gen cpu+mobo, or wait for cheap 8th gen mobos to come out?
I found a 2nd hand i7 4790k for about 200 EUR, i7 4790 for 160 and a 4690k for 130. Which one is a better deal?
I don't have a Z series mobo ready right now, though non K options are not noticeably cheaper so even at stock speeds they are still upgrades.
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United Kingdom20323 Posts
On March 29 2018 01:18 mantequilla wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On March 20 2018 19:35 mantequilla wrote:
I'm considering to upgrade my pc on the cpu side a bit. I now have:
- i3 4160
- gtx 1060
- itx case and itx mobo
- 8gb ddr3 ram
- 1080p monitor
I feel my haswell i3 is bottlenecking my 1060 a bit playing mass effect: andromeda. I'm satisfied with other games I'm playing right now, although they are a bit older titles (Witcher 3) and indie games.
What would be a relatively cheap and worthwhile upgrade for me?
Cheap mobos for 8th gen are not available yet. Itx form factor is adding a premium too. I may consider moving to mAtx, which means I have to buy a new case, but mAtx is easier to upgrade in the future than itx.
Or should I just get an itx 7th gen cpu+mobo, or wait for cheap 8th gen mobos to come out?
I found a 2nd hand i7 4790k for about 200 EUR and a 4690k for 130. Which one is a better deal? I don't have a Z series mobo ready right now, though non K options are not noticeably cheaper so even at stock speeds they are still upgrades.
4790k adds about 10% higher clock speeds, HT and 1.33x more L3 cache out of the box.
That price is pretty competitive IMO but i would lean towards the 4790k considering the rest of the system
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i7 4790 for 160
Now that you added the 4790, that's actually clocked 400mhz lower than the 4790k so it's not a super easy choice there either. I'd put the i5 in last place though, 30 euro for HT & cache on a quad core is worth IMO.
40 euro for +400mhz... maybe, that's definitely useful but 40 euro is 40 euro.
Either way you're at least doubling your core count (from 2c4t to 4c8t) and adding support for turbo which buys an extra 5-10% core performance on top of that.
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On March 29 2018 01:52 Cyro wrote:Show nested quote +On March 29 2018 01:18 mantequilla wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On March 20 2018 19:35 mantequilla wrote:
I'm considering to upgrade my pc on the cpu side a bit. I now have:
- i3 4160
- gtx 1060
- itx case and itx mobo
- 8gb ddr3 ram
- 1080p monitor
I feel my haswell i3 is bottlenecking my 1060 a bit playing mass effect: andromeda. I'm satisfied with other games I'm playing right now, although they are a bit older titles (Witcher 3) and indie games.
What would be a relatively cheap and worthwhile upgrade for me?
Cheap mobos for 8th gen are not available yet. Itx form factor is adding a premium too. I may consider moving to mAtx, which means I have to buy a new case, but mAtx is easier to upgrade in the future than itx.
Or should I just get an itx 7th gen cpu+mobo, or wait for cheap 8th gen mobos to come out?
I found a 2nd hand i7 4790k for about 200 EUR and a 4690k for 130. Which one is a better deal? I don't have a Z series mobo ready right now, though non K options are not noticeably cheaper so even at stock speeds they are still upgrades. 4790k adds about 10% higher clock speeds, HT and 1.33x more L3 cache out of the box. That price is pretty competitive IMO but i would lean towards the 4790k considering the rest of the system ---- Now that you added the 4790, that's actually clocked 400mhz lower than the 4790k so it's not a super easy choice there either. I'd put the i5 in last place though, 30 euro for HT & cache on a quad core is worth IMO. 40 euro for +400mhz... maybe, that's definitely useful but 40 euro is 40 euro. Either way you're at least doubling your core count (from 2c4t to 4c8t) and adding support for turbo which buys an extra 5-10% core performance on top of that.
There's also a xeon e3 1230 v3 for 124€. They say its as good as i7 4770. Any good or avoid?
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United Kingdom20323 Posts
On March 29 2018 20:30 mantequilla wrote:Show nested quote +On March 29 2018 01:52 Cyro wrote:On March 29 2018 01:18 mantequilla wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On March 20 2018 19:35 mantequilla wrote:
I'm considering to upgrade my pc on the cpu side a bit. I now have:
- i3 4160
- gtx 1060
- itx case and itx mobo
- 8gb ddr3 ram
- 1080p monitor
I feel my haswell i3 is bottlenecking my 1060 a bit playing mass effect: andromeda. I'm satisfied with other games I'm playing right now, although they are a bit older titles (Witcher 3) and indie games.
What would be a relatively cheap and worthwhile upgrade for me?
Cheap mobos for 8th gen are not available yet. Itx form factor is adding a premium too. I may consider moving to mAtx, which means I have to buy a new case, but mAtx is easier to upgrade in the future than itx.
Or should I just get an itx 7th gen cpu+mobo, or wait for cheap 8th gen mobos to come out?
