Dual Builds - Old gaming pc upgrade & mini HTPC build - sanity check

[Mixamun]

Budget (including currency):  ~500 or less

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: HTPC Streaming/Browsing, 1080p gaming on 1080 machine.

 

Daughter has my old gaming rig from ~2016 with a i5-6600K, 32gb DDR4 2133, Z170N-Gaming5 mini itx board, GTX 1080 gpu, some corsair 850w psu and some misc sata SSDs installed into a new case she picked out last year (white with lots of RGB, YAY).

 

She usually doesnt have many issues with the games she plays.  It takes two, Split Fiction, roblox, minecraft, various 2d and other games.  Fortnight has seemed to go downhill over the years especially in terms of frame hitches and even lockups that last 5-10 seconds.  Performance mode / latest drivers only does so much.

 

Im thinking the 6600K and perhaps even the old sata SSDs could use an update and i was trying to figure out a good upgrade path.

 

I saw microcenter offers a 7600X3D, decent atx mobo and 32gb of DDR5 for $399 and that bundle appeals to me.  I also see they offer a Ryzen7 7700x bundle with a different mobo and 32gb of DDR5 as well for only 349.  I know both would be substantial upgrades over her current CPU/RAM.  Not sure which one would really be the best bang for the buck.  The 3xd chip is appealing but the 7700x saving me $50 bucks is more appealing.  Would the X3D chip really be a big improvement in performance while using a GTX 1080?  Shes using a 1080p 144hz monitor but i dont think she really cares about high refresh... just as long as its smooth-ish and doesnt freeze all the damn time.

 

I was thinking i might pickup a 512gb nvme ssd to get some speed improvements over her old sata drives.

 

Anyone have any advice on upgrade path for the old gaming pc?  Mobo/CPU/Ram/maybe ssd?  Im not opposed to keeping the DDR4 2133 and re-using it with a new mobo/cpu to save a bit... if it wont have a huge impact on performance.

 

As for the HTPC machine.  If i do remove the mini itx mobo, cpu and ram - i am thinking about throwing it in a tiny HTPC case to use as a web browser / streaming machine for the living room and bedroom tv (bedroom off living room, living room closet where machine can go, i can run hdmi through closet wall into bedroom tv).

 

I have been eyeballing the In Win B1 Mesh case which comes with an integrated 200w PSU.  I figure i would just need to pickup NVME for the HTPC machine for ~30 bucks to install windows.

 

Can anyone anticipate running into issues with a 200w PSU with the 6600k?  I wasnt planning to game, just web browsing and maybe media streaming, maybe as a moonlight client.  I could even underclock the 6600k to avoid drawing too much power / keep heat down.  I figure this use case wouldnt be an issue but the inwin page seems to think CPUs above 65w tdp are a no-no... and the 6600k is rated at 91.

 

Anyone have thoughts on a small formfactor case and/or psu combo to use with it? i will likely set this mini pc in the living room closet (relatively small, little airflow, which i can remedy if needed).  

 

I was going to pickup one of the Rii i4 keyboard/trackpad wireless controls to use the machine on two seperate TVs - the signal would be going through a wall/door but i would be within ~15 ft of the PC at all times.  I planned to use a HDMI splitter to run hdmi to each 4k 60hz tv from the single HDMI port on the gigabyte mobo.

 

Anyone done this kind of thing before? Kinda nerding out - i know i could spend a lot more money but trying to keep things under $500, lower is better if possible.

 

[strange13930]

53 minutes ago, Mixamun said:

Budget (including currency):  ~500 or less

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: HTPC Streaming/Browsing, 1080p gaming on 1080 machine.

 

Daughter has my old gaming rig from ~2016 with a i5-6600K, 32gb DDR4 2133, Z170N-Gaming5 mini itx board, GTX 1080 gpu, some corsair 850w psu and some misc sata SSDs installed into a new case she picked out last year (white with lots of RGB, YAY).

 

She usually doesnt have many issues with the games she plays.  It takes two, Split Fiction, roblox, minecraft, various 2d and other games.  Fortnight has seemed to go downhill over the years especially in terms of frame hitches and even lockups that last 5-10 seconds.  Performance mode / latest drivers only does so much.

 

Im thinking the 6600K and perhaps even the old sata SSDs could use an update and i was trying to figure out a good upgrade path.

 

I saw microcenter offers a 7600X3D, decent atx mobo and 32gb of DDR5 for $399 and that bundle appeals to me.  I also see they offer a Ryzen7 7700x bundle with a different mobo and 32gb of DDR5 as well for only 349.  I know both would be substantial upgrades over her current CPU/RAM.  Not sure which one would really be the best bang for the buck.  The 3xd chip is appealing but the 7700x saving me $50 bucks is more appealing.  Would the X3D chip really be a big improvement in performance while using a GTX 1080?  Shes using a 1080p 144hz monitor but i dont think she really cares about high refresh... just as long as its smooth-ish and doesnt freeze all the damn time.

