Rig for "Gamer girl", eldest daughter of other friend?

[VirtualLarry]

Maybe this should go in GH? Anyways.

I haven't gotten a budget out of said friend yet for this, so starting a thread might be slightly pre-mature, but I guess the biggest decision would be to go with Coffee Lake, or Ryzen.

I personally have a number of Ryzen 5 1600 rigs, some Ryzen 3 1200 rigs (OCed to 3.80Ghz), and a CFL i3-8100 ITX rig.

At least according to the CPU-Z benchmark, the R3 1200 OCed edges out the i3-8100 oh so slightly. However, that's not gaming, and I wonder if the i3-8100 would be a decent budget gaming chip.

I don't know if my friend wants to go "all out, last for five years", or "budget gaming rig, good for games now, maybe needs to get replaced in 3 years with newer parts".

Granted, the "last for five years" might be the better course of action.

I don't think that she OCs, and even if she does, I don't know if I'm comfortable in pre-OCing the rig for her. Had some bad feedback from some previously-sold pre-OCed rigs, that were fine at my place, but then they got put into a different environment, and overheated and started to crash regularly.

So, let's say for now, $1000 budget (placeholder, but I can't imagine my friend spending much more), NO OC.

i5-8400 $185 (is that still what this chip goes for?)
Z370 ATX or mATX mobo $150 ???
16GB GSkill DDR4-3200 CAS14 (B-die?) RAM $180 (?)

GTX1070ti for $460-470?

Am I on the right track here, for building a "real" gaming rig, rather than the budget jobs I usually do?

If I don't seem very sure of myself right now, it's because I've only had a few hours sleep in a couple of days.

I could just sell her my other entry-level gaming rig, for $500-600 or so. It's the twin to @Sonikku 's rig.

Edit: Hmm, GTX1070ti or RX 580 8GB? Vega 64? Thought I heard that Vega was half-baked and power-hungry for gaming, but great for compute, media-creation, and mining.

Friend in question is an NVidia fan, so perhaps should stick to GTX1070ti or GTX1080.

Then again, other than the 1070ti, are there any other refreshes coming out? (I realize that the 1070ti isn't strictly a refresh, but it's not an actual new GPU chip, just a binned configuration of same.)

 

[imported_bman]

I would go with a Ryzen 5 1600 or 1600x for this type of build since it will be good enough for now and will/should have great upgrade potential due to the AM4 socket. The ram looks solid, though it might worth looking at some 'Team' brand memory since it usually less expensive, also I would aim for a 2x8GB to leave open the possibility of upgrading to 32GB while retaining the old sticks.

The video card will dependent on the budget left over after you bought the CPU/Mobo/SSD/Power-Supply/Case/ect, if you have $350+ then it should be a Nvidia card, below that it might be worth looking at the 580/570. Either way it sucks to buy a video card right now due to the poor pricing. Maybe you could set her up with an old/used card (Maxwell or Kepler based) for now and tell her to buy a new card when Volta is released.

 

[Shmee]

If you go with ryzen, which I think could be a good option, be sure to get good RAM, though it likely will have a price premium. I saw soaring prices on newegg for 3200MHz kits of 14CL, which are generally b die and the ones you want. For the graphics card, a 580 8GB would likely be best, or a 1060 6 GB, or consider a used 390 if it is a good deal.

 

[s44]

Don't think B die is still worth huge price premiums with more recent AGESA versions. Yeah you can get tighter timings but that isn't going to drive performance as much.

 

[scannall]

How about something like this?

Just under $1000

 

[richaron]

Before offering advice I would want to know:

• Budget
• Expected longevity
• Current monitor & if there are planned upgrades (i.e. if she knows she wants higher Hz or res')
• Storage requirements
• Willingness to upgrade (CPU and/or GPU)
• Willingness to OC

 

[VirtualLarry]

How about something like this?

Just under $1000

That's a great little Ryzen 5 1600X build, that's for sure. That's basically what I was looking for, on the AMD side.

