PC for my dad

[Andres1258]

Hello! My father is finally looking to upgrade off his old Bulldozer CPU and price isn't really a concern. All he told me was to "make it as fast as possible". Naturally, I shoved an NVMe drive (Evo 970) and some reasonably fast DDR4 RAM in there. All he does on it is watch Netflix (4K), editing PDFs, and some word processing. Also looks at family pictures. 

 

Since he wants to "make it as fast as possible" I need to know if certain things will have an appreciable difference in performance - milliseconds count here. He's hoping to use this thing for 5-10 years.

 

CPU: I've been considering the i7 8700k, i5 9600k, i5 8400, and i5 7600T. Will cache make a difference here? Will there be any appreciable differences?

RAM: Will speed make a difference here? 2666 vs 3000 etc.

 

Part picker list.

[Slottr]

These tasks require bare minimums, a 2200g would perform these just fine.

 

Edit: Also the 970 Evo would be almost completely underutilized. An MX500 would do.

[emosun]

Yeah almost anything should be able to do this I think.

The only real challenge would be the 5-10 year operating requirement which i would lean on server hardware for. No the fastest most expensive server hardware just higher quality with longevity in mind

[Andres1258]

I understand that but even milliseconds response time is enough of a difference for me to get something a bit beefier. Will the cache make no difference? RAM? It's not about whether this system is capable of these tasks it's about the speed and system responsiveness.

[Sorenson]

I would go with an i5 like the 9600/9600k, a 256gb 970 evo (boot drive), a 1tb intel 660p ssd, and some fast ram. You could do Ryzen if you want, I have no experience with it so I’m not sure how it works in every day tasks.

[dizmo]

You've listed three different generations of chips. I'd just wait, and get whatever the new Ryzen 3 chip is. Should fit the bill nicely, especially if rumors are correct.

6 minutes ago, Andres1258 said:

I understand that but even milliseconds response time is enough of a difference for me to get something a bit beefier. Will the cache make no difference? RAM? It's not about whether this system is capable of these tasks it's about the speed and system responsiveness.

That makes absolutely zero sense.

[trevb0t]

10 minutes ago, Andres1258 said:

I understand that but even milliseconds response time is enough of a difference for me to get something a bit beefier. Will the cache make no difference? RAM? It's not about whether this system is capable of these tasks it's about the speed and system responsiveness.

What you're saying makes literally no sense.

It is 100% about whether the components can handle the workload presented.

 

If you're referring to CAS latancy timings on RAM sticks, unless he's gaming on this the difference will not be noticeable in any of the mentioned functions.

 

Also note that unless your father plans to overclock his CPU (literally go into the BIOS and change the way power is distributed to the components to force them into a state of overuse, which requires additional sufficient cooling components) then a K series Intel card is redundant.

 

A Ryzen 5 2400G will show no noticeable difference in general computing and netflix watching than an i7-9700K will. 

Evo 960 is way overpriced for little to no gains in this way either. Grab a Crucial SSD.

[Andres1258]

Keep in mind system longevity. This machine needs to last 8-10 years. Price really isn't a concern here. My dad is well off enough that a $500 or $1500 PC won't make a difference to him.

 

I'm waiting for 3rd gen Ryzen APU's to drop for another family member but this person has stressed they want the best system responsiveness they can get regardless of cost. Will CPU cache not make a difference here?

 

The reason I'm asking these questions is to determine if higher end components will have any, and I mean any performance difference compared to lower end components.

[Sorenson]

 

13 minutes ago, Andres1258 said:

The reason I'm asking these questions is to determine if higher end components will have any, and I mean any performance difference compared to lower end components.

Yes, a faster ssd, ram, processor, and gpu will make a difference. Cheaper SSDs, especially QLC or TLC memory without buffer caches, are slow (and will slow down even more if they don’t have good thermal management). Ram is a buffer for your processor, so having faster memory will get the info to the cpu faster. A cpu with a high core clock is less likely to be bottlenecked by programs that emphasize single core usage, and you want enough cores to be able to effectively multitask. And a better gpu will help if he plays any games, but more importantly a dgpu won’t run off of system ram.

[LukeSavenije]

17 minutes ago, Andres1258 said:

The reason I'm asking these questions is to determine if higher end components will have any, and I mean any performance difference compared to lower end components.

yes 

 

but in certain tasks, you probably won't notice the difference between a 8100 and a 9900k with a couple tabs open on Chrome

[Mephi00]

For your requirements:

Samsung b-die ram3200 cl14

i9 9900k sub-zero cooled

rtx titan in sli also sub-zero cooled 

overclock the shit out of them for about 2.3 GHz on gpu and 6-7 GHz on cpu

 

you see where im going here?

[jerubedo]

16 minutes ago, Andres1258 said:

The reason I'm asking these questions is to determine if higher end components will have any, and I mean any performance difference compared to lower end components.

