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[Stilton Disco]

Ok, I'm building a budget gaming PC, and want to spend about £100 or less on a CPU. I'm not planning on over clocking or replacing it, and I'll be primarily playing new games on my PS4, so this is for last gen games with mods, indies, and undemanding/low setting PC exclusive's, and I will likely be replacing everything once the next generation of consoles land.

So, would an AMD 8300/20/50 or whatever the latest intel i3 is that fits my budget be better?

 

[Finaika]

Ok, I'm building a budget gaming PC, and want to spend about £100 or less on a CPU. I'm not planning on over clocking or replacing it, and I'll be primarily playing new games on my PS4, so this is for last gen games with mods, indies, and undemanding/low setting PC exclusive's, and I will likely be replacing everything once the next generation of consoles land.

So, would an AMD 8300/20/50 or whatever the latest intel i3 is that fits my budget be better?

The entry level Skylake i3 6100 is very capable, rivaling even the legendary quad core i5 2500K at stock speeds.

https://youtu.be/YwB1KRMpFdw

 

[inner-G]

Rumors of the FFX remake hitting Steam have me looking into building a gaming PC.

Would it be dumb at this point to get a Haswell i5 to save a few bucks? Looking to pair it with a 980 for a 1440p display

 

[ISee]

Hey guys, my step dad needs a new pc for his office.

It'll be mostly for Microsoft Office/Skype/ and some photo editing.

It'll also be used for some light 1080p gaming.

Budget is preferably around $700 or so.

1.) Does your oncle need a 'new' windows copy?
2.) Is he going to edit a lot of videos/photos (professionally) or just some family/vacation/etc. photographs from time to time?

Rumors of the FFX remake hitting Steam have me looking into building a gaming PC.

Would it be dumb at this point to get a Haswell i5 to save a few bucks? Looking to pair it with a 980 for a 1440p display

The gaming performance gain going from the 4690k to the 6600k is maybe around 2-3fps @ stock clocks (keep in mind the 4690k is higher clocked!). So if you're already on an haswell i5, then upgrading isn't necessary.
But if you're going for a new build then I'd go with the newer mode and overclock it by 200-300mhz (easily done, and the cpu is even meant to be overclocked by the enduser).You'd also get the option to use faster ram (definitely helps in cpu bottleneck situations and maybe you want to upgrade in one year or so...), faster/more PCI-E lanes (may be useful for future GPU generations), lower power consumption, native usb 3.1 support (some haswell refreshed mainboards also offer usb 3.1) and lower core temperatures.
It think that's worth the 30$ extra cost.

 

[Stilton Disco]

The entry level Skylake i3 6100 is very capable, rivaling even the legendary quad core i5 2500K at stock speeds.

https://youtu.be/YwB1KRMpFdw

The problem with that is needing to spend more on an 1151 motherboard. Plus that comparrison is with over clocked DDR4 RAM, which is again outside my budget and not what I'm after.

Basically I want to know which trade off is better, limiting myself to 2 cores or less power? I'm going to need to do quite a bit of multi tasking for work on it, nothing too demanding, but with my own stuff like music going on at the same time, I'm worried the i3 might be a bit of a bottle neck, especially with Windows 10 seeming to be quite multi core friendly.

 

[kennah]

The problem with that is needing to spend more on an 1151 motherboard. Plus that comparrison is with over clocked DDR4 RAM, which is again outside my budget and not what I'm after.

Basically I want to know which trade off is better, limiting myself to 2 cores or less power? I'm going to need to do quite a bit of multi tasking for work on it, nothing too demanding, but with my own stuff like music going on at the same time, I'm worried the i3 might be a bit of a bottle neck, especially with Windows 10 seeming to be quite multi core friendly.

You're overthinking things. You would have to be doing some pretty extreme stuff to have problems with general use multitasking on an i3.

 

[ISee]

The problem with that is needing to spend more on an 1151 motherboard. Plus that comparrison is with over clocked DDR4 RAM, which is again outside my budget and not what I'm after.

Basically I want to know which trade off is better, limiting myself to 2 cores or less power? I'm going to need to do quite a bit of multi tasking for work on it, nothing too demanding, but with my own stuff like music going on at the same time, I'm worried the i3 might be a bit of a bottle neck, especially with Windows 10 seeming to be quite multi core friendly.

Kennah and Finaika are right. As crazy as it sounds the i3 6100k gives you around 70-80% more productivity per thread in comparison to an 8320. So even in a 4 thread scenarios the i3 is going to outperform the 8320 by maybe 25-30%.
The only advantage for the 8320 are 4+ thread scenarios, like very heavy video en/decoding, data decryption etc. In a gaming scenario - like a 4 threaded game - which is the norm today the i3 is the better choice. And windows multitasking is even less demanding. Also the price difference doesn't seem to be that huge...

