Looking to put together a parts list for a potential PC build. My father does some gaming but is very miserly and is coming from a 2004 era iMac which he's upgraded to the extent that one can but has reached the point where no further upgrades can really be affected. His idea was to buy a Mac mini and a new 24 inch monitor. So his budget is in the $700 range. He has negative view of used parts as well as large black rectangular cases. My idea is to bring him back into the PC fold. My first thoughts were something on the FM2+ platform. Thoughts?
Wait for RYZEN R5, maybe even R3. The refreshed AMD Polaris line-up should also be out very soon.
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Please define
If you're talking a little WoW on the weekends, it's a different build than nostalgia playthroughs of Total War: Rome and different again from releasing stress with a zombie killer (Codblops 3 anyone?).
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Oh yeah, that'd help wudnit? So bieng a big Myst fan he really wants to play Obduction. I have the game and even tried to run a game server using Moonlight but having no F'in clue about that software I failed. (he lives a few towns away/no same network). Besides the iMac he has a Win7 era laptop the specs are so low as to be irrelevant except that I suspect it's capable of running a game stream. Dad reports playing the original BF and MoH w/o issue/high frames so... I'm really enamored with the idea of a junk build but I think to appease his sense of PC snobbery I'd have to go at least DDR3/SATA 3/USB 3. However a very cursory view of ebay reveals 1st and 2nd gen Core i5/i7 era parts to be WAY to F'in expensive right now. And what the hell is up with that shite anyhow? The resale on that stuff is crazy. Is this all Linus guys out there Scrapyard Wars-ing the shit out of North America?
Ease in change with older parents incrementally if they are stubborn or if you have to. Grab a 2012 rig cheap off craigs list and start to show the difference, or lend him your rig for a week. Then sell off the all the old crap once he's adjusted. Been there, done that.
Yeah, good idea! It's just, well...I live on Long Island and CL here is really F'n shady. Mostly scamrz and thugs lookin to jack you. Still, I will take a look. Thanx !
The resale price boost is because some people/companies will pay the price to keep an outdated system running rather than replace it. I wonder what my zip drives are worth...
L1T did a video, not long ago (I'll see if I can find it), about scrounging up old hardware to build really cheap gaming rigs. Have you considered looking for nearby auctions? Police departments, colleges, and other businesses sell their old computers for very little when they upgrade. You might be able to pick up something like that and throw in a 1050ti. It would make a pretty good argument for upgrading without costing very much money.
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I really like the FM2+ idea.
The better A88X chipset boards come with Wifi and USB Type C as well as USB 3.1 gen2 (the 10 gigabit thingy). And they are available in mini-ITX.
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 880K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($77.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 35.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($91.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($49.99 @ Corsair)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 480 8GB XXX OC Video Card ($219.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $633.69
The case should probably be swapped out for a nicer one. But there you go. I have not calculated an i3 mini-ITX system but I imagine that it would be more expensive and won't have a RX480 in it.
Disclaimer: This is just a discussion point. It's not a direct recommendation to go out and buy this specific configuration. It only serves to show what 700$ FM2+ looks and performs like.
I think an RX 470 would be a better pairing and would bring the total price down to $600 or less.
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Yup. What does the 470 deliver? like 85% of the 480s performance? I'd call that "good enough".
Yeah, I'm looking into it right now. WIll post revised list when complete. DomO
You do not have wifi on that motherboard. Is that intentional?
The 880K has the wraith cooler. So I'm okay with leaving the after-market cooler out.
I personally do not like the beylade-esque styling of the Ripjaws DIMMs but that is just me. They should work just fine. 1866 would also be plenty fast enough (and slightly cheaper).
I personally have a RX460 (2G) and it's fast enough for my game taste. Although 120$ before rebate is a meh price for a 460.
Found a deal:
Dual fans. Should be quieter than the single-fan design by XFX you found. And it's cheaper.
I mean for a bit more he can do a pretty good Zen build.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZPrwKZ
If he's willing to spend 1400 on a mac mini this is a pretty good price cut plus I assume he likes the mac pro cases :3
He can also build a hackintosh for note and have pretty good specs compared to current macs.
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The 1700 comes with a nice cooler, so you could potentially use that for a while. The only other thing is the mobo. I just don't trust MSI anymore (personally, I just don't). And those aren't even problems, just pet peeves.
If you can wait for a month, Ryzen 5 is coming out April 11 with a 4c/8t part at $170.
Looks like a nice build.
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I would go with something like a Skylake or Kabylake core i5.
And a RX480 gpu.
This would be a nice balanced system for everyday use and gaming.
If the RX480 is too expensive, then a RX470 would also do more then fine,
for some casual gaming If it has to be this week.
But if he could wait another 2 /3 weeks, then Ryzen will launch their R5 line of cpu´s.
And that platform might then be a bit more interesting.
Grapping a R5 4C / 8T paired with a RX470 or a 6C 12T with RX480,
on a B350 pro board from Asrock, would be a nice system.
Wifi you can allways use an addin card, or a usb adapter eventually.
You could also look if there are B350 boards with onboard wifi.
But probablly not.
I have not looked to deeply into all Ryzen B350 boards yet,
mainlly the X370 boards.
FM2+ platform is really starting to become very old now.
And the performance of it isnt that great either.
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I agree with this and we have the AM4+ apus coming soon dont we?
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Yeah i think AMD said something about arround end of this year maybe?
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