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~$600 entry-to-mid range upgrade

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Hitbox

Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Location
Miami, FL
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.98 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: These are my top contenders:
Gigabyte GA-AX370-Gaming K5 ATX AM4 ($169.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Asus PRIME X370-PRO ATX AM4 ($158.49 @ SuperBiiz)
MSI B350M GAMING PRO Micro ATX AM4 ($69.99 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Thinking of buying the other components now and use my 4870 till around mid-May, to see what Vega is about and wait for significant price reduction in the 1060/RX480.
Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 8GB G1 Gaming ($219.98 @ Newegg)
EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING ($209.99 @ Newegg)

Original Post:

Hello everyone. I'm back from a looong hiatus looking for some recommendations on a core component refresh. Well, I spilled coffee on the gf's open air HTPC :chair:. Instead of replacing the LGA775 board for her casual gaming, she'll get my current rig and she'll get my current 775 board.

My main PC use is Dota 2, get around 30-40 FPS with every graphical setting turned off. I also have a few other games like GTAV which I can't even play and bioshock infinite which runs at 20-30 FPS with visuals way down.

I'd like to turn on graphic settings for once in a game and play at 1920x1080. Occasionally I open some photoshop documents or run a virtual machine for development but those are just ubuntu server environments. Ideally I hope to be able to play and stream, too. Overclocking is not a must as I've forgotten everything and I'm more interested in component longevity, but would consider a slight OC if it's a reasonable improvement.

Have peripherals, monitors, cases, just want to spend around $600 USD on the core components. I prefer newegg for their customer service but would consider other retailers or possibly the classifieds.
 
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If you are going for low speed, locked Intel CPUs with Mobo's that cannot overclock, I would strongly recommend looking at the Ryzen 5 1500x (4c/8t) and something similar like either a high end B350 Mobo, or a low end x370. I'd lean towards the Asus Prime if you need a decent onboard audio solution.

Just a thought.
 
Thanks for the thought. What do you think about this combo? https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.3468072

1x AMD RYZEN 5 1500X 4-Core 3.5 GHz (3.7 GHz Turbo) Socket AM4 65W YD150XBBAEBOX Desktop Processor (Model:YD150XBBAEBOX) $189.99
1x ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS AM4 AMD B350 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 HDMI ATX Motherboards - AMD (Model:pRIME B350-PLUS) $99.99
1x G.SKILL FORTIS Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) AMD X370 / B350 / A320 Memory (Desktop Memory) Model F4-2400C15D-16GFT (Model:F4-2400C15D-16GFT) $107.99

It puts me at $640. Does B350-PLUS count as a high end B350? It seems like it's an overclocking friendly board, too. So if I want to add an aftermarket cpu cooler, maybe an M.2 drive in the future, this board should be a keeper.
 
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That board combo looks great. You won't have any problem overclocking a 4 core with that motherboard.
 
Looking good. Thats going to be night and day compared to what you were running previously.

It all looks pretty decent. You might be able to shave a few bucks off here and there if you look for sales. Corsair CX 500 goes on sale for ~$35 pretty often.

I tried to beat that combo, and while I could save you $20 on the mobo, the combo discount basically evens that out, so not really worth it.
 
If you can find a rx580 cheaper, consider that over the 480. That said, you may be able to flash the rx480 to a rx580, assuming there is enough power delivery. A reference rx480 won't work.


Otherwise, I think you would be very happy with that purchase. If i had to guess, its about....130-160% overall faster. Possibly even higher in the cpu department.

The ONLY thing i don't like about that combo is the mobo itself, the chipset. But for your purposes, It will do the job.
 
Lots to consider! I'm definitely going to keep reading all I can before pulling the trigger, thanks for the help.

I read something about current state of intel vs amd, and it sounds like the LGA 1151 socket is on it's way out while the AM4 socket is relatively new. Plus the introduction of Ryzen and X370 is worth looking at. So the idea here is to get a higher end board now so I can take advantage of any deals on upgrades in the next couple of years. Again, it's all tentative at this point.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-AX370-Gaming K5 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($169.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB SC GAMING Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($35.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $619.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-23 22:46 EDT-0400
 
Lots to consider! I'm definitely going to keep reading all I can before pulling the trigger, thanks for the help.

