Hello!
I would like to replace the CPU, Board and RAM of my computer. I generally only play GC games and low-end PC games. I am reusing my other hardware for the moment (I will probably upgrade the GPU sometime later). I would like to keep all this at about $300 USD, if possible?
I was thinking about the Core i3-6300, since it is cheap and seems to be good for GC (was checking out a single-thread performance benchmark. It is also a huge upgrade to my current CPU). Does it being only 2 cores bad in the long term?
I do not have any clues about a good Board or RAM.
Any suggestions about anything is welcome! And Thanks!
The i3-6100 should be a fine CPU for playing Dolphin games
The motherboard is a very interesting question since Skylake non k series processors can be overclocked with a bios change on certain motherboards
https://overclocking.guide/intel-skylake...bios-list/
(warning these processors were not designed to be overclocked so you do so at your own risk even more so then usual when overclocking. Also the iGPU will be disabled and only a few programs will be able to monitor temps on a cpu running one of the modified bios, though flashing a non modified bios back will enable the iGPU and allow for normal temp monitoring)
If you do not plan on doing this then you should not waste the extra money on a Z170 motherboard and a H170 board is generally a good compromise of price and features.
The i3-6300 should be fine for CPU. I've been using an i3-3220 at default clock for years with Dolphin and rarely have slowdown issues playing GameCube games (I can even get some more taxing stuff like F-Zero GX to run fullspeed). I do have a GTX 1060 6GB as well though which is probably pulling a lot of the weight there.
Honestly, any modern desktop hardware should be enough for all but the most demanding of games these days, so if you're worried about core count, but still on a tight budget, you might want to consider a Ryzen 3 chip instead of an i3. It'll be worse in Dolphin than an i3, but it should range from comparable to better in basically every other task, so in the cases where it's enough for Dolphin, it should be the better option overall.
How about an i3-7100? was thinking about getting a Dell with that CPU and putting a GTX 1050 in it?
If you're considering an i3, then you should seriously consider a Pentium G4560 or G4600 instead as they're also 2core/4thread.
It seems silly to spend $100+ on a 2core/4thread i3 when the 4core/4thread i3's don't cost all that much more (though they motherboard selection is currently limited...)
To be honest, RAM is going to be a pain with that budget unless you're OK with "only" 8GB of RAM (ideally 2x4GB on a motherboard with 4 RAM slots).
(11-17-2017, 04:41 PM)Nintendo Maniac 64 Wrote: [ -> ]If you're considering an i3, then you should seriously consider a Pentium G4560 or G4600 instead as they're also 2core/4thread.
It seems silly to spend $100+ on a 2core/4thread i3 when the 4core/4thread i3's don't cost all that much more (though they motherboard selection is currently limited...)
To be honest, RAM is going to be a pain with that budget unless you're OK with "only" 8GB of RAM (ideally 2x4GB on a motherboard with 4 RAM slots).
I really recommend looking for a G4560 or G4600 which are sub $100 CPU's with 2cores 4 threads. I have a G4560 paired with an "old" GTX780 non-Ti and yet have to find a game that doesn't take high settings and doesn't run at 30-60fps (eg. Witcher 3 runs at 4k a solid 30FPS max settings and hairworks... which I think is really impressive), which I think is quite playable. And for Dolphin it is kinda overkill already... I have yet to find a game, except for the most demanding ones like the Star Wars games, that doesn't run @100%. I got myself a nice and cheap MSI PC-MATE H270 mainboard and 16GB of 3000MHz ram (the CPU only goes up to 2400MHz but now I can run nice and low CAS latencies
)
Multiple tests show that if you pair one with a GTX1060 6GB you won't really be bottlenecking any of the components and will be able to use most of them at the fullest (the GTX1070 does give a small boost in fps in some games but the CPU just can't keep up most of the time).
First off, just to get this out of the way, the cheapest semi-decent Coffee Lake i3 build runs somewhat more than $300 and may be an option, especially if one considers that the motherboard has a $15 rebate on Newegg:
PCPartPicker part list /
Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz 4core/4thread Processor ($125.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 HD3 (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($116.98 + $15 rebate @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($80.99 @ Newegg)
Base Total: $321.87
Mail-in Rebates: -$15.00
Shipping: $1.99
Total: $308.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-17 03:44 EST-0500
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Now with that out of the way, here are two baseline budget builds - one for Intel and one for AMD. From there I've listed a few additional parts that you can choose from to upgrade the "baseline" build and completely fill out your budget accordingly (and yes, I'm a bit of an ASRock fanboy).
Intel baseline build
PCPartPicker part list /
Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz 2core/4thread Processor ($77.77 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B250M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($61.98 + $10 rebate @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($80.99 @ Newegg)
Base Total: $218.75
Mail-in Rebates: -$10.00
Shipping: $1.99
Total: $210.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-17 03:47 EST-0500
Intel CPU upgrades
Intel - Pentium G4600 3.6GHz 2core/4thread Processor ($86.88 @ OutletPC)
Intel - Pentium G4620 3.7GHz 2core/4thread Processor ($91.99 @ Amazon)
Intel - Core i3-7100 3.9GHz 2core/4thread Processor ($106.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Intel motherboard upgrades
ASRock - B250 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($81.98 @ Newegg)
ASRock - H270M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($95.39 @ OutletPC)
ASRock - Z270M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 + $5 rebate @ Newegg)
ASRock - Z270 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.39 @ OutletPC)
ASRock - Z270M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($112.98 + $10 rebate @ Newegg)
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AMD baseline build
PCPartPicker part list /
Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz 4core/4thread Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - A320M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($62.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($80.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $243.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-17 03:59 EST-0500
AMD CPU upgrades
AMD - Ryzen 3 1300X 3.5GHz 4core/4thread Processor ($127.39 @ OutletPC)
AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz 4core/8thread Processor ($147.89 @ OutletPC)
AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz 4core/8thread Processor with twice the L3 cache and higher-quality "Wraith Spire" cooler ($168.89 @ OutletPC)
AMD motherboard upgrades
ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.33 @ OutletPC)
ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($76.98 + $20 rebate @ Newegg)
ASRock - AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard ($107.39 @ OutletPC)
ASRock - X370 KILLER SLI/ac ATX AM4 Motherboard ($117.99 + $20 rebate @ Newegg)
ASRock - X370 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard ($129.99 + $10 rebate @ Newegg)
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RAM is compatible with both baseline builds, so I've intentionally separated the RAM "upgrades" into it's own list:
Crucial - Ballistix Tactical 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 CL16 Memory ($93.49 @ Amazon)
Team - Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 CL15 Memory ($95.99 @ Newegg)
Team - Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory ($96.99 @ Newegg)
G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3733 CL17 Memory ($101.99 @ Newegg)
Team - Elite Plus 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 CL16 Memory ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Team - Dark 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Special mention to the following RAM which should have guaranteed full compatibility with AMD Ryzen...though it's only DDR4-2400 but
is at least CL15:
G.Skill - Flare X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)