Rig upgrade comment

[Oranger]

Hi all, having thoughts to upgrade my rig after having some issues, along with its performance performing badly with eg, BF1. Very sluggish and constantly fluctuating FPS.

Currently using the below:
- MSI Z77A-G41 with i5-2500k
- Zotac 1070
- Aurum 92+ 550W PSU
- Auzentech X-Fi Forte (should I decommission this soundcard?)
- 2x4GB Kingston
- Dell U3415W

I presume I can use back my GPU, PSU and monitor, while the rest can be decommissioned. Not too up-to-date on the current trend but any budget-friendly recommendations on what can go for?

I'm using it for gaming (mainly Overwatch nowadays but hopefully wont perform as sluggishly on new games) and just normal surfing.

Thanks much for inputs!

 

[Koenig168]

I would suggest an SSD if you are not already using it.

For CPU+MB+RAM, you can consider i5-8400 (if and when SLS finally gets stock) + Z370 MB (whichever strikes your fancy) + 2X8GB DDR4.

RAM is between 230 to 370 now and prices are still going up so you might want to snag a pair early.

 

[Rashkae]

You can ditch the sound card.

 

[tmfwy]

Hi all, having thoughts to upgrade my rig after having some issues, along with its performance performing badly with eg, BF1. Very sluggish and constantly fluctuating FPS.

Currently using the below:
- MSI Z77A-G41 with i5-2500k
- Zotac 1070
- Aurum 92+ 550W PSU
- Auzentech X-Fi Forte (should I decommission this soundcard?)
- 2x4GB Kingston
- Dell U3415W

I presume I can use back my GPU, PSU and monitor, while the rest can be decommissioned. Not too up-to-date on the current trend but any budget-friendly recommendations on what can go for?

I'm using it for gaming (mainly Overwatch nowadays but hopefully wont perform as sluggishly on new games) and just normal surfing.

Thanks much for inputs!

How fluctuating is the FPS for BF1 and at what quality setting
Are you playing in 2560x1440?

 

[Fatfool]

Could get a Ryzen 5 1600X based rig.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Could get a Ryzen 5 1600X based rig.

How does it make sense to gamers when Coffee lake Core i5 is already out and can cost cheaper even with Z370 motherboards?

 

[Oranger]

Thanks for input guys!

I would suggest an SSD if you are not already using it.

For CPU+MB+RAM, you can consider i5-8400 (if and when SLS finally gets stock) + Z370 MB (whichever strikes your fancy) + 2X8GB DDR4.

RAM is between 230 to 370 now and prices are still going up so you might want to snag a pair early.

Yeh, already have 2x SSD, 1 for OS and another for games. Thinking to get another for the new system. Based on what you've shared, will probably need to get at least the DDR4 ram first..

You can ditch the sound card.

Am still using the old Logitech Z-5500 speakers. I suppose current mobo sound output are pretty much on par with these discrete soundcards?

How fluctuating is the FPS for BF1 and at what quality setting
Are you playing in 2560x1440?

Havent fired it up for quite a long while. I recall having it on the default monitor resolution of 3440x1440. Quality didnt seem to make too much of a difference as both on high or low gave me the same pretty bad experience of fluctuating between 20 to 60fps at best.

I presume it was more to do with my old i5 chip rather than my 1070?

 

[Fatfool]

How does it make sense to gamers when Coffee lake Core i5 is already out and can cost cheaper even with Z370 motherboards?

Depends, same price point. the i5-8400 is better at games but the 1600X is a lot more powerful processing power wise.

But if you look at the motherboards, the Z370 boards for the Coffee Lake are more expensive than the B350 boards for the Ryzen (X370 doesn't improve performance anyway)

 

[Hailgod]

Depends, same price point. the i5-8400 is better at games but the 1600X is a lot more powerful processing power wise.

But if you look at the motherboards, the Z370 boards for the Coffee Lake are more expensive than the B350 boards for the Ryzen (X370 doesn't improve performance anyway)

cheapest 1600 + b350 is ~460. cheapest 8400 + z370 is ~460. what are u talkign about?

 

[undead102]

b350 is around 1xx+
z370 around 3xx+

If 8400 get with budget b board of 1xx+ total cost will only be 200+ to 300+ for i5 8400+ h/b board.

