Some thoughts and advise required...

[phill]

Hi guys and gals..

I was wondering what everyone might suggest..

I currently have a PC for my sisters children and them, it's a Z170 OCF board, 16Gb ram, i3 6320 and a RM450 PSU.. I'm hoping to swap out the board, CPU and ram with something a little newer as I have a Prime H270 Plus board with a Celly in it, only 4Gb of ram (which I was going to try and find at least another 4Gb to put in it) but I've a few RX 480's laying about which I'd like to add into the PC for them..
Thing is, I was wondering what sort of CPU would anyone suggest I put in with it? I'd like to put something else in it that would pair well with the RX 480, I would have gone with a Ryzen if I'm honest but as I'd need CPU and board, I thought this way might be a cheaper way for me

They don't game or do anything special as such, the girls just play their online games and do their homework.. So I suppose in a way the Celly would be enough, but I'd like to give them something with a little more power to it... I'd just like some thoughts from everyone else

Many thanks as always

 

[BarbaricSoul]

From what you said their current computer is used for, I don't see a reason to upgrade the CPU, MB, or RAM. Just stick a 480 in the current computer and call it good. If you really want to give them an upgrade they would actually feel (assuming it don't have one already), get them a SSD.

 

[cucker tarlson]

something like a non-K 6700/7700 if you can, if not then i5 7500.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

something like a non-K 6700/7700 if you can, if not then i5 7500.

why spend the money on an i5 or i7 CPU when according to the OP, a Celeron would be plenty.

 

[phill]

From what you said their current computer is used for, I don't see a reason to upgrade the CPU, MB, or RAM. Just stick a 480 in the current computer and call it good. If you really want to give them an upgrade they would actually feel (assuming it don't have one already), get them a SSD.

Well the only real reason is for me to grab back the Asrock Z170 OCF and the G Skill B die ram that's in it lol They have an SSD and a 2Tb hard drive for storage but as I had a low ish spec board currently not in use, so I thought a swap out and a fairly decent CPU in there would be perfectly fine until the day it dies...

something like a non-K 6700/7700 if you can, if not then i5 7500.

I'll see what is around, I'm not in a massive rush with this as I'm sure the Celly and the 480 would do for a while, but I would like to grab at least another 4Gb of ram or I could try and track down another set of 16Gb just for future proofing it. Are non k series CPU's very expensive?

 

[cucker tarlson]

why spend the money on an i5 or i7 CPU when according to the OP, a Celeron would be plenty.

To answer the main question here, that is "what is a proper cpu for rx480", Celeron is not plenty for rx480. Not according to any source, not according to OP. He never said it's plenty and he's damn right, it will not do 60 fps in modern games, not even close. i5 7500 would be enough, i7 6700/7700 would be plenty.

For online games rx480 would be overkill, and a celeron would be fine most of the time but might experience some problems. I have a dual core pentium laptop (2x1.90GHz) with 4gb of ddr3 and win 10 runs absolutely fine as long as it's browsing the net and 1080p movies. No problem even running them both at the same time.

I'd sell the rx480 (it's not even gonna break a sweat in this pc) with the celeron, pick up another 4GB of ram and G4560 (2c/4t) and pair them with a gtx 1050. That'd make a much more balanced rig and considering how mucg rx480s are worth now, you might even come out with some savings.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Keep in mind when establishing your budget, a new motherboard is considered a new computer and that typically requires a new Windows license. The exception is when the old license is a full retail, and the vast majority is not.

If you have an old board and CPU laying around and not sure what to do with it, I might consider you build a Linux system with it. That would be a good learning experience. You could turn it into a NAS backup server to put on your network. At least then it would be efficiently re-purposed so it is not collecting dust, or polluting our landfills with hazardous waste.

 

[Jetster]

So you're takig the Z170 and i3? I would just leave it, It's not that much of a difference to bother with a reinstall and License change. Just give them the GPU if its better. The i3 is plenty for the RX 480

 

[jboydgolfer]

So you're takig the Z170 and i3? I would just leave it, It's not that much of a difference to bother with a reinstall and License change. Just give them the GPU if its better. The i3 is plenty for the RX 480

Well the only real reason is for me to grab back the Asrock Z170 OCF and the G Skill B die ram that's in it lol

it would seem its not a "for them" switch, but rather, OP wants the specific components in their PC, and would need to replace them with something.

