The PC Build Thread

[HideInLight]

I am basically on a budget and want to build up a okeish pc to play star citizen. Currently on a Intel Core 2 2.55Ghz, 4GB RAM, Nvidia 420 1GB DDR3 Gpu etc... I was thinking of maybe getting a Amd Athlon or a A series APU. The Athlons are quite cheap, not sure how good they are.

AMD RIP 2012 with regards to cpus, don't bother. Intel has been long since dominant by a large margin, cheaper and faster.

Just get an i5 from potterH, 3rd or 4th gen for cheap(relative to retail) and voila.
Only problem with 3rd gen is finding motherboard, I for one I'm probably going to put up for sale soon (3470 I think for R1200-1300.
Did find a place with one still in stock for R700 so still doable.

Or you could just grab a 4th gen for around R1700

Oh and RIP PC Build thread 2016 with regards to new builds.
The prices suck so badly now @retail.

 

[Heinie_V]

Hi guys

I am in 2 minds about a build I want to do.

I am not sure to choose socket 1150 (4th Gen) or socket 1151 (6th Gen) CPU.

Should I go the route of socket 1151 most motherboards only support DDR4 memory which is really expensive.

Socket 1150 I can still find plenty of motherboards for a reasonable price and DDR3 memory is still stocked by all supplier and not expensive.

The other question I have is what would be the best choice of motherboard between Gigabyte and MSI?

The rest of the build will be as follow:

Chassis: CoolerMaster CM Storm Trooper Black ATX PC Chassis
PSU: CoolerMaster 1000 Silent Pro MII Series 1000W Power Supply. Might downgrade it to the 850W
Motherboard: Still undecided
CPU: Intel Core i7 6700K 4GHz Quad Core (Socket 1150 or 1151 ??)
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Series 8GB DDR3 (Should it be a socket 1150 motherboard)
Graphics Card: Gigabyte AMD Radeon R9 380 4GB DDR5 256Bit
HDD: Kingston V300 Series 240GB 2.5" SATA

Any inputs would be appreciated

 

[Neoprod]

That CPU is LGA1151...so you've chosen already

Is the difference in cost between Skylake and Haswell a deal breaker?

 

[Heinie_V]

That CPU is LGA1151...so you've chosen already

Is the difference in cost between Skylake and Haswell a deal breaker?

I apologise.

The other available CPU is i7 4790K 4.0GHz Quad Core Socket 1150.

No the price is exactly the same.

I would really like to go the Skylake route.

My main concern is the socket 1151 motherboards are DDR4 RAM. All the suppliers I can get from only stock DDR3 RAM and to my understanding it is not compatible.

Unless I can use Socket 1151 motherboard and CPU and use DDR3 RAM then I have no problem but I do not think that is possible

 

[Neoprod]

^^, wootware had tons of ddr4 last time I looked. If you'd not used them previously, I can highly recommend (others on here would too).

Ponder will be along shortly after peeking into potterh's warehouse...hold on a bit.

 

[Heinie_V]

^^, wootware had tons of ddr4 last time I looked. If you'd not used them previously, I can highly recommend (others on here would too).

Ponder will be along shortly after peeking into potterh's warehouse...hold on a bit.

Would this memory be the right memory for a Skylake build?

Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB DDR4-2133MHz Chip (1x 8GB), Vengeance LPX Heatspreader

If that would work I will be sorted out

Then the other question would only be Gigabyte or MSI motherboard.

I am more in favour of a Gigabyte motherboard

 

[ponder]

Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB DDR4-2133MHz Chip (1x 8GB), Vengeance LPX Heatspreader

If you are going with a unlocked CPU & Z series MB the look at 3200MHz+ ddr4 as it adds performance when overclocking.

Personally I think you are going about this arse about face when pairing that skylake build with a r9 380, the gpu is weak compared to the rest of the system & the gpu is important. I would rather go for an i7-4790, budget MB & pump the savings into a more powerful GPU as that will give you much better performance when gaming.