I found a 2nd hand i7 4790k for about 200 EUR and a 4690k for 130. Which one is a better deal? I don't have a Z series mobo ready right now, though non K options are not noticeably cheaper so even at stock speeds they are still upgrades. 4790k adds about 10% higher clock speeds, HT and 1.33x more L3 cache out of the box. That price is pretty competitive IMO but i would lean towards the 4790k considering the rest of the system ---- i7 4790 for 160 Now that you added the 4790, that's actually clocked 400mhz lower than the 4790k so it's not a super easy choice there either. I'd put the i5 in last place though, 30 euro for HT & cache on a quad core is worth IMO. 40 euro for +400mhz... maybe, that's definitely useful but 40 euro is 40 euro. Either way you're at least doubling your core count (from 2c4t to 4c8t) and adding support for turbo which buys an extra 5-10% core performance on top of that. There's also a xeon e3 1230 v3 for 124€. They say its as good as i7 4770. Any good or avoid?
Not sure on that one, if it works it sounds great
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United Kingdom20323 Posts
My RAM is fine, new mobo is fine - looks like my 8700k memory controller is dead
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New 8700k runs.. damn this was a shit week lol, fifth rebuild lucky?
haven't pushed cpu core yet, gonna chill for a while. I found some cheap memory (~10% more than 3200mhz, guess all of it is equally overpriced!) that can do 4000c19 @1.35v (very similar kit rated 4266@1.4.. probably the same stuff) so i'l have some testing to do with that next weekend
edit2: sitting 4.9ghz core 1.325v atm - works good but clearly way hotter than 6700k/6600k gen, somewhere around +20c at the same volts. I'm breaking 80 instead of 60 with the same room, case, fan settings/cooler, ambient temps etc.
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I need to vent a bit so sorry if I'm polluting the thread.
I have been so frustrated with my computer for last two weeks I'm about to throw it out the window.
I bought a larger case + cpu cooler on sale because my intel stock fan couldn't manage to cool newly bought 4790k inside my tiny cm elite 110 case.
First the cpu cooler arrived broken. It wouldn't stay on cpu firmly and was wiggling. I fiddled with it with a screwdriver for a while and managed to somehow fix it.
Then I got to install it on my mobo. I had to use so much force that it was lucky I didn't break my cpu or motherboard. Then I realized it is blocking my pci slot. Took it out, installed it sideways than realized it blocks my ram slots, not one ram slot but BOTH of them. Damn it. What a waste of my time and money.
I put the stock cooler back. Then I decided to return both the new case and cooler since there's no point to a new case if I wasn't able to use the cpu cooler. Proceeded to install my pc back into my old case. At least I cleaned the dust so it wasn't a complete waste of time to disassemble and reassemble it.
Then I relived the pain I went through when I first built my pc, a full size non-modular PSU, two 2.5 and one 3.5 discs inside a case as big as a melon... So I gave up halfway and decided to use the new case. I have an itx mobo and new case is micro atx so there must be plenty of space to work freely...
Never ever going to buy a case without a known brand and lots of good reviews again. There's so much space alright, but the case is designed in such a way I don't believe the person designing this ever screwed anything with a screwdriver. Manual says I can install up to 3 2.5 inch disks but:
- in one of the slots ssd is installed using only two screws and %90 of the disc literally stands in the air. I mean, how? If you put a mechanical 2.5 inch disc there it would wiggle all the time while working...
- in another slot screws are tightened all the way but hdd still wiggles. I may need to tape it or something
- 3rd slot literally blocks all cable management openings when you install a hdd
not the mention usb3 front panel cable doesn't fit and falls off the motherboard. It is actually way harder to build than my melon sized cm eltie 110.
I didn't connect any of the power or sata cables yet. Too bored and frustrated. My friday night and weekend are gone for this shit. Now re-watching stargate sg1 on my 7 years old laptop.
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My desktop was built thanks to this thread. It's now 3 years old and it's still going strong. 
Specification
CPU: i7-5820k (overclocked to 4.3 GHz)
GPU: GTX 980 MSI Twin Frozr
RAM: 16 GB DDR4 (2400 MHz?)
SSD: Samsung 850 PRO 1 TB
Motherboard: Gigabyte X99-UD4
My only complaint is about the motherboard which was very annoying when I wanted to overclock CPU. After the latest BIOS updates, it doesn't seem to reset my overclock settings, so it's good now. I'll have to spend more time thinking about motherboard next time.
I don't play many new games and I don't think I've stressed my PC to 100% continuously, but I'm happy so far. I think it can last a few more years if I don't decide to upgrade it. I'd definitely not buy a new CPU anytime soon though, not until Intel fix their mess with Meltdown and Spectre.
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Can one post amazon links with desktop pcs? My home pc is sooo old and I got my eyes on some pcs but I'd like some opinions.
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On April 09 2018 20:35 SoSexy wrote:
Can one post amazon links with desktop pcs? My home pc is sooo old and I got my eyes on some pcs but I'd like some opinions.
I don't know about Amazon, but my advice is to get some build advised by someone knowledgeable here. Then, pay some IT shop $50 or less if you can. This is in case you don't want to assemble a PC yourself, but if I were you, I'd be curious to do it myself.
The reason I'm against Amazon and any pre-built computer is because you have no choice. One size doesn't fit all.
Edit: My motherboard decided to make the same issue now after a BIOS update but we'll see how long it will take before it asks me to redo my overclock settings again. Gigabyte's BIOS is sooo poor in my opinion. It looks nice graphically, but it has its bugs.
Also, what the heck? Most motherboard manufacturers are in Taiwan. I doubt it's a coincidence. Anyone knows why? Cheap labour?
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EPT