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PkCyhM
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PkCyhM/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£95.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£71.39 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£42.94 @ More Computers)
Total: £210.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-04 12:52 GMT+0000

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/dFfQwP
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/dFfQwP/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor (£108.89 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£76.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£36.84 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £222.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-04 12:54 GMT+0000

 

[Arkanius]

Guys, I'm thinking of upgrading my i5-3570k cooler from a single fan Noctua cooler (which I brought from my older build, it's an old cooler) to an AIO CPU cooler.

Thing is, I'm going for silence more than thermal performance and to give more space inside my case for the air to flow correctly.

Is there any AIO CPU cooler that actually is silent or works decently in a low powered mode?

Or should I go custom loop ?

My GPU is a MSI 980 Ti which turns the fans in 2D and low powered mode so right now, the CPU and the case fans are the most noisiest component in it.

 

[Matty8787]

So, does anybody wanna help me with a build?

I just need the tower and guts, don't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse.

The system will need to be good for Photoshop, running kodi etc. Nothing too major or adventurous.

With that said I wouldn't want it to be a laggy mess or anything, prefer it to be quite snappy.

 

[Blitzhex]

Corsair has finally released a minimalist, no bullshit ATX case.

400C

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/corsair_400c_compact_atx_case_review/1

Looks inexpensive, so it might be cheap too.

I wouldn't mind changing out my corsair 350d for a matx version of this case.

Guys, I'm thinking of upgrading my i5-3570k cooler from a single fan Noctua cooler (which I brought from my older build, it's an old cooler) to an AIO CPU cooler.

Thing is, I'm going for silence more than thermal performance and to give more space inside my case for the air to flow correctly.

Is there any AIO CPU cooler that actually is silent or works decently in a low powered mode?

Or should I go custom loop ?

My GPU is a MSI 980 Ti which turns the fans in 2D and low powered mode so right now, the CPU and the case fans are the most noisiest component in it.

I have some experience with AIOs and if you want "SPCR" silence or quietness then AIOs are a hit or miss. More moving parts = more points of failure and more noise. Put a fan against a radiator and you have more noise and resonance than a fan against a heatsink typically, unless the fan has been isolated well. The crappy pumps on AIOs are prone to buzzing, whining, general noise etc that make a lot of AIOs louder than air cooling. Check up SPCR for good quiet cooling.

 

[e90Mark]

Dam I was afraid that was the case. Right now I just need a cheap ok gpu, mainly because I need to use photoshop and other adobe products. I also can't use an integrated gpu since my motherboard does not support it. I am looking at these two right now, what do you think? Is it a good choice?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/evga-ge...lver/1700586.p?id=1218282103132&skuId=1700586

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/evga-ge...lver/1700647.p?id=1218282105105&skuId=1700647

I have an EVGA 570 that I could sell you, if you're interested in getting something comparable to your old card.

 

[brotkasten]

I'm looking to upgrade my super old HTPC this year. I never used it for gaming and Steam in-home streaming has some issues, so I want to focus on that a little with the new build. I love the talk about the i3-6100, which seems very fast and super efficient for its price (running an E4300 @ 2.7 GHz right now), but I'm a bit disappointed with the TDP of the GTX 950, compared to the 750 Ti. I was hoping for a similar power consumption and the lack of a 4 GB RAM option is nonsense as well.

TDP and power consumption is definitely a concern, because I want to keep my Silverstone LC11 and due to it's low build, it uses a Flex ATX TFX PSU, which doesn't really go over 300W.

Is there any indication that we'll get a proper follow-up to the 750 Ti this year or is it too soon to tell?

 

[M.D]

Where do you connect your headphones? Motherbord, soundcard or front panel?

EMI possibly. Try the front port and the back port. If nothing works an external dac would fix it. Internal sound cards are prone to EMI from other components.

I should mention I only get this when I connect my headphones to the speakers, who are themselves connected to the motherboard

I also use a USB headset which I connect to my monitor that's also connected to the motherboard. Is it possible this would go away if I connect the 3.5mm headphones to the monitor as well? I got some wires with the headphones, will check later to see if it might work

Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 12837]

I'm in sort of a confusing pickle, seeing as how I'm not the most competent with computer tech lol. So here's my situation:

First, I should note that this is for a friend who cannot build a PC himself nor does he have access to a local spot to do it for him. I'm trying to help him make this purchase, so I was referred to NCIX.com for them to build the PC for him, then ship it for ~$50. As for intended uses, some light gaming, some video editing for gameplay. Melee and Project M on Dolphin is the most intensive graphics needed.

$700-800 budget, no monitor/kb etc. needed. And what's this about NCIX, I see they're a Canadian-based company, so would my friend have difficulty shipping to California?

