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Bluefalcon13

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2008
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
Looking at possibly getting one of the following systems from microcenter:

6700k w/ asus maximus VIII hero ~360
7600k w/ asus rog strix z270 ~$340
Something I am not aware of? needs to be board + cpu in ~$350 range (USD)

or, my original plan, wait for ryzen 1400x (~320-350 estimated based on mobo prices, and leaked CPU prices).

So my current downside is that I am basically without a desktop at the moment as either all my parts are selling or will be sold in short order. Ryzen 1400x is going to be released later, and the current line up that is pending release is looking to be out of my price range. Overall, I really want a board that supports NVME M.2 drives, and has a minimum of 4C, prefer 8T total. Desktop usage will be for all of the following:

-Gaming
-Virtual machines
-coding
-electrical engineering programs for school (ltspice, matlab, python w/ scipy, etc)
-and my favorite: writing papers (lab reports)

Right now I have a Lenovo Yoga 910 (i7-7500u, 16gb ram, 512gb nvme SSD) which has ample power for everything but gaming, and some serious VM work (only 2 cores, 4 threads). VM stuff isnt critical for now either. Gaming is important, as it is my favorite down time activity, but right now down time is a rare thing between EE classes, and kids and all that. With the 4C/8T Ryzen CPUs coming later, and the current microcenter bundles I am seriously considering a switch to Intel, and wasn't sure what to look for. I'm pretty sure either the i5 or the i7 could meet my needs, but I would really prefer the extra threads for feeding hungry VMs. native linux compatibility would be a huge plus in a board as well, cause I could just dual boot off one of my 2.5 inch SSDs then.

So what do you all think I should do? I have a 140.2 custom loop that should fit on on either platform from intel, as well as a CM Hyper 212 evo. Should I go with the newer i5, or is there a sufficient board with good support that I could squeeze into an acceptable price range for the 7700k? I know I have heard intel overclocking is much more forgiving than AMD FX based systems. I know the IPC increase for the 7XXX series is negligable, and wont be doing any extreme overclocking. What should I look for as far as decent DDR4 is concerned? I want a minimum of 16gb, and not looking to spend a fortune on the upgrade.

Thanks in advance,
BlueFalcon
 
DDR4 3000-3200 is about where any usable gains peter out, and G. Skill has some nice cl 14 kits there (my sig). I haven't missed my FX at all since building the Skylake rig. It screams in comparison, and is just fast at everything. If the KL i5 and SL i7 are your options I'd go for the 6700k myself. That chip will easily hit the 7600k speeds and HT as a nice bonus. Mine runs 4.5 at stock voltage, everything on auto. The build in my sig does everything I want, all at the same time if I want with no perceptible performance penalty. This is my first build with no Team Red parts, and now I see what the Intel guys were talking about. LOL I wouldn't recommend my motherboard, though. It has some issues that apparently are common to the model.
 
Odd... Microcenter's Intel bundle page shows $360 for the maximus viii hero + 6700k, but if I add it to my cart it's $425 and the board has a $15 mail in rebate. I know I can be tarded on math, but that doesn't add up :/

At that price, it's not really cheaper than the 7700k, which is really outta the price range I want to buy at. It's looking more like either the 7600k, or a different board for the 6700k. Maybe I'll be sitting on this to see if Intel offers a better deal after the reviews start hitting for Ryzen.

 
Most of the time prices/bundles at Microcenter are for walk-in and aren't cheaper online.
 
Odd... Microcenter's Intel bundle page shows $360 for the maximus viii hero + 6700k, but if I add it to my cart it's $425 and the board has a $15 mail in rebate. I know I can be tarded on math, but that doesn't add up :/

At that price, it's not really cheaper than the 7700k, which is really outta the price range I want to buy at. It's looking more like either the 7600k, or a different board for the 6700k. Maybe I'll be sitting on this to see if Intel offers a better deal after the reviews start hitting for Ryzen.

Imo go with the 7700k and grab a asus Prime z270 -A or AR

Really good board, there is really no point in spending all the extra on the hero imo. Unless there is some feature on the hero you just can't live without.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/473025/PRIME_Z270-AR_LGA_1151_ATX_Intel_Motherboard

That would drop your price about 120-140 bucks. I have one of them in one of my builds and tbh it is a fantastic board.
 
Imo go with the 7700k and grab a asus Prime z270 -A or AR

Really good board, there is really no point in spending all the extra on the hero imo. Unless there is some feature on the hero you just can't live without.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/473025/PRIME_Z270-AR_LGA_1151_ATX_Intel_Motherboard

That would drop your price about 120-140 bucks. I have one of them in one of my builds and tbh it is a fantastic board.

