- Oct 11, 2012
- 39
- 0
- 10,540
Hello everyone,
I'm thinking about building a new system and have been looking at recent(ish) hardware. But it seems my old setup has aged very well indeed, which surprised me after three years. That said I have some difficulty with current benchmarks since they tend to refer to games I have never even seen. And scores from benchmark software seem to vary wildly depending on the website.
What I currently use
Desktop:
AMD A10-5800K (4 cores, 3,8 GHz, FM2)
Radeon HD 7660D (Integrated)
ASRock FM2A75
16 GB DDR3-1866 RAM
Laptop:
i7-3630QM (8 threads, 2.4 GHz)
Intel HD4000 and NVidia NVS 5400M
16 GB RAM
Both:
OS: Windows 7 (which I'd stick to - don't like 8, want to wait with 10 until it has matured a bit)
What I do with it
Games, mostly. I'm ok with 30 FPS for virtually anything and like to run on high settings whenever I can but don't have to. Some of my 'heaviest' games (for now):
Kerbal Space Program
Team Fortress 2
Civilization V, Civ: Beyond Earth
Rome 2: Total War
This is probably quite benign by most standards but should change before long. The laptop can do everything but gets very hot, naturally. The desktop doesn't handle KSP that well and can't run Rome 2 at all. (That could also be fixed by a dedicated GPU.)
Nonetheless I want to see if it is possible to build a new PC with a moderate budget that gives a decent improvement on the current desktop's performance. If not I'll just have to put a GPU (the one below seems nice) in the 'old' desktop and find something else to tinker with. 😀 The budget would be roughly 500 Euros (~600 Dollars) for CPU, GPU, RAM, Mainboard, PSU, with generous leeway if there were significant performance gains for the extra investment
Apart from really wanting to tinker I could certainly make use of two PCs and I'm a little worried that my current setup may fold before long, extra GPU or not. That said I'm not inclined to throw a lot of money at a new system that doesn't improve much.
New system
Here's what I've come up with:
FX-6300 (3,5 GHz, 6 threads, DDR3-1866) [~100 Euro]
R9 270X (2 GB 1400 MHz GDDR5, PCIe 3.0) [~150 Euro, currently on sale at my preferred supplier]
ASROCK 970 Pro3 R2.0 (ATX variant: 6x SATA-III, 4xDDR3-2000 MHz (64 GB), 2x PCIe 2.0, 2x PCI) [~65 Euro]
ASROCK 970M Pro3 (Micro-ATX variant: 3x SATA-III, 4xDDR3-2400 MHz (64 GB), 2x PCIe 2.0, 1x PCI) [~65 Euro]
Corsair DDR3-1866 (2x 8.0 GB) [~100 Euro]
=[~420 Euro + PSU]
If I'm not mistaken (city-sized if), this build should have a <i>somewhat</i> better CPU performance than my A10 (with bonus threads) and a graphics card that puts my other systems to shame without even trying. The CPU is the weakest point, so with this setup a new GPU for the old desktop would probably be the better way to go. Sadly, faster FXs get pricey, too and with Intel I'd probably be paying handsomely for unused GPUs. But the inclined reader and commenter may know better.
Remarks:
CPU: Though rarely in proper use, I do appreciate the extra threads my laptop has. An AMD APU doesn't get more than 4 and with Intel there is the price and the unconvincing GPU.
GPU: It looks like none of the integrated CPUs (including skylake's) can even remotely keep up with standalone GPUs. I picked this one because of the fairly low price and high performance compared to my current system. No doubt pricier models can knock the ball even further out of the park, but to what end? This GPU looks future-proof to me.
Mainboard: Please advise. I read the mainboardd selection article on this site and it seems sensible enough but still. These two are cheap, have all the important bits and pieces and no ASRock has ever died on me - yet.
I am concerned that the RAM frequency may be getting a tad low for these modern times and that the PCIe 2.0 could slow the GPU down. To be honest, I have no idea. Biggest number is best number.
Form factor: I'm genuinely thinking about trying out a smaller form factor, which would have to be micro-ATX for this mainboard/socket. It <i>should</i> be enough. My current desktop (ATX Midi tower) has just one PCI (Wireless), 2 HDDs and an optical drive, which is all it ever needed. Are there any compelling reasons to avoid the smaller form factor? Maybe the GPU might not fit, things like that?
PSU: I've left that open for now because your input might change just about everything. My current desktop uses a 550W Enermax unit which is supposedly very efficient and quiet, so that's something to I'd aim for again, even if it goes over budget a bit. Suggestions for other brands are welcome but Enermax seems to work for me (no explosions). I have seen the PSU tier list in this forum so you don't have to point me there again, thanks.
Other considerations:
- No overclocking intended (Never ever)
- Other peripherals (Mouse, keyboard, screen, storage ...) are not part of the budget
- The PC is supposed to use an SSD as primary and a Terabyte HDD for storage. From my reading 256 GB is currently at the optimum price per GB but I'm uncertain as to quality markers and brands for SSDs. Suggestions would be welcome.
- Don't worry about sourcing parts. I'm based in the EU and will find them around here somewhere. Prices usually don't differ that much, especially now that the Euro is just as worthless as the Dollar.
So there it is. As it stands I'm having trouble convincing myself but last time I came here for help with a build I came out with something completely different (see above). So I'll wait and see what you have to say.
Thank you for taking the time to read this (too much detail perhaps?) and for helping me out.
