Week 52--Upgrade Path Part 1

[TopplesS]

Base System:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($224.67 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($41.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($79.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Micro Center) 

Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $496.62

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-17 22:28 EDT-0400

 

Rationale:

-Starting with an overclockable i5 and suitable Z97 board for a stable base. Cooling to come later, for now the stock HSF will do.

-4GB single module with room for another later on.

-Starting with a reasonably sized SSD because it makes life easier to just chuck in a secondary storage drive rather than do a clone or fresh install onto the SSD when the upgrade happens.

-Sturdy case from Corsair which looks good and is functional for a great price. Will fit whatever we want to throw in it.

-Really good value for money with the Bronze 500W from EVGA.

 

Unfortunately no GPU as of yet, however the integrated graphics should be able to handle low settings fairly well.

 

Upgrade:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($41.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB DirectCU II Video Card  ($379.99 @ NCIX US) 

Total: $496.96

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-17 22:51 EDT-0400

 

Rationale:

-With the fresh pile of ca$h we see a Hyper 212 EVO to allow for OCing.

-Another 4GB module is installed to bring the total to 8GB.

-A 1TB HDD is whacked in for miscellaneous storage of data.

-And the powerplant itself - the R9 290 - makes its way off the bench.

 

All up, for $1000, you can't go wrong.

[MEC-777]

Everyone; I don't think you need to post up your upgrade path yet. Just your first initial $500 build as this is "Part 1". Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. 

 

That being said, I was about to post up my Intel build Idea, but have decided to give this some more thought as there are a lot options out there. You all have some really good ideas an concepts. This is going to be a very tough build contest, no doubt.

[dragoon20005]

Everyone; I don't think you need to post up your upgrade path yet. just your first initial $500 build as this is "Part 1". Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. 

 

That being said, I was about to post up my Intel build Idea, but have decided to give this some more thought as there are a lot options out there. You all have some really good ideas an concepts. This is going to be a very tough build contest, no doubt.

on the first post it says you do need to build a 500 bucks computer and the 500 dollar upgrades

 

 

the second challenge after this will be to upgrade the winning build

[MEC-777]

on the first post it says you do need to build a 500 bucks computer and the 500 dollar upgrades

 

 

the second challenge after this will be to upgrade the winning build

Ah, yes. That's right. Ok, don't listen to me then. lol.

[ddbtkd456]

Everyone; I don't think you need to post up your upgrade path yet. Just your first initial $500 build as this is "Part 1". Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. 

 

That being said, I was about to post up my Intel build Idea, but have decided to give this some more thought as there are a lot options out there. You all have some really good ideas an concepts. This is going to be a very tough build contest, no doubt.

 

And it makes all worth wild for the prize at the first of the month.

[BebTech]

Initial Build

 

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YwY88d) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YwY88d/by_merchant/)

 

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690k) | $199.99 @ Micro Center 

**Motherboard** | [ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z97extreme4) | $69.99 

**Memory** | [A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/a-data-memory-ax3u1600w4g9db) | $74.99 @ NCIX US 

**Storage** | [seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm003) | $51.98 @ OutletPC 

**Case** | [bitFenix Ronin ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/bitfenix-case-bfcron300kkwskrp) | $69.99 @ NCIX US 

**Power Supply** | [EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100w10430kr) | $19.99 @ NCIX US 

**Other**| 12 VDC Cold Cathode Light Kit 12" Red 2 Pcs.| $9.16 

 | | **Total**

 | Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $496.09

 | Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 03:25 EDT-0400 |

 

The motherboard is a microcenter bundle with the cpu, partspicker wouldnt do the bundle but feel free to check it out if you don't trust me

 

Rational for each pick:

i5 4690k: Powerful cpu with the nice haswell architecture and overclockable, similar to my 3570k which I love.

Motherboard: Good asrock board, tons of sata 3 for insane expand-ability

Memory: 1600mhz memory is good and relatively cheap, 4 gb of memory is just too little and for $75 8gb is a very compelling offer.

