Need help with CPU & first build (for emulation/gaming)

So, I'm doing my first build... literally 8 years in the making. I'm finally getting this done and I'm hype. But I need help on choosing my CPU, and the rest I believe I can do on my own.

USA
600-700tops
Emulation/Gaming

So I'm not a newbie or noob to this field, clearly I'm on the TekSydicate forums so you guys don't have to hold my hand on anything, just thought I'd state that first. I know about overclocking, what you'd need, and stuff like that.

But I just need help on picking my CPU.
So basically, I want a PC for gaming, but MAINLY emulation. I did my research countless times over the years, and now the technology for CPU is so advanced now, just about any Haswell or Skylake would do. However, emulation on PCSX2/Dolphin, relies heavily upon single threaded speeds, and doesn't usually use more than 2 cores. So I need something with a fast core speed. But, this is also for gaming, so I want atleast a quad/hyper-threading with very similar performance.

Basically I need about 3.5Ghz to be sure I emulate all my old games I cant wait to play again smoothly no problem. But I'd like to reach 3.7-3.9ish, preferably 4.0 for gaming.

So I cant spend over 700. And I want a Skylake.. why? Well Ill be on LGA 1151, which is much more appealing for future upgrades and stuff, and its the newest tech and on my budget why not? That and Skylake is like a guarantee itll emulate anything, Haswell too... but Skylake is newer and I feel more safe.

So if I get a non-K Skylake I need this motherboard to still overclock it.
And I need to overclock it cause the only quad core Skylake processors(which I am targeting) that are around what I think I should spend, are under 3.5, just the minimum of what I need for emulation speed requirements, and to get to 4.0 which I ultimately want, will inevitably require overclocking.

My main question is, is it worth getting that mobo just for a non-K skylake CPU, or are their other CPU options I should consider with a different motherboard? And I guess your guys out look on CPUs I have to choose between in general.

I can't even start looking at other things for the build until I know how much I need for my mobo/CPU. And hey if anyone has any complete builds you wanna run by me sure. Guess its just mainly a CPU question right now.

Thanks

If you want to overclock and not spend much money for just single core power, get a rig that is based around a G3258. But if you plan things that are not just single thread dependent, then get some thing like the i5-4690K and start overclocking it. A Skylake build will also do fairly well but I highly doubt you will need over 3.5GHz. It has been two or three years since I dabbled in emulation, but if an FX-8320 machine can do it fine, I am sure that both Haswell and Skylake will do fine too.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nFZ6TW

Lots of CPU power in the Skylake form. Overclockable since you wanted it... GPU has something to be desired and an SSD would be nice. But it gives you an upgrade path in the future if you want to take it.

No, not a perfect build, kind of half-assed.

Dolphin emulator realy likes strong per core performance indeed.
The 6600K should be totaly fine for dolphin.

Skylake non K sku´s overclocking is most likely not gonna work much longer.

Cool thanks for the rough draft list VXAce. So you say a Skylake isnt truly necessary.. Yeah, still want to be on 1151 though. And yeah for most you dont need 3.5, but some really bad optimized games thats like a safe bet..(Zone of the Enders, Jak and Daxter etc).

Wow... didnt know about this... so it would be smart to get a K then... ah... that makes things quite a bit more expensive.. I will see what I can work with, but it seems I may need to go back to 1150 if necessary. Wouldnt be the end of the world, is less shiny and upgradey though..

Don't worry about overclocking on non K parts it's not worth doing, this low end board has USB 3.1 and Type C, it's why it's in there

and I guess you have the budget for overclocking, so just make sure any Z170 board you buy has USB 3.1 and Type C potentially

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kw2vgs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kw2vgs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2HP Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($68.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($31.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $605.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-22 18:21 EST-0500

1 Like


Ooo a reply from the revered Streetguru of the TS forums.
What do you mean 'it's why it's in there'?

Plus.. its pretty clear my nonK overclockability may not be around for the long haul... the cyber-intel-repo is gonna come nerf my frequency. With micro-updates. Don't want that. So if I want to overclock I may as well get a K. With this build, it still seems very possible in my budget. Sweet.

Cause tbh I still want to get 3.5, being locked at 3.2 if the Intel Cyber police nerf me on a non-K will suck.

