Help Choosing cpu/mobo for new Build

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Gastricbasilisk

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Aug 22, 2015
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Hey guys, I'm currently upgrading my pc and looking for some advise to guide me in the right path. Sorry if this is a little long, but I have a few questions. I currently have an ancient Amd phenom system that desperately needs an upgrade. I'm primarily upgrading for VR and looking to build beyond the recommended oculus rift specs on a skylake platform in order to future proof my pc. I already have all my components purchased except the cpu and motherboard. I originally planned to get the 6600k with a z170 chipset to overclock. I purchased a set of G skill 3000 mhz ddr4 and have all the rest of my parts. Since then, the skylake chips sky rocketed in price and are now sitting around $400 after shipping/taxes for a 6600k. I can save almost $100 by going with a non-k 6600 and even more with an h170 board. I've done some research and the h170 can only use 2133 mhz ram, so my 3000 kit I bought can't be used to its full potential. Furthermore, there are less pcie lanes in the h170 compared to the z170. I'm thinking maybe my best bet now is to go with a non-k skylake and dump the extra $200 into a graphics card. What do you guys think? Will my performance be hindered by less lanes and slower speeds on my ram? I've found various benchmarks showing ddr4 ram speed significantly effects gaming performance. Should I go with a 6600k and a gtx 970 with the 3000 mhz ram, or go the non-k with a gtx 980 and slower ram? Looking for best bang for my buck in this scenario.
 
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DonkeyOatie
I wasn't thinking of the used parts market, but building your old parts into a good new system for school ,business, or lighter gaming, someone else could use.

Yes (I think so) I have a Z97 board and can use 2400Mhz DDr3 on a locked i5 or i5 or a G3258 Pentium which normally cannot handle memory that fast.

Overclocking gives comparatively little for the more powerful chips.

It's Haswell data, but this is what I got from my work over the summer.


Data from this system

G3258 memory, GPU and overclocking http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2706290/g3258-memory-overclocking-project-reults.html

i5 4690K memory, overclocking, and GPU data http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2719471/4690k-memory-overclocking-project-results.html...
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Gastricbasilisk

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Aug 22, 2015
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Chances are I won't really be able to sell the old parts for any significant money. I might get $60 for the older cpu/mobo if I'm lucky. There just isn't much of a used market where I live to sell old parts. If I put a 6600 in a z board, does that give me the ability to unlock the xmp for 3000 mhz? I could maybe look at getting a decent quality budget z board like the Asus z170-A or something. Does overclocking a 6600k offer that much more performance over a stock 6600? I know the 6600 turbo's to 3.9 so my thoughts are that an overclock on a 6600k might be minimal.
 
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DonkeyOatie

DonkeyOatie

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Sep 16, 2014
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I wasn't thinking of the used parts market, but building your old parts into a good new system for school ,business, or lighter gaming, someone else could use.

Yes (I think so) I have a Z97 board and can use 2400Mhz DDr3 on a locked i5 or i5 or a G3258 Pentium which normally cannot handle memory that fast.

Overclocking gives comparatively little for the more powerful chips.

It's Haswell data, but this is what I got from my work over the summer.


Data from this system

G3258 memory, GPU and overclocking http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2706290/g3258-memory-overclocking-project-reults.html

i5 4690K memory, overclocking, and GPU data http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2719471/4690k-memory-overclocking-project-results.html

G3258 4130 4690K comparison http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2761496/4130-4ghz-memory-testing-pentium-comparison-results.html

Haswells vs synthetic benchmarks, G3258, i3 4130, 4690K, Xeon 1231v3 http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2791401/xeon-1231v3-haswells-synthetic-benchmarks-science-fair.html



It shows the benefits of overclocking and faster memory for synthetic benchmarks. Good for calculation, more modest for gaming.
 
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Gastricbasilisk

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Aug 22, 2015
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Thank you very much! This is exactly the kind of data I was looking for. Very good job and very thorough! It appears my original thoughts carry more weight. A cpu overclock is minimal for gaming, while a faster GPU and memory have more impact. Cross referencing this data with other skylake data I have found leads me into trying for a z170 board to unlock the xmp, I'll grab a non-k cpu and dump the extra ~$150-$200 into a better GPU. I can overclock the GPU using MSI afterburner and should yield better results for the limited budget. Thank you again!
 
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