Athlon 860k build

[Prysin]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($76.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Nepton 240M 76.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard  ($89.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Black2 1TB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card
Case: Corsair 380T Mini ITX Tower Case  ($119.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $690.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-27 13:07 EDT-0400

 

This will be my build. There will be no variations. Dont bother suggesting anything else. Price is not correct as ive spent time selecting parts ONLY when they are for sale, or if they are dirt ass cheap.

 

My total, including 25% tax, is 896.14 USD.... Which is fairly cheap in my country.

 

Now the 7950 is from my old original gaming setup that i made nearly 3 years ago (FX 8320 + 2x HD7950). So they are sort of pre paid anyway....

 

My plan is to OC the shit out of these parts, And if i end up bricking something, ill but buy a new part and start over. The whole goal is to see HOW big a performance gap there is between a i3, i5, i7 and a fully OCd 860k, both using a 7950 card.

Now, i got a i7 4790k paired with a Asus Maximus Hero motherboard in my main rig already. I know i cannot reduce the amount of cache avaliable, so my test wont be 100% accurate for sure. BUT, it will be close to it.

 

Now, this topic is created about a week or two prior to building the build. My question to you:

WHAT GAMES AND OR PROGRAMS DO YOU WANT TESTED?

 

at my disposal is Final Fantasy 13, The Witcher 3, The Witcher 2, Farcry 4, Project Cars, Tomb Raider (2013), Total War ROME 2, Total war Shogun 2,  Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zero, Hitman Absolution, Hatred, Crysis and skyrim @4-8k resolution with 147 mods (currently broken) and Metro Last Light Redux....

 

In addition to this i plan on running Valley, Heaven and Cinebench - ofcourse.

 

Stability testing will be done through 10 minutes of Prime95 + Valley. To stress both CPU and GPU at the same time.

[grayblizzard]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($76.98 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Nepton 240M 76.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard  ($89.24 @ Amazon)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Black2 1TB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($139.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card

Case: Corsair 380T Mini ITX Tower Case  ($119.99 @ B&H)

Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $690.16

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-27 13:07 EDT-0400

 

This will be my build. There will be no variations. Price is not correct as ive spent time selecting parts ONLY when they are for sale, or if they are dirt ass cheap.

 

My total, including 25% tax, is 896.14 USD.... Which is fairly cheap in my country.

 

Now the 7950 is from my old original gaming setup that i made nearly 3 years ago (FX 8320 + 2x HD7950). So they are sort of pre paid anyway....

 

My plan is to OC the shit out of these parts, And if i end up bricking something, ill but buy a new part and start over. The whole goal is to see HOW big a performance gap there is between a i3, i5, i7 and a fully OCd 860k, both using a 7950 card.

Now, i got a i7 4790k paired with a Asus Maximus Hero motherboard. I know i cannot reduce the amount of cache avaliable, so my test wont be 100% accurate for sure. BUT, it will be close to it.

 

Now, this topic is created about a week or two prior to building the build. My question to you:

WHAT GAMES AND OR PROGRAMS DO YOU WANT TESTED?

 

at my disposal is Final Fantasy 13, The Witcher 3, The Witcher 2, Farcry 4, Project Cars, Tomb Raider (2013), Total War ROME 2, Total war Shogun 2,  Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zero, Hitman Absolution, Hatred, Crysis and skyrim @4-8k resolution with 147 mods (currently broken)....

 

In addition to this i plan on running Valley, Heaven and Cinebench - ofcourse.

 

Stability testing will be done through 10 minutes of Prime95 + Valley. To stress both CPU and GPU at the same time.

this is fine but i would have really told you to get an i3 for $30 more but im leavinng it alone

[Prysin]

this is fine but i would have really told you to get an i3 for $30 more but im leavinng it alone

This is my cheap ass LAN rig. Its meant to just be cheap and play Age of Empires 2/Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne...

 

I aint paying for a i3 when i got a i7 in my main rig. Waste of money.

[grayblizzard]

This is my cheap ass LAN rig. Its meant to just be cheap and play Age of Empires 2/Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne...

