- Joined
- Nov 10, 2006
- Messages
- 4,665 (0.73/day)
- Location
- Washington, US
System Name | Rainbow |
---|---|
Processor | Intel Core i7 8700k |
Motherboard | MSI MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC |
Cooling | Corsair H115i, 2x Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM |
Memory | G. Skill TridentZ RGB 4x8GB (F4-3600C16Q-32GTZR) |
Video Card(s) | ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity |
Storage | 2x Samsung 950 Pro 256GB | 2xHGST Deskstar 4TB 7.2K |
Display(s) | Samsung C27HG70 |
Case | Xigmatek Aquila |
Power Supply | Seasonic 760W SS-760XP |
Mouse | Razer Deathadder 2013 |
Keyboard | Corsair Vengeance K95 |
Software | Windows 10 Pro |
Benchmark Scores | 4 trillion points in GmailMark, over 144 FPS 2K Facebook Scrolling (Extreme Quality preset) |
So, the boss wants me to salvage a PC that died. The only thing that survived is the case (duh), and possibly the memory and hard drive. Old CPU is embedded (AMD A6). I said get a new PC, but he wants to salvage the case and put something "fast and cheap" in it. He told me "It shot sparks out of the power supply [when it fried], and now I want it to shoot flames [so blistering fast, it'll set the curtains on fire]."
He's mentioned a budget of $325 and that he wants an i7, but also said that's more of a suggestion as he was showing me $400-500 CPU/mobo combos (with older i7-920 processors and whatnot).
As far as I'm aware, usage will be mostly web browsing and some account management/trouble ticket software (doesn't use much of any CPU or RAM, basically just a fancy SQL client, mostly network dependant). The main requirements here is that it feels really fast (aka: anything as long as it has a SSD and a bit of RAM). Bonus points for "shock and awe" specs like high core/thread counts or really high benchmark scores.
Parts I have just laying around:
Gateway branded mATX case.
A random PSU that's at least 300-400 watts, 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS.
A couple sticks of DDR3, could probably scrounge up 2x4GB at least, possibly one or two 8GB sticks as well. If the old memory survived, 1x4GB and 1x8GB.
If the old hard drive survived, one 500GB hard drive.
The Old-And-Forgotten Route
Good specs on the cheap make me think older Xeon, but it looks like mATX motherboards that will accept a Xeon are far and few between. DDR3 ECC shouldn't be fairly inexpensive though.
I've found an Xeon E5-2640 (6-core) for $65, but the only mATX board that sounds like it'll take it is an ASRock X79 Extreme4-M, which I'm having trouble finding (especially for any reasonable price).
I think the mATX requirement might kill this option.
The Oh-Look-Another-Desktop Rotue
Option two I've thought of is something like a Core i5 2500k or 3570k and something with a Z77 chipset, but I'm not seeing much of any Z68 or Z77 chipset boards that are mATX on the used market. I'm using PC Part Picker to find a list of possible motherboards, but almost nothing showed up on eBay at all, let alone for reasonable prices.
I could also go for a multi-locked CPU and a non Z-series motherboard too if the price is right. Currently looking at a Gigabyte GA-H81M-H on Amazon for $52 and pairing it with an i7-2600 (non-K) or something (about $80). Leaves $193 for a nice SSD and maybe something else nice.
The Hope-He-Doesn't-Notice-It's-A-Pentium Route
Last option I can think of is buy new-ish parts, something like a G3258, and overclock it as hard as I can. Benefit here would be good selection of parts, going for the previous-generation parts should keep costs down, and really high single-threaded performance on the cheap. Lots of budget left over for a nice SSD too.
Downside is lack of "shock and awe" things like high thread counts. I'll probably just find a benchmark that's single-threaded so I can say "Look! It's better than my 4770!"
The I-can't-believe-you-didn't-think-of-this Route
No, seriously. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
He's mentioned a budget of $325 and that he wants an i7, but also said that's more of a suggestion as he was showing me $400-500 CPU/mobo combos (with older i7-920 processors and whatnot).
As far as I'm aware, usage will be mostly web browsing and some account management/trouble ticket software (doesn't use much of any CPU or RAM, basically just a fancy SQL client, mostly network dependant). The main requirements here is that it feels really fast (aka: anything as long as it has a SSD and a bit of RAM). Bonus points for "shock and awe" specs like high core/thread counts or really high benchmark scores.
Parts I have just laying around:
Gateway branded mATX case.
A random PSU that's at least 300-400 watts, 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS.
A couple sticks of DDR3, could probably scrounge up 2x4GB at least, possibly one or two 8GB sticks as well. If the old memory survived, 1x4GB and 1x8GB.
If the old hard drive survived, one 500GB hard drive.
The Old-And-Forgotten Route
Good specs on the cheap make me think older Xeon, but it looks like mATX motherboards that will accept a Xeon are far and few between. DDR3 ECC shouldn't be fairly inexpensive though.
I've found an Xeon E5-2640 (6-core) for $65, but the only mATX board that sounds like it'll take it is an ASRock X79 Extreme4-M, which I'm having trouble finding (especially for any reasonable price).
I think the mATX requirement might kill this option.
The Oh-Look-Another-Desktop Rotue
Option two I've thought of is something like a Core i5 2500k or 3570k and something with a Z77 chipset, but I'm not seeing much of any Z68 or Z77 chipset boards that are mATX on the used market. I'm using PC Part Picker to find a list of possible motherboards, but almost nothing showed up on eBay at all, let alone for reasonable prices.
I could also go for a multi-locked CPU and a non Z-series motherboard too if the price is right. Currently looking at a Gigabyte GA-H81M-H on Amazon for $52 and pairing it with an i7-2600 (non-K) or something (about $80). Leaves $193 for a nice SSD and maybe something else nice.
The Hope-He-Doesn't-Notice-It's-A-Pentium Route
Last option I can think of is buy new-ish parts, something like a G3258, and overclock it as hard as I can. Benefit here would be good selection of parts, going for the previous-generation parts should keep costs down, and really high single-threaded performance on the cheap. Lots of budget left over for a nice SSD too.
Downside is lack of "shock and awe" things like high thread counts. I'll probably just find a benchmark that's single-threaded so I can say "Look! It's better than my 4770!"
The I-can't-believe-you-didn't-think-of-this Route
No, seriously. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
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