Hello my PC friends, my last build was a Intel 1150. At the moment I don't have a pc yet. I'll have been getting the itch to build me one with DDR4 ram. I can't decided to which one to get. I could wait for AMD Zen, but I don't know is worth it or just get an Intel Skylake i5-6600. I won't be doing any overlocking for CPU. I also need an good GPU for either Nvidia or AMD. My budget would be less than $500 for CPU, GPU, motherboard and ram. Any suggestions guys? I'll be playing games at Acer 23'' inch 1080p like Battlefield 4, Hitman Absolution, GTA 5 and etc.
Get Intel Skylake or Wait for AMD Zen?
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Darkbreeze
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Since Zen is "supposedly" on par with Haswell IPC, it makes more sense to me to go with Skylake. Plus, that's not proven, and we know AMD is terribly guilty of not living up to expectations on new hardware releases. Can't really go wrong with Skylake as it's performance is exactly as seen on any of hundreds of reviews.
Zen "might" win out in price, but even that is doubtful as they have a lot of shareholder expectations to meet after the last few quarters. AMD might surprise us all, but I doubt it. I think they'll still be playing catch up for a long time to come, if they last that long.
Not too sure you can build a really worthwhile system for five bones though. Since you only outlined a need for CPU, GPU, motherboard and memory, I'll assume you already have a case, power supply and drives that you wish to reuse. What is the model of your current power supply as that might drastically affect the choice of GPU card?
Zen "might" win out in price, but even that is doubtful as they have a lot of shareholder expectations to meet after the last few quarters. AMD might surprise us all, but I doubt it. I think they'll still be playing catch up for a long time to come, if they last that long.
Not too sure you can build a really worthwhile system for five bones though. Since you only outlined a need for CPU, GPU, motherboard and memory, I'll assume you already have a case, power supply and drives that you wish to reuse. What is the model of your current power supply as that might drastically affect the choice of GPU card?
Hi Darkbreeze, yes I do have already Corsair ATX case, PC Power & Cooling ZT Series OCZ-ZT650W 650 Watt (650W) 80 Plus Bronze Fully-Modular Active PFC ATX PC Power Supply Performance Grade and Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 1TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0. My budget can go I little higher if its worth it.
Darkbreeze
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guanyu210379
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Wait or not to wait? That is the question.
Does it worth the wait? Usually yes, but until we really see Zen, nobody can tell you how it will perform.
The question revolves more on: Can you wait? Do you wanna wait? What is your current PC?
You only mentioned that your PC or exPC was based on 1150, which processor? How much RAM? What GPU? I dunno if upgrading is worth the price, since 1150 is still relatively new.
What happened with that 1150 PC, since you said you do not have any PC at the moment.
How about re-useable parts from your 1150 PC?
Feed us with more info!
Does it worth the wait? Usually yes, but until we really see Zen, nobody can tell you how it will perform.
The question revolves more on: Can you wait? Do you wanna wait? What is your current PC?
You only mentioned that your PC or exPC was based on 1150, which processor? How much RAM? What GPU? I dunno if upgrading is worth the price, since 1150 is still relatively new.
What happened with that 1150 PC, since you said you do not have any PC at the moment.
How about re-useable parts from your 1150 PC?
Feed us with more info!
Darkbreeze
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No. He said he doesn't currently have a PC. He said his LAST build was an LGA 1150 system, so since he says he doesn't currently have one, we can assume he either sold the parts, or it died. Unless something is missing from the story here.
guanyu210379
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Yes, I have the feeling that something is missing in the story.
Perhaps only the processor is broken or so.
He said his last build was on 1150, he does not have any PC anymore but he still have some parts like the PSU and HDD.
Perhaps only the processor is broken or so.
He said his last build was on 1150, he does not have any PC anymore but he still have some parts like the PSU and HDD.
Sorry guys for late reply, I sold my old pc parts like almost an year ago. I used to have Intel I5 4690K, Asus Z97 Mobo with 1866 DDR3 8GB RAM and AMD Radeon R9 270 GPU. I'm an part time tech so I used my old game rig for parts for other people. So Now I only have a ATX case, PSU, keyboard, mouse and monitor sitting on my room.