I'm interested in responses to this as well. I'm considering getting a PC for some emulation and also lighter Steam gaming (stuff like Ori and the Blind Forest, the Rayman titles, the Oddworld remake, etc), but I don't mind paying a premium to have someone build it for me.

 

[RGM79]

So, does anybody wanna help me with a build?

I just need the tower and guts, don't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse.

The system will need to be good for Photoshop, running kodi etc. Nothing too major or adventurous.

With that said I wouldn't want it to be a laggy mess or anything, prefer it to be quite snappy.

There's a questionnaire in the first post of this thread you should fill out, it'll give us a better idea of what to recommend you. No offense, but you're being a bit vague with your needs, at the very least we kinda should know how much you want to spend, and because it sounds like you want it to be a media center PC, if it should be small and compact or whatnot.

Budget: 1400 to 1700$
Main Use: Rate 4 Gaming, 3D modeling/rendering (3d max), Video Editing, game development engines.

General Usage (Web, Adobe Photoshop, autocad, 1080p playback, torrent).

Monitor Resolution: not required, going to use existing 1080P monitor.

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well:
Should run Unity3d/unreal very good. should run new games very well, not necessarily on max settings for future games in 2016\2017.

Looking to reuse any parts?:
No parts to be reused.

When will you build?: before the end of September if possible.

Will you be overclocking?: No.

That's still 8 months from now, would you rather build now or later? If it's later, you might as well wait to see what graphics cards will be announced later on this year.

I'm looking to upgrade my super old HTPC this year. I never used it for gaming and Steam in-home streaming has some issues, so I want to focus on that a little with the new build. I love the talk about the i3-6100, which seems very fast and super efficient for its price (running an E4300 @ 2.7 GHz right now), but I'm a bit disappointed with the TDP of the GTX 950, compared to the 750 Ti. I was hoping for a similar power consumption and the lack of a 4 GB RAM option is nonsense as well.

TDP and power consumption is definitely a concern, because I want to keep my Silverstone LC-11 and due to it's low build, it uses a Flex ATX PSU.

Is there any indication that we'll get a proper follow-up to the 750 Ti this year or is it too soon to tell?

If I'm not wrong, the LC11 will only take low profile expansion cards. There's no low profile version of the GTX 950 so you are still limited to the GTX 750 Ti, before you even consider power requirements.

Nothing much is known about Pascal yet so I can't give you any answers about whether there will be a suitable low profile graphics card for you anyway.

I'm in sort of a confusing pickle, seeing as how I'm not the most competent with computer tech lol. So here's my situation:

First, I should note that this is for a friend who cannot build a PC himself nor does he have access to a local spot to do it for him. I'm trying to help him make this purchase, so I was referred to NCIX.com for them to build the PC for him, then ship it for ~$50. As for intended uses, some light gaming, some video editing for gameplay. Melee and Project M on Dolphin is the most intensive graphics needed.

$700-800 budget, no monitor/kb etc. needed. And what's this about NCIX, I see they're a Canadian-based company, so would my friend have difficulty shipping to California?

I'm interested in responses to this as well. I'm considering getting a PC for some emulation and also lighter Steam gaming (stuff like Ori and the Blind Forest, the Rayman titles, the Oddworld remake, etc), but I don't mind paying a premium to have someone build it for me.

NCIX has a website for American users, it's NCIXUS.com. You shouldn't have any issues ordering from them. Here's their $50 assembly option.

Edit: I'm trying to put together a NCIXUS parts list for you, but one of the bad things about them is the parts availability and weird pricing. They want $90 for 2x4GB of DDR4.. it's absurd.

 

[brotkasten]

If I'm not wrong, the LC11 will only take low profile expansion cards. There's no low profile version of the GTX 950 so you are still limited to the GTX 750 Ti, before you even consider power requirements.

Nothing much is known about Pascal yet so I can't give you any answers about whether there will be a suitable low profile graphics card for you anyway.

Thanks.

The LC11 uses a riser card, so the height of the card itself is not necessarily an issue. I'm currently using a regular Radeon HD5450 without issues.

(pictures from random sites with the AGP variant of the riser setup, but you get the idea)

e: I had to correct my previous post. The LC11 uses a TFX PSU and not Flex ATX PSU. The limitation of 300W remains, though.

 

[El_Chino]

1.) Does your oncle need a 'new' windows copy?
2.) Is he going to edit a lot of videos/photos (professionally) or just some family/vacation/etc. photographs from time to time?




The gaming performance gain going from the 4690k to the 6600k is maybe around 2-3fps @ stock clocks (keep in mind the 4690k is higher clocked!). So if you're already on an haswell i5, then upgrading isn't necessary.
But if you're going for a new build then I'd go with the newer mode and overclock it by 200-300mhz (easily done, and the cpu is even meant to be overclocked by the enduser).You'd also get the option to use faster ram (definitely helps in cpu bottleneck situations and maybe you want to upgrade in one year or so...), faster/more PCI-E lanes (may be useful for future GPU generations), lower power consumption, native usb 3.1 support (some haswell refreshed mainboards also offer usb 3.1) and lower core temperatures.
It think that's worth the 30$ extra cost.