I did, however, recently order a Biostar A320 mATX board for $29.99 + $0.99 ship, and I can sometimes get the Ryzen 5 1600X for $200, either on sale at Newegg or ebay from refurbforless, so that would save another $20. That RAM kit looks pretty decent for the price, although I doubt it's b-die.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138455&cm_re=a320-_-13-138-455-_-Product

The 500GB M.2 SATA SSD, that's nice, but I'm thinking, Newegg currently has a retail-box P300 Toshiba 7200RPM Desktop HDD for $70. If I can snag a deal like that again, or the 3TB New Seagate drive from refurbforless on ebay for $61, I might just forgo the SSD for this build. Not that she's ever used an SSD. Just to keep costs down, and she owns a lot of games, I think, so a 500GB SSD might not hold all of them anyways. That would save another $90.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...InternalHardDrives-_-22149633-S0A&ignorebbr=1

 

[coercitiv]

The 500GB M.2 SATA SSD, that's nice, but I'm thinking, Newegg currently has a retail-box P300 Toshiba 7200RPM Desktop HDD for $70. If I can snag a deal like that again, or the 3TB New Seagate drive from refurbforless on ebay for $61, I might just forgo the SSD for this build. Not that she's ever used an SSD.

Yeah, let's build a 6 core CPU + GTX 1070 rig with a HDD as system disk.

There should be a report option on this forum for people who intend to build $500+ rigs without a SSD. Refurbished Seagate?! What has this girl done to deserve this?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Who said anything about a refurbished Seagate? I certainly did not.

And, given the price, I don't see the point of a 500GB M.2 SSD, that's not PCI-E. And if it is PCI-E, it's too expensive. So chuck the SSD altogether.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-new-...he-SATA-6-0Gb-s-3-5-Internal-HDD/263110789972

OR

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...InternalHardDrives-_-22149633-S0A&ignorebbr=1

 

[scannall]

That's a great little Ryzen 5 1600X build, that's for sure. That's basically what I was looking for, on the AMD side.

I did, however, recently order a Biostar A320 mATX board for $29.99 + $0.99 ship, and I can sometimes get the Ryzen 5 1600X for $200, either on sale at Newegg or ebay from refurbforless, so that would save another $20. That RAM kit looks pretty decent for the price, although I doubt it's b-die.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138455&cm_re=a320-_-13-138-455-_-Product

The 500GB M.2 SATA SSD, that's nice, but I'm thinking, Newegg currently has a retail-box P300 Toshiba 7200RPM Desktop HDD for $70. If I can snag a deal like that again, or the 3TB New Seagate drive from refurbforless on ebay for $61, I might just forgo the SSD for this build. Not that she's ever used an SSD. Just to keep costs down, and she owns a lot of games, I think, so a 500GB SSD might not hold all of them anyways. That would save another $90.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...InternalHardDrives-_-22149633-S0A&ignorebbr=1

Well, here's another one. Saved a bit here and there. Smaller SSD, and a 3 TB spinner. In this day and age having an SSD for at least a boot, and your favorite game or two is almost mandatory. When your customer turns the machine on for the first time, and it's ready to go in 20-30 seconds tops it makes a great first impression.

Just over 900

 

[VirtualLarry]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138455&cm_re=a320-_-13-138-455-_-Product

What about this $30 Biostar AM4 mobo, and an A12-9800? I have no idea how they are for "actual gaming". Probably wouldn't be good enough, as the daughter already has a "gaming laptop", and I've seen her game on it, and it's decent, and I think that my friend (her Dad) wants to get her something better than her laptop.

So maybe I should be looking at 8700K / GTX1080ti territory after all.

The other issue is, if I make it too good, my friend might want it for himself. He's in the process of paying me off for the Ivy Bridge quad-core refurb retro-fit $400 gaming rig I built him, with a 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD (both new), and a GTX1050 2GB card, and I think 16GB of DDR3. Either way, he claims that box games pretty well.

But I think that he wants something better for his (eldest) daughter.

Edit: This Toshiba X5 HDD looks pretty nice too.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822149628

 

[scannall]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138455&cm_re=a320-_-13-138-455-_-Product

What about this $30 Biostar AM4 mobo, and an A12-9800? I have no idea how they are for "actual gaming". Probably wouldn't be good enough, as the daughter already has a "gaming laptop", and I've seen her game on it, and it's decent, and I think that my friend (her Dad) wants to get her something better than her laptop.

