$300 Combo For Multitasking

[Hoonini]

I need a motherboard, CPU, RAM, and Cooler for some hardcore multitasking, like even an occasional VM, Editing and rendering, and gaming while doing that for $300. List me some suggestions.

 

[TheDoog]

Just a motherboard ,cpu, ram and a cooler nothing else? Power supply, video card, case and storage you already have?

 

[Hoonini]

Yeah, I have a gtx 960, an ssd and hdd, a 750 watt corsair 80+ gold psu, and was thinking about making a custom case to replace my h440 and give my h440 to a family member

 

[drinkingcola86]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($168.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $307.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-02 19:59 EDT-0400

Cooler comes with the cpu, however, $30 more dollars gets you the 1600 which has 2 more cores and 4 more threads which works well for VM's. You might also need to widen the budget eventually because the ram usage for VM's I would recommend is 16gig minimum but the current budget doesn't allow for it.

 

[Hoonini]

Would a dual socket work better for VM's with some cheap ECC?

 

[TheDoog]

Even with just those 4 things it's going to be very difficult. What do you currently have in your system because most likely anything suggested is going to be used at least by me. It would be helpful if you already had some ram to use as well.

 

[Hoonini]

I have an i5 6600k with a motherboard i think is going out, and 8gb of ddr4 which isn't enough and it sometimes throws errors. I want to replace it all. And the i5 stutters when multitasking.

 

[Hoonini]

Also used is fine

 

[USAFRet]

Would a dual socket work better for VM's with some cheap ECC?

At that price, no. Not needed at all.
My current i7-4790k runs 4 simultaneous VM's, alongside the Win 10 host, with no problem.
Win 10, Server2012, Linux, Linux, Win 10 Pro host.

Of course...what will you be doing with these VM's?

 

[USAFRet]

Would a dual socket work better for VM's with some cheap ECC?

What is this obsession with dual sockets?
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3557255/dual-socket-mobo-gaming.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3555283/dual-socket-gaming-rig.html

 

[TheDoog]

Ok that is pretty helpful. You could do the Ryzen 1600 with the B350 since you already have the ram that will work, at least I think that gen used DDR4. Plus it comes with the cooler. You could then upgrade the ram at a later date.

Or you could take your chances on Ebay and get a x99 board(DDR4) or an x79(DDR3) and a 6 core Xeon to go along with that.

 

[Hoonini]

Shhhh, i dont have a dual socket fetish

 

[Hoonini]

But seriously, i feel like 4c/8t is not going to suffice for my needs, and ddr4 is too expensive for me

 

[drinkingcola86]

If you want ECC memory, you would need to get a Ryzen 7. Those come supporting it, however, you would need to find a motherboard that supports the ECC feature.