Upgrading PC for Black friday

[sporemasterjw]

So this black friday I plan to upgrade my CPU, MOBO, and GPU. I have a budget of ~$500.
If possible I would like to get an r9 390 as the GPU. I currently have a 500w psu but I can upgrade that in the next few weeks. I have done some research and I am torn between a few options. I have considered both a i5-4690k and an i5-6600 (Not overclockable). I have ddr3 ram and ddr4 wont be in my budget until my next paycheck after black friday. Would i be able to use my ddr3 stick with skylake until I can swap out for ddr4? Also will my ~1 year old 500w PSU be able to handle this load until I can upgrade closer to christmas? I dont really care much about the Mobo as long as its pci 3.0 and had 4 ram slots and has fairly good ratings.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2DZs23

This is where im at right now before black friday sales assuming I dont NEED ddr4 and a new psu, and I can swap them out in the next few weeks. Does anyone have some suggestions on how to improve this? Ex: would a i5 4690k be better if I watercool it later on an OC, rather than the locked 6600?

I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. Thanks for all the info in advance.

 

[Archaic59]

DDR3 and 4 are not interchangeable. You can get a Skylake board that supports DDR3 but you'll be stuck with it. Skylake with DDR4 and R9 390 is going to run you $700 and a PSU of 600 watts or more is recommended. I don't see the value of spending money for older Haswell parts. Your 500 watt PSU can handle a GTX 970 with the other upgrades, if it's a decent quality PSU.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nPpsTW

 

[guanyu210379]

You wanna OC or not? If you do not wanna to OC, I would consider getting E3-1231V3 instead of i5 6500.
The difference between DDR3 and DDR4 is very ignore-able, if you have already DDR3, reusing is more effective.
Info: E3-1231V3 is for normal user practically an i7 4790 without the iGPU and it has almost the same price as i5 4690k.

R9 390 will need around 550W minimum, yes, you need a PSU upgrade for R9 390. To leave some room, I would recommend to get 600-650W.
If you wanna keep your 500W PSU, get the equivalent of R9 390 from nVidia, that is the GTX970.

If you keep your PSU and DDR3 RAM, you will have to buy only a GTX970, an E3-1231V3 and the appropriate mobo.

 

[sporemasterjw]

You wanna OC or not? If you do not wanna to OC, I would consider getting E3-1231V3 instead of i5 6500.
The difference between DDR3 and DDR4 is very ignore-able, if you have already DDR3, reusing is more effective.
Info: E3-1231V3 is for normal user practically an i7 4790 without the iGPU and it has almost the same price as i5 4690k.

R9 390 will need around 550W minimum, yes, you need a PSU upgrade for R9 390. To leave some room, I would recommend to get 600-650W.
If you wanna keep your 500W PSU, get the equivalent of R9 390 from nVidia, that is the GTX970.

If you keep your PSU and DDR3 RAM, you will have to buy only a GTX970, an E3-1231V3 and the appropriate mobo.

I heard that the 970s performance dipps drastically after 3.5 GB of ram usage. But if that's not true I will consider it. Also I researched that xeon and according to CPU boss its on par with the 4690k but I don't think its unlocked. Also with the skylake can I switch out boards. Later to move to ddr4?

 

[guanyu210379]

If you are not going to OC, you do not need unlocked processor-
i5 6500 is also locked, just like E3-1231V3.
Here, you must first make up your mind. OC or no OC.

DDR3 and DDR4 choice has almost no influence in performance. Not one single bit you can notice.
Skylake and Haswell are also only about 5% performance different, not noticeable in daily life especially on gaming.
If you have already DDR3 RAM, Hasswell is thus the budget friendlier.
I see no need more investment unless you want Skylake+DDR4 really bad and can afford it.

Yes, GTX970 will dip around 30-40% less if the VRAM usage exceeds 3.5GB. But this is not very likely to happen on 1080p/1200p.
On 1440p, both GTX970 and R9 390 are really on limit with R9 390 being the slightly better choice.
GTX980Ti or Fury X is the better choice for 1440p anyway.
If someone starts ranting about DX12, just ignore it. By the time DX12 became mainstream, you are already looking at newer and better GPU.

In my opinion to save money, put Skylake aside and consider only Hasswell.
However, consider carefully between E3-1231V3 and i5 4690k, some games can already gain advantage over more threads. Both have their own advantages. Your mobo choice will be effected too.
If your 500W PSU is already from a good quality, again to save money, GTX970 is not a bad choice. This way you can keep your PSU. GTX970 and R9 390 are equals anyway with their own pros and cons.
If your PSU is not good and you need to replace it anyhow, both GTX970 and R9 390 will serve equally well.
Note: if you plan to OC both the processor and GPU, you need to replace the PSU, even with GTX970.