I was looking at that board when you replied. I donno... it's still a bit high on where I wanted my price range, and sitting at $425 before tax. I am on the fence on this right now... It looks like a nice board. I just wanted to stay a bit cheaper than what I am seeing cost wise. What do you think about the Z170 version of this board? That might fit my budget better with a 6700K.

Edit: looks like I would just save myself ~$30. Not sure if that is really worth it. Looking at getting all this on microcenter credit, for the 0% interest, then paying a large chunk of it off with my old parts sales. If I sell my laptop, then I'm looking at somewhere in the realm of $500 paid off, but need to pickup the following:

CPU/Mobo (would like to keep this around 350-400)
16gb DDR4
RX480

I would love to barely kiss the $800 price point to get 12 months interest free, then have 12 months to pay off the excess $300. Also would love 512gb nvme m.2 drive but I think that last part is a pipe-dream. Cheapest I saw at microcenter was an Intel 600 series and from reviews it didn't look that great :O
 
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hmmm... looks like it could work after all. list I am looking at right now:

7700k - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0472529
Asus Prime Z270-AR - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0473025
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8gb) - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0458668
Asus Radeon RX480 8gb - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0473929

Little iffy on the RAM, but they dont have much in the way of gskill at microcenter
 
hmmm... looks like it could work after all. list I am looking at right now:

7700k - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0472529
Asus Prime Z270-AR - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0473025
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8gb) - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0458668
Asus Radeon RX480 8gb - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0473929

Little iffy on the RAM, but they dont have much in the way of gskill at microcenter

http://www.microcenter.com/product/474187/16GB_8GB_x_2_DDR4-3000_PC4-24000_Desktop_Memory_Kit

Is the Ram they kept trying to sale me on and I thought after getting 2 bads ones that they were junk, but luckily after getting a higher dollar ram I still had the issue.. turned out to be the first cpu I got was bad.

Anyways ya the ryzen stuff sounds good in theory, but I am still on the fence waiting for actual reliable benchmarks. I have a feeling it might not overclock that well and some of the test on it were against stock intel cpus which one those models would only boost the first 2 cores and not the others.. so the test wasn't exactly an apple to apple test.

Either way you decide though the 6700 and 7700k are both great chips.


Also for reference that intel 6 series might not be as high end as other pci-e m.2's which are 3x the cost, but it smokes a regular ssd just the same. I have a 840 pro samsung that is 512gb and the m.2 is much faster. I would say twice as fast if my samsung benchmark tool was accurate. I am literally just using it for a game drive and the loads times are stupid fast.
 
Yeah, I don't need 16 threads for what I do... That's my big hang up on the ones they are releasing right now. I'd love to throw my money at AMD, but I really don't need their initial release choices. Think they would've been better off releasing one of each or something. But not my call.

Just looked up my second hand water block. Gonna need a new one of those. The basic CM Hyper 212 Evo has the right mount for lga1151 right? I'll probably run that for the time being and worry bout the water block later.

Good to hear on the Intel 6-series ssd. Kinda spoiled with my Lenovo Yoga 910: it has an OEM Sammy nvme drive. It's stupid fast.

 
If you are ok with just a decent water block they can be found for just a little more than the h212.

http://www.swiftech.com/ApogeeXL2.aspx

and i'm sure you can get them cheaper from other online outlets. Just something to consider.

Newegg is showing about 32 for a new h212 and that block is 42.. so not a huge stretch finacially. Micro has the EK one for 50 it looks like too.

Just throwing out options as the h212 is starting to get dated and the 7700k's love to run hot. Hottest chip i've owned actually
 
If you are ok with just a decent water block they can be found for just a little more than the h212.

http://www.swiftech.com/ApogeeXL2.aspx

and i'm sure you can get them cheaper from other online outlets. Just something to consider.

Newegg is showing about 32 for a new h212 and that block is 42.. so not a huge stretch finacially. Micro has the EK one for 50 it looks like too.

Just throwing out options as the h212 is starting to get dated and the 7700k's love to run hot. Hottest chip i've owned actually
I already have e the 212 Evo from when my H80 went tits up [emoji14]

0 cost there, I know it's oldish, bit I'll work at stock (which should still be an upgrade compared to the FX I just sold today). Plan was to buy the block another day, with cash. Got the pump, res, rad, tubing, fittings, and rad fans (noctura ippc 3000 140mm x2, works great with my 30fpi 280 rad).

 
Im sure the evo will do fine at stock, just stay away from p95 with it.. you will break 90c with it i'm sure. Then again maybe your TIM and IHS will make better contact than mine... Im running a overkill water cool system and still seeing higher temps than I like. Probably going to delid soon, just trying to work up the nerve to order the rockit88 :-D
 
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