Support NeoGAF

[undecided]

I'm not really noticing any performance issues in what I play, but i'm getting into VR this gen and my CPU is technically below spec for the rift (my 3dmark score blows the 9000 minimum out of the water though)

Should I even bother to upgrade?

overclocked 2500K may be fine from what I have heard, especially since your video card is already above spec for the oculus minimums.

I would say wait a couple of months and upgrade after the first headsets start shipping and we get real world feedback.

 

[bomblord1]

Great info thanks for the advice.

The video card is actually from newegg, I'm wondering if the price didn't update cause it was in my wish list.... Hmm anyway thanks for the heads up!!

And yeah I figured thy ssd was overkill lol. Honestly, I just thought it would be nice to have everything on one drive instead of two. Would there be any cons to this? Not sure if the juice would be worth the squeeze on price.

As for the cpu being a generation behind, yeah mostly just wanted to save some dough. How big would the performance gap be for gaming?

Thanks again!

The cons to 2 drives? The only real con is games will load slower off the HDD. The pro is it's considerably cheaper.

Overall that CPU is slightly better than the skylake equivalent (i5-6600k) at stock clocks. You just lose the DDR4 Ram

 

[Windam]

Took the plunge with a 6600K, MSI Z97A Z170A PC Mate, and 1x 8GB HyperX Fury 2133 2133 RAM. Total after shipping and taxes? $656 CAD. $400 less than it cost to build my whole PC back in 2010 LOL. Goddammit, Intel. Now I feel kinda sick, but fuck me if I'll keep my SSD on a SATA2 port for another 3 years.

 

[Mattdaddy]

The cons to 2 drives? The only real con is games will load slower off the HDD. The pro is it's considerably cheaper.

Overall that CPU is slightly better than the skylake equivalent (i5-6600k) at stock clocks. You just lose the DDR4 Ram

Ok cool, I might reign in the ssd size then to save some money. I wasn't sure if setting up two different hard drives was difficult but it sounds like it's not.

Something I thought of... Do I always need thermal paste? Or is that sometimes already applied? I noticed my cpu says heat sink and fan included, does that mean it's already attached? Probably a dumb question lol.

 

[Burgess_101]

Have a link to one around that price range? Just curious on specs/price etc.

A quick example.

The HP microservers are really good for the price. If you keep a look out you can get them with usually £100 cashback. My N40L was £200 but obviously with the cash back just £100.

All you have to do is fill in a form with the receipt and wait a while for a cheque in the post.

 

[LithiumSpade]

Can anyone help me? I seem to have somehow broken my UEFI BIOS. Just put together a new PC with an i3-6100, R9 380, DDR4-2666 RAM and a Asrock Z170M Pro4S mobo. Everything is generally working fine after getting drivers and so on installed, but i've suffered the odd BSOD a couple of times whilst gaming. I was trying to find the source of this, and in chasing that I discovered my RAM was only running at 2133mhz. I wanted to go and change my speeds in the UEFI menu, but before I did so I downloaded the latest BIOS for my motherboard so I could also try the unofficial Skylake overclocking out. I installed the new BIOS just fine (2.40) but now when I hit F2 to launch the UEFI menu during boot the screen just goes black. When I move my mouse cursor around it leaves trails behind it that appear to show the menu underneath, but nothing else happens and I have to hard reset the computer. I've tried going back to older versions of the BIOS but with no success.

Any ideas?

 

[Bluforce]

Hi guys, I'm thinking about to build a new PC, using some stuff from my actual AMD build.
Stuff I already have:
Corsair Carbide Spec-01
Samsung 120GB SSD 850 EVO (I know, it's small, but I'm fine with 120GB)
WD HDD 1TB Caviar Blue
MSI R7 260x (just for few months)
XFX ProSeries 450Watt 80 Plus Bronze

And what I want to buy:
Intel i5-6600 (non K, I don't do overclock) - 230 Euro
ASrock Z170 Pro4S - 110 Euro
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB 2x8 GB DDR4 3000 MHz - 105 Euro
453 Euro today, buying them from Amazon.

