Audley's Upgrade Build Project

[Spock]

What kind of things are you planning to render? RTPT?

[Audley]

I initially shied away from Skylake CPUs but since the one I have now purchased (Core i5-6600) was only AU$10 more than a Core i5-4690 I figured I can now get better performance from DDR4 RAM. So check around you may just find some specials on the latest chips, especially if you get the non-K variants (ie. not good for over-clocking)

 

Is your current monitor really in need of an upgrade? Seems like a reasonable monitor to me and you get to save $100.

 

Your RAM, is that 1x16GB, 2x8GB or 4x4GB? It looks like a good price to me. I would need to pay close to AU$200 for that. Way above exchange rate markups.

 

Check out the Toshiba HDDs if you can. I read good reports about them and they were much cheaper than the WD/Seagate options.

The monitor in my list isn't an upgrade - it is to add on the monitor I already have as it's the exact same model. ;) 

 

The RAM is 2x8GB and it is a really good looking set. I did not pick Corsair or G.Skill because I don't like the look of their ram modules. I love the look of Kingston RAM for whatever reason.

 

Thanks for the tips on the promo codes DY. :)

[Greg]

I agree that staying away from on-board GPUs is a very good idea, but does anyone use sound cards any more?

[GrantSP]

When I started my search I asked that very question and was reliably informed that the onboard sound is good enough these days to be all we need for gaming.

There used to be issues with interference from components on the MB but that isn't the case anymore. End result == no need for another expansion card.

[phazer11]

Dude. First off what happened to the $800 budget you gave me the other day? I thought you were going to be frugal with it. This is the build in case you lost it: Link.

I told you before there is no point in upgrading your cpu or motherboard.

Unless you're wanting an i7 in which case your board is probably still fine (you said your build is from last year). I doubt skylake will be worth the upgrade.

If you insist on spending more money at least be sensible about it I'll add a few things in a separate build.

Also sorry I haven't been in the IRC something is wrong with my Visual C++ package and I haven't had a chance to fix it.

[Audley]

Dude. First off what happened to the $800 budget you gave me the other day? I thought you were going to be frugal with it. This is the build in case you lost it: Link.

I told you before there is no point in upgrading your cpu or motherboard.

Unless you're wanting an i7 in which case your board is probably still fine (you said your build is from last year). I doubt skylake will be worth the upgrade.

If you insist on spending more money at least be sensible about it I'll add a few things in a separate build.

Also sorry I haven't been in the IRC something is wrong with my Visual C++ package and I haven't had a chance to fix it.

Well what happened was I kept upping the amount trying to see how far I could get. However, once I had reached the $1500 limit I had quickly realized that unless I wanted to spend $2000+ then I wouldn't see significant improvement over my current build. I guess there really isn't a middle ground between the budget and enthusiast platforms at least on the CPU side of things. I thought about it last night and thought perhaps the wisest thing to do may be to upgrade some parts now and see where that takes me later. Let me finish what I was working on last night and then see what you guys think about that. 

[Audley]

Alright I redid my list this time only focusing on the things I really need to upgrade and managed to knock the price down to around $650. I am still now sure if I want to get Windows 10 now or stick with 8.1 however. I am sure you guys can shine some light on that subject. Here is the new parts list. 

[z929669]

I agree that staying away from on-board GPUs is a very good idea, but does anyone use sound cards any more?

Yes, me!

When I started my search I asked that very question and was reliably informed that the onboard sound is good enough these days to be all we need for gaming.

There used to be issues with interference from components on the MB but that isn't the case anymore. End result == no need for another expansion card.

Good enough, sure, but not as good as offloading the task to an expansion card if you have the slots, especially if you are interested in more advanced capabilities. Agree it is probably negligible for basic HT sound, but it is consistent within the larger paradigm, so I do it.

