I guess you might as well go for the Core i7 since you actually have the budget to make it worth it. Something like this:
1 x Intel Core i7-6700 (3.4GHz, 8MB,LGA1151) box 1 x PNY DDR4 8GB, 2133MHz 1 x MSI Main Board Desktop B150 (S1151,DualDDR4,PCI-Ex16,2xPCI-Ex1 USB3.0,USB2.0,SATA III,HDMI,DVI,GLAN) mATX Retail Total: $1184
Just make sure the motherboard has enough slots for what you need (like how this one has 4 RAM slots) and you're good.
There’s also another way if you're really trying to save a buck: a Xeon on an older socket with a 1150 board and some "older" DDR3 RAM. You'd save a few hundred bucks that way. But honestly, if you've got the cash and aren't sweating it, I'd just go this route.
Don't waste your cash on those bottom-tier, weak GPUs; you're better off putting that money toward a decent case, an SSD, or whatever else.
Though, I guess you should probably double-check the case specs before buying—make sure it isn't some weird niche model and that your motherboard actually fits without needing special connectors or anything.
I mean, I guess it all just comes down to what you personally think is worth it. 😁
People are offloading their GTX 970s right now while they can still snag a decent price and actually have a warranty attached. If your goal is to cash out while they still hold some value—maybe because you need the extra cash or just want to upgrade to something newer with a full warranty—then sure, it makes sense. But if you're expecting some massive, life-changing leap in performance, I probably wouldn't bother.
Megan Ruiz13 said:Here’s my experience. I added another 8 gigs of DDR3 x4gb last week, so I’m sitting at 4x4 now, but honestly? No real difference. Except when I play Call of Duty: Black Ops 3—that game eats about 11 gigs of RAM and devours all my VRAM at 1080p.
Now I can actually crank everything up to max settings 😁
Bottom line: there's no performance boost, which makes sense if you actually understand how RAM works.
The headache only starts if you're running memory-heavy apps without enough capacity. Everything starts stuttering, the whole system drags, and it begins using the hard drive as virtual memory instead of actual RAM. That’s when things get ugly.
You can throw more RAM at a machine and nothing will change performance-wise. For example, any game that ran fine on 8 gigs is still going to run just fine with 16.
Generally, you only upgrade past 8 gigs if you're doing video editing or other heavy lifting. Apps that need a lot of "room" to breathe.
For now, 8 gigs is plenty for gaming. You might run into an occasional title that hogs more, but it's rare and usually depends on your settings. Like that COD Black Ops 3. It ran totally fine on 8 gigs if I kept textures on High instead of Ultra; I think total usage was around 7.5 gigs between the game and the OS. On Ultra, though, it jumps over 11 gigs and wipes out your VRAM.
But like I said, that's the exception, not the rule.
I guess it’s not even that big of a deal if you're running an SSD. Back in the day, those old spinning hard drives would absolutely kill the whole system, but now it's probably less noticeable...
You probably won't even notice those 16GB of DDR3 x4gb unless she starts running Adobe Photoshop along with a few other heavy programs at once, I guess.
Jason Mendoza said:I guess I'm still a little skeptical about buying used CPUs, but if you guys say it's fine, I'll probably just go that route. 👍
If there’s one thing actually worth buying used, it’s CPUs—they almost never die. And honestly, Intel chips are even better because the pins are on the motherboard, so you can just wrap them in some toilet paper and mail them without worrying about anything breaking.
Buying a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM probably just gives you that little hit of dopamine from having shiny new gear and a warranty. Honestly, you might not even notice the performance jump since CPU gains have been pretty underwhelming over the last five years, I guess.
Man, this LC unit is $80, and you can probably snag a Hex one for $100. Or maybe just grab an Antec or that LC power silver mentioned earlier. $20, plus you could actually reuse that PSU for a new build down the road.
Angela Ramirez96 said:So, nobody’s actually giving me a real breakdown on what this processor is really doing—like, what’s the actual difference between this one and, say, the $2,000 beast? Is the FPS jump actually massive, or are we just talking about some tiny, negligible gains?
That i5 you were looking at is probably a solid deal. You could grab an i5 with a higher number, like an i5-6500, I guess, but it’ll cost you more just to see maybe 2 or 3 extra FPS. Might be better to put that extra cash toward a better GPU or an SSD instead.
You don't really need an i7 for gaming right now, honestly. If you had a bigger budget, maybe it would make sense, but in this case, the graphics card is still your top priority.
Prices will definitely start dipping eventually, though I guess it might not be worth waiting too long since these cards dropped just a few months ago and prices are already starting to settle.
As for picking a brand, you should probably aim for something with a 3-year warranty, then just check out the cooling setup. You can likely find a review for any model—whether it’s a written article or something on YouTube—where you can get the lowdown on temperatures, noise levels, and all that stuff.
Yeah, you could go for that card. Honestly, having 6GB is probably the better bet if you're looking ahead, since modern games seem to be eating up VRAM faster than ever lately.
That motherboard really peaks at 16GB. Honestly, 8GB covers most basic stuff, but you’ll probably need more if you're running heavy software like video editing, Photoshop, or virtual machines. If you want some peace of mind for a while, maybe just grab an 8GB stick now since they're so cheap; having 12GB total would be plenty for the next few years, I guess.
If you're actually looking to speed up the whole PC and make Windows feel snappy, check out an SSD.
You’re trying to put an FM2 processor on an AM3 motherboard, which just isn't going to work. Also, that power supply isn't exactly top-tier. Honestly, an i5 is a much better call than what you picked. Its closest match in the Intel camp for that socket would be the Intel Core i7-4770K, which is roughly in the same ballpark, but the i5 is probably the smarter move since it's newer (that i7-4770K architecture is basically five years old at this point).
I don't think there’s much difference with the Western Digital drives, though I guess you might want to steer clear of Patriot Memory since they were kind of flaky a few months back. You probably wouldn't even notice the speed gap anyway.