I read something about current state of intel vs amd, and it sounds like the LGA 1151 socket is on it's way out while the AM4 socket is relatively new. Plus the introduction of Ryzen and X370 is worth looking at. So the idea here is to get a higher end board now so I can take advantage of any deals on upgrades in the next couple of years. Again, it's all tentative at this point.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-AX370-Gaming K5 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($169.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB SC GAMING Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($35.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $619.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-23 22:46 EDT-0400

In 2-4 years the won't be anything worthwhile to upgrade to unless the upgrade is just for the fun of it like I do. I upgraded my i5 2500k from 2011 for i5 6600k in 2016 for only 25% improvement.
 
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Knowing AMD trends Id say socket AM4 has a nice future ahead of it. It took them years longer than it should have, but they finally merged the CPU and APU platforms, so there should be LOTS of new chips released over the next couple years.
 
Hitbox, Just so you are aware, the gtx 1060 can NOT be placed in sli. And the 3gig card WILL bottleneck some games today(gta 5 is one). If you are going to go 1060, get the 6 gig card to give yourself a bit more breathing room.

That said, The RX480 performs at the same level on average; some games the 1060 performs better, other games the rx480 performs better. The best part, is they both play everything well enough for 1080P, so they are interchangeable. go with the better deal.

As for 1151 platform; this is average intel. 1156, to 1150, to 1151. The more stable intel platform is lga 2011, and even that has seen some revision. 2011v3.

Amd has been am3+ for a good long while, and now finally am4.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150774&cm_re=rx480-_-14-150-774-_-Product - 189.99 After MIR, literally a steal at that price.(same exact card as mine)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...4487280&cm_re=gtx_1060-_-14-487-280-_-Product - 219.99 After MIR, 6 gig version.
 
Didn't want to make a new post for the same build so I updated original post with feedback.
 
I smashed the buy button! Here's what I went with:

GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K3 (rev. 1.0) AM4 AMD X370 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD RYZEN 5 1500X 4-Core 3.5 GHz (3.7 GHz Turbo) Socket AM4 65W YD150XBBAEBOX Desktop Processor

CORSAIR CX-M Series CX550M 550W 80 PLUS BRONZE Haswell Ready ATX12V & EPS12V Semi-Modular Power Supply

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 8GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model CMK8GX4M1A2400C16

I went with the K3 to save a little money, since it was still an x370 board like the K5 sans one extra PCI express slot. Hopefully this board gets decent support so if in the future I want to add a better Ryzen, use all RAM lanes, overclock, I can.

Absent is the video card of course. I'll stick with my trusted 4870 for a few more weeks while I monitor deals for a 1060 6B or a 480 8GB. It's a lot of work sifting through newegg reviews.
 
I smashed the buy button! Here's what I went with:

GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K3 (rev. 1.0) AM4 AMD X370 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD RYZEN 5 1500X 4-Core 3.5 GHz (3.7 GHz Turbo) Socket AM4 65W YD150XBBAEBOX Desktop Processor

CORSAIR CX-M Series CX550M 550W 80 PLUS BRONZE Haswell Ready ATX12V & EPS12V Semi-Modular Power Supply

CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 8GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model CMK8GX4M1A2400C16

I went with the K3 to save a little money, since it was still an x370 board like the K5 sans one extra PCI express slot. Hopefully this board gets decent support so if in the future I want to add a better Ryzen, use all RAM lanes, overclock, I can.

Absent is the video card of course. I'll stick with my trusted 4870 for a few more weeks while I monitor deals for a 1060 6B or a 480 8GB. It's a lot of work sifting through newegg reviews.
I've been pretty happy with my 480. I'll dig out the link for it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-150-774

Wow. The price jumped a bit on this one. I paid $220 within the last 90 days (approximately 1 week after the Ryzen 7 launch)
 
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