 

I was thinking i might pickup a 512gb nvme ssd to get some speed improvements over her old sata drives.

 

Anyone have any advice on upgrade path for the old gaming pc?  Mobo/CPU/Ram/maybe ssd?  Im not opposed to keeping the DDR4 2133 and re-using it with a new mobo/cpu to save a bit... if it wont have a huge impact on performance.

 

As for the HTPC machine.  If i do remove the mini itx mobo, cpu and ram - i am thinking about throwing it in a tiny HTPC case to use as a web browser / streaming machine for the living room and bedroom tv (bedroom off living room, living room closet where machine can go, i can run hdmi through closet wall into bedroom tv).

 

I have been eyeballing the In Win B1 Mesh case which comes with an integrated 200w PSU.  I figure i would just need to pickup NVME for the HTPC machine for ~30 bucks to install windows.

 

Can anyone anticipate running into issues with a 200w PSU with the 6600k?  I wasnt planning to game, just web browsing and maybe media streaming, maybe as a moonlight client.  I could even underclock the 6600k to avoid drawing too much power / keep heat down.  I figure this use case wouldnt be an issue but the inwin page seems to think CPUs above 65w tdp are a no-no... and the 6600k is rated at 91.

 

Anyone have thoughts on a small formfactor case and/or psu combo to use with it? i will likely set this mini pc in the living room closet (relatively small, little airflow, which i can remedy if needed).  

 

I was going to pickup one of the Rii i4 keyboard/trackpad wireless controls to use the machine on two seperate TVs - the signal would be going through a wall/door but i would be within ~15 ft of the PC at all times.  I planned to use a HDMI splitter to run hdmi to each 4k 60hz tv from the single HDMI port on the gigabyte mobo.

 

Anyone done this kind of thing before? Kinda nerding out - i know i could spend a lot more money but trying to keep things under $500, lower is better if possible.

 

this is pretty close to your $500 limit. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4dgY8Q

for the micro center bundles the one with the 7600x3d is better, but you will most likely need to upgrade the cpu cooler whether you go with the list I put together or the micro center bundles.

[Mixamun]

i didnt clearly spell it out but the 500 target was for both machines - upgrade parts for the old pc, plus some supporting items for the htpc that would be built with the old upgraded parts.

 

getting more value out of some older generation hardware is on the table. i would even consider used but im not very familiar with the market.  i have been browsing on fb marketplace to get ideas.

[jaslion]

4 hours ago, Mixamun said:

Im thinking the 6600K an

Just the i5 sata ssds are beyond fine still. You wont notice going nvme at all. As for what to get. What boards are in the bundle and whats the ramspeed. For her id just get the cheaper bundle given it doesnt have some bad components and then spend 30$ on a nice thermalright tower cooler.

 

4 hours ago, Mixamun said:

which comes with an integrated 200w PSU

Its a legit bomb dont do it. Also i5 8500 office desktop or even ultra small/micro pcs are 150 at most and WAY better thab the 6600k and cheaper than getting a new board for it.

 

Genuinly just sell the board those old itx boards go for STUPID money and you can buy a better entire pc for it or even opt for a new ryzen mini pc

 

Tip for keyboard logitech k400 and have it switch between 2 unifying dongles if reach is too bad.

 

[thewelshbrummie]

7 hours ago, Mixamun said:

I have been eyeballing the In Win B1 Mesh case which comes with an integrated 200w PSU.  I figure i would just need to pickup NVME for the HTPC machine for ~30 bucks to install windows.

The bold/underlined/italic text is highlighted by me as a red flag on the play. Remember that Skylake does not officially support Win 11 so you'd be buying a licence that's only good for 4 months, before free support for Win 10 ends. You can get another year but only if you pay for it. 8th Gen Intel is the minimum for official Win 11 support.

 

You can try the unofficial methods of forcing a Win 11 install to work but that's not an area I know anything about.

 

--

 

7 hours ago, Mixamun said:

Can anyone anticipate running into issues with a 200w PSU with the 6600k?  I wasnt planning to game, just web browsing and maybe media streaming, maybe as a moonlight client.  I could even underclock the 6600k to avoid drawing too much power / keep heat down.  I figure this use case wouldnt be an issue but the inwin page seems to think CPUs above 65w tdp are a no-no... and the 6600k is rated at 91.