He already bought a new copy of windows and just some family/vacation photos from time to time.

 

[Deleted member 12837]

Edit: I'm trying to put together a NCIXUS parts list for you, but one of the bad things about them is the parts availability and weird pricing. They want $90 for 2x4GB of DDR4.. it's absurd.

Yikes...well, maybe I'll just bite the bullet and invest a weekend putting it together.

Are there any good prebuilt machines these days like those Alienwares that look like gaming consoles and are meant to just be plugged into a TV? Or are those so locked down to expansion/upgrades, and more expensive than consoles, making them an awkward middle ground that's not worth it?

 

[RGM79]

Yikes...well, maybe I'll just bite the bullet and invest a weekend putting it together.

Are there any good prebuilt machines these days like those Alienwares that look like gaming consoles and are meant to just be plugged into a TV? Or are those so locked down to expansion/upgrades, and more expensive than consoles, making them an awkward middle ground that's not worth it?

Alright, how does this look? While Alienware models are an option, upgrading them can be difficult due to space, power, and heat issues.

Thanks.

The LC11 uses a riser card, so the height of the card itself is not necessarily an issue. I'm currently using a regular Radeon HD5450 without issues.

(pictures from random sites with the AGP variant of the riser setup, but you get the idea)

e: I had to correct my previous post. The LC11 uses a TFX PSU and not Flex ATX PSU. The limitation of 300W remains, though.

As long as you're not overclocking, you might be able to run a GTX 960 on just that 300 watt PSU. The key word is might, though. After so many years of use, your PSU may have become worn out and may not deliver up to 300 watts.

What model of PSU do you have? It might not even produce 300 watts of 12V power, it might be only rated for somewhere around 200 watts and the manufacturer came up with an imaginary number of 300 watts by adding together the 3.3V and 5V rails to the 12V rail for "300 watts of combined power".

 

[MoFoJones99]

I just returned my monitor.

RIP G-SYNC. I hardly knew ye.

However, now I'm thinking of getting the ROG Swift. Someone stop me.


No, it pops intermittently.

I tried to record my headphones with my phone.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0SOyw7RyGvQ

As you can see, the normal audio is pretty low, but the pops are really loud.

If you click on the link you can hear the pops. It may not sound as disruptive since the audio is a bit low. However, it really is a problem.

Damn, ASUS really did stuff up here . Have you resorted to maybe using the default audio drivers? I read that the audio issues are caused by ithe SupremeFX drivers.

 

[Deleted member 12837]

Alright, how does this look? While Alienware models are an option, upgrading them can be difficult due to space, power, and heat issues.

Ah, I see (re: Alienware)

Thanks for that parts list, I'll look into it. Looks solid.

 

[Collateral22]

Still gathering cash atm for my PC build, keeping in mind it's my own first build and I still need a desk and 2 monitors too because I plan on moving my X1 and PS4 to the desk too and have a little set up. Have around €500 atm, will have around €1200 by the end of the month. I was thinking of:

GTX 970
16GB RAM
i5-6600k
1 TB HDD
128GB SSD

And obviously a case, mobo, cooler ect. Any other recommendations on GPUs or anything? Want to run most things at Ultra 1080p/60fps if possible.

 

[Terra]

I have this huge, ugly and awful Cooler Master 1000 that I re-used for my new build with an MSI M5 Motherboard+i7 6700k+gtx 980.

The abomination of a case is even on rails. You could mistake it for a manned mission to Mars.

Looking at the more slim Cooler Master Elite 430 instead.
Would it be just for me to buy that case+PSU and transfer the stuff.
Are there any cons that you can see about this?

 

[RGM79]

Still gathering cash atm for my PC build, keeping in mind it's my own first build and I still need a desk and 2 monitors too because I plan on moving my X1 and PS4 to the desk too and have a little set up. Have around €500 atm, will have around €1200 by the end of the month. I was thinking of:

GTX 970
16GB RAM
i5-6600k
1 TB HDD
128GB SSD

And obviously a case, mobo, cooler ect. Any other recommendations on GPUs or anything? Want to run most things at Ultra 1080p/60fps if possible.

What country are you in?

I have this huge, ugly and awful Cooler Master 1000 that I re-used for my new build with an MSI M5 Motherboard+i7 6700k+gtx 980.

The abomination of a case is even on rails. You could mistake it for a manned mission to Mars.

Looking at the more slim Cooler Master Elite 430 instead.
Would it be just for me to buy that case+PSU and transfer the stuff.
Are there any cons that you can see about this?