Storage: This is the exact HDD that I initially had as a boot drive and now use as a storage drive, I've had it and used it heavily for 1.75 years and it doesn't show any signs of giving up

Case: Nice case, very good

PSU: Good efficiency power supply from what I think is a reputable brand, the only part that'll have to be replaced when upgrades happen (had to do this cause the alternative options put me at $501 every time)

 

I know what some of you are thinking, "How come u no has gpu?!" the answer to this is simple, buying a low end gpu simply doesn't make sense, the only point at which a dedicated gpu begins to be a worthwhile step up from integrated graphics is around the $100 price point.

And for this type of build that just doesn't fit into the initial budget. When I initially built my pc It had a 3570k, 8 gb of 1600mhz ram, an asus mobo, the one tb hdd mentioned earlier, and a diablotek psu and case and you know what I played 4v4 starcraft 2 all day on integrated graphics. All that for only $400 thanks to microcenter bundle deals. Today the only holdovers of that build are the cpu and ram, I'd still have the mobo but it died, had my budget been $500 I'd have gotten a better case and power supply and would most likely still be using them. Remember an upgradable build is always a good build

 

Upgrades:

 

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jdqV23) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jdqV23/by_merchant/)

 

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $24.99 @ Newegg 

**Storage** | [samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te120bw) | $77.99 @ NCIX US 

**Storage** | [samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te120bw) | $77.99 @ NCIX US 

**Video Card** | [Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr928xoc3gdrev2) | $259.99 @ Amazon 

**Power Supply** | [EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100b10600kr) | $46.13 @ Newegg 

 | | **Total**

 | Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $487.09

 | Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 04:04 EDT-0400

 

Cooler: Good cooler, I have one myself, low price point but excellent performance allowing for awesome upgrades elsewhere

Storage: Two samsung 840 evos, each boasting 540MB/s Read and 410MB/s Write in raid 0 to give an epic 1080MB/s Read and incredible 820MB/s read all while doubling the capacity up to 240GB, the 1TB hdd should now be used for backups and mass storage.

GPU: The R9 280x is an impressive card and gigabyte's wind force cooler means that it stays very cool even at max load.

Power supply: With  the addition of a dedicated gpu a psu upgrade is necessary 

[dragoon20005]

@BebTech

 

yes you do need to show the upgrades

[BebTech]

This was a super hard challenge, had it been $510 it would've been easier and had I been able to permit myself to post a build that didn't use a windowed case that would've made it much easier as well

[MEC-777]

Well, I guess it's time I enter. Gave this a lot of thought and came up with a build list I feel very confident in, even though I know many of you will probably disagree. (But that's ok, we all have our opinions and preferences  )

 

There were a few goals I wanted to achieve with this build; 

 

-Minimal / no compromises or "cheaping out".

-Only good / high-quality components.

-Best possible gaming performance per dollar with the initial build and final upgrades, within the given the circumstances.

-Easy Upgrade path that replaces as few parts as necessary.

-Good aesthetics, if possible.

 

 

Initial $500 build:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($169.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88X-UP4 ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($51.98 @ OutletPC) 

Case: NZXT Phantom 240 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($62.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ Micro Center) 

Total: $498.93

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-20 21:53 EDT-0400

 

 

What you get:

-Current FM2+ flagship Kaveri APU which has been shown to deliver 1080p gaming experience at exceptional frame rates. (The challenge for part 1 was to come up with a $500 gaming build (or so I thought) and just the thought of attempting to game on Intel's integrated HD graphics makes me cringe, lol). 

-Overclockable quad-core CPU with excellent gaming performance (considering it's cost) and HSA-ready. (Stock CPU cooler is more than adequate for stock clocks and even some light OCing).

-Really nice motherboard in terms of features and looks with plenty of upgrade options and strong overclocking capability.

