New Workstation Build

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palmtreehugger

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Feb 1, 2018
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I'm thinking about building a new workstation. Full ATX, Thinking about a i7-6700K. What I want is fast speed and the ability to run a number of programs at once. No gaming. Don't want top of the line or cost. What are good solid choices for a MB and processor. Clock speed should be about 4. Help me with possible parts list. Going to run Win 7 Ultimate. I hate 8 and 10. I have the storage drives and video card already. What to use DDR4 memory. looks like the i7-7700k is cheaper than the 6700k.
 
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velocityg4


- If you build a new system. You have to use DDR4. DDR3 is not compatible.

- You already have a good CPU. Since you want an appreciably faster CPU and will need to buy new RAM. There is no cheap option.

- If 16GB is enough for you then you need 16GB. Going by...
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Based on current pricing. A Core i5-8600K is considerably cheaper and faster than a Core i7-6700k. Doesn't matter if you are comparing single core, multi-core, price, default clock rate or overclocked. The i5-8600K beats it on all counts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($256.79 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($140.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $432.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-01 11:28 EST-0500
 
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In that case even a Ryzen 1200 would do fine. An SSD will make more of a difference for you than any fast CPU ever will. Probably a lot of RAM if you have lots of open tabs in Google Chrome. One of my clients uses 19GB RAM just for Google Chrome with tons of open tabs.
 
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The drives I have are SSD. I just want real fast speed and enough power to have a dozen things open at once.
I have a i7-2600k @3.4 now so what ever the new one is it has to be faster than this.
 
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I don't know your usage patterns. Since you say a lot of stuff open. I'll think Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Chrome (with 50+ tabs), Quickbooks, online backup, iTunes, Spotify, &c. In which case you can soar past 16GB RAM. Something like this would probably last you a good long while.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($256.79 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($140.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $762.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-01 11:36 EST-0500
 
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Let me restate this. I currently am running a i7-2600 3.4ghz with 16gb of ddr3 ram and Windows 7 Ultimate. The hard drives are all SSD. What I would like to build is something that's faster and more powerful as far as running many open tabs at a time. I don't game. I do have many programs running at a time though. I want a full ATX platform. What would be a great combo of CPU and MB that would do it for me without spending a fortune? Will DDR4 be a help and how much of it?
 
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- If you build a new system. You have to use DDR4. DDR3 is not compatible.

- You already have a good CPU. Since you want an appreciably faster CPU and will need to buy new RAM. There is no cheap option.

- If 16GB is enough for you then you need 16GB. Going by what you describe you will want 32GB. If not now soon. It is always a bit dicey upgrading RAM. It is better to get what you think you will need now.

- If you want a new computer. You need Windows 10 or Linux. There are no drivers for the last two generations of Intel CPU for Windows 7. Maybe you can find some work around or hack to get it to work. Otherwise you'll have to look at old Broadwell-E systems and the X99 chipset. Which will cost more than Coffee Lake and aren't as fast.

- If you can live with Windows 10 the build above will work.
 
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Solution
That doesn't sound like a workstation you are looking at but a normal desktop PC. You could by this prebuilt and save time if you don't want to build yourself. You don't need enhancements to run desktop types things like accounting software or web browsing. You already have SSDs as well so a 2600k is still a solid ordinary desktop PC already although dated. There isn't much point tying to pick between things like Core i5 vs Core i7 or this motherboard vs that motherboard because you aren't doing anything that requires high performance. A nice new PC would be:

- 8th gen Intel Core i5 or Ryzen 5. They come with CPU coolers. 8th gen i5 is faster than Ryzens in general. Newer.
- 8GB of RAM or 16GB if you need it. DDR4 only.
- Whatever Z370 (Intel) board or B350 (AMD) that looks nicest to you
- Tier 1-3 gold rated power supply
- GT1030 graphics card if you want better graphics performance non-gaming like 4K video
- Whatever case you like the look of most
- Windows 10 home or pro if you need domains or Bitlocker.
- Bring the SSDs over from the old system. Clean install Windows 10. M.2 would not give you performance gains.
 
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Core i5 8th gen (Coffee Lake) build and everything else from the list I posted. The only thing that really matters is the CPU selection and the 8th gen i5 is the snappiest CPU. Core i5 8400 or 8600k would be great. Anything like i7 or i9 will be unnecessary. Ryzen or 7th Gen Core i5/i7 are about 10% slower than 8th gen i5, but would still be a good upgrade from 2nd gen i7 that you have.
 
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