The Elite 430 is a lower end budget case (at last check it was ~$30) but if that's what you want, then it's fine. What CPU cooler do you have? We should make sure it fits the new case. The Elite 430's product page says it supports CPU cooler sup to 163mm in height.

 

[Collateral22]

What country are you in?



The Elite 430 is a lower end budget case (at last check it was ~$30) but if that's what you want, then it's fine. What CPU cooler do you have? We should make sure it fits the new case. The Elite 430's product page says it supports CPU cooler sup to 163mm in height.

Ireland. € is Euro

 

[RGM79]

Ireland. € is Euro

Do you have any local retailers that you'd prefer to shop at? If you have any links to them, I wouldn't mind putting together a parts list of recommendations for you. Skinflint.co.uk and geizhals.eu might also be handy for shopping comparison, but I'm not sure which website Ireland falls under (sorry, not very knowledgeable about what places are practical for you to order from).

 

[Terra]

The Elite 430 is a lower end budget case (at last check it was ~$30) but if that's what you want, then it's fine. What CPU cooler do you have? We should make sure it fits the new case. The Elite 430's product page says it supports CPU cooler sup to 163mm in height.

Hmmm...I have a Hyper Evo 212 Cooler. Seems to be tight and tricky with the Elite 430...

 

[Collateral22]

Do you have any local retailers that you'd prefer to shop at? If you have any links to them, I wouldn't mind putting together a parts list of recommendations for you. Skinflint.co.uk and geizhals.eu might also be handy for shopping comparison, but I'm not sure which website Ireland falls under (sorry, not very knowledgeable about what places are practical for you to order from).

dabs.ie is the biggest one here for parts afaik, then you'd have amazon.co.uk. I don't mind ordering from other EU sites though once they ship here.

 

[Raxanas]

Still gathering cash atm for my PC build, keeping in mind it's my own first build and I still need a desk and 2 monitors too because I plan on moving my X1 and PS4 to the desk too and have a little set up. Have around €500 atm, will have around €1200 by the end of the month. I was thinking of:

GTX 970
16GB RAM
i5-6600k
1 TB HDD
128GB SSD

And obviously a case, mobo, cooler ect. Any other recommendations on GPUs or anything? Want to run most things at Ultra 1080p/60fps if possible.

You can buy anything u want from geizhals.eu.I am suggesting

i5 6600k ~250
MSI Z170 Krait ~130
8gb Ram Kingston ~60
WD Blue 1TB ~57
Samsung 850 evo 128 ~63
Corsair Air 540 ~140
Evga 650W G2-100
Saphire r9 390 -360
Noctua NH D14 60 euros
Cost 1200

The only thing i am not 100% sure is if the cooler will fit in the case.U can also get a full tower for that money
The next step is to spend a bit more and get a 980TI for +200 euros that will ceretainly last more for 1080p/60fps

 

[ohyouagain]

I'm looking to upgrade my super old HTPC this year. I never used it for gaming and Steam in-home streaming has some issues, so I want to focus on that a little with the new build. I love the talk about the i3-6100, which seems very fast and super efficient for its price (running an E4300 @ 2.7 GHz right now), but I'm a bit disappointed with the TDP of the GTX 950, compared to the 750 Ti. I was hoping for a similar power consumption and the lack of a 4 GB RAM option is nonsense as well.

TDP and power consumption is definitely a concern, because I want to keep my Silverstone LC11 and due to it's low build, it uses a Flex ATX TFX PSU, which doesn't really go over 300W.

Is there any indication that we'll get a proper follow-up to the 750 Ti this year or is it too soon to tell?

I have also been let down by the GTX 950 power requirements and I also am looking for a replacement for my GTX 750 Ti. While I don't think we will get anything before Polaris and Pascal hit the market, I suppose there will be a replacement when they launch. ANd what's more, since AMD is now competitive (finally) in that segment, we might even see a price war at this range, which is only good news for us.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Does anyone have experience using PCI Express Riser cables for their gaming cards? I was doing some cursory googling and someone said it could lead to timing issues if its too long. Looking at my build and what I'm intending it for I could probably keep it under 6inches in length.

 

[RGM79]

Does anyone have experience using PCI Express Riser cables for their gaming cards? I was doing some cursory googling and someone said it could lead to timing issues if its too long. Looking at my build and what I'm intending it for I could probably keep it under 6inches in length.

What case is this going in?

 

[Deleted member 22576]

What case is this going in?

I'm planning on fabricating a daughtercase/board for my FT03Mini.. The riser cable would be connecting it to the motherboard. The PCIE slot on the motherboard is directly in front on the lefthand side of the cases face. I haven't finalized any designs yet but I want to make an enclosure for the GPU.

