Hey all, I need some help! After 7 years of venerable service i think its time to retire my I5-2500k/Z68/8gb DDR3 rig - mostly due to the fact that it is intermittent in starting up and changing it before anything goes pop so i can recycle the drives/GFX is better than replacing 90% of it. Also as win10 updates it becomes less and less inclined to play nicely with the motherboard (e.g. it wont let my GRID+ hardware monitor register the CPU fan speed or the GRID+ software isn't being written/updated with Z68x boards in mind anymore) Budget circa £750 - can be stretched by maybe £100 if it gets me something demonstrably better than the base system that £750 will buy me. I'm not fussed about selling parts on ebay to boost funds (i know boxed z68x boards can fetch a premium and i still have the box and associated bits that came with the board/CPU/RAM - but ebay horror!) and the RAM/CPU may be put in my plex server if i can source an LGA 1155 itx board at a reasonable price to go in my 250D case behind the telly downstairs. I'd sell the GTX970 on here though at a push to boost up to £1000 for a mega system that will see me through the next 7 years! Retailers - amazon/scan preferred but i have bought from ebuyer historically and i *may* even have bought stuff from overclockers - i'd prefer if postage charges didn't eat up a lump of my budget! Why am i asking for help? I can't decide whats the best rig for me - an intel i5/i7 or AMD Ryzen 2 - I'm suffering a clear and undeniable case of paralysis by analysis so i need someone wise and informed to take the decision away from me! Main uses of intended build: Creation of powerpoints / docs for school, gaming when i get a chance, transcoding of the odd movie here and there from physical to electronic copy, editing photo's (occasional forays into the world of photoshop when my wife wants a pic cleaned up) Parts required: CPU Motherboard Appropriate ram (16gb DDR4 at highest speed within budget constraints), New PSU (750W modular for a bit of headroom and cleaning up cable clutter inside my case?). Possibly needed New windows license (although i'll check if i get one as part of my schools IT package from microsoft and hopefully my SSD will slot into my new rig and i can reactivate my win10 installation via phone and not have to rebuild from scratch again) AMD GFX for some mixed resolution eyefinity gaming..... 3 displayport outs needed for this though. NVME or M2 drive would be nice but not essential as it can be added as an xmas pressie later in the year plus i'm happy with the speed of the Samsung SSD I have currently and it's reporting good health still. Previous build information: Case - Corsair Obsidian 550D *to be carried over* PSU - 750w Akasa something or other that is now probably 10 years old! CPU - I5-2500k oc to 4.2GHZ on air Cooler - BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 3 (i think) *possibly to be carried over* MB - Gigabyte Z68x-ud3h-b3 RAM - 8GB (4 x 2GB) corsair vengeance LP 1600mhz DDR3 GFX - EVGA GTX970 SSC *possibly to be carried over* HDD's - 128GB Samsung 830 SSD + 4TB media drive/1TB games drive *to be carried over* Monitors - LG 29" 2560x1080 UItrawide, 2 x 24" LG 1920x1080 *to be carried over* Keyboard - Corsair Strafe RGB with silent mech switches *to be carried over* Mouse - Logitech G602 (no need for ultrahigh DPI as i prefer RPG to FPS) *to be carried over* Sound - Xonar Essence STX *to be carried over* Monitor resolution: 6400x1080 - see above about eyefinity Storage requirements: Intend on carrying over 128GB SSD and spinning drives Will you be overclocking: I like to have my rig as fast as possible so yes - i'd like to have a boost for a little extra outlay Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): Minimal display outs (just a hdmi/displayport) USB 3.1 A + C, lots of USB 3, lots of PWM fan headers would be nice but i have a GRID+ i can carry over to get system noise down Extra information about desired system: I've had intel for all my builds and am comfortable with them and they do all the GHZ but AMD win on value/cores/motherboard longevity etc so i'm conflicted. Thanks in advance for the assist - I really can't make a decision! Money is in hand so i can go now or wait a little while but sooner is better imho!
This: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/WGTYfH I think it ticks all your boxes, assuming you can blag an AM4 Mounting kit for your Dark Rock Pro 3 from beQuiet, if not you may need to wrangle a compatible cooler into your budget. If you need more than 250GB for the SSD, sawp it for the more capacious, but slower [cos it's sata] Crucial MX500 or similar.
What a fine suggestion. That is exactly where my cash would go as well. If you need more SSD storage, you could also drop to a 2600X and put the saved cash towards a larger drive. Though the extra cores and threads of the 2700X will help in your rendering. By the way, check this out for your cooler... https://www.bequiet.com/en/contact/coolermounting
Yep that looks grand. I think you're not going to be able to get a gpu thats worth upgrading to on that budget. You'll only get about £130 for your 970, so need an additional £270 for the Vega 56.
I'd say it is definitely worth going for a bigger SSD, be it by stretching the budget a bit or going for a SATA SSD as file sizes just keep getting more and more crazy.
The B-450f board looks tight around the processor and the memory looks a little tall for the dark rock pro - they are notorious for being incompatible with tall memory (unless someone has a similar combo and can tell me differently) - I do love the lack of legacy video connections and the integrated backplate though, more vendors should do that - otherwise the spec looks bang on, i'll check and see if i can get it all from amazon and maybe change the ram for a corsair lpx model instead - thanks all for the input.
Just remove the outer fan, dude. It doesn’t affect temps massively. It actually only dropped me be 2c .. could have been the room temp difference in all honesty.
Now that could be worth doing! I do also have the original AMD mounting kit for my dark rock........ bet it won't fit though............
No it wont, as AM4 is slightly sifferent to AM3, but the link @TheMadDutchDude had in his post is for an AM4 mounting kit from BeQuiet. As for the RAM, other ram is available... that was, iirc, merely the cheapest kit of 3200MHz stuff i came across. All of it except the board can be had from amazon [according to partpicker]
Also, for what it’s worth, you can fit some Trident Z under the outer fan if you push it to th top. You’ll lose a little overall surface area that it would otherwise cover, but you can still use it. You will need that kit I linked for you earlier, unless you splurge more and get a board that has both mounts. However, justification for such a purchase is difficult as they will send you an entirely new bracket for about £10 at most. They might even send it for free, honestly.
So.... having read the advice, looked at the memory and swapped it to corsair lpx, i had it all in my scan/amazon basket and was going to order yesterday afternoon - i made the mistake of going onto Facebook marketplace and........ Someone local had won an 8086k in the intel sweepstakes and had listed it for £299, factory sealed - an opportunity too good to miss so i'm going with the following build - all sourced from amazon. https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/RNDm29 Will see about getting an adaptor for the dark rock pro - or as i've not yet bought an nvme drive i may well go for a h100i or similar..... Thanks for the time and advice, if the 8086k hadn't popped up i would have followed it to the letter