 

[Koenig168]

If 8400 get with budget b board of 1xx+ total cost will only be 200+ to 300+ for i5 8400+ h/b board.

i5-8400 by itself is already $292

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Depends, same price point. the i5-8400 is better at games but the 1600X is a lot more powerful processing power wise.

But if you look at the motherboards, the Z370 boards for the Coffee Lake are more expensive than the B350 boards for the Ryzen (X370 doesn't improve performance anyway)

Don't just look at the standalone motherboard prices. If you take a deeper look at the combo prices you'll find Intel combos are much substantially discounted to the point they match AMD combos with B350 motherboards.

As mentioned before, but i will bring out again using latest price list from one of the popular SLS PC parts store:

AMD Ryzen 5 1600 + ASRock AB350M Pro4 combo costs $453
whereas Intel Core i5-8400 + ASRock Z370M Pro4 combo costs just $459

You may argue AMD can overclock and has SMT. But both have minimal impact over Intel Core i5-8400 which already has high Turbo Boost clock speeds that works most the time, which nullifies the meagre overclocking ability of current Ryzen CPUs. Ryzen can only save itself with its SMT in the content creation department that doesn't applies to TS.

Intel Core i5-8400 is the clear choice for him when it comes to gaming. As backed by game performance reviews across the board.

 

[Fatfool]

Don't just look at the standalone motherboard prices. If you take a deeper look at the combo prices you'll find Intel combos are much substantially discounted to the point they match AMD combos with B350 motherboards.

As mentioned before, but i will bring out again using latest price list from one of the popular SLS PC parts store:

AMD Ryzen 5 1600 + ASRock AB350M Pro4 combo costs $453
whereas Intel Core i5-8400 + ASRock Z370M Pro4 combo costs just $459

You may argue AMD can overclock and has SMT. But both have minimal impact over Intel Core i5-8400 which already has high Turbo Boost clock speeds that works most the time, which nullifies the meagre overclocking ability of current Ryzen CPUs. Ryzen can only save itself with its SMT in the content creation department that doesn't applies to TS.

Intel Core i5-8400 is the clear choice for him when it comes to gaming. As backed by game performance reviews across the board.

Good substantiated answer.

 

[watzup_ken]

I think the price of B350 mobos are quite high in Singapore, which could attribute to the higher bundle cost. Logically, the R5 1600 don't actually cost a lot more than an i5 8400, and the difference comes mainly from motherboard cost, i.e. X370 vs B350. Take the Asrock AB350M for example, the cheapest I find on Amazon was 75 USD, while it is selling close to 150 SGD here.

 

[Hailgod]

~

i said the same thing and got ignored lmao.
z370 mobos are much cheaper than usual z series motherboards as well, probably because of intel's decision to launch budget boards very late.

 

[Koenig168]

I think the price of B350 mobos are quite high in Singapore, which could attribute to the higher bundle cost. Logically, the R5 1600 don't actually cost a lot more than an i5 8400, and the difference comes mainly from motherboard cost, i.e. X370 vs B350. Take the Asrock AB350M for example, the cheapest I find on Amazon was 75 USD, while it is selling close to 150 SGD here.

There is usually a $50 or so bundle discount for local CPU+MB so I would think the price difference (if any) will not be substantial. Certainly not worth losing the local warranty for MB.

That said, Amazon is selling the 1600X for USD204.99 which looks like a good deal.

 

[Encrypted11]

I think the price of B350 mobos are quite high in Singapore, which could attribute to the higher bundle cost. Logically, the R5 1600 don't actually cost a lot more than an i5 8400, and the difference comes mainly from motherboard cost, i.e. X370 vs B350. Take the Asrock AB350M for example, the cheapest I find on Amazon was 75 USD, while it is selling close to 150 SGD here.

It's not just board.

If you tracked prices, the "supposed" SKU prices etailers in europe and NA have heavily adjusted. They are likely to have been able procure AMD chips at a reduce cost than launch though the launch MSRP is still there.
Locally, the savings are not passed to the consumer. It goes into "rebates" and paid freebies (e.g. hoodie, t shirt, bag, wraith heat sink).

Spoiler

 

[Oranger]

Having preferred MSI all these years, I think I'll be going with MSI Z370 Gaming Plus with i5 8400 @ $468.

Understand that i5 8400 are out-of-stock and may be for sometime. I reckon the next best thing for me to do first would be to get the other items first such as SDD/HDD and Rams over any upcoming sale or smthg.

Still Have my NS50 vouchers. Reckon that I finally have some use for it now.