I want to upgrade the GTX680 that I initially put in my build, but todays crop of GPUs seems to be slightly bigger than the Reference 680, which only just barely fit inside. The case will not accomadate anything larger. I also figure it will help with cooling and allow me the possibility of having more internal SSDs.

 

[ISee]

He already bought a new copy of windows and just some family/vacation photos from time to time.

It's slightly over your budget of 700$, but I'm not sure if a DVD drive is needed.

The i3 is definitely enough for office, browsing and some photo editing. The system has a fast 250gb SSD for windows, office, programs and one or two games. The way slower 500gb hdd is meant to keep all the photos, videos, not so important stuff and file backups.
For gaming, well the i3 is the bare minimum but the gpu is quite impressive for its price. Of course it can't challenge a gtx 970 or a r9 390 but it is a beefy gpu with 4gb vram and enough power for 'light' 1080p gaming, even 60 fps are doable in some games with graphical settings turned down a bit.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GzRmbv
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GzRmbv/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.10 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($35.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 380X 4GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($15.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $716.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-04 15:58 EST-0500

 

[HalfwayOrb]

Changed my build again, it's now:

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan
ASUS Z170M-PLUS LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Memory Kit Model CMK16GX4M2A2400C14
Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-Core 3.5 GHz LGA 1151

I'm now satisfied with these products. Ordered. Going from Gigabyte AMD 785, phenom 2 x4 945, and 4GB DDR2 1066 to these products will be a big boost (bout 2-3 times more powerful - after overclocking the cpu to 4-4.5 GHz, and maxing my Samsung EVO 840 SSD's reading/writing speed - was 230-250 mb/s on sata 2). Excited.

 

[Collateral22]

You can buy anything u want from geizhals.eu.I am suggesting

i5 6600k ~250
MSI Z170 Krait ~130
8gb Ram Kingston ~60
WD Blue 1TB ~57
Samsung 850 evo 128 ~63
Corsair Air 540 ~140
Evga 650W G2-100
Saphire r9 390 -360
Noctua NH D14 60 euros
Cost 1200

The only thing i am not 100% sure is if the cooler will fit in the case.U can also get a full tower for that money
The next step is to spend a bit more and get a 980TI for +200 euros that will ceretainly last more for 1080p/60fps

Thanks! Is the r9 390 worth it compared to the GTX 970, or are they pretty much the same performance?

 

[opticalmace]

Thanks! Is the r9 390 worth it compared to the GTX 970, or are they pretty much the same performance?

390 has a small performance edge, 970 uses less power. They're close enough that I would choose based on software and g-sync vs. freesync.

 

[brotkasten]

I have also been let down by the GTX 950 power requirements and I also am looking for a replacement for my GTX 750 Ti. While I don't think we will get anything before Polaris and Pascal hit the market, I suppose there will be a replacement when they launch. ANd what's more, since AMD is now competitive (finally) in that segment, we might even see a price war at this range, which is only good news for us.

I thought Polaris was more of an announcement of the architecture and has yet to manifest into a real product (much like Pascal, of course). So until that happens, I'm going to remain cautious with claims of AMD finally being competitive again. Not that I wouldn't love anything more than that. Unless I'm totally wrong and have missed some real announcements from AMD in the past few days. It wouldn't be surprising.

As long as you're not overclocking, you might be able to run a GTX 960 on just that 300 watt PSU. The key word is might, though. After so many years of use, your PSU may have become worn out and may not deliver up to 300 watts.

What model of PSU do you have? It might not even produce 300 watts of 12V power, it might be only rated for somewhere around 200 watts and the manufacturer came up with an imaginary number of 300 watts by adding together the 3.3V and 5V rails to the 12V rail for "300 watts of combined power".

Again, thanks for the reply. That's why I love this thread, people are actually trying to help out.

I thought the ~120W TDP of the 960 were already pushing it, which is why I had no interest in that model in the first place and why I focused mainly on the 950 with its 90W(?) vs 750 Ti (~70W?). Not that I'd really need that much power. I still have a 970 with an i7 2600k @ 4.4 in my main PC. With the current PSU in my HTPC I'll have to check. It's a bit of a pain to get it out. The label is exactly on the covered side, due to the nature of the LC11 (it's basically flipped upside down). It might as well be a 240 or 250W PSU. It's been a while since I replaced the original one from 2005. But 300W seems to be what most manufacturers seem to offer, so that's why I said it would be the limit.

 

[LilJoka]

I thought Polaris was more of an announcement of the architecture and has yet to manifest into a real product (much like Pascal, of course). So until that happens, I'm going to remain cautious with claims of AMD finally being competitive again. Not that I wouldn't love anything more than that. Unless I'm totally wrong and have missed some real announcements from AMD in the past few days. It wouldn't be surprising.

Again, thanks for the reply. That's why I love this thread, people are actually trying to help out.