I have been seeing discounts on Skylake Processors with Mobo on Newegg. I have been debating if I should jump to next discount and build one that can last me for a few years or wait for AMD Zen. I can wait for it Zen, I don't need one right now but would like one soon.
guanyu210379
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If you really do not have any PC at the moment and need one. Skylake is your only answer, because Zen will not come any time soon this year.
For Zen, you have to wait perhaps until Q2 2017....you still have also to see how good or how bad Zen will be.
It is a wait and a gamble.
For Zen, you have to wait perhaps until Q2 2017....you still have also to see how good or how bad Zen will be.
It is a wait and a gamble.
Darkbreeze
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Plus, it's not probable that Zen will be cost effective versus Skylake anyhow. Especially not at first.
This is probably in the neighborhood of what you can reasonably expect for the price range. I did go over budget a little bit, but I am certain the extra 33 dollars is worth it considering the inclusion of an H170 ATX board over a micro-ATX board and an R9 380x over a GTX 960.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-D3H ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($33.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card ($214.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $533.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-09 13:15 EDT-0400
This is probably in the neighborhood of what you can reasonably expect for the price range. I did go over budget a little bit, but I am certain the extra 33 dollars is worth it considering the inclusion of an H170 ATX board over a micro-ATX board and an R9 380x over a GTX 960.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-D3H ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($33.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card ($214.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $533.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-09 13:15 EDT-0400
Thanks guys but what about if I choose an MSI Z170-A PRO LGA 1151 Intel Z170 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard instead of Gigabyte Mobo. Would that be an better choice? I only ask because it's on sale on newegg for $79.99 right now.
http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16813130892&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile-_-pla-_-Motherboards+-+Intel-_-N82E16813130892&gclid=CJq7toG2nM0CFYpffgodckQJ3A&gclsrc=aw.ds
http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16813130892&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile-_-pla-_-Motherboards+-+Intel-_-N82E16813130892&gclid=CJq7toG2nM0CFYpffgodckQJ3A&gclsrc=aw.ds
guanyu210379
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Mobo is nopt really importan, if you see good price, get it!
Z170 is not a must for non-k processor but if you see a good price, get it.
Z170 is not a must for non-k processor but if you see a good price, get it.
Darkbreeze
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If you can get the Z170-A Pro for 80 bucks, it's a worthwhile board. I'm not sure I'd prefer it over a Gigabyte or ASUS board, but it's fine. There's really not much point in getting a Z170 board with a locked processor though unless you plan to:
1. Get an unlocked CPU later, and overclock.
2. Run dual graphics cards in an SLI or Crossfire configuration.
3. Need a board with an M.2 slot for an M.2 drive.
4. Want a specific color scheme that you can only find on a Z170 board and not on any H170 or B150 boards.
5. Want to run RAM that is faster than DDR4 2133mhz.
If any of those things are accurate, then you might want to go with a Z170 board. For the budget though, it seems unlikely although that isn't a bad price at all on that MSI board.
1. Get an unlocked CPU later, and overclock.
2. Run dual graphics cards in an SLI or Crossfire configuration.
3. Need a board with an M.2 slot for an M.2 drive.
4. Want a specific color scheme that you can only find on a Z170 board and not on any H170 or B150 boards.
5. Want to run RAM that is faster than DDR4 2133mhz.
If any of those things are accurate, then you might want to go with a Z170 board. For the budget though, it seems unlikely although that isn't a bad price at all on that MSI board.
Well dark breeze your right I may don't need to get Z170 but if I do want to get another cpu later on I can swap it. The ram I would be getting is DDR4 2133 or 2400. I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with H170 board just wanted to ask you guys what you think with MSI board.
I only used Asus boards in the past for myself so using Gigabyte or MSI board would be my first. Either way both boards are good. I can care less about the colors of the board , M.2, over clocking ram. I just want an good board for CPU, Ram and GPU.
Darkbreeze
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Actually, I was under the impression you were referring to the Z170-A Gaming Pro. The Z170-A Pro, (Not the "Gaming Pro" model) is a pretty low end board for Z170. It's even below their PC Mate board, which is not very great quality either. I think the Gigabyte H170-D3H is likely a much higher quality board, although you won't be able to overclock on that board even with an unlocked chip.