So maybe I should be looking at 8700K / GTX1080ti territory after all.

The other issue is, if I make it too good, my friend might want it for himself. He's in the process of paying me off for the Ivy Bridge quad-core refurb retro-fit $400 gaming rig I built him, with a 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD (both new), and a GTX1050 2GB card, and I think 16GB of DDR3. Either way, he claims that box games pretty well.

But I think that he wants something better for his (eldest) daughter.

I'd skip the A-12. It just isn't very good these days.

If they are still paying off a $400 computer, I'm thinking an 8700k and a 1080ti is likely out of their price range.

 

[scannall]

Budget gamer?

$680 Budget Gamer

 

[whm1974]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138455&cm_re=a320-_-13-138-455-_-Product

What about this $30 Biostar AM4 mobo, and an A12-9800? I have no idea how they are for "actual gaming". Probably wouldn't be good enough, as the daughter already has a "gaming laptop", and I've seen her game on it, and it's decent, and I think that my friend (her Dad) wants to get her something better than her laptop.

So maybe I should be looking at 8700K / GTX1080ti territory after all.

The other issue is, if I make it too good, my friend might want it for himself. He's in the process of paying me off for the Ivy Bridge quad-core refurb retro-fit $400 gaming rig I built him, with a 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD (both new), and a GTX1050 2GB card, and I think 16GB of DDR3. Either way, he claims that box games pretty well.

But I think that he wants something better for his (eldest) daughter.

Biostar? Hell no I would stay far away from them and you don't need a PCIe SSD as a decent SATA SSD will still give the same performance for most people, and most users wouldn't notice the difference anyway.

 

[whm1974]

Budget gamer?

$680 Budget Gamer

I would go with 430W/450W PSU as that will allow the girl to upgrade the video card to something more powerful in the future.

 

[scannall]

I would go with 430W/450W PSU as that will allow the girl to upgrade the video card to something more powerful in the future.

Perhaps this then.

 

[whm1974]

Perhaps this then.

Kind of overkill, a 550W will be still as good and save a few bucks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Budget gamer?

$680 Budget Gamer

That's not too bad, either.

Here's my take, on a Ryzen 3 1200 OCed build:

All stuff that I already have, and what I paid for it:

Ryzen 3 1200 CPU (OCed to 3.80Ghz) $102
Avexir 2x4GB (Blue breathing LED) DDR4-2400 $75
ASRock AB350M mATX mobo $60
Rosewill FBM-X1 mATX case w/window $24
EVGA ATX PSU $40
Plextor 128GB M.2 PCI-E SSD $78
2TB Toshiba P300 retail-boxed HDD $68

total: $447

Need to purchase:

GTX1060 3GB card $200, OR
GTX1060 6GB card $260, OR
RX 580 8GB card $300

Windows 10 - whatever ($30-40 on a "key site", $100 at Newegg on sale)

So, roughly $800, with GPU and Windows 10 from Newegg (cheaper from key-seller).

Plus, there's always installing "Unactivated Windows 10" as an option, though I don't like that option for customers, in case MS cuts them off some day.

 

[scannall]

That's not too bad, either.

Here's my take, on a Ryzen 3 1200 OCed build:

All stuff that I already have, and what I paid for it:

Ryzen 3 1200 CPU (OCed to 3.80Ghz) $102
Avexir 2x4GB (Blue breathing LED) DDR4-2400 $75
ASRock AB350M mATX mobo $60
Rosewill FBM-X1 mATX case w/window $24
EVGA ATX PSU $40
Plextor 128GB M.2 PCI-E SSD $78
2TB Toshiba P300 retail-boxed HDD $68

total: $447

Need to purchase:

GTX1060 3GB card $200, OR
GTX1060 6GB card $260, OR
RX 580 8GB card $300

Windows 10 - whatever ($30-40 on a "key site", $100 at Newegg on sale)

So, roughly $800, with GPU and Windows 10 from Newegg (cheaper from key-seller).