Edit: I don't get it... what's a USB type have to do with my CPU/overclocking?

i would allways recommend to get the 6600K + Z170 board if you can afford.
Like i said dolphin emulator realy likes fast cores.
So having the ability to overclock can be a benefit.
You could ofc also go with the haswell 4690K + Z97 board, but indeed then you basicly invest in an older platform.
Not realy a big deal in terms of raw cpu performance, but Skylake platform does ofc offer some nice benefits over Haswell like dmi3.0 bus, which might be handy for future upgrades for example.

Of course a locked i5 like the 6500 or 6600 would also work verywell with dolphin.
So if you cant realy afford to go with the unlocked cpu´s.
Then a locked i5 like the 6500 wont be bad either.

It's just the main feature of skylake and what you should get on your motherboard if you go on the platform. "It's why it's in there" is because normally you'd want a bit higher end motherboard, but I've yet to spend time looking for an H170 board with USB 3.1, of course skylake has such low power requirements that I doubt you really even need a higher end board anymore, aside from the other features the chipset offers.

the chip turbos to 3.6ghz, so it's fine there as far as speed goes, but you have the budget for overclocking so I suppose go for that.

Okay well I kinda decided Ill just stick with the locked chip... if I even need to OC, I can still do it if Intel Cyber Police hasn;t made any micro-nerfs. But since it does turbo, which I was just reminded of(completely forgot about Turbo... whoops) to atleast 3.6 then its fine.

So with a little extra wiggle room, I decided to get a better mobo. A Micro ATX is a little small and the quality isn't the best, and the Mobo is like the one thing Im super picky about. Also so I can actually add another GPU if I want.. with CFX support and alot of features... but is this a fine motherboard?

Took me a while to find one with both 3.1 and Type C, not really bad cons and lack of features. And I needed a bigger case which ate the last of my budget up basically.

Dual GPUs is never really going to be worth it, because you'd then want a 1000W PSU to have plenty of headroom on the power supply, and there's new faster GPU's coming in a few months anyways.

What board?

As stated above.

And oh okay... guess you have a point, though if I ever want to get ridiculous with the new GPUs down the line its still useful.

That board seems a bit light on the IO, dunno about you but I couldn't live with only having 4 main USB ports.

...Really? Not really a big deal to me. I'm never using more than 4 at a time. Hmm.. okay, so you have any recommendations?

Found this, has tons of IO, Full sized USB 3.1 and type C $109

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128869

Same board, but with the Z170 chipset for overclocking, adds about 10 bucks to $119, same after a rebate, but I've never known a rebate to work

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128842

Jeez, sure explains alot. But I never really took those seriously. Would still try though.

I actuallty viewed that second one.. the rumored Audio issues scare me. So the first isn't a -bad- choice I guess. Especially since.. major update. Turns out for my Bday next week Im gonna be back in my hometown.

In which we have a Microcenter, in which I can go in and pick this up.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/451885/Core_i5-6600K_35GHz_1151_Boxed_Processor#
May as well for 20 more bucks.

Well might as well go Z170 with the K series chip

far as audio goes, minor issue overall given the board's relatively low cost, unless you want to pay more for a board you could just get an ODAC someday and have that for better audio quality.

I like there return policy. Got a bad board, took entire build back, no problem. I personally have never had an problems with there open box deals.

For Emulation Gaming... mostly emulating

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9wNf6h

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9wNf6h
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9wNf6h/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-6320 3.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($158.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.74 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($51.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($31.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($43.26 @ Mac Mall)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $634.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-23 17:39 EST-0500

Wii's are $5 btw ;)

Id rather just spend more on a motherboard than pay something around 150+ plus to just add to my build down the line.. when I may as well just get a new mobo with the price of that one at that price anyways.

Return policies endorsements is a plus, cool.
Thanks for the build Pikachu ;D

Lol I don't really wanna play Wii games, mainly my old Gamecube games for dolphins(though I cant use my discs for those). Can't do either of those at 1440p or more on the native consoles though. ;)
That... and whats better than having 2-3 consoles all in your room setup when everything can run on one machine. Plus, the texture mods <3 And may I mention how much easier it is to stream from PC?

Anyways.. only downside to 6600k.. no cooler. So I need a cooler. Guess Ill just get a 212.. I am literally at my cap now on the budget though.