On this front you won't have a problem. I completed my HTPC yesterday so I can finally use it - but not as originally planned. I'll spare the full story but I planned for a silent PC with heatpipe only cooling which required a very controlled CPU TDP. I have a 14500T which at max turbo power goes up to 92W, vs the 35W standard TDP.

The short answer is that all the PSU calculators I tried got to at most 145W when I subbed in the non-T standard version of the 14500, 1 m.2 SSD and 2 DDR5 RAM sticks on an ITX board. So I see no reason for it to be a problem. This thread from 8 years ago has comments mentioning a 6600K with a 105W power draw when overclocked. So long as you run at stock settings you should be fine to use it and keep within 200W. But again, the Windows factor is a problem and I'd advise against it.

I also built a computer for my mother-in-law using a 12400 with a 65-117W TDP in an InWin Chopin, also with a 200W PSU. It's completely stable for an office PC with some light video streaming.

[strange13930]

8 hours ago, jaslion said:

You wont notice going nvme at all

sata 3 caps out at 600mbs well nvme gen 3 have read speeds of 3500mbs and write speeds of 3000mbs and gen 4 brings it closer to 7000mbs

[jaslion]

1 hour ago, strange13930 said:

sata 3 caps out at 600mbs well nvme gen 3 have read speeds of 3500mbs and write speeds of 3000mbs and gen 4 brings it closer to 7000mbs

Yes and? For gaming there is very little difference nothing one would really notice usually. Especially in the games she is playing it doesn't matter and the limited budget is not worth spending that on for a very minor improvement in load times if any at all in the selected games. This can be changed later.

[thewelshbrummie]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

Yes and? For gaming there is very little difference nothing one would really notice usually. Especially in the games she is playing it doesn't matter and the limited budget is not worth spending that on for a very minor improvement in load times if any at all in the selected games. This can be changed later.

For gaming, no.

 

But for boot up speed and general responsiveness, it's a big improvement. It's also diminishing returns on investment but there's no question from my experiences that gen 4 drives boot much faster than gen 3, let alone sata. It's 10 seconds vs 25 between the pci-e standards. Combined with newer motherboard standards for faster boot times...

 

.. and factoring in that prices for nvme and sata drives are very similar, it's a no brainer to go nvme if your motherboard supports it.

 

 @Mixamun, your motherboard does have an m.2 slot which wasn't a given for Z170 boards and it may only be gen 3, but it will still be a significant improvement over a sata drive and is basically the same price thesedays. For $55 you can get a Crucial PBX500 1TB sata SSD... or for a dollar more a Crucial P3 Plus 1TB gen 4 nvme drive. Other brands have similar, basically zero, price gaps between a drive capped at 500MBps and requiring 2 cables to install vs a drive capable of 7x that speed at pci-e gen 3 and zero cables for basically the same money.

 

I can't specifically talk about those parts I've linked to other than for pricing comparison, but arguments about dramless nvme drives only matter when comparing to other nvme drives with dram - it's irrelevant compared to a sata drive, nvme is the better option over sata every time.

 

The only exception is if your motherboard does not support booting from nvme. I think that's only a problem if you're trying to boot from a pci-e add-in card that takes nvme drives on a motherboard that doesn't have any support so I think you'd be fine but I'd definitely read the manual to be certain before making a purchase.

[Mixamun]

Hmm - i hadnt thought of just selling off the mini itx board, 6600k and the ram/cooler.  i wonder what i could get for them - i assume i should try to sell them as a bundle.

 

Maybe list them for 150? try to get 100-125 out of them?

 

I may have an option to use a seperate mini pc for the living room arrangement... which may make upgrading/building the htpc moot anyway.

 

The 9600x, a cheap mobo, 32gb of ddr5 and maybe a nvme ssd would be a solid upgrade for her i feel and a bit more future proofed perhaps?

 

These are the microcenter bundles if anyone cares to look at them.

 

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5007069/amd-ryzen-5-7600x3d,-asus-b650-e-tuf-gaming-wifi-am5,-gskill-flare-x5-series-32gb-ddr5-6000-kit,-computer-build-bundle  (400)

 

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5006968/amd-ryzen-7-7700x,-gigabyte-b650-gaming-x-ax-v2,-gskill-flare-x5-series-32gb-ddr5-6000-kit,-computer-build-bundle (350)

 

If i just pickup the 9600x, cheap mobo, ram and ssd it would be 350-400ish anyway... hmm

[Mixamun]

I wonder if the new released 9600X3D might push down prices on the 7600X3D at microcenter.

 

I see a lot of wierdness with old gen parts being listed new at same prices as new gen parts - i dont really understand wtf is going on.  Used prices on FB are also wonky AF.

