The key words for this build are “enduring” and “value”
“Value” because for the most part it’s just going to sit in a closet and stream video to my TV and I don’t want to pay a ridiculous amount for a glorified ATV. And “enduring” as I want it to be able to play decent games for as long as possible. Just like a console.
I would like it to be as close to $800 CAN as possible but don’t mind paying more for something that will last longer or perform better. Remember the key word is “value” meaning good price to performance. It also needs to be able to do smooth 4K video playback (I do not own a 4K tv but plan on buying one within the life expectancy of this machine)
I am not a big tech guy and do not know a lot about computers but I am however not stupid and I know how to use Google ;). I have been doing a lot of research for the last two weeks and was either thinking of going in one of 3 routes
- AMD Athelon X4 w/ R9 270
- i5-4430 w/ R9 270
- http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3OpxH (APU w/o a dedicated GPU and then add a $200 video card in two years).
Without getting caught up on specifics witch option makes the most sense? Option 1 is cheaper but will Option 2 bring me better “value” and “endurance” for the extra cost? Does the APU route make any sense at all? Will a $200 video card in two years with the A10 perform better than option 2?
Additional Information;
- I live in beautiful Vancouver Canada so I am dealing with Canadian suppliers (newegg.ca or NCIX). I could drive across the boarder if the savings makes sense but with the exchange right now I highly doubt it will.
- mATX is preferred but ATX is fine if it’s significantly cheaper.
- Since I am looking for endurance I do not plan to O.C the CPU but will O.C. an APU or GPU for better gaming.
- The only computer that I currently own is a 3 year old i5 Lenovo laptop that I use for all my “productivity” tasks (if you consider browsing the web productive:) ). I do not want this machine to replace my laptop I just plan for it to purely be like the thread title suggests a HTPC / gaming console for the living room.
- I would be willing to wait for a few months if you guys think prices might drop significantly or if you know of a release that is just around the corner. Like I said I want this machine to last me a long time so to wait two or three months is nothing in the grand scheme of things. That said I would prefer not to wait lol.
- Also the core 1000 case is just a placeholder for now and will likely not be the case I go with.
Sorry for such a long post I just tend to be very thorough and want to give all the info you guys might need. Thank you all in advance and I look forward to hearing your opinions and recommendations but hopefully more of the latter than the former.