I thought the ~120W TDP of the 960 were already pushing it, which is why I had no interest in that model in the first place and why I focused mainly on the 950 with its 90W(?) vs 750 Ti (~70W?). Not that I'd really need that much power. I still have a 970 with an i7 2600k @ 4.4 in my main PC. With the current PSU in my HTPC I'll have to check. It's a bit of a pain to get it out. The label is exactly on the covered side, due to the nature of the LC11 (it's basically flipped upside down). It might as well be a 240 or 250W PSU. It's been a while since I replaced the original one from 2005. But 300W seems to be what most manufacturers seem to offer, so that's why I said it would be the limit.

Steam streaming will be fine on the 750Ti, are you looking to natively run games?

We need the PSU model to make this more clear cut.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Appreciating the power draw discussion as well. I have a 450 watt PSU and have a few decisions to make for the next few years of my PC. Its three years old and I'm planning on doing a major renovation over the next six months.

 

[RGM79]

Changed my build again, it's now:

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan
ASUS Z170M-PLUS LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Memory Kit Model CMK16GX4M2A2400C14
Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-Core 3.5 GHz LGA 1151

I'm now satisfied with these products. Ordered. Going from Gigabyte AMD 785, phenom 2 x4 945, and 4GB DDR2 1066 to these products will be a big boost (bout 2-3 times more powerful - after overclocking the cpu to 4-4.5 GHz, and maxing my Samsung EVO 840 SSD's reading/writing speed - was 230-250 mb/s on sata 2). Excited.

How much do those parts cost? Your total budget is $800 CAD, right?

It's slightly over your budget of 700$, but I'm not sure if a DVD drive is needed.

The i3 is definitely enough for office, browsing and some photo editing. The system has a fast 250gb SSD for windows, office, programs and one or two games. The way slower 500gb hdd is meant to keep all the photos, videos, not so important stuff and file backups.
For gaming, well the i3 is the bare minimum but the gpu is quite impressive for its price. Of course it can't challenge a gtx 970 or a r9 390 but it is a beefy gpu with 4gb vram and enough power for 'light' 1080p gaming, even 60 fps are doable in some games with graphical settings turned down a bit.

Just wondering, why the non-overclocking processor with the Z series motherboard? I guess the case could be made that a Z170 motherboard would be a better fit for a future upgrade to an overclockable K series processor, but for office and light gaming work, the i3 should be more than adequate. And there's got to be better power supplies than a Corsair CX model. Here, this build is better for the money:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI B150M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380X 4GB DD XXX OC Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $667.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-04 17:01 EST-0500

I thought Polaris was more of an announcement of the architecture and has yet to manifest into a real product (much like Pascal, of course). So until that happens, I'm going to remain cautious with claims of AMD finally being competitive again. Not that I wouldn't love anything more than that. Unless I'm totally wrong and have missed some real announcements from AMD in the past few days. It wouldn't be surprising.



Again, thanks for the reply. That's why I love this thread, people are actually trying to help out.

I thought the ~120W TDP of the 960 were already pushing it, which is why I had no interest in that model in the first place and why I focused mainly on the 950 with its 90W(?) vs 750 Ti (~70W?). Not that I'd really need that much power. I still have a 970 with an i7 2600k @ 4.4 in my main PC. With the current PSU in my HTPC I'll have to check. It's a bit of a pain to get it out. The label is exactly on the covered side, due to the nature of the LC11 (it's basically flipped upside down). It might as well be a 240 or 250W PSU. It's been a while since I replaced the original one from 2005. But 300W seems to be what most manufacturers seem to offer, so that's why I said it would be the limit.

Well, get back to us when you do find out the PSU model. I'd expect an i3 6100 to draw around 50~100 watts depending on how hard it's working, maybe 25~50 watts for the motherboard, up to 10 watts for each storage drive, and the GTX 960 would draw up to and around 130 watts. Even if the TFX PSU doesn't have a 6 pin GPU power cable, you could use a molex or SATA to GPU power adaptor.

Edit: In case you're wondering, a Seasonic brand TFX 350 watt PSU costs $60. According to the wattage label as shown on the official product page, it is capable of 350 watts on the 12V rail which is the important part that covers all your needs.

Compare that to Seasonic's "300 watt" model which according to the official specs only does 250 watts on the 12V rail that powers the GPU and CPU. That's how important it is to know.

 

[HalfwayOrb]

How much do those parts cost? Your total budget is $800 CAD, right?

From Newegg.ca:

Fan/heatsink = 39.99
Motherboard = 164.99
RAM = 119.99
CPU = 359.99

Total (with tax/shipping fee/etc) = 798.18 (CAD)

Yes, my total budget is $800.

 

[brotkasten]

Steam streaming will be fine on the 750Ti, are you looking to natively run games?

We need the PSU model to make this more clear cut.