And of course a "new gen GPU" later this year. 250-300 Euro. Maybe by then I should change my PSU, depends of the specs of the new GPUs.
My monitor is 1080p. My TV is 1080p. 4K? Yeah, sure, maybe one day, who knows, but not anytime soon.

i7 (6700 non k) vs i5 is worth the +150€ difference?
DDR4 RAM at 3000 Mhz is ok?
Any other advice?

 

[Matty8787]

So I just had a go at overclocking for the first time...

I went to town in the BIOS and adjusted a load of stuff, although left the voltage in offset mode.

I got my i5 2500k to 4.7 and the voltage moves between 1.38 and 1.39.

Temps after 15 minutes on prime95 didn't go higher than 75, what do I need to change or should I stick with and see if it keeps on running ok?

75 seems high to me.

 

[Gritesh]

Dear PC gaming gaf.


I currently have a 32" Samsung 1080p tv that I am using as my computer display. Its hurting my eyes and giving me headaches.

I love the size for gaming sometimes I like to sit back on my chair with an xbone controller and game on the PC other times I'm up close with kbm playing csgo or dota and other times I got my racing wheel setup for racing games.

I have a 980ti I was originally going to go for the fury x and a freesync monitor combo bit decided on the 980ti.

So here is what I'm looking at.
I'm Canadian and the market here for monitors is high. Late last year I was sitting on my hands patiently awaiting the release of the acer x34 sadly when it was announced for Canada the price is around $1700. I can't/won't pay that much.

So here is my issue, I want a curved 34" or higher monitor strictly to be used for gaming I don't use my desktop for anything else really. I've scoured every site and of course everyone keeps pointing at the x34. Is there another option out there for me?

Two things I'm concerned about a 1440p ultrawide and not being able to run games in higher settings which had me looking at 1080 ultrawide but everyone talkes about how terrible the ppi is.

I'm lost, I can't sit in front of this tv anymore I don't want to give up the size but I don't know what the best bang for my buck is going to be...

 

[diablos991]

Where'd you find one of those?

A person on eBay was selling 4 DIY kits. I guess they had them for a project that never came to fruition.

Picked up the G-Sync DIY kit for $150!

Dear PC gaming gaf.


I currently have a 32" Samsung 1080p tv that I am using as my computer display. Its hurting my eyes and giving me headaches.

I love the size for gaming sometimes I like to sit back on my chair with an xbone controller and game on the PC other times I'm up close with kbm playing csgo or dota and other times I got my racing wheel setup for racing games.

I have a 980ti I was originally going to go for the fury x and a freesync monitor combo bit decided on the 980ti.

So here is what I'm looking at.
I'm Canadian and the market here for monitors is high. Late last year I was sitting on my hands patiently awaiting the release of the acer x34 sadly when it was announced for Canada the price is around $1700. I can't/won't pay that much.

So here is my issue, I want a curved 34" or higher monitor strictly to be used for gaming I don't use my desktop for anything else really. I've scoured every site and of course everyone keeps pointing at the x34. Is there another option out there for me?

Two things I'm concerned about a 1440p ultrawide and not being able to run games in higher settings which had me looking at 1080 ultrawide but everyone talkes about how terrible the ppi is.

I'm lost, I can't sit in front of this tv anymore I don't want to give up the size but I don't know what the best bang for my buck is going to be...

Honestly if I were to go ultrawide the X34 is the only decision to ensure I would be happy with it for years into the future (based on the glowing reviews coming from everywhere). The 1440p ultrawide will be rough to run native with decent settings, but you could always run at ultrawide 1080p and put up with a bit of blurriness from the upscale image.

Your next graphics card upgrade should be perfect for that monitor. Or you could go with the Acer Predator z35 for a good G-sync ultrawide at 1080p and deal with the PPI issues.

 

[Gritesh]

A person on eBay was selling 4 DIY kits. I guess they had them for a project that never came to fruition.

Picked up the G-Sync DIY kit for $150!



Honestly if I were to go ultrawide the X34 is the only decision to ensure I would be happy with it for years into the future (based on the glowing reviews coming from everywhere). The 1440p ultrawide will be rough to run native with decent settings, but you could always run at ultrawide 1080p and put up with a bit of blurriness from the upscale image.

Your next graphics card upgrade should be perfect for that monitor. Or you could go with the Acer Predator z35 for a good G-sync ultrawide at 1080p and deal with the PPI issues.

