First PC Build. Any advice?

[mydogatemysocks]

Hey,

I've been researching on how to build a new PC as mine has been dying recently. I'm not 100% sure if this is the right build. I will mostly use this for uni work/light gaming. My old PC kept on reading disk usage 100% and the place i took it to couldn't find any issues with the hardware but it's a little outdated.

I'm from Australia and my build budget is around $1000-$1200

I have a few questions too.

1. Would it be worth getting an i5 8400 and a z370 motherboard for an extra $60 (I would be getting the cheapest z370 i could find). I don't really use much apart from Chrome, some games, and a few engineering programs (which ran ok on my previous set up which is slower than the one below)

2. If i get a single stick of 8gb ram now, can I just add another 8gb stick later to bump it up to 16gb when prices drop (hopefully)

3. Is there a big difference if i dual channel my ram? (i.e. should i just get 2 4gb sticks?

Please help

Processor: Intel Core i5 7500
GPU: GeForce 1050ti 4GB
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD
Motherboard: Gigabyte B250M-D3H Intel B250
RAM: Kingston Hyper X Fury 8gb 2400Mhz
Case: Whichever cheapest one i can find
PSU: Cooler Master MWE series 450W 8- Plus Bronze

 

[michael_530]

Okay so firstly, and anyone is welcome to correct me cause i would say im still an intermediate, however.
Not sure which you are talking about in regards to the z370b https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Intel-Z370, there is a few, regardless all are of dual channel ram, I would advise you get 2 4gbs, as they all have 4 ports for the RAM, you can choose to get another 2 if you so choose later. More than 16GB is not necessary. I guess the answer to the Dual channel is yes it is better, (worth it depends on the money ) however for "lightly gaming ' as you said and "uni" you wont notice the change. https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel/Page-3
If you want to spend more you can, sort of future proofing i suppose, but again you wont notice the difference with i5 8400 or i5 7500 . As for the difference between these motherboards, I am fairly certain that the motherboards with "Z" in the title are overclockable, so you can change bios settings to set up your rig to overclock- this can be fun but also frustrating.
Hopefully helpful, also good to see someone else from down under

 

[zoltan.boese]

May I ask what engineering software you use? CAD? Simulation? Programming? Have you checked the system requirement of those tools?
The i3-8100 has also 4 cores and could run most of them including light gaming. Getting a z370 would give you the ability to upgrade in the future if really needed. Look for features like USB type C, or thunderbolt, they can come handy.
And do not go cheap on the power supply, read here http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
then grab a Corsair CX 450 or Seasonic M12II-520
As for the case a budget option is Corsair Carbide SPEC-01

 

[guanyu210379]

1. i5 8400 vs i5 7500, the difference is quite huge. You get 50% more cores on I5 8400. The difference does worth the extra bucks
I would not take the older platform anymore, unless I had to.
For Coffeelake, at the moment you have to use Z370 but the other lower (non-OC) types should be joining soon
ALternatively, you can also pick those from the red team e.g. Ryzen 5 2400G or Ryzen 5 1600.
The iGPU on 2400G is quite ok (between GTX1030-1050 performance level) until you can afford the dedicated GPU, if you wanna save up some money for now.

2.
Yes, you can use 8GB now and add 8GB later. 16gb is not yet a must but recommended.

3.
mix and match (different brand, type, etc.) success rate is about 60%, you need luck to do get it working.
1x8 now add 1x8 later is the better option than going 2x4.

 

[mydogatemysocks]

Okay so firstly, and anyone is welcome to correct me cause i would say im still an intermediate, however.
Not sure which you are talking about in regards to the z370b https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Intel-Z370, there is a few, regardless all are of dual channel ram, I would advise you get 2 4gbs, as they all have 4 ports for the RAM, you can choose to get another 2 if you so choose later. More than 16GB is not necessary. I guess the answer to the Dual channel is yes it is better, (worth it depends on the money ) however for "lightly gaming ' as you said and "uni" you wont notice the change. https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel/Page-3
If you want to spend more you can, sort of future proofing i suppose, but again you wont notice the difference with i5 8400 or i5 7500 . As for the difference between these motherboards, I am fairly certain that the motherboards with "Z" in the title are overclockable, so you can change bios settings to set up your rig to overclock- this can be fun but also frustrating.
Hopefully helpful, also good to see someone else from down under

Thanks!!

 

[Elf_Knight]

If you don't play games might I Suggest you save money on an i5 and get the Intel Core i3 8400? It is essentially an i5 but without the name because it is a quad core processor, meaning it has 4 cores and 4 threads. It's just called an i3 cause the new i5's are six core processors. Or you could consider AMD Ryzen 3 2200g. That is a very powerful and cheap APU mitigating the need for a graphics card.

 

[guanyu210379]

There is no I3 8400, you can find only I5 8400 or I3 8100 or 8350k.

It depends how you look at things.
The new I3 with 4 cores is having 2 more cores (doubled) than the older I3. It is like buying older I5. For most cases, this should be enough. Some games do take advantage over having more cores/threads.
If you see things from other perspective like future proofing or comparing to actual new processors, going I5 8xxx also makes sense.
In the end, you still get what you paid.