I know, I just checked. It's a Compucase/HEC 300FE-2RX.

+3.3V 21A
+5V 15A
+12V1 11A
+12V2 8A
-12V 0.3A
+5Vsb 2A

103W combined for 3.3 and 5V.

I probably bought it around 2009 or 2010, so it's certainly not the best anymore.

I was looking for some light native gaming with smaller games on my couch. But to make it clear, I can certainly wait, if it makes sense. There's no need rush this upgrade. I was mainly looking for an answer regarding rumors or speculation about the next low-end card from Nvidia, especially after the Polaris stuff (maybe as a response in form of a controlled leak or something). I'll definitely take the 950, if I can(!) and was voicing my displeasure with the increased power consumption. I could also go lower on the CPU and use a 6100T for the same price, but with lower clocks and a 35W TDP. It that shouldn't be necessary, since my OC'd E4300 should suck more power than the regular 6100.

 

[Hands of Stone]

500W is enough for a 970 right?

Might pick up a 650W if I get some more drives though.

 

[REMAINSILLY]

Thinking about trading in my 360 controller for a PS4 controller for my PC. Is there anything I should know? Would it work as a wired controller without a 3rd party application?

 

[RGM79]

I know, I just checked. It's a Compucase/HEC 300FE-2RX.

+3.3V 21A
+5V 15A
+12V1 11A
+12V2 8A
-12V 0.3A
+5Vsb 2A

103W combined for 3.3 and 5V.

I probably bought it around 2009 or 2010, so it's certainly not the best anymore.

I was looking for some light native gaming with smaller games on my couch. But to make it clear, I can certainly wait, if it makes sense. There's no need rush this upgrade. I was mainly looking for an answer regarding rumors or speculation about the next low-end card from Nvidia, especially after the Polaris stuff (maybe as a response in form of a controlled leak or something). I'll definitely take the 950, if I can(!) and was voicing my displeasure with the increased power consumption. I could also go lower on the CPU and use a 6100T for the same price, but with lower clocks and a 35W TDP. It that shouldn't be necessary, since my OC'd E4300 should suck more power than the regular 6100.

I can't find that exact model number for some reason, but by my calculations, it does 228 watts on the 12V rails, but only if both rails are combined. Since they're split into two, you'd have to be careful to balance the load if you need to use any power cable adaptors.

500W is enough for a 970 right?

Might pick up a 650W if I get some more drives though.

Depends on the rest of your PC's specs, but I feel comfortable saying yes. A typical GTX 970 draws under 200 watts of power.

Thinking about trading in my 360 controller for a PS4 controller for my PC. Is there anything I should know? Would it work as a wired controller without a 3rd party application?

Some games natively detect and support the Dualshock 4 as a wired controller, but not all. You'll need a third party application like DS4Windows for the ones that don't support it properly. That program runs in the background and passes the DS4 button presses to games as an emulated 360 controller, and can allow you to use the DS4 wirelessly via bluetooth as well as set up profiles, configure button inputs, and control the DS4 lightbar.

 

[Hands of Stone]

Depends on the rest of your PC's specs, but I feel comfortable saying yes. A typical GTX 970 draws under 200 watts of power.

CPU: Intel Core i5-2310 2.9GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Samsung 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Memory: Samsung 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($314.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Rosewill Galaxy-01 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($14.88 @ OutletPC)

 

[Hindl]

So for various reasons I can't have a direct Ethernet connection, and my apartments wiring isn't great for powerline adapters. I'm looking at getting a wireless card. Any recommendations?

 

[RGM79]

CPU: Intel Core i5-2310 2.9GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Samsung 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Memory: Samsung 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($314.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Rosewill Galaxy-01 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($14.88 @ OutletPC)

The Corsair CX500M only does ~456 watts on the 12V rail, but it should be more than enough for your PC.

So for various reasons I can't have a direct Ethernet connection, and my apartments wiring isn't great for powerline adapters. I'm looking at getting a wireless card. Any recommendations?

What model of wireless router are you using? It's probably wireless N, but it's a little better to know so we can recommend you something that isn't unnecessarily expensive and matches the feature/speed of your router well.

 

[Vacant]

Currently, I'm deciding between:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($104.20 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($132.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($84.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($649.99 @ B&H)
Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.79 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($95.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $1612.70

or

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($419.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($104.20 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($153.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($84.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB STRIX Video Card ($654.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.79 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($95.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $1728.71

I only wanted to spend about $1500, and I'm a bit over budget with both builds due to several components rising in price.

Other than deciding between Haswell and Skylake, I'm trying to decide whether or not to drop the 980 ti for a 970.

I play at 1920x1080 with a 144hz monitor, but will eventually upgrade to 4k once the current hardware is a little bit more capable.

I plan on buying an HTC Vive when that becomes available.