Yeah that's what I was afraid of hearing. The z35 is only 200 off from the x34 so at that point I would just put the extra money into the x34.
Ugh I would be OK with max 1200 or so but 1700 is a tough pill to swallow

 

[bomblord1]

Ok cool, I might reign in the ssd size then to save some money. I wasn't sure if setting up two different hard drives was difficult but it sounds like it's not.

Something I thought of... Do I always need thermal paste? Or is that sometimes already applied? I noticed my cpu says heat sink and fan included, does that mean it's already attached? Probably a dumb question lol.

Stock intel coolers usually have thermal paste pre-applied.

Those three silver lines are thermal paste that will melt and spread out as your CPU heats up

If you put on your own cooler you'll want to apply your own unless it has it's own.

 

[diablos991]

Yeah that's what I was afraid of hearing. The z35 is only 200 off from the x34 so at that point I would just put the extra money into the x34.
Ugh I would be OK with max 1200 or so but 1700 is a tough pill to swallow

Have you checked for refurb units? May be a way to cut some cost.
Curved 1440p Gsync is literally the cutting edge of consumer gaming monitor tech so I'm afraid it will be prohibitively expensive for a while.

 

[OnionPowder]

My rig:

i7 5820k
970
16GB DDR4

Looking to get a g-sync monitor, which one would be the best bang for my buck? Looking to hopefully spend less than $600. I currently have some cheap ass $80 20" monitor. I don't mind sticking at 1080p, and would probably prefer it for better performance.

 

[Theonik]

Anyone here tried to fit a Noctua D15 with an Asus Stryx 980Ti on Asus's Z170 Deluxe board?

Really worried about clearance with the backplate of the GPU, the D15 seems to be really close from pictures I've been looking at with Z170 boards. Would be helpful if someone had tried this before.

This is what my current build is looking like atm. Some bits and bobs are subject to change. Gaming isn't paramount here though is nice, main use is general computing and machine learning stuff.

Edit: The other consideration is a closed loop cooler price at that point really isn't important but I like the Noctua's cooling and sound characteristics.

 

[Tesseract]

stressed my 4790k to 100c (on and off) via prime95, seems stable

45c idle, 60 to 70c under load (numerous 2014 &> games)

gpu and ram stress are next

 

[Bolivar687]

Yeah that's what I was afraid of hearing. The z35 is only 200 off from the x34 so at that point I would just put the extra money into the x34.
Ugh I would be OK with max 1200 or so but 1700 is a tough pill to swallow

If you really can't sit in front of that TV anymore I would just accept you can live without a curved ultra wide display. You can still buy a great monitor that would be a huge upgrade for you at nearly half your max budget. Your wallet will be happier and your eyes will be healthier.

 

[Mattdaddy]

Ok cool good to know, thanks bomblord.

 

[diablos991]

My rig:

i7 5820k
970
16GB DDR4

Looking to get a g-sync monitor, which one would be the best bang for my buck? Looking to hopefully spend less than $600. I currently have some cheap ass $80 20" monitor. I don't mind sticking at 1080p, and would probably prefer it for better performance.

I just picked up the Asus VG248QE and a G-Sync DIY kit.
The monitor was $199.99 refurbished and the G-Sync DIY kit was $150.

I'll have to tear into the monitor but I am comfortable doing that. In the end I will have a 24" 1080p 144hz G-sync monitor for $350.

If you are looking for all in one go the Acer XB240H isn't a bad choice at $399.99.

Wouldn't go higher than 24" unless you are going 1440p.

 

[Mad Season]

reposting this again as I didnt receive any answers and I really want to purchase soon


Ok all... I think I want to upgrade my systems a bit, now that taxes are coming in a week. Looking for advice please on what to upgrade.

Upgrades will be solely for gaming and potential twitch streaming. For example, streaming BF4 on twitch on same PC as I am playing on, has it chug a bit.

Current System Specs

Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS GENE Z IV
System RAM: ( G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR)
Video Card: EVGA GTX 980 SC
CPU: i5 2500k (overclocked to 4.5ghz)
HD: SSD
Monitor: 24" BENQ

My guess is to upgrade the motherboard, ram and cpu. Based on the above and what I want to do, I imagine I should move to i7? Please assist

 

[bomblord1]

reposting this again as I didnt receive any answers and I really want to purchase soon


Ok all... I think I want to upgrade my systems a bit, now that taxes are coming in a week. Looking for advice please on what to upgrade.

