Advice on new computer
Page 1 of 3 Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Tue, 26th Jan 2016 03:20    Post subject: Advice on new computer
Hey dudes, looking for some quick advice about budget on a new OKish gaming pc. I have about $1000 CAD to spend but not sure if it's even worth it. Even my existing computer that is a few years old plays most new stuff but not all (CPU/RAM usually is the limitation from actually starting, gfx card isn't so new, not a lot of RAM, current specs in sig). For you american folks this is only about $650 USD with the current exchange rates and tax.

I would only need a new case (mid tower but not too big), psu, motherboard + cpu (agree i7 would be best but OK with i5), ram (already have some 8gb 1666 but not sure if that would be a bottleneck) and new gfx card (with hdmi 2.0 if possible). I'm looking for 1080p with near max detail settings with 60fps for most games that have recently come out or will come out this year I guess

this place actually have a store where I can pick it up, so likely would want it to all be from the same place.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/

also I'm fine with either intel/amd or nvidia/amd but I don't think the current radeons support hdmi 2.0 and not sure what level of gtx card does


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
Janz




Posts: 14001

PostPosted: Tue, 26th Jan 2016 03:39    Post subject:
650$ is okayish. i7 out is out range ofc, skylake i5 is too expensive too. in that case i would advice to get "old" haswell generation. either i5 or if the budget fits and no oc is planned-> xeon 1231v3 (basicly i7 without igpu and cant be overclocked)

cant check that atm cause the store page is down.

benefit of the "old" generation would be: you could reuse your old ram and 1666mhz is fine for intel cpus of that gen, only amds really can profit from faster ram.

hdmi 2.0 on gfx -> nope sorry bru, no "real" hdmi 2.0 cards on the market. the nvidia ones claim to have it, and it works, but still it fakes a bit and isnt real hdmi 2.0

edit: lol webpage works with canada vpn. wtf?

mh any other reliable shop in good old canada? the selection isnt that nice

Asus H81M-A Intel Socket LGA1150 Intel H81 Chipset MicroATX
$93,99

Intel Core i5-4690 Processor - Quad Core, 6MB Smart Cache, 3.5GHz, LGA-1150 Socket, 22nm - BX80646I54690
$280,99

eVGA - Power supply ( internal ) - 80 PLUS - AC 100-240 V - 500 Watt
Item#: EVG-300631816 | Model#: 100-W1-0500-KR
$70,99

ASUS Turbo GeForce GTX 960 OC Graphic Card - 4GB GDDR5, PCIe 3.0, 1024 CUDA Cores, 4096x2160 Max Resolution, DisplayPort, DVI-I, HDMI, White - TURBO-GTX960-OC-4GD5
Item#: AS0-300804975 | Model#: TURBO-GTX960-OC-4GD5
Price:
$354,09

+ any case you want + your old ram. if you have old hard discs, ssds and dont need new ones a 970 would fit into the budget too, but the store simply doesnt offer it

and the mainboard is kinda meeeh, but everything else there overpriced or crap. ok not meeh, its a good board, but only 2 ram slots for example -> no space for upgrades. but if you buy a haswell setup now -> its already a dead end since no cpu will be possible in the feature (except some i7 k to overclock, but in that case it would be smarter to buy a z board right now, and maybe an i5 k)
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Tue, 26th Jan 2016 04:29    Post subject:
I need to read what you wrote, but I can answer the one question about an alternate store
http://www.canadacomputers.com/

is another physical store I can get to (besides best buy). I can order from newegg.ca or ncix.ca which has pretty much everything USA can get but the customs fees aren't always clear plus if something needs to be RMAed I'd rather have a shop to go to. I'm not sure if I want something that is not really upgradeable, but that obviously implicates the cost factor.

I also have a miniDP to HDMI 2.0 adapter that can do 4K @ 60 hz (which is what I wanted hdmi 2.0 for) so maybe that is a small issue
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=1336_1441&item_id=091823


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
Janz




Posts: 14001

PostPosted: Tue, 26th Jan 2016 15:55    Post subject:
every adapter i heard about were not working, dunno about that thing. but 4k @ 60fps works with the recent nvidia cards, though its not a full and complete hdmi 2.0 implementation

would gather a bit more money and would go for a skylake i5 which can be replaced in 1-2 years with an i7. but canadacomputers.com doesnt even offer any skylake cpu...
Back to top
Werelds
Special Little Man



Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
PostPosted: Tue, 26th Jan 2016 16:51    Post subject:
Janz wrote:
every adapter i heard about were not working, dunno about that thing. but 4k @ 60fps works with the recent nvidia cards, though its not a full and complete hdmi 2.0 implementation

would gather a bit more money and would go for a skylake i5 which can be replaced in 1-2 years with an i7. but canadacomputers.com doesnt even offer any skylake cpu...