-8GB (2x4) Fast 2400mhz CL10 RAM to let the APU's iGPU perform at it's best.

-Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm HDD for plenty of storage and reasonable performance.

-A case that is not just a cheap "box" to mount your hardware inside. Looks great (IMO), full side window, lots of air flow and lots of nice features/options.

-Good quality 80+ bronze PSU with more than enough juice to support high-end GPUs and all the storage drives, cooling systems and fans you'll ever need.

 

I realize you can build an Intel system with CPU + discreet GPU for the same cost that would perform better, but when I played around with creating such builds, I found I had to cheap out and compromise in too many ways (cheap motherboard, lower-end CPU, lower-end GPU, not enough/too little storage or smaller PSU etc.) and I just didn't like that. I wanted this to be a quality build but that would still have good gaming performance and I think this is a very good balance in that regard. 

 

 

Upgrades!

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X31 69.5 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($73.98 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($369.90 @ Newegg) 

Total: $498.87

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-20 23:42 EDT-0400

 

Just 3 simple items for the upgrade, but that's all you need to beef this thing up into a very respectable high-end gaming rig.

-Quiet and capable 120mm AIO water cooler for the CPU to push the 7850K to 4.5GHz+. 

-120GB SSD for the OS and main programs to make the PC boot and run nice and snappy. 

-XFX R9-290 4GB. The heart of any gaming PC, the GPU should be allocated the biggest portion of your budget. This was no exception and I prefer running a single strong GPU instead of two weaker GPUs.

 

Note: Not a single part had to be removed, swapped or changed out.

 

 

The end result:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($169.99 @ Newegg) 

CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X31 69.5 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($73.98 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88X-UP4 ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: A-Data Premier SP610 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($51.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($369.90 @ Newegg) 

Case: NZXT Phantom 240 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($62.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ Micro Center) 

Total: $1002.80

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-20 23:55 EDT-0400

 

 

Just a few final important points:

-Some may think it's a waste to go with an APU and later add a GPU as the iGPU would no longer be needed and thus isn't being used anymore (wasted money). Remember; that isn't the case with this APU. The iGPU cores are still used for off-loading certain parallel/compute tasks, allowing for less CPU overhead and overall faster general processing across various work loads.

-"But won't it bottleneck the R9-290?" you may ask. The answer is no, not really. Games are still mostly GPU-heavy work loads. With Mantle and other driver/software optimizations, CPU overhead in gaming has been declining. Game devs are also optimizing their games to make better use of multi-core/thread CPUs which means the need for CPUs with strong per-core IPC is becoming less of an issue. Sure, the A10 is far from an i5, but it does have enough grunt for gaming and enough to run an R9-290 at or very close to 100% in most games.

-It's generally assumed that the FM2+ platform is somewhat limited and for now, that may be the case. However, there are many valid reasons to believe the 7850K isn't the best processor we'll ever see for this socket in the not-so-distant future.

 

 

Like I said before, I've given this a lot of thought and this is a build I would sink my own money into. If something were to happen to my current rig and I had to start from scratch with a new PC, this what I'd probably go with to replace it. Sorry for the novel, but I wanted to make sure I fully explained why I chose these parts. 

 

Cheers.

 

 

[dragoon20005]

-snip-

ah we both think a like

 

but you got a 290 in your rig

 

i think i lost this match

[MEC-777]

ah we both think a like

 

but you got a 290 in your rig

 

i think i lost this match

 

lol, Not necessarily. I think the majority of this community is more partial to Intel over AMD and there are a lot of stout build concepts from the blue team in this contest.

 

But we shall see...

 

 

BTW, I didn't know there was a windowed version of the CM N600. Very nice.

[ddbtkd456]

Wow I'm impressed with the number of results so far. @CornOnJacob you are going to have a long poll for these weeks...really makes it worthy of a prize.

[MEC-777]

Please do not vote for your own build. It will not be counted. 