Upgrades will be solely for gaming and potential twitch streaming. For example, streaming BF4 on twitch on same PC as I am playing on, has it chug a bit.

Current System Specs

Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS GENE Z IV
System RAM: ( G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR)
Video Card: EVGA GTX 980 SC
CPU: i5 2500k (overclocked to 4.5ghz)
HD: SSD
Monitor: 24" BENQ

My guess is to upgrade the motherboard, ram and cpu. Based on the above and what I want to do, I imagine I should move to i7? Please assist

Yes if want to upgrade you are looking at MOBO, RAM, and CPU. Do you have a budget?

 

[Mad Season]

Yes if want to upgrade you are looking at MOBO, RAM, and CPU. Do you have a budget?

let's say around $1,000 or so. Could you recommend some models for each of the parts that would be considered a good upgrade?

 

[bomblord1]

let's say around $1,000 or so. Could you recommend some models for each of the parts that would be considered a good upgrade?

$1000 exclusively for CPU, Mobo, and RAM? That's quite the budget lol I honestly don't think I can fill it.

What about this? This is the best skylake CPU out right now. A massive cooler for OC'ing, a Mobo that can handle on OC (was the best Skylake OC'ing scores by Tom's hardware), and 16Gb of DDR4 3200 RAM

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($409.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($55.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme6+ ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $739.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-02 15:53 EST-0500

 

[Thorgal]

what is generally taken as the limit on temperature when OC ing a MSI 980 ti ?

Card sits now at 77 c for 10 minutes on stress test and i still feel like i can push higher .

 

[OraleeWey]

what is generally taken as the limit on temperature when OC ing a MSI 980 ti ?

Card sits now at 77 c for 10 minutes on stress test and i still feel like i can push higher .

imo you should keep it under 80c

 

[Thorgal]

imo you should keep it under 80c

in that case i am gonna stop here ( +260 mhz on the core clock ).
temps ranging from 77-79 c .

It is still on the standard fan curve so if i wanted , i could squeeze out a few more hz by ramping the fans higher ,but i like my card to be quiet .

Tomorrow we start with the memory clock .

 

[Naic244]

Hi GAF

I'm building my first PC, which I'll be using for Unreal 4 development and modelling, as well as gaming. I'd like to not have to upgrade anything for at least 2 years, aside from perhaps the graphics card when VR comes along and the price is right. Would the following build do the job, and is there anywhere I can shave off money without losing too much in performance?

Processor - i7-6700k - £300

Motherboard - Asus Z170-A - £120

RAM - HyperX FURY 2x8GB DDR4 - £36x2 (£72)

Graphics Card - Asus GTX 970 - £265

SSD - SanDisk 240GB - £62

HDD - Toshiba 1TB - £33

Power supply - Cooler Master RS650 - £65

Case - Fractals R5 - £90

Total - £1007

Appreciate the help!

 

[Walker_Boh]

Hey Gaf. I haven't played the PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider, but it seems having 16 GB of ram is the way to go. What would be the best kind to get? My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P with an AMD 6300FX CPU and a Sapphire r9 270x 4GB GPU. I also don't overclock.

 

[Nostremitus]

Hey Gaf. I haven't played the PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider, but it seems having 16 GB of ram is the way to go. What would be the best kind to get? My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P with an AMD 6300FX CPU and a Sapphire r9 270x 4GB GPU. I also don't overclock.

I don't know about Tomb Raider, but you should consider overclocking that CPU. It's really slow... That should help more in most games than buying RAM.

 

[Dmax3901]

I have a question about crimson drivers, wasn't sure where else to post it.

If my target GPU temp is set to 95 degrees celsius, is it going to go that hot even when it doesn't need to?

My r9 290 keeps getting really hot and loud in relatively undemanding games like Dota and Life is Strange.

 

[KingKong]

I just noticed the case I bought only has one fan: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/phanteks-case-phes515pbk

Is that going to be a problem if I'm keeping everything at stock temperatures, or do I need a second fan?