That's because those adapters you've heard about are passive adapters and can't possibly do 4K at 60 Hz. They are limited to what Single link HDMI can do at that point, which is shit.

http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/products/reader.en/product/displayport-12-to-hdmi-20-uhd-active-adapter.html

Search for this one, CAC-1070 (or CAC-1170 for mini-DP). Works flawlessly. On AMD it also works as long as you install the new Crimson software.

Should be $30 or less.

Also worth noting that if you have a TV capable of 2160p60 + HDCP 2.2 and want 4:4:4 chroma subsampling you can't use Nvidia cards. They can only do 4:2:0 when HDCP 2.2 is enabled (or you have to drop to a lower framerate). It's highly unlikely that Nvidia will do what AMD did, which is not relying on an HDMI 2.0 chip. The chip Nvidia used is incapable of transmitting a "full" HDMI 2.0 signal. Even when using this adapter, they still use that chip to encode the HDMI signal; AMD do this through their own chip, which is programmable.
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 00:20    Post subject:
Werelds wrote:
Janz wrote:
every adapter i heard about were not working, dunno about that thing. but 4k @ 60fps works with the recent nvidia cards, though its not a full and complete hdmi 2.0 implementation

would gather a bit more money and would go for a skylake i5 which can be replaced in 1-2 years with an i7. but canadacomputers.com doesnt even offer any skylake cpu...

That's because those adapters you've heard about are passive adapters and can't possibly do 4K at 60 Hz. They are limited to what Single link HDMI can do at that point, which is shit.

http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/products/reader.en/product/displayport-12-to-hdmi-20-uhd-active-adapter.html

Search for this one, CAC-1070 (or CAC-1170 for mini-DP). Works flawlessly. On AMD it also works as long as you install the new Crimson software.

Should be $30 or less.

Also worth noting that if you have a TV capable of 2160p60 + HDCP 2.2 and want 4:4:4 chroma subsampling you can't use Nvidia cards. They can only do 4:2:0 when HDCP 2.2 is enabled (or you have to drop to a lower framerate). It's highly unlikely that Nvidia will do what AMD did, which is not relying on an HDMI 2.0 chip. The chip Nvidia used is incapable of transmitting a "full" HDMI 2.0 signal. Even when using this adapter, they still use that chip to encode the HDMI signal; AMD do this through their own chip, which is programmable.


I just bought that adapter for my dell xps 13 which is my htpc (tv does 2160p@4:4:4), been waiting like a year for it to come out but still having issues with it actually doing it in the intel iris control panel settings unfortunately (which is a problem to be solved in the avsforums Wink)


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"


Last edited by nouseforaname on Wed, 27th Jan 2016 00:27; edited 2 times in total
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 00:24    Post subject:
Janz wrote:
would gather a bit more money and would go for a skylake i5 which can be replaced in 1-2 years with an i7. but canadacomputers.com doesnt even offer any skylake cpu...


http://www.canadacomputers.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=skylake
i5 6600 for $325 or 6500 for $288, close to the price of newegg.ca

but that needs an 1151 socket mb right? those seem to be a pretty big jump in price over the 1150... it's not so much "gathering the money" but budgeting an amount that won't make my wife too upset (or ask why not ps4 or xb1 Wink)
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26&item_id=089290

also, is GTX 960 good enough for a while? I've never actually owned anything more than a mid range gfx card but $300 seems ok... that gtx 970 is like 50% more in cost
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_1200_557_559&item_id=088481

keep in mind that for canadian dollars I'm looking at $900 plus tax (=~$1K) ... so those 3 are $775 plus what I need for a power supply and case which should be about close...
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?cPath=33
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?cPath=6_112


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
Janz




Posts: 14001

PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 02:21    Post subject:
oh, havent used the search engine, just clicked through the cpu listing and there wasnt any skylake listed (or lets say not even an option to choose socket 1151). and yes boards are more expensive, h170 would be enough and should cost about 50 bucks less (no oc though for maaaaaybe future i7 k cpu upgrades).

