Moving on From 4790K on a Budget

[Kursah]

Budget:

• I have approximately $1,000 that I might be able to use for this.

Understanding the situation:

• I have the same CPU/MB combos in my old server (in the midst of retiring) and current gaming rig, that being 4790K/Asus Z87-Pro.
• I intend to use these parts to upgrade both my son's PC's from their i3 4160/H87M-Pro4 combos, and one of those lucky two might even get my MSI GTX980Ti!!! IF I can snag a 1080Ti at the right price.
• That being said, to accomplish this, I'll have to get into a different CPU/MB/RAM platform. I do have my gaming laptop (Acer Predator 15 - 2016 edition 6700HQ, 16GB, GTX980M 4GB).

Goal:

• Spend approx $500 on new platform, cpu and RAM.
• Spend rest on 1080Ti
  • 980Ti would be saved and used in one of the boys' PC's or stored as a spare GPU until one of their GPU's dies.
  • Hoping to pick up 1080Ti under $500, not there yet...but seeing more at the $500 price point.

Options:

I'm thinking Ryzen+ right now or maybe even Ryzen Gen 1. Thinking B450 or X470 so I am ready for Ryzen 2 next year. At this point, Intel's pricing premium not sure an 8700K build is in the cards yet or not. I'm also debating picking up something used, be it Ryzen, X99, 6700/7700K, etc. I do want no less than 4C/8T I have now, and kind of interested in 6-8 cores and 12-16 threads available.

I do a lot of multitasking, and less gaming, but still plenty of gaming and I always have something (or a lot of somethings) going on at the same time I'm gaming. Multitasking can range from spooling and testing VM's, remote work, media encoding, gaming, playback, streaming, etc. So while gaming is on the list of priorities, it isn't the most important thing for this workstation to accomplish.

Focusing on Ryzen right now if I go new, I'm looking at the 2600/2600x and 2700/2700x and an X470 board. I'm also debating if I'd actually NEED the X470 board for my needs. I'll never run SLI or CF, I have migrated from sound cards to DAC/AMPs years ago. B450 may suit my needs, but I want to make sure I have the headroom to allow XFR and PB2 to do what they need to for the Ryzen+ CPU's if I go this route. I do like the thought of using the OEM Wraith Spire solution on the 2700X if I go that route...but I do hear that OC-ing a 2700X isn't very fun because it does such a good job on its own. While I do like to OC, that also isn't a priority of this build, but it would be a fun perk! I miss the Core2 days...I really do. The hours and hours and hours and hours I lost in OC-ing and tweaking were funstratingly golden.

Another thing I'm seeing is that many folks say to make sure you get CL14 RAM and DDR4 3200 if you go Ryzen as a sweet spot. Finding CL14 ups the price pretty noticeably and I understand folks getting Samsung B-die, but I've also read there's quite a bit of B-die in the CL16 ranks as well. How critical is this really on Ryzen+? I know first gen Ryzen was picky initially but I was hoping this was smoothed out a bit this far along in the game. Definitely one area I've been spoiled on Intel's side for some time.

Obviously a 9700K/9900K is likley out of the picture. I've been doing some research the last few days, but as always like to see what experienced opinions I can get here. I don't get to play as much with new hardware as I used to, I miss that and this would get me back in that mix a little bit. The budget-part makes it tough, but family, health and work are a priority and thus my personal tech budget usually gets nixed before I can even make a thread like this. But this time I'm lucky, hopefully!

Either rate, looking for some suggestions from those that are in the know, and see if trying to get what I want in $500 is even realistic. I have found some decent prices on some used 5930K's and X99's, but not so sure I want to go down that road or not either. I am thinking Ryzen makes more sense for my immediate needs, but I could be way off course here.

Thanks in advance!

 

[king of swag187]

RYZEN wouldn't really be too much of an improvement for pure gaming over that 4790K, You need the top tier chip of either side to notice a major difference, I'd stay with and get a 1080 ti and maybe a 4980HQ LGA for your son

 

[Kursah]

I'm not as concerned about pure gaming as I am about overall functionality and multitasking that I do, and you're right I don't really expect HUGE differnces. I wouldn't expect that out of an 8700K either. Sure gaming performance is important...but it isn't the deal breaker. But interesting thought on the 4980HQ LGA, I've never thought about that as an option on an actual desktop system!