 

[valeo]

What i've got so far for my first build in 6 years..

CPU: Intel Core i5 6500
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Motherboard
PSU EVGA SuperNOVA G2 Gold 750W Power Supply (Can I go cheaper with this? Prefer semi or full modular)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK16GX4M2A2133C13 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4
Case Re-using Fractal R3 (any issue using this? Getting it off a friend)
SSD: Re-using 120GB Samsung 840
HDD: Re-using 1TB Samsung Spinpoint
OS: Win 10

$755 in Australian monies

 

[DUFFMCWALIN]

I just noticed the case I bought only has one fan: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/phanteks-case-phes515pbk

Is that going to be a problem if I'm keeping everything at stock temperatures, or do I need a second fan?

I would suggest more air flow but there are a lot of people in here way more knowledgeable than me. I put two 120mm fans in the front of that case when I built my PC earlier this year. Seems to be keeping everything pretty cool. I'm actually going to put another exhaust fan on the top and a third fan in the front and remove the optical drive holder.

 

[Theonik]

I just noticed the case I bought only has one fan: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/phanteks-case-phes515pbk

Is that going to be a problem if I'm keeping everything at stock temperatures, or do I need a second fan?

For most stock components just the single exhaust might be fine, It's usually nice if you have at least a front intake and a rear exhaust.

 

[RayStorm]

Took the plunge with a 6600K, MSI Z97A PC Mate, and 1x 8GB HyperX Fury 2133 2133 RAM. Total after shipping and taxes? $656 CAD. $400 less than it cost to build my whole PC back in 2010 LOL. Goddammit, Intel. Now I feel kinda sick, but fuck me if I'll keep my SSD on a SATA2 port for another 3 years.

You may want to re-emerge as your Core i5-6600K CPU won't fit on a mainboard with a Z97 chipset.

 

[KingKong]

I would suggest more air flow but there are a lot of people in here way more knowledgeable than me. I put two 120mm fans in the front of that case when I built my PC earlier this year. Seems to be keeping everything pretty cool. I'm actually going to put another exhaust fan on the top and a third fan in the front and remove the optical drive holder.

For most stock components just the single exhaust might be fine, It's usually nice if you have at least a front intake and a rear exhaust.

Hmm ok, so I can go ahead for now and then If I notice high temperatures install another fan? I should have all the parts by the end of the week which is why I was wondering

 

[opticalmace]

Took the plunge with a 6600K, MSI Z97A PC Mate, and 1x 8GB HyperX Fury 2133 2133 RAM. Total after shipping and taxes? $656 CAD. $400 less than it cost to build my whole PC back in 2010 LOL. Goddammit, Intel. Now I feel kinda sick, but fuck me if I'll keep my SSD on a SATA2 port for another 3 years.

As the other guy said, the 6600k isn't compatible with that motherboard. And is that DDR3 or DDR4 ram?

 

[Mad Season]

$1000 exclusively for CPU, Mobo, and RAM? That's quite the budget lol I honestly don't think I can fill it.

What about this? This is the best skylake CPU out right now. A massive cooler for OC'ing, a Mobo that can handle on OC (was the best Skylake OC'ing scores by Tom's hardware), and 16Gb of DDR4 3200 RAM

thanks a bunch! I have a FRY's by me so I may see if these are in local too

 

[Nostremitus]

I have a question about crimson drivers, wasn't sure where else to post it.

If my target GPU temp is set to 95 degrees celsius, is it going to go that hot even when it doesn't need to?

My r9 290 keeps getting really hot and loud in relatively undemanding games like Dota and Life is Strange.

How many FPS is it pushing? Sometimes older or less demanding games can push 500+ frames per second and get the GPU hot. Crimson has a Frame Rate Target Control option to correct this.

If you're already using it, then I got nothin, lol.

Edit: How long have you had the 290? does it have a reference cooler? If you've had it since launch or close to it, have you cleaned the heat sync?

 

[Dmax3901]

How many FPS is it pushing? Sometimes older or less demanding games can push 500+ frames per second and get the GPU hot. Crimson has a Frame Rate Target Control option to correct this.

If you're already using it, then I got nothin, lol.