I mean, yes, of course they will, but we're talking on a scale not perceivable to the human brain. There are plenty of videos showing the difference in boot time between a SATA SSD and an NVME SSD, and all of them have the difference being under half of a second. As for cache and higher speed CPUs, yes there's a difference there too, but again it's nearly imperceivable. That said, if this is more of a bragging rights build or just to have the best on-paper "speeds" then I guess do something like this:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$399.99 @ B&H
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC - Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler	$39.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$169.98 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$130.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$124.89 @ OutletPC
Case	Corsair - SPEC-DELTA RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$73.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1039.80
	Mail-in rebates	-$30.00
	Total	$1009.80
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-24 01:29 EDT-0400

This is of course within reason. You could eek out even more performance but spend thousands. Like this:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$484.99 @ Walmart
CPU Cooler	be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$88.09 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$169.98 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z Royal 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-4800 Memory	$470.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 970 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$332.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Zotac - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Twin Video Card	$1049.00 @ Amazon
Case	Corsair - SPEC OMEGA ATX Mid Tower Case	$149.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$73.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$2840.00
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$2820.00
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-24 01:32 EDT-0400

 

Or you could even go the Threadripper route.

[Andres1258]

Just now, Sorenson said:

 

Yes, a faster ssd, ram, processor, and gpu will make a difference. Cheaper SSDs, especially QLC or TLC memory without buffer caches, are slow (and will slow down even more if they don’t have good thermal management). Ram is a buffer for your processor, so having faster memory will get the info to the cpu faster. A cpu with a high core clock is less likely to be bottlenecked by programs that emphasize single core usage, and you want enough cores to be able to effectively multitask. And a better gpu will help if he plays any games, but more importantly a dgpu won’t run off of system ram.

 

I'm aware of the differences between SSD's which is why I opted for the Evo 970.

 

I understand it's less likely to be bottlenecked by single core usage but there will be no bottleneck on this system. I need to know if a beefier i5 or i7 will perform very simple tasks quicker. 

[jerubedo]

4 minutes ago, Andres1258 said:

 

I'm aware of the differences between SSD's which is why I opted for the Evo 970.

 

I understand it's less likely to be bottlenecked by single core usage but there will be no bottleneck on this system. I need to know if a beefier i5 or i7 will perform very simple tasks quicker. 

Here's the data you're asking for:

 

 

The Kraken score is in milliseconds so that should give you the best idea...

[Andres1258]

9 minutes ago, jerubedo said:

Here's the data you're asking for:

 

 

The Kraken score is in milliseconds so that should give you the best idea...

Thank you, appreciate these benchmarks.

[GoldenLag]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($135.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: GeIL - EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($70.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($59.99 @ Adorama) 
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Q300 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master - MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($68.50 @ Amazon) 
Total: $444.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-24 01:53 EDT-0400

 

 

Anything more than this is a waste of money.......... Yes that includes NVMe and higher end CPUs

[Andres1258]

Just to clarify something about this post... I made it because a friend is insisting on buying his father super high end shit (8700k lol) and I've been trying to talk him down. Most I've been able to talk him down to is the i5 8400. This post was meant to give him a reality check on the real-world performance differences based on what he's spending but unfortunately I doubt I'll be able to talk him down any more than I already have. I really wanted him to drop to the 7600T but unfortunately he's balking at the base clock in comparison to similarly priced chips no matter what I say regarding to real-world performance.

 

There's no way he'll budge on the NVMe drive unfortunately. I appreciate everyone's input on what I'm guessing is an unusual thread that I didn't even want linked to my regular forum account.

 

I pushed for the Ryzen APU's but he can't wait for 3rd gen to drop and I doubt he'd spring for the 2400G unless it had a compelling longevity argument against an 8400. Which I think it might due to core count and the better onboard graphics but this isn't really reflected in traditional benchmarks which is what he keeps referring to.

[LukeSavenije]

10 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

Anything more than this is a waste of money.......... Yes that includes NVMe and higher end CPUs

alternative with a little higher on the cpu and nvme because this guy wants it

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor	$118.39 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$68.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	GeIL - EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$70.98 @ Newegg
Storage	HP - EX900 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$57.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI - GeForce GT 710 1 GB Video Card	$39.47 @ Amazon
Case	Thermaltake - Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$34.12 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$63.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$473.92
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$453.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-24 02:04 EDT-0400

 

[LukeSavenije]

2 minutes ago, Andres1258 said:

longevity argument against an 8400

i have one

 

it's called ryzen

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

1 hour ago, Andres1258 said:

All he does on it is watch Netflix (4K), editing PDFs, and some word processing. Also looks at family pictures. 

get a ryzen 1600/ 1700/x for sale, those are incredible deals for longevity .

[GoldenLag]

14 minutes ago, Andres1258 said:

I pushed for the Ryzen APU's but he can't wait for 3rd gen to drop and I doubt he'd spring for the 2400G unless it had a compelling longevity argument against an 8400.

it does have one. an amazing GPU for GPU acceleration that involves browser and an increasing ammount of fields. 

[BigRom]

1 hour ago, Andres1258 said:

but unfortunately he's balking at the base clock in comparison to similarly priced chips no matter what I say regarding to real-world performance.

Your friend is nuts. Base clock in isolation doesn't mean shit, my 2200G is running 3.9GHz but would probably still get annihilated by even stock clocked 2600/1600 Ryzens. 

 

If you were comparing 2 identical chips say a 9700K with another 9700K, then yes clock speed would make a difference then as those chips would be entirely similar in every other way.

[Andres1258]

He ended up getting him the 9600K. No, I'm not joking. Mission failed but I appreciate your guys' efforts.