I may just stick with what I got. That is an option that could happen too, I've thought about it...but also trying to keep both kids on very similar performing hardware and so far the past several years that has worked really well. I was just keeping in that same mindset since I have the same board and CPU essentially times two... the server one doesn't OC worth a damn... and my main one OC's pretty well on air. Neither would be OC'd in the kid PC's though!

 

[therealmeep]

Owning a couple of the systems you have listed as possible upgrade paths, as well as a similar machine to the one in your specs, I'd say for the most bang for your buck either look for a deal on X99 or X79. I currently have a rig with a 4790k, a rig with a 6700k, a rig with an 8086k, and my current machine with a 6800k. My 6800k performs a little worse in games at stock compared to everything else, but I was able to oc it to 4.4GHz at a stable daily rate. (on water, ran it at 4.2 GHz air) For the price I get nearly identical real world performance over the 8086k, and with the work that I do day to day, I see a slight speed boost due to the quad channel RAM. For me, there isn't enough difference between the 6700k and the 4790k to justify the cost, especially with the cost of new RAM.

 

[jboydgolfer]

have you checked out EVGA B-Stock @Kursah ?

1080ti starting at $610

1080 starting at $380

motherboards & Power Supplies also available at lower prices, since they are either Scratch & Dent models, or Refurbished by EVGA. all covered with atleast a 1 year warranty. if you decide a 1070ti is enough or even a 1080 , you coudl save quite a bit. the 1070ti is roughly $360 iirc,

 

[therealmeep]

have you checked out EVGA B-Stock @Kursah ?

1080ti starting at $610

1080 starting at $380

motherboards & Power Supplies also available at lower prices, since they are either Scratch & Dent models, or Refurbished by EVGA. all covered with atleast a 1 year warranty.

I can vouch for B stock, I've bought a 980 and a 970 off their both in like new condition. USPS lost the 970 in shipping and within 2 days EVGA had another one shipped to me free of charge.

 

[Kursah]

I haven't done EVGA B-Stock since the GTX2xx days! I'll check it out for sure!

If I'm going after a 1070ti, I would probably keep my 980ti as from what I gathered they're pretty close performance-wise. I haven't completely dedicated to buying a 1080ti yet either...just thinking if I could snag one for $500-ish, and spend $500 on platform, I could get a new system that performs better but meets my budget, I upgrade my both my boys' PC's and we all are good to go for a while.

I may keep the 980ti, sell the 770 and 1050 and snag a couple 1060 6GB's too. I mean the 980ti does good in most games I play and I've never OC'd it. I also know the 1080ti would be almost 2X faster in some situations and would last me years from now.

 

[John Naylor]

Im not seeing as a platform change does anything for you on a gaming box, especially with Ryzen .... For me, the most obvious target would be the monitors.

To solve that, Id invest in a AU Optronics M270DAN02.6 10 bit IPS panel, Asus PG279Q or Acer XB271HU bmirpz

$572 https://pcpartpicker.com/product/ttnG3C/acer-monitor-xb271hubmiprz
$689 https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XvfmP6/asus-monitor-pg279q

I like the Acer out of the two and it's cheaper.

The rest I'd spend on a GFX card upgrade. With the 10xx series I have found the MSI and Gigabyte models to be the better overclockers....but since you have an Asus MoBo, will ease TS issues if you have to deal with only 1 vendor.

 

[rtwjunkie]

If I'm going after a 1070ti, I would probably keep my 980ti as from what I gathered they're pretty close performance-wise

Hmmmmm, no not really. The 1070 beats the 980Ti. My wife has one and when I was running 980Ti she had better frames across the board. That is supported by the TPU review of the Quicksilver edition, which she has.

If you are looking at a 1080Ti to upgrade to from the 980Ti, it is a huge upgrade. You’ll definitely feel it and see it even without benchmarks. That said, a 1070Ti is not as big a jump. It would be an increase in performance, but not one I would advise to upgrade from what you have.

 

[sepheronx]

What do you plan to do with that 4790k?

 

[rtwjunkie]

What do you plan to do with that 4790k?

To upgrade one of his kids’ system. They both will benefit from him shipping the parts down to both systems.

 

[Kursah]

To upgrade one of his kids’ system. They both will benefit from him shipping the parts down to both systems.

This.