Edit: How long have you had the 290? does it have a reference cooler? If you've had it since launch or close to it, have you cleaned the heat sync?

I bought it second-hand for pretty cheap bit under a year ago. It's a stock cooler, one small fan, not sure how old it was. I was actually looking into buying a better cooler for it.

I unscrewed the plastic to clean it out relatively recently but I wasn't specifically looking for a heat sink.

I'll look into frame rates as well, hadn't thought to check that.

 

[Darknight]

Ok so the motherboard I will get is squad memory so I will be getting a set of 4x ram chips.
note: I will be getting 2x [2x8] sets in hopes there arent any issues for a total of 32GB. The actual 32GB set is worth more!

Now I've been eyeing Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB DDR4 (3000 - PC4 24000) with the following timings...

15-17-17-35; CAS 15

Is that good? I saw some with CL14 but its more $$. Dont know if it matters. Any info would be appreciated. My understanding is that the less CL#, the better. But only ones i've seen are CL14,15,16 of this type. Right in the middle seems ok for me.

Edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ominator_platinum_ddr4-_-20-233-849-_-Product

Edit2: There shouldn't be any issues running 2 sets of this ram, right??

 

[valeo]

What i've got so far for my first build in 6 years..

CPU: Intel Core i5 6500
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Motherboard
PSU EVGA SuperNOVA G2 Gold 750W Power Supply (Can I go cheaper with this? Prefer semi or full modular)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK16GX4M2A2133C13 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4
Case Re-using Fractal R3 (any issue using this? Getting it off a friend)
SSD: Re-using 120GB Samsung 840
HDD: Re-using 1TB Samsung Spinpoint
OS: Win 10

$755 in Australian monies

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MMLUYQK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

This RAM seems weirdly cheap. Would it be okay for me?

 

[bomblord1]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MMLUYQK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

This RAM seems weirdly cheap. Would it be okay for me?

Out of 100 reviews the lowest is a 4. The only "issue" is it's only 2133mhz which isn't really an issue.

 

[valeo]

Yeah, reviews seem good. What is the reason for it being much cheaper than the Vengeance LPX - does it just have looser timings?

 

[jotun?]

Out of 100 reviews the lowest is a 4. The only "issue" is it's only 2133mhz which isn't really an issue.

The motherboard on his list uses B150, which I think only supports 2133 anyway

 

[bomblord1]

The motherboard on his list uses B150, which I think only supports 2133 anyway

You are correct. Didn't actually bother to look it up lol.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

Building my mom a cheap pc. She just wants it to browse the web. I believe her monitor is 1600p. Should I go with 2gb gt 610, 1gb gt 720, or just use the on board graphics? Cpu is intel g2030

 

[Celcius]

I currently have:

Core i5 2500k @ 4.3
16GB ram
980Ti


My PC is single purposed for video games. I don't do any video stuff at all


I keep seeing that MAYBE sandylake can be a worthwhile upgrade now based on use case but also have read that the 2500k is still a monster and I'm fine

I had a 670 and 8 gb ram and was told to upgrade those instead when skylake first launched.

the upgrade path to a 6600k or 6700k is about 600-950 depending on what I want to recycle from my current PC (video card at minimum, then case/drives, etc)

I'm not really noticing any performance issues in what I play, but i'm getting into VR this gen and my CPU is technically below spec for the rift (my 3dmark score blows the 9000 minimum out of the water though)

Should I even bother to upgrade?

Another less expensive option - I don't know what kind of cpu cooling you're using, but you could just increase the overclock on your current cpu and carry on. I'm running a 2600k @ 4.6ghz with HT using a NH-D14, so your chip should definitely have some more potential if you're willing to overclock further.

 

[bomblord1]

Building my mom a cheap pc. She just wants it to browse the web. I believe her monitor is 1600p. Should I go with 2gb gt 610, 1gb gt 720, or just use the on board graphics? Cpu is intel g2030

Any particular reason you chose that CPU? It's a 2 generation old pentium and I don't think you can even buy them new anymore. If you haven't already bought it I would probably spring for an AMD A series APU and ignore getting a GPU altogether.

 

[valeo]

The motherboard on his list uses B150, which I think only supports 2133 anyway

Thanks guys.

So there is really no reason for me to use the LPX versions?