Gene
I'm thinking about building a new system and have been looking at recent(ish) hardware. But it seems my old setup has aged very well indeed, which surprised me after three years. That said I have some difficulty with current benchmarks since they tend to refer to games I have never even seen. And scores from benchmark software seem to vary wildly depending on the website.
What I currently use
Desktop:
AMD A10-5800K (4 cores, 3,8 GHz, FM2)
Radeon HD 7660D (Integrated)
ASRock FM2A75
16 GB DDR3-1866 RAM
Laptop:
i7-3630QM (8 threads, 2.4 GHz)
Intel HD4000 and NVidia NVS 5400M
16 GB RAM
Both:
OS: Windows 7 (which I'd stick to - don't like 8, want to wait with 10 until it has matured a bit)
What I do with it
Games, mostly. I'm ok with 30 FPS for virtually anything and like to run on high settings whenever I can but don't have to. Some of my 'heaviest' games (for now):
Kerbal Space Program
Team Fortress 2
Civilization V, Civ: Beyond Earth
Rome 2: Total War
This is probably quite benign by most standards but should change before long. The laptop can do everything but gets very hot, naturally. The desktop doesn't handle KSP that well and can't run Rome 2 at all. (That could also be fixed by a dedicated GPU.)
Nonetheless I want to see if it is possible to build a new PC with a moderate budget that gives a decent improvement on the current desktop's performance. If not I'll just have to put a GPU (the one below seems nice) in the 'old' desktop and find something else to tinker with. 😀 The budget would be roughly 500 Euros (~600 Dollars) for CPU, GPU, RAM, Mainboard, PSU, with generous leeway if there were significant performance gains for the extra investment
Apart from really wanting to tinker I could certainly make use of two PCs and I'm a little worried that my current setup may fold before long, extra GPU or not. That said I'm not inclined to throw a lot of money at a new system that doesn't improve much.
New system
Here's what I've come up with:
FX-6300 (3,5 GHz, 6 threads, DDR3-1866) [~100 Euro]
R9 270X (2 GB 1400 MHz GDDR5, PCIe 3.0) [~150 Euro, currently on sale at my preferred supplier]
ASROCK 970 Pro3 R2.0 (ATX variant: 6x SATA-III, 4xDDR3-2000 MHz (64 GB), 2x PCIe 2.0, 2x PCI) [~65 Euro]
ASROCK 970M Pro3 (Micro-ATX variant: 3x SATA-III, 4xDDR3-2400 MHz (64 GB), 2x PCIe 2.0, 1x PCI) [~65 Euro]
Corsair DDR3-1866 (2x 8.0 GB) [~100 Euro]
=[~420 Euro + PSU]
If I'm not mistaken (city-sized if), this build should have a <i>somewhat</i> better CPU performance than my A10 (with bonus threads) and a graphics card that puts my other systems to shame without even trying. The CPU is the weakest point, so with this setup a new GPU for the old desktop would probably be the better way to go. Sadly, faster FXs get pricey, too and with Intel I'd probably be paying handsomely for unused GPUs. But the inclined reader and commenter may know better.
Remarks:
CPU: Though rarely in proper use, I do appreciate the extra threads my laptop has. An AMD APU doesn't get more than 4 and with Intel there is the price and the unconvincing GPU.
GPU: It looks like none of the integrated CPUs (including skylake's) can even remotely keep up with standalone GPUs. I picked this one because of the fairly low price and high performance compared to my current system. No doubt pricier models can knock the ball even further out of the park, but to what end? This GPU looks future-proof to me.
Mainboard: Please advise. I read the mainboardd selection article on this site and it seems sensible enough but still. These two are cheap, have all the important bits and pieces and no ASRock has ever died on me - yet.
I am concerned that the RAM frequency may be getting a tad low for these modern times and that the PCIe 2.0 could slow the GPU down. To be honest, I have no idea. Biggest number is best number.
Form factor: I'm genuinely thinking about trying out a smaller form factor, which would have to be micro-ATX for this mainboard/socket. It <i>should</i> be enough. My current desktop (ATX Midi tower) has just one PCI (Wireless), 2 HDDs and an optical drive, which is all it ever needed. Are there any compelling reasons to avoid the smaller form factor? Maybe the GPU might not fit, things like that?
PSU: I've left that open for now because your input might change just about everything. My current desktop uses a 550W Enermax unit which is supposedly very efficient and quiet, so that's something to I'd aim for again, even if it goes over budget a bit. Suggestions for other brands are welcome but Enermax seems to work for me (no explosions). I have seen the PSU tier list in this forum so you don't have to point me there again, thanks.
Other considerations:
- No overclocking intended (Never ever)
- Other peripherals (Mouse, keyboard, screen, storage ...) are not part of the budget
- The PC is supposed to use an SSD as primary and a Terabyte HDD for storage. From my reading 256 GB is currently at the optimum price per GB but I'm uncertain as to quality markers and brands for SSDs. Suggestions would be welcome.
- Don't worry about sourcing parts. I'm based in the EU and will find them around here somewhere. Prices usually don't differ that much, especially now that the Euro is just as worthless as the Dollar.
So there it is. As it stands I'm having trouble convincing myself but last time I came here for help with a build I came out with something completely different (see above). So I'll wait and see what you have to say.
Thank you for taking the time to read this (too much detail perhaps?) and for helping me out.
Gene
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