Build Advice New machine this year, help me spec it

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Cthippo, 31 Jan 2016.

  1. Cthippo

    Cthippo Can't mod my way out of a paper bag

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    I think this is the year I get a new desktop, but it's been so long since I built a box that I'm pretty out of touch.

    The machine will be used for web browsing, light gaming (War Thunder and the likes), and possibly some video editing if I ever get back into that.

    I prefer AMD over Intel for a CPU and it will be running Windows 7 until that becomes untenable, at which point I will probably go linux (maybe). Budget is about $1000 USD.

    I will only need a 320-500 GB SSD since most of the data will be on the fileserver, but will need Gb LAN. No watercooling, no overclocking, quiet is a plus and SFF is an option.

    What are your thoughts?
     
  2. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    If you want AMD for a CPU I would wait and see what happens with Zen. The problem is that Skylake is so far beyond anything AMD make that you would literally have to be crazy to go AMD. IE - unless threading fully the I3 6100 slaughters the FX 6300 etc.

    I'm also not sure how well AMD FX CPUs work in Linux, so you would need to do some digging there.

    PSU - any decent 600w ought to do it.
    GPU - Radeon 390
    SSD - whichever one is the cheapest and performs the best really (this changes all of the time)

    SFF is not really an option on AMD unless you either go with an APU or one of their CPUs that go into the FM2+ socket. But as I said, all of their current sockets and boards are going to be replaced with AM4 so now really is a terrible time to buy AMD.
     
  3. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    For pretty much the reasons Vault-Tec states, if you're thinking of going the red CPU route - don't [yet]...

    Also whilst the CPU will be fine under Linux [unless you insist on using an ancient version of the kernel for some unknown reason...], Linux support for AMD's GPUs is still naff [but a lot better than it was]... You're more likely to have problems with the SSD under linux out of anything - check the kernel blacklist to see which drives are known to have issues [and what those issues are]...
     
    Last edited: 31 Jan 2016
  4. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    Ah, wasn't aware that AMD GPU + Linux = turd. I know that they don't have a decent unix driver and Mac OSX support is awful too. I guess I would take a 970 in that case, but again that may be a bad idea with the new ones supposedly just around the corner.

    So, I would either buy budget (and I mean like, really tight) or just wait. This year we will see new CPUs and new GPUs.
     
  5. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    nVidia's Linux support isn't exactly stellar either but I've found it to be better than AMD's on the whole
     
  6. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Nvidia and AMD both have pretty crap Linux support in general. Nvidia gets better the more up to date your gpu is. Anything from 6series onwards at least has a working stable driver.

    AMD I can not recommend a cpu purchase at this time unless your going the APU route. AM3+ will have its 5th birthday this year most likely before we see ZEN launched.

    Even if ZEN is the best cpu on the market you can pretty much guarentee it will be priced as such. People have this fantasy about AMD been cheap but the fact they are cheap these last few years is because they have had no choice.

    When they where the leader of the market they charged the same prices Intel does.

    6600k 8gb ram mobo and cooler can be had for around £400 ( Scan in the uk at least offer such a bundle) id imagine there is similar deals available in your region
     
  7. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    There are typically 2 paths to success - be better, or be cheaper... AMD haven't managed the former for a while so as you say, they have no choice but opt for the latter...
     
  8. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    or 3 have millions of loyal fans who buy what you offer?
     
  9. Cthippo

    Cthippo Can't mod my way out of a paper bag

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    OK, so what,s the right path forward?

    Assuming I go to the dark, er, I mean blue, side, what is the best value for a CPU / mobo pairing? What is a good nVidia mid-range GPU?

    I'm leery of waiting for Zen as a lot of ink has been spilled about it being Windows 10 only, which is a non-starter for me. I know MS is trying to convince us that Skylake will be Win 10 only, but I really can't see how it will work now and then somehow stop working in 18 months.

    So, I guess recommend me a good CPU - Mobo - GPU setup and we'll go from there.
     
  10. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    Essentially if you're using Zen or Skylake [and probably Broadwell-E when it lands] on 7/8.x and something breaks/doesn't work properly you're on your own...

    as for hardware suggestions - the suggestions in this thread would be a good place to start
     

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