It does however support RAM speeds up to 3466mhz, has an M.2 slot, very decent ALC1150 audio, a CPU fan header, a CPU OPT fan header (Can also be used as a watercooling header) and three system fan headers. Very decent board for the price. Honestly, I trust Gigabyte far more than MSI and in many, many years of buying boards and building systems, I've seen the highest quality on Gigabyte and ASUS boards with far fewer instances where those boards needed to be warranted as compared to the ones I've purchased for myself or clients made by ASRock or MSI. But that's up to you. Aside from SLI, full speed Crossfire and overclocking, there isn't much that Z170 offers that H170 does not.
Simply because a board is a Z170 chipset does not inherently make it better than an H170 board. They have a few more bells and whistles, but if you don't put out the cash for a good model, you're not really gaining anything with Z170 if you don't plan to overclock or run dual cards.
It does however support RAM speeds up to 3466mhz, has an M.2 slot, very decent ALC1150 audio, a CPU fan header, a CPU OPT fan header (Can also be used as a watercooling header) and three system fan headers. Very decent board for the price. Honestly, I trust Gigabyte far more than MSI and in many, many years of buying boards and building systems, I've seen the highest quality on Gigabyte and ASUS boards with far fewer instances where those boards needed to be warranted as compared to the ones I've purchased for myself or clients made by ASRock or MSI. But that's up to you. Aside from SLI, full speed Crossfire and overclocking, there isn't much that Z170 offers that H170 does not.
Simply because a board is a Z170 chipset does not inherently make it better than an H170 board. They have a few more bells and whistles, but if you don't put out the cash for a good model, you're not really gaining anything with Z170 if you don't plan to overclock or run dual cards.
Darkbreeze
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Well, maybe you should buy it and do a review on it. Generally, when a board model has NO, ZERO, Zilch, professional reviews, it's because the review sites feel it's not even worth the expense of dipping into their funding to obtain and review, AND, the board manufacturer knows it's not going to do well in reviews so they don't send any samples out to reviewers for fear of bad publicity. Any board that doesn't have ANY reviews from a reputable review site, should be avoided in my opinion.
Further, a lot of people have had the same thing to say about the PC Mate boards, but I've had about twenty five threads this month, myself, that all dealt with one form of failure or another on a PC Mate board. Those boards are low quality, poor quality control (Which has always been the case with MSI) and "Military grade components" tells me absolutely nothing. In fact, it's senseless. The military has nothing whatsoever to do with the materials used on motherboards and I can assure you that there are NO branches of the military that sit around building custom computers using boards made by MSI, or any other board manufacturers for that matter.
Having a warranty is great, since they ALL do, but personally, I'd prefer to pay my hard earned money for a board I'm not likely to NEED to use the warranty on. Warranty is fine and dandy when it's needed, but you still have to pay to ship it to them and you are out the use of your system until you get it back. If they determine it's failure wasn't caused by you. And the chances are very good with these cheaper MSI boards, not that MSI doesn't also have very good quality boards, because they do, but the low end MSI boards have high, very high, failure rates.
Further, a lot of people have had the same thing to say about the PC Mate boards, but I've had about twenty five threads this month, myself, that all dealt with one form of failure or another on a PC Mate board. Those boards are low quality, poor quality control (Which has always been the case with MSI) and "Military grade components" tells me absolutely nothing. In fact, it's senseless. The military has nothing whatsoever to do with the materials used on motherboards and I can assure you that there are NO branches of the military that sit around building custom computers using boards made by MSI, or any other board manufacturers for that matter.
Having a warranty is great, since they ALL do, but personally, I'd prefer to pay my hard earned money for a board I'm not likely to NEED to use the warranty on. Warranty is fine and dandy when it's needed, but you still have to pay to ship it to them and you are out the use of your system until you get it back. If they determine it's failure wasn't caused by you. And the chances are very good with these cheaper MSI boards, not that MSI doesn't also have very good quality boards, because they do, but the low end MSI boards have high, very high, failure rates.
Darkbreeze
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But that IS their most basic board. It's even cheaper than the PC Mate board. They don't have any lower tiered Z170 boards than that one, from what I'm seeing.
As a matter of fact, that is the lowest tiered Z170 board according to cost of ANY of the manufacturers that sell Z170 boards as listed on PCPP.
As a matter of fact, that is the lowest tiered Z170 board according to cost of ANY of the manufacturers that sell Z170 boards as listed on PCPP.
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