I'm not finished exhausting my research yet, but I'd like to take a moment and ask for some assistance from the handsome community here. I'm stumped ATM between these two paths for my i3-6100 Skylake gaming build.
Option 1:
* GTX 960 4GB 205$
* ASRock B150M 58$
* DDR4 2133 8GB (2 x 4GB) RAM about 35$
* about 298$ total
0r lower GPU in favor of a more well-rounded system for CPU-bound situations with the addition of Z170 chipset for higher RAM speeds (Youtube example of effect RAM speed can have) and potential BCLK OC of the i3-6100 (Youtube video tutorial). This also allows more opportunity for upgrading in the future, though I can't see myself doing much of that in the next 2-4 years outside of maybe adding more RAM. There's also the parts quality to consider when OC'ing at least the GPU in either option with B150 vs Z170.
Option 2:
* GTX 950 2GB 150$
* ASRock Z170M Pro4S 103$
* DDR4 2666 or 3000 8GB (2 x 4GB) RAM about 50$
* about 303$ total
I mostly play League of Legends and Warframe @ 1080p, so going nVidia makes sense to take advantage of DSR for LoL and nVidia Physx in Warframe. Either card seems to max those games, but I'm looking forward to upcoming games like Paragon and Overwatch.
There doesn't seem to be an incredibly large difference between the 960 vs 950 in the benchmarks I've seen. I'm thinking the added RAM speed might make up for this difference with Skylake? I haven't looked into doing the BCLK OC to factor that in to my plans entirely, but there's potentially that to help close the gap as well.
I'm leaning more towards the conventional approach to budget gaming with option 1 to be on the safe side, but would really appreciate some PRO advice.
Better gpu is always the most important part of a gaming build and ram speed doesn't really help much in pretty much any game. That said, you don't play very intensive games, so yo ucould likely get away with the lower clocked ram and the 950 and save yourself some money.
pretty sure RAM speed isn't going to matter in 99% of cases
intel removed the ability to overclock i3s
and a 380 is faster than a 960 in most every game at the same price in addition to looking like it'll support DX12/Vulkan better, and AMD has a DSR equivalent, however neither of those really do anything useful.
also we gotta step you on up to dota man.
and this is about the best 1151 board I've seen, has USB 3.1 and Type C at a low price
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yRfHYJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yRfHYJ/by_merchant/
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2HP Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($71.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 4GB DD XXX OC Video Card ($194.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $296.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-14 14:26 EDT-0400
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Did you guys watch the DigitalFoundry video I linked (Youtube)? Am I wrong thinking this information might mean 2666+ RAM bridging the gap between the 960 vs 950 with a Skylake build? Or does that still not matter..?
I've considered the 380 and I realize it has better performance, but I'm going Nvidia simply for the power consumption/TDP. Physx in Warframe is just a bonus lol.
I'm stuck on LoL though, because I've invested in skins and it's something to do with the fam on lazy days. Might switch to Paragon if it turns out good.
It's about a 5% difference seemingly most times
and the cheapest 2666mhz dual channel kit I saw was $43 vs 30 for an 8gb stick
dunno about the cheapest board that would support that speed, but it's not going to be a low end board most likely.
the price difference on the i3 and i5 is 119 vs 189
between the money saved on memory and on your motherboard you could probably just end up with an i5 over an i3 with faster memory, not to mention you might end up with an unstable system trying to run the faster RAM if either the RAM or your motherboard has an issue.
the 380 consumes as much power as the 960 under a gaming load, and what does Physx even do in that game? is it worth losing performance in like every other game that you might play, or future support? overall that gameworks stuff is bad for the industry as a whole anyways, best to try and gut it .
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Just go with the better video card by all means.
Allthough it seems like that a core i3 does benefit somewhat from faster speeds ram wenn it comes to minimum fps,
in scenario´s where the dual core gets stressed.
But i dont think that it would weight up against a better gpu in general.
We are still talking about midrange gpu´s, which the i3 should basicly not have much problems with to feed.
Does dual-channel not matter going with a single stick of DDR4?
Getting a single stick just makes upgrading your RAM down the line easier should you ever need to go for 16gbs of memory
For gaming, dual channgel or single channel should not realy matter that much.
If you could afford a i5 without sacreficing on the gpu too much, then i would recommend it.
R9's are having promotions on them at Newegg ATM too...Going to save even more if I get this one: MSI Radeon R9 380, because it comes with a free mouse practically the same price as the other I had planned for my little bro's build. With that I'm saving nearly 40$...should I bite the bullet and jump to an i5 here? I'd imagine it would help a lot if I end up recording and in general having Skype and/or Pandora open while pushing the GPU to the max?
Thank you guys a ton, you've been most helpful.
Hmm, I should probably be looking for a 4GB R9 though...So going for an i5 might not work out. Or would taking the i5 matter more over all?
the 4GB 380 would be more important, however why don't you just get an i5 and save up a bit more for the GPU? it's going to be best for the long run to spend the extra $30 or so now rather than worrying about upgrading later.
so you didn't already buy the i3?
Unfortunately, I'm on a strict budget. Going from an i3 to an i5 ($60+) is too much if I get a GPU around 200$. I might pull the trigger on a build today or tomorrow.
Well then the i3 + 380 is probably going to be best, you could just live without a case and get the 4GB version
I feel a case is a good investment since I can carry it into any build later and it protects my components. Going with the MSI Radeon R9 380 which is also coming with Ashes of Singularity and the free mouse! It's a game I've been interested in, but not a game changer either way.
I'm still going to wonder what could have been if I ended up with option 2 in the long run...but for now, I'm certain to be happy with this. Thanks again, if you hadn't made me take another look at the R9's I would've lost some performance and missed the great deal!
2gbs is going to be fine, you'd just have to turn down textures in some games, it's probably worth getting that deal anyways