 

Refs:

https://www.tested.com/tech/569-integrated-vs-dedicated-sound-cards-whats-the-real-difference/

https://techreport.com/review/23358/asus-budget-xonar-dgx-and-dsx-sound-cards-reviewed

https://techreport.com/blog/21742/are-sound-cards-still-relevant (see editor's note at bottom)

[echo451]

I though that WIN10 was a free upgrade for WIN8.1 users? That's how I got my copies.

 

Is this am OEM thing?

 

Check out the App store and see if they have a free copy for you. Save a few dollars.

[z929669]

I though that WIN10 was a free upgrade for WIN8.1 users? That's how I got my copies.

 

Is this am OEM thing?

 

Check out the App store and see if they have a free copy for you. Save a few dollars.

Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) pertains to the components of any hardware. Much hardwre is rebranded by a label or outsourced by a designer to an OEM.

[DoubleYou]

This is something I've wondered for awhile. Why would you buy a GTX 970 4GB for $320 when you can buy a R9 390X 8GB for $400 (plus a free mouse)? Is the higher memory clock speed and higher wattage that much of a deterrent? https://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-390X-vs-GeForce-GTX-970

[z929669]

agree somewhat (it is an $80 diff though), but I would not spend more than $250 for a GPU (i.e., I would wait for R9 390X 8GB [or similar] to go down in price before purchasing). Also, you will pay different prices for different designers, labels, and OEMs:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=radeon+R9+390x&N=-1&isNodeId=1

[d3monic]

I just went through an upgrade cycle for a custom rig I built in 2007. Here's what I did:

• Asus Z97-A
  • Great feature set for gaming and a respected manufacturer. My favorite feature is the one click overclocking & 5 way optimization.
• Intel Core i5-4690K
  • This is the best performance/dollar trade-off in processors at the moment according to Tom's Hardware. You'll want to take advantage of overclocking.
• G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1866
  • Top rated RAM as benchmarked by Tom's Hardware. You can always add two more later.

I only spent $440 on these three including shipping and tax, so you have a lot of expansion and upgrade potential within your budget.

 

EDIT: A friend just convinced me that I could do better on performance/price ratio for the memory sticks, so I upgraded to G.SKILL TridentX Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 2400.

Edited September 29, 2015 by d3monic

[Quinnbeast]

This is something I've wondered for awhile. Why would you buy a GTX 970 4GB for $320 when you can buy a R9 390X 8GB for $400 (plus a free mouse)? Is the higher memory clock speed and higher wattage that much of a deterrent? https://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-390X-vs-GeForce-GTX-970

Despite the R9 390X having a TDP of 'only' 275W, it can in fact pull over 400W at maximum load. To me, that would suggest that it would need to be combined with a higher spec (i.e. more expensive) PSU to deal with those big power spikes. I suppose it depends whether you consider it significant that it requires A) twice the wattage of a 970 at full load and B) more than the OPs entire current system.

Edited September 29, 2015 by Quinnbeast

[Quinnbeast]

I just went through an upgrade cycle for a custom rig I built in 2007. Here's what I did:

• Asus Z97-A
  • Great feature set for gaming and a respected manufacturer. My favorite feature is the one click overclocking & 5 way optimization.
• Intel Core i5-4690K
  • This is the best performance/dollar trade-off in processors at the moment according to Tom's Hardware. You'll want to take advantage of overclocking.
• G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1866
  • Top rated RAM as benchmarked by Tom's Hardware. You can always add two more later.

I only spent $440 on these three including shipping and tax, so you have a lot of expansion and upgrade potential within your budget.

 

'Upgrading' from an i5 Haswell to an i5 Haswell isn't likely the way to go for workstation use, or even gaming use, depending on the game. Of course, you can certainly get a good deal more performance from the K chip with the right CPU cooler, but my gut feeling is that it's a fair outlay to be moving to a chip with exactly the same architecture and a few more mhz. Personally, I'd either go the whole-hog to an i7 (assuming you can justify the cost and the software you use will make full use of the hyper-threading) or stick with the 4670 and enjoy the extra responsiveness of a good SSD and the extra bananas* of the faster GPU.

 

* Insert preferred unit of measure.