Looking to upgrade my gaming rig's CPU from a Phenom II X6 6 core at 2.8 GHz with motherboard to boot

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billylouis

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Nov 24, 2015
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I'm looking to upgrade my PC from an AMD Phenom II X6 with 6 cores at 2.8 GHz to an intel CPU (I obviously need a new motherboard too). I already have a GTX 970 so I won't be upgrading that for a while and I might get an SSD too, so any suggestions for that would also be very helpful. The only intensive thing I'll do is gaming. I want the CPU and motherboard (and SSD) to stay under $600 CDN, but a bit over would be okay. Any suggestions?
 
Solution
uguv
I assume this is for gaming and that you'll also need DDR4 ram.

Option 1 - Less expensive, i5, no overclocking:
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/pXNmXL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/pXNmXL/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($258.21 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($85.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.25 @ Vuugo)
Total: $551.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-08 12:52 EDT-0400


Option 2 - more expensive, i5...
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uguv

uguv

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Jan 2, 2008
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I assume this is for gaming and that you'll also need DDR4 ram.

Option 1 - Less expensive, i5, no overclocking:
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/pXNmXL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/pXNmXL/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($258.21 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($85.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.25 @ Vuugo)
Total: $551.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-08 12:52 EDT-0400


Option 2 - more expensive, i5, allows overclocking:
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/K7FVK8
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/K7FVK8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($304.95 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($39.95 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($115.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($85.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.25 @ Vuugo)
Total: $664.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-08 12:54 EDT-0400


Option 3 - more expensive, i7, no overclocking
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/nFdxyc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/nFdxyc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($398.25 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($85.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.25 @ Vuugo)
Total: $691.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-08 12:56 EDT-0400

For the non-overclocking options you could go with a cheaper H110 or B150 motherboard to save a little bit if you don't mind losing some features. The ASRock H170M Pro4S is the cheapest board with 4 slots for ram if you want to expand in the future.
 
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Solution
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,338
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Your Canadian prices are daunting :(
I see two options for the cpu.

1. I3-6100 will play most games very well with a GTX970.
Here is a recent article that shows what it can do:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10543/the-skylake-core-i3-51w-cpu-review-i3-6320-6300-6100-tested
Most any lga1151 motherboard will do. If you can opt for a Z170 motherboard you will have a good upgrade path to a I5-6600K.

2. Bypass the cheaper unlocked I5 options and buy a I5-6600K with a z170 motherboard. There is a 10% price premium, but you can get a 30% cpu performance boost with overclocking.
As of 5/2016
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.40v Vcore.

I5-6600K
5.0 2%
4.9 11%
4.8 36%
4.7 64%
4.6 88%

I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
120gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games. If you can go 240gb, or 500gb you may never need a hard drive.

I would defer on the hard drive unless you need to store large files such as video's.
It is easy to add a hard drive later.
Samsung EVO is a good choice.
 
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