Posts by crimsonstag84

I guess the Intel Core i3-8350K isn't really worth it either... maybe go with the Intel Core i3-8100 or just jump up to an 8600K or 8700K.

No way 😛

I don't think you realize that the i3 8100 is $307, whereas the Ryzen 1600 is $533. You can grab a Z370 board for just a bit more than $267, so you aren't really saving much by going with a B350 board. Honestly, it might be worth stretching the budget to $2667 to get that Ryzen 1600 paired with an NVIDIA GTX 1070. Even if you stick with the Ryzen 1400 and the cheapest B350 board out there, you're still looking at $2533.

2x Crucial DDR4 4GB 2400 MHz P/N: CT4G4DFS824A
WD Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 3 WD10EZEX Hard Drive
Kingston SSD 120GB A400 SATA3 2.5
Intel Core i3 8100 Processor
GIGABYTE Main board desktop Intel Z370 (Socket, 4xDDR4, HDMI, 1xPCIEX16/2xPCIEX4(16)/3xPCIEX1) Z370P-D3
NVIDIA GTX 1070, 8GB/256bit, 1556MHz/8008MHz, PCI-E 3.0 x16, HDMI, DVI-D, 3xDP, WINDFORCE 2 x Cooler (Double Slot), Retail
Zalman mid tower case black, ZAL-R1
Corsair CX450, 450 Watt Power Supply, US version total

Total: $2515 - Cash at pickup
_________________________________________________

Or maybe:

2x Crucial DDR4 4GB 2400 MHz P/N: CT4G4DFS824A
WD Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 3 WD10EZEX Hard Drive
Zalman mid tower case black, ZAL-R1
Corsair CX450, 450 Watt Power Supply, US version total
US version CPU AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.20GHz Socket AM4 P/N: YD1600BBAEBOX
ASRock X370 Killer SLI, AM4
Inno3D GTX1060 iChill X3 6144MB,PCI-E,2xDVI,HDMI,DP, INO-C106F2-3SDN-N5GS
WD Green SSD (2.5", 240GB, SATA III 6 Gb/s)

Total: $2514 - Cash at pickup

It’s not exactly a steal, but worth keeping on your radar:

Asrock X370 gaming x - from $0.34

From Best Buy:

It’s an 8GB stick of Transcend JetRam DDR4 memory, clocked at 2400MHz. I guess it's just standard PC-19200 stuff.
It’s a 460W unit—an LC POWER Silent Giant GREEN POWER LC6460GP3 V2.3, featuring a 140mm fan.
This is an ASUS H110M-DGS R3 motherboard featuring an Intel Core socket. It’s an mATX board with DDR4 support, USB 3.0, DVI-D, and SATA 3. It also comes equipped with standard G-LAN, PCI-E, and integrated audio.
It looks like an Intel Pentium G4560 box, which is a dual Core setup running at 3.5GHz with a 3MB cache and integrated graphics on the 1151 socket. I guess it's a pretty basic little chip, maybe?
The PCI-E XFX AMD Radeon RX 580 GTS xxx ED features 4GB of DDR5 and comes equipped with HDMI, DVI, and DP ports.

$1431

+ SSD:

Maybe consider an Apacer AS330 Panther Series 120GB SSD. It’s a 2.5" SATA3 drive with speeds up to 495/385 MB/s, and you can find the retail version easily.

$1580

You don't really need any extra cooling; the stock cooler that comes with the processor should be plenty. And honestly, 8GB is more than enough—especially when you're working with this kind of budget and have to put that money toward the RAM. $233.

What else would you use it for besides the basics? If it’s mostly for gaming, I’d probably go with a Core i3 + RX 580 combo from Best Buy, otherwise maybe a Ryzen 3 1200 + GTX 1050 Ti paired with a larger SSD.

Samsung 870 EVO, maybe around $50 or $40, 240GB, 7mm, 2.5"
Maybe it's just me, but I think we should go with the Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB DDR4 instead.
The EVGA GTX 1060 with 3GB of GDDR5.
Maybe just a Corsair 650W TX-M series power supply? I guess that would do it.
The ASUS ROG Z370 motherboard, socket 1151.
It’s an Intel Core i7 8700k (12MB Cache, 3.70 GHz) on the LGA 1151 socket, I guess.
Zalman Z1 NEO Midi-Tower ATX case, black, no PSU included.
The Seagate Barracuda 1 TB 3.5" hard drive.

Total: $3365 PCMag

You could probably stretch things out a bit more with the case if you wanted to... this one is decent, but nothing to write home about. Maybe go with a Razer BlackWidow instead. $75 More room to breathe. Maybe something more expansive, with a few extra features thrown in.

The MSI video card AMD Radeon RX 560 features 4GB of GDDR5 memory with a 128-bit interface, clocking in at 1196MHz/7000MHz on a PCI-E 3.0 x16 connection, and comes equipped with DP, HDMI, and DVI ports.
Maybe it's just me, but I think this Crucial DDR4 4GB 2400 MHz (P/N: CT4G4DFS824A) might be worth a look.
I guess there's the Intel Pentium G4560 3.50 GHz Socket 1151.
Maybe it’s an ASR H110M-DGS R3.
The MS HELIOS III case, just the chassis without the power supply.
I guess the Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 3 WD10EZEX is a decent enough option for storage.
The LC-Power LC6350 350W Super Silent 80+ Bronze ATX power supply.
MS PC COOL 12cm case fan (for the front panel)

All things considered: $990 Downtown Chicago.

With only 4GB of RAM right now, I guess it's enough to get by for Overwatch, CS:GO, and maybe some other lighter games.

It's a decent deal; the drive is roughly as fast as a WD Blue model.

Though, honestly, everything else feels like a bit of a waste compared to that Samsung 850 evo you've had since $252.