Plus, there's always installing "Unactivated Windows 10" as an option, though I don't like that option for customers, in case MS cuts them off some day.

Not bad either. But at the end of the day, until you have an actual budget it's hard to do anything other than speculate.

 

[epsilon84]

Budget permitting, think it's worth the premium to get an R5 1600/X or i5 8400 over an R3 1200/i3 8100.

If you want longevity then a 4C/4T CPU just isn't going to cut it in a few years time, the latest AAA games are already starting to show a significant delta between 4C/4T and 4C/8T or 6C CPUs.

I'm guessing you will be overclocking if you get the Ryzen? If she insists on a stock CPU, then the i5 8400 makes more sense. If she is happy to get an overclocked CPU, then the Ryzen makes up a bit of ground on the i5, and could be the better buy if she does any productivity work on top of gaming:

WR to the GPU, I am leaning slightly to the 1070 Ti over a Vega 56/64 because its a lot more efficient and can be overclocked significantly due to more thermal overhead, unlike the Vega GPUs. That being said, it also depends what monitor she plans to run, is it a Freesync or Gsync monitor? I personally run an AMD GPU because my monitor only supports Freesync, so an nVidia GPU would be a waste on my system.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Budget permitting, think it's worth the premium to get an R5 1600/X or i5 8400 over an R3 1200/i3 8100.

If you want longevity then a 4C/4T CPU just isn't going to cut it in a few years time, the latest AAA games are already starting to show a significant delta between 4C/4T and 4C/8T or 6C CPUs.

I'm guessing you will be overclocking if you get the Ryzen? If she insists on a stock CPU, then the i5 8400 makes more sense. If she is happy to get an overclocked CPU, then the Ryzen makes up a bit of ground on the i5, and could be the better buy if she does any productivity work on top of gaming:

WR to the GPU, I am leaning slightly to the 1070 Ti over a Vega 56/64 because its a lot more efficient and can be overclocked significantly due to more thermal overhead, unlike the Vega GPUs. That being said, it also depends what monitor she plans to run, is it a Freesync or Gsync monitor? I personally run an AMD GPU because my monitor only supports Freesync, so an nVidia GPU would be a waste on my system.

This is the most accurate and unbiased post and I pretty much agree with all of it. For gaming, I definitely would go with the 8400 over the ryzen 1600, as the video shows the 8400 overall faster than a 1600 overclocked to 4ghz. The problem is pricing and availability of the 8400. If you can get the 8400 at MSRP, it is a great deal, even considering you have to get a z370 mb, which still can be had for around a hundred to 120 dollars. Right now though, newegg seems to be inflating the price of the 8400 to nearly 300.00. (not sure what your sources are) At that price one might as well go for the 8700. If they dont plan on overclocking, I see no point to the 8700K, as stock turbos are very close on the two chips.

 

[Ranulf]

That $299 price on Newegg is for a 3rd party seller. NE is out of stock on the 8400 atm.

 

[itsmydamnation]

WR to the GPU, I am leaning slightly to the 1070 Ti over a Vega 56/64 because its a lot more efficient and can be overclocked significantly due to more thermal overhead, unlike the Vega GPUs. That being said, it also depends what monitor she plans to run, is it a Freesync or Gsync monitor? I personally run an AMD GPU because my monitor only supports Freesync, so an nVidia GPU would be a waste on my system.

I would go 56(assuming you can get MSRP), 1070ti is so memory bound. You can then just stick a vega 64 bios on it and call it a day as a simple OC. If the're willing to play more you can use the 64 bios and start undervolting.

 

[ZGR]

I would definitely go with R5 1600 + fast DDR4 + GTX 1060/RX580. Do you really need a GTX 1070 ti or RX 56? 256GB SSD + 3tb HDD.

 

[moonbogg]

The i5 8400 is "faster" but I'd almost rather have the 12 threads of the 1600. Call me crazy, but I think 6/6 might choke in a few years, or right now if playing Assassin's Creed Origins. R5 1600X with DDR4 3000 gets my vote with a 1070Ti. Imagine in a couple years being able to just drop in a faster AM4 based CPU? Higher clocks, maybe more cores and similar price? Siiiiiick.