4790k and MSI 950 Budget

[pawpeechewlow]

Budget (including currency): 200 usd max?

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming and multi tasking.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

 

Hey all! I have an old but good I7-4790k and MSI gtx 950. I was trying to build a smaller budget PC for gaming. I was thinking 16gb of ram not sure what freq to go though. As well as keeping it a limited budget maybe 200 or less, I know the PS needs to be 450 to be safe. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sRKgMp . LMK If you have some Idea's or Suggestions!

[Fasauceome]

7 minutes ago, pawpeechewlow said:

I was thinking 16gb of ram not sure what freq to go though

1600 or 1833 are pretty reasonable, wouldn't step into 1333 or lower if you can help it. 2133 and 2400 tend to be expensive, but if you find a bargain, go for it.

 

A used B85 board will do ya, and the cheapest case with good airflow that you can get your hands on. Again, used if possible.

 

The only things you don't want to get used are the PSU and the SSD, since they are pretty crucial and get stressed the most in everyday usage.

 

Here's a start. Snag the ram and motherboard off eBay and you should be set.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-4790K 4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
Storage	Silicon Power Ace A55 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$27.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	MSI GeForce GTX 950 2 GB Video Card
Case	Cougar MX330-X ATX Mid Tower Case	$41.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Gigabyte P-B 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$49.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$119.97
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-20 23:21 EDT-0400

 

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Fasauceome

[VeganJoy]

assuming you have a decent cooling solution, perhaps get someone's old z-series board? an overclocked 4790k will keep holding its own for a few years still, and used z87s/z97s should be like 50-60 bucks at worst

[Bombastinator]

Best deal might be a used pc with the parts you want but too slow a cpu.  Swap you cpu onto it. 

[pawpeechewlow]

To allow more clarity, I don't need this is a gaming pc for myself, its legit old stuff i got lying around and wanted to build something decent and some games can be played, i got my current setup rocking strong. 

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, Fasauceome said:

1600 or 1833 are pretty reasonable, wouldn't step into 1333 or lower if you can help it. 2133 and 2400 tend to be expensive, but if you find a bargain, go for it.

 

A used B85 board will do ya, and the cheapest case with good airflow that you can get your hands on. Again, used if possible.

 

The only things you don't want to get used are the PSU and the SSD, since they are pretty crucial and get stressed the most in everyday usage.

 

Here's a start. Snag the ram and motherboard off eBay and you should be set.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-4790K 4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
Storage	Silicon Power Ace A55 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$27.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	MSI GeForce GTX 950 2 GB Video Card
Case	Cougar MX330-X ATX Mid Tower Case	$41.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Gigabyte P-B 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$49.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$119.97
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-20 23:21 EDT-0400

 

 

Missing a motherboard.  That’s the hard bit.  Ddr3 can be found cheap used, but a decent motherboard is going to be hard to get.

[Fasauceome]

30 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Missing a motherboard.  That’s the hard bit.  Ddr3 can be found cheap used, but a decent motherboard is going to be hard to get.

I have cruised with Z87 and Z97 boards in my personal rig because I was always overclocking my haswell chips, but cheap B85 and H81 boards have been quite easy to come by for me at reasonable prices when needed for clients. If eBay is a viable option for OP, that is. Surprisingly, even ITX boards are easy to find (the H81I-plus is a rockstar for me)

 

1 hour ago, pawpeechewlow said:

To allow more clarity, I don't need this is a gaming pc for myself, its legit old stuff i got lying around and wanted to build something decent and some games can be played, i got my current setup rocking strong. 

I mean, the gaming performance will basically be decided by the parts you already have, the CPU and the GPU, so you won't be changing that. You just want to make sure the rest of the components aren't garbage.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

I have cruised with Z87 and Z97 boards in my personal rig because I was always overclocking my haswell chips, but cheap B85 and H81 boards have been quite easy to come by for me at reasonable prices when needed for clients. If eBay is a viable option for OP, that is. Surprisingly, even ITX boards are easy to find (the H81I-plus is a rockstar for me)

 

I mean, the gaming performance will basically be decided by the parts you already have, the CPU and the GPU, so you won't be changing that. You just want to make sure the rest of the components aren't garbage.

Fair enough.  If a non z series motherboard can be used it can be used.  My memory is only the z series overclocked well.  The other serieses either did it poorly or not at all.  One can still get 4.0ghz from a 4790k even without an overclock.  Such speed is good enough for everything up to games designed for PS4.  The z series stuff is what’s pricey. There apparently are some Chinese z97 motherboards being sold in the $75 range but the large shipping costs pop them back up again.  

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

Fair enough.  If a non z series motherboard can be used it can be used.  My memory is only the z series overclocked well.  The other serieses either did it poorly or not at all.  One can still get 4.0ghz from a 4790k even without an overclock.  Such speed is good enough for everything up to games designed for PS4.  The z series stuff is what’s pricey. There apparently are some Chinese z97 motherboards being sold in the $75 range but the large shipping costs pop them back up again.  

Yeah but it seems to OP that overclocking really isn't a concern (and when paired with a 950, I don't see why it would be) and I really only recommend a Z97 for an enthusiast who also wants an NVMe drive to carry into a future build.

[Bombastinator]

Looked for motherboards compatible with devil’s canyon CPUs. The list seems to be quite long. The title says 8 but the list is much longer

https://thepcenthusiast.com/list-of-8-series-motherboards-compatible-with-intel-devils-canyon/

Edited October 21, 2020 by Bombastinator

[Aereldor]

3 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

A used B85 board will do ya

Get your hands on a Gigabyte B85M-D3H/DS3H if you can. Those boards could overclock K chips and Intel never caught on to it. 

[Aereldor]

Actually I'm reasonably sure a lot of H81 boards could overclock K chips as well. Intel unlocked them to use with the unlocked Pentium G3258, but they ended up being able to OC anything

[Bombastinator]

4 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

Actually I'm reasonably sure a lot of H81 boards could overclock K chips as well. Intel unlocked them to use with the unlocked Pentium G3258, but they ended up being able to OC anything

They kind of could.  One had to basically overclock the whole board.  It created problems and didn’t work all that well a lot of the time.  Boards that did it needed hard core cooling.  Apparently an OC isn’t wanted though so it becomes irrelevant.  The 4790k had a wildly high boost clock for its era, its new enough to have gotten specter/meltdown mitigation that wasn’t too terribly abusive to speeds, and while it’s ipc isn’t modern it’s also not too terribly awful. 

[Fasauceome]

8 hours ago, Aereldor said:

Actually I'm reasonably sure a lot of H81 boards could overclock K chips as well. Intel unlocked them to use with the unlocked Pentium G3258, but they ended up being able to OC anything

The H81I-plus also overclocks, strange wild west of haswell overclocking opened up at some point.