 

[The Voice]

If you are going with a unlocked CPU & Z series MB the look at 3200MHz+ ddr4 as it adds performance when overclocking.

Personally I think you are going about this arse about face when pairing that skylake build with a r9 380, the gpu is weak compared to the rest of the system & the gpu is important. I would rather go for an i7-4790, budget MB & pump the savings into a more powerful GPU as that will give you much better performance when gaming.

Also, for DDR, you're probably going to want to go for 2x4GB instead of 1x8GB

 

[MrR]

If you are going with a unlocked CPU & Z series MB the look at 3200MHz+ ddr4 as it adds performance when overclocking.

Personally I think you are going about this arse about face when pairing that skylake build with a r9 380, the gpu is weak compared to the rest of the system & the gpu is important. I would rather go for an i7-4790, budget MB & pump the savings into a more powerful GPU as that will give you much better performance when gaming.

Don't think anybody would disagree with (any of) your recommendations.

Just for argument sake, which gpu would you recommend for that setup? R9 390?

 

[ponder]

Also, for DDR, you're probably going to want to go for 2x4GB instead of 1x8GB

Dual channel does have a slight advantage. Only time I would go single stick is when you only have two dimm slots and might have to upgrade in future.

 

[ponder]

Just for argument sake, which gpu would you recommend for that setup? R9 390?

That depends very much on his budget. Off the bat a r9 390 or gtx 970 would be a MUCH better option. I'm brand agnostic but I realise some people have preferences for team green or team red.

 

[The Voice]

Dual channel does have a slight advantage. Only time I would go single stick is when you only have two dimm slots and might have to upgrade in future.

Most Z boards have 4 (and support up to 64GB) - so two sticks is the way to go for sure. Unless it's a micro ATX build?

 

[Neoprod]

That depends very much on his budget. Off the bat a r9 390 or gtx 970 would be a MUCH better option. I'm brand agnostic but I realise some people have preferences for team green or team red.

I'm on the side of team green...as in greenbacks

Does potterh not have any bundles going at the moment?

 

[The Voice]

The 970 uses Maxwell architecture which isn't as power hungry as AMD cards. Though, there is the problem of 970-gate.

 

[ponder]

Most Z boards have 4 (and support up to 64GB) - so two sticks is the way to go for sure. Unless it's a micro ATX build?

I would agree with this, assuming he sticks to his skylake build preference

 

[ponder]

Does potterh not have any bundles going at the moment?

The only way to be sure is to PM him, the threads on carbonite are not always up to date. If you PM him he will tell you what he currently has on offer.

 

[Neoprod]

Opinions on how long Sandy Bridge stays relevant? Just curious mainly....I've kept this box (i5-2500k) almost as long as my q6600 now.

 

[Neoprod]

The only way to be sure is to PM him, the threads on carbonite are not always up to date. If you PM him he will tell you what he currently has on offer.

Thanks, P.

OP - check it out.

 

[ponder]

The 970 uses Maxwell architecture which isn't as power hungry as AMD cards. Though, there is the problem of 970-gate.

True, you gonna need a bigger PSU for the R9 390. But then it has 8GB of real vram vs 3.5GB of the GTX 970. Gameworks does not run well on AMD but it does not really run well on nVidia either, I turn it off. Looking towards the future with dx12/vulkan my money is on AMD. Saying all this as a current nvidia owner.

 

[MrR]

That depends very much on his budget. Off the bat a r9 390 or gtx 970 would be a MUCH better option. I'm brand agnostic but I realise some people have preferences for team green or team red.

Thought as much. That's about R1500-R2500 increase in budget, depending on make and model that one can get.

Brand agnostic as well; whatever is going to give the best value for money, should be the option. Think with your wallet.

Dual channel does have a slight advantage. Only time I would go single stick is when you only have two dimm slots and might have to upgrade in future.

Perhaps not the right thread for this:
I honestly haven't done much reading up on RAM over the past few years. The rule of thumb has been that 2 modules are better than one; you essentially double the bandwidth, thus increasing the performance. Does this still hold true?