Here's more backstory for anyone that cares:

One of their current systems (specs in sig) is going to be sold at a low price so a friend's daughter can have her first gaming PC, she's really wanted one for a couple of years now, or parts of it rather...luckily her dad knows somebody that can build cheap gaming PC's, and help her build her first one (something else she's been very interested in).

The other I'm saving to replace the "guest" laptop, an old Dell Inspiron N5110 laptop...the NV GPU is toast and the integrated GPU can barely handle 720P Minecraft now lol. Let alone the Doom 2016, Fallout 4, SupCom2, Ashes, Fortnite, TF2, etc. that they're both playing more of now. Enter in the i7 4790K/Asus Z87-Pro combo upgrades, they'll likely receive as xmas upgrades, hopefully along with SSD's too. I have some spare cases and PSU's, so I shouldn't need to buy anything beyond what I need for my build.

I'm not setting the unrealistic expectation to wipe the floor with my current CPU/MB combo for only $500. Those two alone cost me that much years ago when they were new. But from what I've read, I can surely match it and beat it (even if narrowly) in many cases for $500-ish, leaving me $500-ish to snag a 1080ti deal at the right time. That's sort of why I was trending Ryzen, because it seems to meet the budgetary/performance needs with new hardware.

Between VM labs and migrations, remote work & management, streaming, media encoding, gaming, dozens of open Chrome and Vivaldi tabs, etc...usually a mix of all those at once, I will make decent use of more cores and threads, I've pushed both 4790K's pretty hard thread-wise and wish I had a ThreadRipper and Xeon Gold kinda budget! I don't.

That's also why I'm seeking feedback, so I don't just get stuck on my predefined rails and miss a better or more common sense solution.

That being said, I don't intend to buy monitors this round...at least yet, but now that it's been mentioned, I have been kinda eager to retire both mine for something newer and higher res.

I am also weighing out looking at used X99 stuff, 6C/12T CPU's. I've seen some deals here and there, but undecided if I want to go down that road or just go new Ryzen yet.

AMD seems to need more costly RAM to ensure that I purchase Samsung b-die for best results in the 3200-range, which is fine, but that does have weight here. There's a noticeable cost difference between C14 and C16 RAM, but hopefully that will narrow with impending potential RAM price reductions.

New Intel would take all my budget for an 8700K/Z370/16GB DDR4 3000+ (3200-3400 is the goal range either AMD or Intel), or most of it to do it right with cooling accounted for. With the 2700X I would be using the stock cooler, which I'd be fine with since its something decent until I can get something better in there.


TL;DR:

No matter what, I'm choosing something. I have a budget to try something new, albeit even if it is a side-grade and my boys get major CPU/MB upgrades as a benefit of this. A little girl not only gets her first gaming PC but gets to build it. I also want to make sure I'm not totally going down a totally idiotic path or purchase! I will really enjoy this with the kids and know they will too. Getting to help build/upgrade and then using what they were just putting together with their own hands to play games, browse the web, etc. Priceless. Appreciate the feedback so far!

 

[king of swag187]

Well, I would say keep the 4790k, they're getting rarer and rarer now a days, Z87 is becoming harder than X58 to buy into. Also, considering you don't do anything intensive, another point for keeping it and getting a 1080 ti. Whatever you have spare, you could throw into a few OEM/Midrange LGA 1155 builds with R9 290's for everyone to have fun with!

 

[Kursah]

Ya they are getting rarer and rarer. I don't mind letting my sons use em' though, while I test some other gear. And ya you're right Z87 stuff is getting hard to find...and when you do, $$$.

Update:

I did end up snagging a 2700X, 16GB G.Skill DDR4 3200 b-die and an Asus Strix X370 for around $430 shipped. Pretty damn solid deal if you ask me. So I'm giving it all a go once that hardware arrives. I didn't get quite $1000, but more like $880. So I have about $450 available...ish for a potential GTX1080Ti deal, plus whatever I can muster in the coming weeks finance-wise. I have seen quite a few in the $525-range and hoping I can grab something in the coming weeks. If I don't like the 2700X combo, I'll sell it and stick with the 4790K, find a 4770 or 4790-non K for one of the boys' systems or even another direction altogether.

This timing works well so that I can start spooling one of my son's systems down in prep for the xmas present for my friend's daughter. He and I were talking about how to go about things last night, and he's eager to dig in to it sooner than later so he can get it all ready and prepped and then wrapped up. Pretty happy to be a part of this for them.