50 replies to this topic

[Camron Lyraus]

As the initial question was to get my system running again, and while doing so upgrade "somewhat", respectively, I had clearly steared for mainly effective, not efficient, hardware.

fyi: ;-)
Effective (adj.): Adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result.
Efficient (adj.) Performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort.

Getting a Z97 and the Pentium (keep in mind, I do have water-cooling allready 'round, therefore OC-ing the sh*t outta it) would be very efficient.

I'm used to all-low,1900x1200 and ˜25-30 fps. Even managed to twich while doing it (15Hz, resolution/4).
Therefor simply going from DDR2->DDR3 would yield me quite an upgrade, not even considering the change from 3.6Ghz-Quad-AMD to 4.5Ghz-Dual-Intel yet. I would have more FPS and spend around 220$ (mobo+CPU+2x4GB-DDR3) -> Given the budget, I consider this VERY efficient.

However, I do like to be prepered for future upgrades and to stay future-oriented. After all, I followed the same theme for my previous machine and it DID allow me some 7 years of unhindered gaming (ok, had some more cash to spend there...those 4780x2 arent quite cost-efficient...or energy-efficient at that ;-p )!

By going from Haswell to Skylake I end up with the following:

MSI Z170A Gaming M3: 137$
2x4GB DDR4-RAM@2600(15-15-15): 80$
Skylake Core i3-6320 @ 3.9-Dual: 150$

While this is somewhat less efficient (270$ = 70$ over budget) the change to state-of-the art-technologie most certainly makes it more effective.

Its just 50$ above the Pentium-build and would allow for some nice upgrading in a year or two.
However, 150$ is quite a price for a CPU I would be planing to replace as soon as possible. The Skylake-Pentiums have great prices, but I wouldnt be confy getting one of those (locked!) for gaming. I would probably end up being better of with my AMD CPU ;-p

The i5-6600 is just another 60-ish bucks more and gives me a true Quad at 3.3Ghz (3.6-turbo). Now, this starts to sound like a treat!
However, i DO have that water loop...would be a shame to let it go to waste...
Therefore, I ended up considering the i5-6600K, unlocked!
I could get it for "just" 100$ more than the i3-Skylake...
Furthermore, MSI currently has a cashback going on, reducing the price on that mobo another 25$.

At 350$ I would end up 150$ over budget...but xmas is coming up, crunshing some numbers, working a couple more hours...and who needs food anyway, right? ;-p

I really feel that by keeping the solid mobo, 8GB of fast! DDR4-RAM and the overclockable i5 with any of the two of my GPU's I would end up with a system that allows for a solid 60fps (if its at all low I dont care) while also drastically increasing my streaming capability.

@Kaptain: Dont even get my started on screens - they used to make far better ones back in the days before full-HD came around.
My 24"@1920x1200,2ms was ˜150$ back in the days...nowadays, anything with >1920x1080 is above 300$ at least and has crappy reaction times>5ms... also, I miss Truelife =(

@Goose: Something may very well be efficient without being effective ;-) i.e. getting a new mobo and continue to use my AMD-CPU would be extremely efficient but not very effective at all ;-) If I decide to go the i5-6600K-route I shall be very effective but not quite eficient.

Thanks for all your inputs!

One last thing:
Is there any benefit in a Z170A Gaming Pro over the M3 other than the third PCIe x16?

Cheers!

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Quad core is definitely the best route to go.

[Flapdrol]

Your water loop demands overclocking, so you'll have to get the 6600K and Z170 I'm afraid.

Unless you buy a supermicro H170 board, that seems to allow baseclock overclocking on non K chips.
http://hwbot.org/new...eekbench3_2xcpu

[Goose]

Kaptain, on 09 December 2015 - 12:52 AM, said:

40fps min on high @ 1080p Is ineffective?

Not a hard map; And note the GPU load …

Kaptain, on 09 December 2015 - 12:52 AM, said:

No idea what you are trying to say with the rest of your post btw. Not unlike several of your posts. I assume it means you have logged 1000 hours running in a circle? Why on earth would anyone do that?

New River has a daylight cycle …

[CwStrife]

You know if I were you, this is being honest, the HD 4870 is an old card, and will not run MWO that well. It will run it, but not at good frame rates. I would honestly take your money and invest it in a decent video card.

I run an AMD FX-8350 with 8GB ram and a Geforce GTX 770 and I can run everything on very high settings with AA enabled no problem, and it never dips below 30fps.

Sure your CPU isn't as good as a core i7 or even a better core i5, but it's not bad and it will handle the game just fine. Don't bother upgrading the motherboard and CPU, and leaving that old outdated video card in there.

You can find some deals on NewEgg right now for a newer Radeon card for less than $200 or even a refurb Nvidia card like a 770 for around $200.

And if you need ram, 8gb isn't exactly that expensive. If you upgrade the CPU and leave the graphics card in there even if you had 2 of them, it's just a waste. You'd be lucky to get 30-40fps on those video cards with medium settings.

Good luck.

[Kaptain]

DV McKenna, on 09 December 2015 - 06:09 AM, said:

Quad core is definitely the best route to go.

And the 6600k is a very nice chip. Curious what it would do on custom water.

[Camron Lyraus]

@CwStrife

If you look at what I am currently running with, you will find that everything I currently run will bottleneck me before any of my two main GPUs will.

My DDR2 RAM will bottleneck before my GPU - actuelly, it currently does
My Q6600 will bottleneck before my GPU - actuelly, it currently does
Very likely my Phenom II x4 will bottleneck before my GPU
My mobo/Q6600 do not support anything >DDR2@800 and therefore will bottleneck before my GPU - actuelly, they currently do

With my current settup, my 4780x2(!) doesnt even move up from idle (max. downclock) when my system is under full load...

You are right though that my GPU will need replacement eventualy!

Cheers

[CwStrife]

Just run the game and monitor cpu/gpu performance. See which is being maxed out. My FX-8350 is only utilizing all 4 cores at between 45-60%. I would think you should still have headroom on your cpu. Those cards are dated though, seriously. Whether you run two or not.

[Camron Lyraus]

Any input on Z170A Gaming Pro over the M3 other than the third PCIe x16?

Anyone got experience with that series of mobos?

[darqsyde]

Pro vs M3.

Pro has Intel LAN, Pro has SLI, Pro has pretty lights.

If they are the same price, I'd go for the Pro, seems to have slightly better options.

Edited by darqsyde, 14 December 2015 - 12:51 AM.

[Peter2k]

Kaptain, on 09 December 2015 - 04:28 PM, said:

And the 6600k is a very nice chip. Curious what it would do on custom water.

If you remove the heatspreader or at least put some good thermal paste between it and the actual CPU, die then 4.8 Ghz
Actually skylake seems to be a ok to pretty nice overclocker, except the problem with the thermal paste



M2 raid, nice