 

[phill]

To answer the main question here, that is "what is a proper cpu for rx480", Celeron is not plenty for rx480. Not according to any source, not according to OP. He never said it's plenty and he's damn right, it will not do 60 fps in modern games, not even close. i5 7500 would be enough, i7 6700/7700 would be plenty.

For online games rx480 would be overkill, and a celeron would be fine most of the time but might experience some problems. I have a dual core pentium laptop (2x1.90GHz) with 4gb of ddr3 and win 10 runs absolutely fine as long as it's browsing the net and 1080p movies. No problem even running them both at the same time.

I'd sell the rx480 (it's not even gonna break a sweat in this pc) with the celeron, pick up another 4GB of ram and G4560 (2c/4t) and pair them with a gtx 1050. That'd make a much more balanced rig and considering how mucg rx480s are worth now, you might even come out with some savings.

I'm sure that the i3 they currently have wouldn't be enough for the RX 480 in gaming but if anything they could probably get by with less rather than more. It's just that I have hardware laying about here and I would like to make use of it somehow
I could sell the RX 480's I have and get something like a 1050, but I don't see the point in replacing it with something less to make a few quid.. Money isn't the factor here really

Keep in mind when establishing your budget, a new motherboard is considered a new computer and that typically requires a new Windows license. The exception is when the old license is a full retail, and the vast majority is not.

If you have an old board and CPU laying around and not sure what to do with it, I might consider you build a Linux system with it. That would be a good learning experience. You could turn it into a NAS backup server to put on your network. At least then it would be efficiently re-purposed so it is not collecting dust, or polluting our landfills with hazardous waste.

Whenever I buy a Windows OS, I always buy retail and I do so, as I can simply transfer it across platform to platform..
The 'old' board is actually newer than the current one they have, the Z170 that I would like back is one for my collection of boards and setups, I'm not sure they actually even need the H270 I would be swapping it out with, but I consider myself to buy something decent in the first place to not have to buy things twice..

Oh as for the NAS backup server, I am alright there, I've my Synology box and my Dell R710 running vSPhere with Windows Server 2012 R2 and Linux on there, as well with possibly a few more on the way.. I don't throw out hardware.. That's just what I would call hardware abuse

So you're takig the Z170 and i3? I would just leave it, It's not that much of a difference to bother with a reinstall and License change. Just give them the GPU if its better. The i3 is plenty for the RX 480

From the prices of the newer Kaby Lake range, the 6700k is £300 and more than a 7700k which is mad!! I've checked the prices at www.scan.co.uk and they are as equally as mad... i3 anything around to £150 new, then the i5 is in the range of a £150 to £210 and then the i7 are £260 to £270 for the 7700 and the 7700k.. By the looks of buying one new, aside from the crap thermal paste and having to de-lid the thing to get it stop from being able to boil an egg, I think I might have a search for a second hand one at some point.. For price to performance, I may as well just grab a 7700k!

it would seem its not a "for them" switch, but rather, OP wants the specific components in their PC, and would need to replace them with something.

Your bang on But I'd rather I replace them with something decent and not just something that would do
Just a daft question then really but would a 7700k come with a stock Intel cooler? Or would it be worth putting something half decent on there? £20 cooler for example...

 

[Bill_Bright]

Whenever I buy a Windows OS, I always buy retail and I do so, as I can simply transfer it across platform to platform..

I do the same.

I don't throw out hardware.. That's just what I would call hardware abuse

I'm with you there too. But old hardware does take up space and it is often you can't even give it away. And sadly, that is when it often ends up in the trash, and then landfills. When it starts to look like you are a hardware "hoarder", check your local area for electronics recyclers. The one in my area ensures all hazardous waste and metals are properly destroyed and disposed of in an environmentally friend manner. And this one here will even pay you current scrap rates for the steel, aluminum and the precious metals (gold, etc.) found in many electronics, including RAM, processors and other ICs.

Just something to think about. They paid me $80 for the truck load of old parts and I got a spare bedroom in the basement - and the better half off my back to clean out the basement.

 

[eidairaman1]

What kind of online games?