It’s frozen, though it doesn't seem to be stuttering much 😉 Just keep in mind that this game is pretty notorious right now for how it hogs VRAM and RAM, so you might have to be smart about how you balance your settings to avoid any frame drops.

Not really, the power supply is pretty bottom-tier—maybe an EVGA 400W at the absolute minimum. I guess it might not be worth dropping $400+ on a Ryzen 5 1400; you could probably put that extra cash toward a better PSU, a solid motherboard, decent RAM, or a case with USB 3.0. Also, I'd steer clear of a 120GB SSD since you can usually get double the capacity for only $67 more. Maybe try picking up a used hard drive instead.

MSI B350M PRO-VD plus Motherboard, s.AM4, 7B38-004R
AMD Ryzen 3 1200 BOX Processor, 3.10GHz, 8MB Cache, s.AM4, YD1200BBAEBOX
PNY CS900 240GB SSD, SATA3, SSD7CS900-240-PB
MS HUNTER Midi tower case
8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200 2400MHz CL15 Kingston HyperX Fury, HX424C15FB2/8
Galax GTX 1060 EX Graphics Card, 3GB GDDR5 192bit, 1733/2000MHz EVGA 400W Power Supply, ATX 2.4, PPA4004900
Akyga 120mm AW-12B-BL Blue LED Fan (3 pin)

Total: 5,$155

The GT 710 isn't really any stronger than integrated graphics (though the DDR5 version might give you a tiny bump), and I don't think you can even find a GT 720 around here lately. I guess you only see a real jump in performance once you move up to the GT 1030.

Assassin's Creed Origins feels pretty sluggish on most quad-core processors, especially if you're running one of the weaker ones. It might not be able to fully push an RX 560 or a GTX 1050, but I guess you'll still run into some frame drops regardless.

https://www.newegg.com/p/msi-video-card...i-dvi-d-2.aspx

The motherboard and the cooler probably won't handle 4.7GHz without hitting some pretty crazy temperatures.

Maybe you could hit 4.5GHz if you're lucky enough to have a high-quality chip that doesn't demand a ton of voltage. If I were you, I'd aim for something like that using your current cooler... definitely test it out on there first 😉

It looks like we're looking at a 1TB Toshiba P300 High-Performance drive—3.5", 7200RPM, with a 64MB cache and SATA3 interface. It’s a decent little unit, I guess.
Maybe an ASRock H110M-DGS with the s1151 socket?
It’s an Intel Pentium G4600 (3MB Cache, 3.60GHz) on the LGA 1151 socket, specifically model BX80677G4600. I guess it’s just a standard entry-level chip.
Maybe a 500W Fortron Hyper K, bulk version?
I guess it's just an MS HUNTER midi tower case.
It looks like we're looking at an 8GB stick of DDR4 Kingston Value RAM, specifically the PC4-1700 2133MHz CL15 model (KVR21N15D8/8 or KVR21N15S8/8). I guess it’s pretty standard stuff.
I guess it's the KFA² GTX 1060 3 GB with GDDR5 and a 192-bit bus, running at 1733/2000MHz. Maybe?
Akyga 120mm AW-12B-BL LED fan (blue, 3-pin).

Total: 4$222 Maybe at 24 frames, it's an AMD thing. I guess.

Or if that's pushing it too far, maybe just swap out the GPU for an MSI GTX 1050 ti gaming and grab a Zalman R1 case instead—that might balance things out better. $67 Not really. I guess the GTX 1060 3 GB is actually quite a bit more powerful, though.

Aaaand, looks like you went out and bought another junk power supply...

If you can still return it, I'd suggest doing that. I guess there's no point in rushing into things without asking first. 🕺

Now, this one is actually much better quality and significantly more powerful than that other thing:

https://www.amazon.com/evga-power-supply/

Looks like we're looking at some PC-19200 RAM—specifically an 8 GB Transcend JetRam stick, DDR4 running at 2400MHz.
It’s a 450W unit, specifically the Office Series LC600-12. It runs on ATX v2.31, features a 120mm fan, and has an 80+ Bronze PFC rating. I guess that's about it.
LC POWER LC-7034B case, MIDI, ATX, black, no PSU included.
It's a 1TB Seagate Barracuda Guardian hard drive—SATA3, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache, 3.5" format for desktops. I guess it's just your standard internal storage.
The PCI-E MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Aero ITX OCV1, featuring 2GB of DDR5 and equipped with DVI, HDMI, and DP ports.
Maybe an Intel Pentium G4560 box? It's got a 3.5GHz clock speed, 3MB of cache, integrated graphics, and a dual Core setup on the 1151 socket.
ASROCK H110M-DGS R3.0 motherboard—Intel Core, DDR4, audio, Gigabit LAN, SATA 3, PCI-E, USB 3.0, DVI-D, mATX, LGA 1151 socket. I guess the BIOS needs an update.
MS PC Cool 120mm fan in black (1000 RPM) -> intended for the front panel.

Total: $1212 Links

As far as I know, that price applies to cash or up to 12 installments. I wasn't quite sure about the 24-month plan, so I figured I'd leave some wiggle room there.

Don't bother with those pre-built desktops, especially if they're running an older generation processor 😛

You usually just end up with a junk power supply (again), a bottom-of-the-barrel motherboard, and a measly 4GB of RAM... I guess it’s actually much easier to put something better together in about 5 minutes.

Something is definitely off if your boot times are that slow. If the drives aren't hitting bad sectors or anything similar, you're probably looking at a motherboard issue. It could be the power supply, though based on the symptoms, I wouldn't bet on it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/example-listing

I’d probably throw a 120GB SSD and an old GPU into this build... unfortunately, it'll likely sell before you even figure out what's broken with yours 😁.