How to get the most value for my money ?

[Frederic_4]

Hello guys

I have a budget of max. 500€ although it shouldn't be totally consumed if it's not needed. I game a lot, mostly single player games, PUBG and CS:GO. My monitor is 1080p.

My current setup is as follows :

Intel core i3 - 6100
AsRock H110M-HDS
8gb DDR4 Kingston 1333mhz*2
Nvidia geforce gtx 950
1TB HDD (I probably will upgrade to SDD even if it doesn't improve my gaming).
500GB SSD Samsung Evo 850

My guess is that I should either get a GPU or maybe both a CPU and GPU but I'll let you guys decide since I am not an expert.

Thanks !

 

[jankerson]

And i5 6600K or I5 6600 and GTX 1060 6GB should fit into your budget.

 

[Hellfire13]

Upgrade the motherboard BIOS for KabyLake update and get these...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (€287.74 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card (€261.58 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €549.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-06 20:50 CET+0100

It will give you pretty good improvement...
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-7700-vs-Intel-Core-i3-6100/3887vs3511
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-950-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB/3510vs3639

 

[Frederic_4]

Upgrade the motherboard BIOS for KabyLake update and get these...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (€287.74 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card (€261.58 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €549.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-06 20:50 CET+0100

It will give you pretty good improvement...
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-7700-vs-Intel-Core-i3-6100/3887vs3511
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-950-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB/3510vs3639

Not too sure what you mean with the upgrade to KabyLake ?

 

[Frederic_4]

Is it smart to buy these components right now with the mining craze and the Volta coming soon?

 

[Aeacus]

If you want best value then go with these two and pocket the rest of your money:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7600 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€212.72 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB GAMING Video Card (€229.90 @ Caseking)
Total: €442.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-06 20:51 CET+0100

Few words.
i5-7600 is a great upgrade for your i3-6100 and it would also be the best non-K CPU by value with great performance you can have on your H110 chipset MoBo.
If your MoBo would be Z170 chipset (like mine in my Skylake build, full specs with pics in my sig), then going for K-series CPU would make sense since you could OC it. But with H110 chipset MoBo, there's no point going with K-series CPU that has unlocked multiplier for CPU OC because you can't OC your CPU due to the MoBo chipset limitations.

i3-6100 vs i5-7600 comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-6100-vs-Intel-Core-i5-7600/3511vs3890

As far as i5-7600 value goes, it is at 12th position when it comes to value among all CPUs made. Just arrange the CPU list by value and look it by yourself,
link: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/

Do note that your MoBo needs to have the latest BIOS before you can use Intel's 7th gen CPU. So, update your BIOS prior installing new CPU, if you already don't have the latest BIOS.
But if you don't want to update your BIOS by risking to brick your MoBo if the BIOS update would be interrupted (e.g loss of power), then next CPU in line by value would be i5-6600 (at 27th position).

GTX 1060 3GB GPU is at 2nd position when it comes to the value,
link: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/

In my Skylake build, i also have GTX 1060 3GB GPU in use and i bought it specifically due to the great value since back then, it was the value king. Nowadays, GTX 1060 3GB GPU has lost it's value king status to GTX 1070 Ti but nevertheless, it's still great GPU that enables you to game on high/ultra settings @ 1080p with solid 60+ FPS.

GTX 950 vs GTX 1060 3GB comparison: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-950-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-3GB/3510vs3646

While you can get suggestions on going with 6GB version of GTX 1060, it's only on average 7% better than 3GB version while costing on average 15% more. In other words, 3GB version has more value in it.
When i bought my MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 3G GPU, the 6GB version costed €80 more and to me, €80 wasn't worth the extra 7% of performance over 3GB version.

 

[Hellfire13]

In that case, you can wait for Volta as its tentative date is 1st quarter of 2018. But the platform is dead with the 7700 being the highest you can go and it should be more of a logical purchase.
The h110 chipset board is Skylake compatible by default, but if you update the BIOS of that motherboard for next gen. compatibility, it can support the next gen. Kabylake processors as well, highest being the 7700k. So you can either go for the 7700 or the 7700k, after updating the BIOS.
You can get the BIOS update on the motherboard support page.

 

[madmatt30]

Id just get a better gpu.

That i3 is fine for csgo & pubg , the gtx 950 wasnt a good card 2 years ago let alone now.

It's by far the weakest component you own.

 

[Frederic_4]

Will the release of Volta make the older GPU's cheaper though ?

Because I guess the Volta's will be too expensive to buy.

 

[Hellfire13]

Maybe a few notch. But dont expect any significant price drops. Depends more on Volta pricing.