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CPU for an imminent mini-ITX build

Go to solution Solved by Mr.Humble,

Hi,

 

it basically depends on how quickly you want to get the new PC. If you need to have it ASAP, I'd go with a Kaby Lake i5, or, if you can find some on sale, the i5 6500. If you can wait, I'd wait to see what Ryzen brings to the table.

 

AFAIK, the Ryzen launch should be sometime in March. By then the AM4 motherboards should hit the shelves as well, so you'll know by then if there's a mITX motherboard for Ryzen.

 

You'd also know whether or not is Ryzen a Ryzenoable option in terms of performance, thermals etc. (sorry, I had to...)

 

Personally, I don't think that the Ryzen launch will have that significant impact on Intel's pricing of Kaby Lake, but rather on the next CPU line-up.

 

I understand your struggle perfectly because I have a mini ITX build planned for a year now, and with the new Z270 mITX boards from Gigabyte and ASRock (Czech them out, both have onboard WiFi) and now I need to wait to see if it would make sense to rethink the whole damned build with Ryzen. However, my upgrade cycle is centered on July/August, so I don't plan to rush anything with a machine that I want to last for 3-5 years.

I have an upcoming mini ITX build that's becoming a headache nailing down a CPU.

 

Main thing is I already have a solid gaming machine, this is a portable 2nd machine for when I'm away from home. Mini ITX is essential and I want to keep the budget within reason. I just want to play my existing games with reasonable settings, and 1080p/60fps. Nothing crazy. Already got a spare GTX 960 to put inside it, with a GTX 1060 going into it in the future. At the same time I want to avoid significant CPU bottlenecks. I don't play tons of open world games but I do play GTA5 a lot.

 

My main plan is to buy something like an i5 7400/7500 and mini-itx motherboard with built in wi-fi. However there are other possible ways to go on this:

 

1) Cheap i3 CPU and upgrade down the line. I'm trying to avoid paying over £150 for the CPU if I can avoid it. This new G4560 with hyperthreading sounds like a worthy budget contender too

2) The upcoming AMD Ryzen CPUs. There's the possible Ryzen chips themselves offering i5-level performance significantly cheaper, or the resulting competition forcing Intel to drop the price of Kaby Lake i5s.

 

The 2nd one would normally be a no brainer but there's a further consideration. I've been planning this portable gaming machine for a while and was aiming to have it done around the end of January. If I build it before Ryzen is released and CPU prices drop I'm going to feel like a dipshit. On the other hand, if I wait and AMD push back the release date of Ryzen, or everything releases on schedule and these cheaper CPUs just don't happen (for either Intel or AMD), and I've waited for nothing (or I'm waiting indefinitely for AMD to release Ryzen chips), then I'm going to feel like a dipshit.

 

As it stands I can't find any solid details regarding the Ryzen release date or pricing. I'm not even 100% sure if there will be any AM4 mini-itx mobos, potentially making all of this moot.

it's a weird position I'm in. I just want to make a decision one way or the other so I can nail down my parts from specific retailers and be ready to build it in a few weeks. I can maybe wait into Feb but there's no guarantee Ryzen will have dropped by now

 

 

Any advice/perspective on this is much appreciated

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Hi,

 

it basically depends on how quickly you want to get the new PC. If you need to have it ASAP, I'd go with a Kaby Lake i5, or, if you can find some on sale, the i5 6500. If you can wait, I'd wait to see what Ryzen brings to the table.

 

AFAIK, the Ryzen launch should be sometime in March. By then the AM4 motherboards should hit the shelves as well, so you'll know by then if there's a mITX motherboard for Ryzen.

 

You'd also know whether or not is Ryzen a Ryzenoable option in terms of performance, thermals etc. (sorry, I had to...)

 

Personally, I don't think that the Ryzen launch will have that significant impact on Intel's pricing of Kaby Lake, but rather on the next CPU line-up.

 

I understand your struggle perfectly because I have a mini ITX build planned for a year now, and with the new Z270 mITX boards from Gigabyte and ASRock (Czech them out, both have onboard WiFi) and now I need to wait to see if it would make sense to rethink the whole damned build with Ryzen. However, my upgrade cycle is centered on July/August, so I don't plan to rush anything with a machine that I want to last for 3-5 years.

Quote and/or tag people using @ otherwise they don't get notified of your response!

 

The HUMBLE Computer:

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X • Noctua NH-U12A • ASUS STRIX X570-F • Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL16 • GIGABYTE Nvidia GTX1080 G1 • FRACTAL DESIGN Define C w/ blue Meshify C front • Corsair RM750x (2018) • OS: Kingston KC2000 1TB GAMES: Intel 660p 1TB DATA: Seagate Desktop 2TB • Acer Predator X34P 34" 3440x1440p 120 Hz IPS curved Ultrawide • Corsair STRAFE RGB Cherry MX Brown • Logitech G502 HERO / Logitech MX Master 3

 

Notebook:  HP Spectre x360 13" late 2018

Core i7 8550U • 16GB DDR3 RAM • 512GB NVMe SSD • 13" 1920x1080p 120 Hz IPS touchscreen • dual Thunderbolt 3

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Thanks for the reply dude

As an aside, do you know how the i5 7400 stacks up against the 6500? Not seeing any comparison videos yet and it might be a way of saving a little money

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21 minutes ago, Ty_ said:

Thanks for the reply dude

As an aside, do you know how the i5 7400 stacks up against the 6500? Not seeing any comparison videos yet and it might be a way of saving a little money

The i5 7400 may be a better option if you don't want to / can't afford the i5 7500, where the clock difference could be noticeable. Purely specs-wise the 7400 and 6500 seem to be on par.

Quote and/or tag people using @ otherwise they don't get notified of your response!

 

The HUMBLE Computer:

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X • Noctua NH-U12A • ASUS STRIX X570-F • Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL16 • GIGABYTE Nvidia GTX1080 G1 • FRACTAL DESIGN Define C w/ blue Meshify C front • Corsair RM750x (2018) • OS: Kingston KC2000 1TB GAMES: Intel 660p 1TB DATA: Seagate Desktop 2TB • Acer Predator X34P 34" 3440x1440p 120 Hz IPS curved Ultrawide • Corsair STRAFE RGB Cherry MX Brown • Logitech G502 HERO / Logitech MX Master 3

 

Notebook:  HP Spectre x360 13" late 2018

Core i7 8550U • 16GB DDR3 RAM • 512GB NVMe SSD • 13" 1920x1080p 120 Hz IPS touchscreen • dual Thunderbolt 3

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Just checked pricing and there's only a £10 difference between the 7400 and 7500, so I might as well go for the i5 7500. Anything higher is completely unnecessary and since it's ITX with heat concerns I have no interest in overclocking

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