960 is on the same level as 770, for normal stuff its enough. but if you really want steady 60fps in most of the games in full hd -> 970. and if you really want to use that 4k display for some gaming -> 970 too. cant use dsr on my 770 on many games, but that is related to the 2gb vram too. and the 970 is still midrange Wink you can go for it and maybe if its not powerful enough sell it again and get a 970 or something whats out in that time

about the case, everything goes, its your case. about the psu:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=33_1238_442&item_id=053054
that is a nice price for a good psu
Back to top
Frant
King's Bounty



Posts: 24655
Location: Your Mom
PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 03:03    Post subject:
If you win the lottery you could go for an Intel Xeon E5-2697 v3 / 28 threads / 2,6GHz / 35MB / 145W / Socket 2011-3. Wink


Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

"The sky was the color of a TV tuned to a dead station" - Neuromancer
Back to top
Janz




Posts: 14001

PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 14:01    Post subject:
which gets crushed by every cheap i5 cause no game can use the cores and sucks with 2,6ghz Wink
Back to top
paxsali
Banned



Posts: 18352

PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 14:08    Post subject:
⁢⁢


Last edited by paxsali on Thu, 4th Jul 2024 21:38; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
Janz




Posts: 14001

PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 14:19    Post subject:
how about an actual benchmark with i5s and not scenarios where the gpu limit kicks in? Razz
Back to top
Werelds
Special Little Man



Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 14:20    Post subject:
nouseforaname wrote:
I just bought that adapter for my dell xps 13 which is my htpc (tv does 2160p@4:4:4), been waiting like a year for it to come out but still having issues with it actually doing it in the intel iris control panel settings unfortunately (which is a problem to be solved in the avsforums Wink)

That's just Intel's CP being quite horrible :/

On some models you need to change the 3D settings from "optimised" to "off" in order to have the driver run stable when not doing anything with 3D
Back to top
paxsali
Banned



Posts: 18352

PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 14:28    Post subject:
⁢⁢


Last edited by paxsali on Thu, 4th Jul 2024 21:38; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
Janz




Posts: 14001

PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 14:39    Post subject:
the sli gtx 770 is most like bullshit cause they use 2gb vram cards. they never specify which card exactly but they thanks to msi for the 770 lightning cards. afaik only the lightning oc cards had 4gb vram

imho thats the reason most the results are that close
Back to top
paxsali
Banned



Posts: 18352

PostPosted: Wed, 27th Jan 2016 15:25    Post subject:
⁢⁢


Last edited by paxsali on Thu, 4th Jul 2024 21:38; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Fri, 29th Jan 2016 02:36    Post subject:
Thanks for the help guys, my wife figured out that I was serious about buying a new computer and doesn't seem thrilled about me spending a $1000.

(for context that is relevant, my son was recently diagnosed with an ASD and we're spending close to $7500 on speech therapy a year of which maybe only ~30% is covered by benefits ... so apparently this is something we can't afford :/)


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
tonizito
VIP Member



Posts: 51440
Location: Portugal, the shithole of Europe.
PostPosted: Fri, 29th Jan 2016 02:37    Post subject:
Sad
I'd send you my old stuff but it's worse than what you have right now Laughing


boundle (thoughts on cracking AITD) wrote:
i guess thouth if without a legit key the installation was rolling back we are all fucking then
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Fri, 29th Jan 2016 02:49    Post subject:
Ha no worries, I'm still playing this shit half-decently... we're not poor or anything but I guess do need to prioritize our spending somewhat ... maybe I'll just wait until prices drop a bit but can squirrel away some $$$ on the side...



asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Fri, 29th Jan 2016 02:53    Post subject:
oooo ... my wife loves charity ...
http://freegeektoronto.org/

maybe donating an actual "not-bad" computer would change her mind Razz


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Fri, 29th Jan 2016 02:59    Post subject:
I should also ask while I'm at it ... at what point will prices drop a bit?

new nvidia cards make the gtx 970 drop? skylake will be new for a year but dropping in price anytime soon especially motherboards?

canadian dollar is shit against USD which won't change in the next year but maybe components will, stuff is like a 30-40% premium now where is was equal a few years ago...


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
Janz




Posts: 14001

PostPosted: Fri, 29th Jan 2016 03:12    Post subject:
sure the new pascal cards will make the price drop, but first when midrange cards come out. first pascal highend cards aka new titan cards are expected for late april. "normal" cards a bit later, summer at earliest. but if the rumors about 50% performance improvement are true it would not be smart to buy old cards like the 970 in summer
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Fri, 29th Jan 2016 03:20    Post subject:
I have a couple grand tucked away in canada savings bonds that come off my paycheck so maybe I can swing that without disrupting our usual finances ... on the flip side she is more objectionable to a ps4/xb1 than a new computer Razz