[SirBobson]

@ilikemacandpc you are not meant to vote for yourself as it will not be counted so it is rather pointless as MEC-777 just said

[ilikemacandpc]

@ilikemacandpc you are not meant to vote for yourself as it will not be counted so it is rather pointless as MEC-777 just said

 Don't worry. I know. I've been participating in these for a LONG time. 

[SirBobson]

 Don't worry. I know. I've been participating in these for a LONG time. 

Cool bro 

[ddbtkd456]

 Don't worry. I know. I've been participating in these for a LONG time. 

 

@CornOnJacob please be sure to watch as this one right here voted on his own..

[Manny Calavera]

Are there any restrictions for, say... new created accounts or accounts with low or even NO posts etc... cus i can easily win... you know.. 

 

And also, i wont vote for anyone else so i have bigger chances to win... ya know...

 

So yeah... id say stop with gifts now. Power and money make people corrupt. So dont give out any of them. 

 

And if you will excuse me gentlemen, i go dig out some accounts to vote for me. LoL

 

Go go go @TopplesS you are the winning horse!

[MEC-777]

Are there any restrictions for, say... new created accounts or accounts with low or even NO posts etc... cus i can easily win... you know.. 

 

And also, i wont vote for anyone else so i have bigger chances to win... ya know...

 

So yeah... id say stop with gifts now. Power and money make people corrupt. So dont give out any of them. 

 

And if you will excuse me gentlemen, i go dig out some accounts to vote for me. LoL

 

Go go go @TopplesS you are the winning horse!

I should hope we could all be fair and not cheat. It's a shame we even have to talk about it, but it's true. Some people just don't care and will go out of their way to win even a small prize. 

[Manny Calavera]

I should hope we could all be fair and not cheat. It's a shame we even have to talk about it, but it's true. Some people just don't care and will go out of their way to win even a small prize. 

Yea, instead you should buy linus and slick a beer for next wan show or something productive. Logan doesnt mind to drink a pint on his show and he is doing it right. Linus will need beer to calm down nerves after keeping baby calm at night heheeh

[ddbtkd456]

I should hope we could all be fair and not cheat. It's a shame we even have to talk about it, but it's true. Some people just don't care and will go out of their way to win even a small prize.

@CornOnJacob has made me the prize manager as he runs the thread. As of right now there are no limitations other then what the contest rules say on the main page. Anyone is up for prizes. It will be considered fair because the people as a whole are voting. However I don't know if @CornOnJacob wants to make it so that people who enter can't vote. Anymore questions please pm me in the future.

[ddbtkd456]

Yea, instead you should buy linus and slick a beer for next wan show or something productive. Logan doesnt mind to drink a pint on his show and he is doing it right. Linus will need beer to calm down nerves after keeping baby calm at night heheeh

Sorry this is what was discussed with the moderator team and it will resume like it is. Please take it up with me in pm or them if you have that big of an issue with it.

[MEC-777]

@CornOnJacob has made me the prize manager as he runs the thread. As of right now there are no limitations other then what the contest rules say on the main page. Anyone is up for prizes. It will be considered fair because the people as a whole are voting. However I don't know if @CornOnJacob wants to make it so that people who enter can't vote. Anymore questions please pm me in the future.

I don't mind entering and voting if I think there are other builds worthy of the crown. It just needs to be known (and it should already be self-explanatory) that you shouldn't vote for your own build and that such votes will not be counted. 

[ddbtkd456]

I don't mind entering and voting if I think there are other builds worthy of the crown. It just needs to be known (and it should already be self-explanatory) that you shouldn't vote for your own build and that such votes will not be counted.

Yes however he's saying if he creates a fake account maybe @CornOnJacob has some ideas?

[MEC-777]

Yes however he's saying if he creates a fake account maybe @CornOnJacob has some ideas?

Ah I see. Yeah that could be a problem. I should hope among this community it won't be... Not sure how you'd police that.