Building A Desktop PC... (1 Viewer)

TBH you probably don't need the absolute best of everything if you've been getting by with a 10 year old Dell. Pretty much anything should be an upgrade so I would have a hard time justifying the big coin on an Intel that has better specs then the much cheaper AMD. There are those that feel they "need" super crazy high specs but lets be honest, 90% of the people don't need an 8 core 4 ghz process to look at porn online all day.... lol
 
If you want a PC that has a shot at lasting another 10 years, then I recommend spending a little more than the minimum and getting an intel platform with usb 3.1 and thunderbolt, 4cores, hyperthreading and good integrated graphics, and the important SSD. If you shop around (pcpartpicker.com) you could build one with these features for ~500 usd.
 
Mr. Cheese said:
TBH you probably don't need the absolute best of everything if you've been getting by with a 10 year old Dell. Pretty much anything should be an upgrade so I would have a hard time justifying the big coin on an Intel that has better specs then the much cheaper AMD. There are those that feel they "need" super crazy high specs but lets be honest, 90% of the people don't need an 8 core 4 ghz process to look at porn online all day.... lol
Click to expand...

Was not looking for the absolute best of anything. I am just trying to maximize my features and space to upgrade in the future. Having more than a couple USB 3.0 and SATA3 ports is essential IMO for future expansion. None of the components I have listed so far have been the best of anything. The only thing I am saying is that dollar for dollar I have yet to find an AMD board that stacks up to an Intel board. Which kind of sucks since the more I look at the AMD APU's the more I like them for my needs. It's just not worth it to sacrifice expansion or eat up any money savings by going with AMD.

The only reason I have gotten by on a 10 year old dell is because I turn it on about once a month. I need to upgrade now due to a project I am in the process of getting started.

And I agree with you 100%...most people don't need a crazy overclocked system for what they use their computers for. I don't think I have given the impression that that is what I am going for.
 
Craig D said:
If you are willing to accept the Realtek ALC892 chip set on the GIGABYTE GA-B150M-D3H-GSM then just maybe the ASUS Z170-A is worth looking at (built in display port and USB 3.1 type A and C)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132566&cm_re=Z170-_-13-132-566-_-Product


Your CPU has a high 3.7 GHz clock good for games, but only 2 cores bad for editing, also not much L3 cache

If you only do a little editing good choice
Click to expand...
That's a really nice board, but I have no intention of overclocking which seems like what it was designed for. Speaking of chipsets though I am thinking about this board now after reading up more on the B150 chipset's features versus the H170/Z170...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-128-842

It is a little more than what I need with some of the OC'ing features, but for $10 more it has a whole lot more going for it than the first board I picked.
 
tommythecat said:
Was not looking for the absolute best of anything. I am just trying to maximize my features and space to upgrade in the future. Having more than a couple USB 3.0 and SATA3 ports is essential IMO for future expansion. None of the components I have listed so far have been the best of anything. The only thing I am saying is that dollar for dollar I have yet to find an AMD board that stacks up to an Intel board. Which kind of sucks since the more I look at the AMD APU's the more I like them for my needs. It's just not worth it to sacrifice expansion or eat up any money savings by going with AMD.

The only reason I have gotten by on a 10 year old dell is because I turn it on about once a month. I need to upgrade now due to a project I am in the process of getting started.

And I agree with you 100%...most people don't need a crazy overclocked system for what they use their computers for. I don't think I have given the impression that that is what I am going for.
Click to expand...

Needing the best of the best was never the impression you gave me, that was just a generality that I've noticed with people in general that build computers and wasn't directed specifically at you :).

I compared this motherboard to your original one and it seems pretty close. Your intel one has a total of 5 but otherwise its pretty close.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859
That has 6 sata ports, 3 usb3.0 and 8 usb2.0.
 
I have an brand new 3.5" 2TB hard drive that came with my X51R3 that I don't need. I'm happy to donate it to your build if you get an Intel MB. ;) I just put the 2 extra SSDs in my system.

20160113_232754.jpg

Had to make a custom power cable. All the SATA power Y cables had the wrong molex connector.

20160113_232435.jpg 20160113_232445_002.jpg 20160113_232806.jpg 20160113_232815.jpg
 
Mr. Cheese said:
Needing the best of the best was never the impression you gave me, that was just a generality that I've noticed with people in general that build computers and wasn't directed specifically at you :).