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
Breezer_




Posts: 10827
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Fri, 29th Jan 2016 09:14    Post subject:
This i5 vs Xeon 28 threads shit is hilarious, think it this way... Xeon has 10 more cores and HT, i5 cannot match this shit even with 10Ghz OC (this is not even possible) if application or game uses it properly. Ofcourse there is some shit engines that uses 2 or max 4 cores currently (where i5 can win just because it has stronger single threaded performance since they run higher clock speed stock vs stock), but games are more and more getting heavily multithreaded thanks to shit consoles and their weak ass 8-core "CPU".

its so hilarious that people are recommending i5 to fucking every machine with argument "but games are not using more cores". There is plenty of games for example where i7 is nicely utilized, and buying now i5 is just not really good option, you can get much more future proof CPU without spending shitloads of cash.

For example, i was thinking buying skylake i7 setup with very good OC mobo, then i realized Haswell-E setup costed for me like 100 euros more and i got 4 threads more, this is something that 6700K for example cannot brute force with any overclock, and when its time to replace 5820K you can put Broadwell-E CPU to the existing socket.
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Sat, 30th Jan 2016 03:29    Post subject:
OK. So after some talking I told my wife about a "secret" account I've just been putting $50 a paycheck into for the last year and a half and she seems to not care about spending it on a new computer (I may have said some not quite true things about the old one but she liked that we could donate it also with some other computer components that have been piling up Wink)



So all that being said...

would skylake i5 6600K / Z170 MB / GTX 970 4GB / 16GB DDR4 RAM be worth the additional ~$450 upgrade from my original budget (i5 6500 / H170 / GTX 960 / old ram which is $1000 in canadian monopoly money)? That would basically blow all of this savings including case and PSU... but like you said Janz, is waiting until the summer better if I'm going to spend 1/3 of the build on a video card?


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Sat, 30th Jan 2016 06:28    Post subject:
...


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"


Last edited by nouseforaname on Sat, 30th Jan 2016 17:09; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
ragnarus




Posts: 686
Location: Somewhere in Warsaw Pact
PostPosted: Sat, 30th Jan 2016 10:57    Post subject:
nouseforaname wrote:
OK. So after some talking I told my wife about a "secret" account I've just been putting $50 a paycheck into for the last year and a half and she seems to not care about spending it on a new computer (I may have said some not quite true things about the old one but she liked that we could donate it also with some other computer components that have been piling up Wink)



So all that being said...

would skylake i5 6600K / Z170 MB / GTX 970 4GB / 16GB DDR4 RAM be worth the additional ~$450 upgrade from my original budget (i5 6500 / H170 / GTX 960 / old ram which is $1000 in canadian monopoly money)? That would basically blow all of this savings including case and PSU... but like you said Janz, is waiting until the summer better if I'm going to spend 1/3 of the build on a video card?


Performance/money wise its certainly worth it in my opinion, also you get option to OC that 6600k but I dont know if you considered some more or less decent cooling to replace stock one and allow you to OC ? Of course you dont have to do it now, you can buy it later and overclock and stock cooling will be enough for non oced 6600k.

I dont think its worth waiting, cpu/mobo combo is great and chance that what Intel releases this year will be much better option than 6600k is really slim. Sure, Nvidia new cards will show up this year but it wont be here in summer, rather second half of the year. Anyway 970 is still best bang for buck option and even if nvidia releases something good you could still sell 970 for good money and buy new gpu without adding too much money into purchase.

Also, are you really sure 16gb of ram is something you really need right now ? You wont need that much in gaming in 99% of cases so you could buy 8gb and add another 8gb when the time is right.
Back to top
Janz




Posts: 14001

PostPosted: Sat, 30th Jan 2016 15:15    Post subject:
if you want to oc its worth to get the k cpu, but in that i case i would even say get an i7 k. but it is no problem to buy z board + i5k with the 970 and replace the i5 with an i7 in a year or so
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Sat, 30th Jan 2016 17:10    Post subject:
Thanks for the advice guys!


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
nouseforaname
Über-VIP Member



Posts: 21306
Location: Toronto, Canada
PostPosted: Sat, 30th Jan 2016 23:28    Post subject:
so this look ok?



or do you think ASUS Z170-A is a better choice for the same price?
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=1460&item_id=086869


asus z170-A || core i5-6600K || geforce gtx 970 4gb || 16gb ddr4 ram || win10 || 1080p led samsung 27"
Back to top
Page 1 of 3 All times are GMT + 1 Hour
NFOHump.com Forum Index - Hardware Zone Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
Signature/Avatar nuking: none (can be changed in your profile)  


Display posts from previous:   

Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB 2.0.8 © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group