[thewelshbrummie]

On 6/20/2025 at 3:51 PM, Mixamun said:

I wonder if the new released 9600X3D might push down prices on the 7600X3D at microcenter.

 

I see a lot of wierdness with old gen parts being listed new at same prices as new gen parts - i dont really understand wtf is going on.  Used prices on FB are also wonky AF.

The 9600X3D has been leaked, not announced. The 7600X3D before is still at or close to it's $300 MSRP, launched last August and just before Ryzen 9 launched - and it's a Microcenter exclusive and HAS to be collected in-store. I don't see the 9600X3D being available at anything less than $300, and again may well be limited to Microcenter pickup only.

 

--

 

Used prices, especially for whatever is high end, generally don't drop until that hardware is not useful anymore. My old computer has a 4670K, the 4790K is around $80 - but it's only worth it to me as a minor upgrade and will hardly make up the deficit vs a full rebuild.

 

You're better off looking at hardware that's at retail but EOL for the retailer - 12th gen Intel is cheap (especially the 12400) but only a few years old, supports Win 11 and will likely be good for another 5-6 years before it's not fast enough. I picked up an Asus Z690-I ITX motherboard for $160, or around a third of the $450 MSRP before retail stock depleted to zero and it's now only resellers trying to get $280+ for them. Utterly overkill for an office PC but it's also sensibly priced vs newer hardware. That's the way to go in the current market - even if it will likely make your $500 budget unrealistic, you'd get better value for money in the long run.

 

In part thanks to the Win 11 restrictions but also due to the 4 core cap on 7th gen and prior Intel parts, there's little point in considering anything older than a 6 core 8th gen Intel CPU - or Ryzen 2000 on AMD.

[Mixamun]

I do have access to microcenter - its about a 70 minute drive for me.

 

When looking at some deals on 12th gen intel - it seems like you can pickup a 12600kf for ~125, a workable atx mobo for ~120-150, a 32gb ddr5 ram kit for ~80ish

 

this seems pretty solid as an upgrade over the 6600k...

[thewelshbrummie]

Going back to your original post:

On 6/19/2025 at 7:15 PM, Mixamun said:

I saw microcenter offers a 7600X3D, decent atx mobo and 32gb of DDR5 for $399 and that bundle appeals to me.  I also see they offer a Ryzen7 7700x bundle with a different mobo and 32gb of DDR5 as well for only 349. 

Either option is a good starting point. I would say that 32GB of 6,000MHz RAM and the 7600X3D should be possible for less than that bundle price - the CPU is $300 but 32GB DDR5 @6,000MHz can be had for less from Amazon or Newegg - basically it depends on RGB/heatsink/go faster stripes of the kit you choose. Without RGB, you should be able to get that for $90 or less. The 32GB 6,400MHz kit I bought last week came in at $103 before tax but for AMD you're usually better off going with the 6,000MHz kit.

 

The X3D chip is the better option for gaming. Whether it's better depends on the game and if it likes the vcache or doesn't care so not every game is significantly better on 6 cores with vcache vs 8 cores without. But it is the better option for a gaming focused build.

 

For your daughter's build, I'd go that route (or wait and see if the 9600X3D does launch) before committing. But I wouldn't spend more than $300 on a 6 core CPU, which is what makes older Intel parts interesting (even the 265KF is at $230 right now, but the motherboard cost is still prohibitively expensive for your budget).

 

--

 

I've been looking at this thread more from the "what can I do with the Skylake parts". The point of my previous posts is that they're not going to hold up for much longer in terms of being fast enough for gaming, regardless of their lack of Windows 11 support which will likely reduce their value even further.

 

For a HTPC build you'll likely be fine for a few years but it's still a gamble from a security POV. Chances are that the loss of browser support will more likely be the main issue. My current PC has Firefox 139 installed but my old UK-built Win 7 based HTPC from 2010 is still getting support but only on a security basis. It has Firefox 115 ESR (for extended support) and that is due to end in August or September. It's the last browser to still get updates for Windows 7 and basically every other browser no longer supports it. For Win 10 installations that will be the point where holding out is pointless i.e. when you can't do anything with it (or streaming services basically don't support it, which is a thing that happens e.g. try streaming Netflix on Internet Explorer). We're 4+ years from the Win 7 end of support date - using that as a baseline your Skylake parts may hold up until the end of the decade but beyond that, it won't. And that's assuming the computer doesn't get infected with something else in the meantime.

 

If money is tight, I think your best option is to reuse it as-is and as you've thought, in the In-Win case. I think doing everything for $500 is unlikely but the extra spent on the X3D chip will save you money in the long run as you'll have a platform that will last longer without upgrading.