I compared this motherboard to your original one and it seems pretty close. Your intel one has a total of 5 but otherwise its pretty close.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859
That has 6 sata ports, 3 usb3.0 and 8 usb2.0.
Click to expand...
Not a bad board, but only 2 USB 3.0 on the back and no M.2 support. Also, the one I have listed in the post above yours is less expensive with a little more going for it w/r/t expansion possibilities and "future proofing."

I really am trying to find an AMD board that I like without compromising too much. Like I said I like the APU's and looking at some of the other features on AMD boards that are missing from the Intel's like charging when the system is off and increasing voltage to USB ports for faster charging are really nice features.
 
Tommy said:
I have an brand new 3.5" 2TB hard drive that came with my X51R3 that I don't need. I'm happy to donate it to your build if you get an Intel MB. ;) I just put the 2 extra SSDs in my system.

View attachment 27867

Had to make a custom power cable. All the SATA power Y cables had the wrong molex connector.

View attachment 27865 View attachment 27866 View attachment 27868 View attachment 27869
Click to expand...
That's awesome Tommy thank you!!! Likely getting an Intel, but still hunting around for an AMD board.
 
I used to build PCs for a living, and for my 2 cents I'd stick with the Intel. AMDs are fine, I just find Intel's to be a little more stable. Corasair makes great cases. Go for the i3. The lower end samsund ssd will be fine. 8gig ram is OK.
 
kuat said:
I used to build PCs for a living, and for my 2 cents I'd stick with the Intel. AMDs are fine, I just find Intel's to be a little more stable. Corasair makes great cases. Go for the i3. The lower end samsund ssd will be fine. 8gig ram is OK.
Click to expand...
Ordered the case today. Will probably order a mobo this weekend. I am starting to lean toward the i5 (is I go with Intel) just for the extra cores. I know I won't need them initially, but if I end up doing more audio editing and/or light video editing the extra cores will come in handy. 8 GB of RAM will get me through for quite a while and upgrading to 16GB is cheap and easy if needed.
 
I just bought some female pins to re-make the cable later anyway.
 
kuat said:
Just pull the power from your optical drive.
Click to expand...

This model doesn't have an optical drive. It has the CPU liquid cooler instead. I can't remember the last time I used a cd-rom drive.
 
Tommy said:
This model doesn't have an optical drive. It has the CPU liquid cooler instead. I can't remember the last time I used a cd-rom drive.
Click to expand...
I haven't used one in a while either, I still put one in my current rig, not sure why. At least this time I didn't put a floppy in. Haven't used one of those in 10 years, but still put one in my last build. Half out of nostalgia, half because it seemed wrong not to have one.
 
I have settled on and purchased a board. It is a bit more than what I wanted to spend, but it has a better audio chipset which will come in handy. It also has fewer problems it seems than the previous board I had picked out. To help offset the extra cost I took advantage of newegg's combo deals and paired the board with the Intel i5 - 6500. $15 savings for the combo and a $10 mail in rebate.

i5 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117563


mobo - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128841

I ordered this power supply instead of my original pick as it had a $20 rebate this weekend so it only cost me $60 (further offsetting the higher mobo cost)...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438049
 
I got my CPU cooler and memory from amazon today...must have had it at a close warehouse since I ordered on Monday and it arrived today. Can't wait for the motherboard and CPU to get here. Still need to pick up a copy of Windows 10 and order my M.2 drive.
 
tommythecat said:
I got my CPU cooler and memory from amazon today...must have had it at a close warehouse since I ordered on Monday and it arrived today. Can't wait for the motherboard and CPU to get here. Still need to pick up a copy of Windows 10 and order my M.2 drive.
Click to expand...

See if you can get a copy of Win 7 or Win 8. You don't even have to activated it. It will let you upgrade to Win 10 for free.
 
Tommy said:
I didn't mean pay for it. ;)

What are you running on your current PC? XP?
Click to expand...
Yep...XP

I will have to see if my dad has a spare copy lying around. I also have a buddy in school that might be able to get me a student discounted copy for me now that I think about it.
 
CPU and motherboard arrived Tuesday and the power supply came yesterday. HDD from Tommy should be here today and I just ordered a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD. I still have to order a M.2 drive but I think I will hold off for a couple weeks so I can swing the 950 PRO.

I am overshooting my budget by a fair amount though I haven't bothered to total everything up yet. Saving money on MIR's, a free HD, and working OT allowed me to go for slightly better components though. :)
 

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