 

I aint paying for a i3 when i got a i7 in my main rig. Waste of money.

ok cool it will end up just as good i am certain no offense hopefully

[OfficialJsP]

Scrap the cooler get a cheaper PSU and case and then you might be able to get an i5. That PSU on the pcpartpicker list apparently doesn't fit in that case if you do go with your build that you made.

[samcool55]

That psu might indeed not fit in the case... With the cables plugged in it will be tricky, unless you manage to get the drive cage out.

[Prysin]

That psu might indeed not fit in the case... With the cables plugged in it will be tricky, unless you manage to get the drive cage out.

Nop, it fits. I know how to work that case, ive built two setups in the 380T and assisted in a third. Its NP. Hell, in the build where i only assisted we jammed a i7 4790k, R9 295x2 and a HX1000i into there. It works great.  Albeit im still a bit unsure about the PSU quality, but hey. werent my money, nor my suggestion

 

Edit. Highlighted some info people seem to miss.

[Nena Trinity]

Looks fine but I would check the motherboard if it needs BIOS update and if it does you may have to order a BIOS chip from Gigabyte...

[Prysin]

you only need bios to make the onboard GPU on Kaveri chips work, pure CPU will work non the less

[Prysin]

I may be able to borrow a GTX 670 to test Nvidia scaling, in terms of driver overhead and such for hte 860k only, cannot take that 670 home as that belongs to my friend.....

anyone interested in seeing that or do you just want apples to apples with same GPU, both stock and OC ofc???

[Prysin]

A little update.

 

The PC is built, unfortunatly due to some issues with the internet, ive yet to add games or anything. Also, due to thunderstorms i had to unplug it, and ive been unable to test more then Cinebench and Valley.

 

Due to the online store i was using, being out of 860ks, i landed on a A10 7870k APU (cus they had that one, and i shall now proceed to find a little driver made by some students, in which they managed to make the whole APU into a giant CPU... gunna be fun)

 

Either way.

I managed to have some fun with OCing..

The A10 7870k is currently running at 4.6GHz @ 1.4625v with a 240mm Cooler Master Nepton rad cooling it (fans are barely turning even during prime95... so this thing is COOL. If i bothered to have fun with voltages i could OC it harder, but my Gigabyte board IS SHIT for OC... it severely lacks settings that the ASrock ITX board DO have... So... for mini-ITX. Buy the ASrock boards for APUs) According to AMD Overdrive, i have almost 45C in thermal margin with my current OC. So.... Yeah, there is room for more, if my chip allow it.I think the Gigabyte board may not allow it to go further though, cannot conclude this without using a different A88X mobo to test.

 

My HD 7950 boost edt is running at 1115 Core and 1425 memory, rock stable. It hovers around 75c in valley, which is a bit high, but given that the room we were sitting in had 2x 295x2s running + a massive amplifier for my friends home cinema system, guessing the ambient room temps was around 25-27c.... So, it should be able to go a bit lower, and if i use MSI afterburner i MAY be able to get it slightly higher with a voltage boost.

 

Oh, and in case anyone wonders, it could run minesweeper at 60FPS in fullscreen, havent tested minecraft yet, but i will.

 

Screens of benchmarks should come in a couple of weeks, when i get time to test it again.....

[Nena Trinity]

A little update.

 

The PC is built, unfortunatly due to some issues with the internet, ive yet to add games or anything. Also, due to thunderstorms i had to unplug it, and ive been unable to test more then Cinebench and Valley.

 

Due to the online store i was using, being out of 860ks, i landed on a A10 7870k APU (cus they had that one, and i shall now proceed to find a little driver made by some students, in which they managed to make the whole APU into a giant CPU... gunna be fun)

 

Either way.

I managed to have some fun with OCing..

The A10 7870k is currently running at 4.6GHz @ 1.4625v with a 240mm Cooler Master Nepton rad cooling it (fans are barely turning even during prime95... so this thing is COOL. If i bothered to have fun with voltages i could OC it harder, but my Gigabyte board IS SHIT for OC... it severely lacks settings that the ASrock ITX board DO have... So... for mini-ITX. Buy the ASrock boards for APUs) According to AMD Overdrive, i have almost 45C in thermal margin with my current OC. So.... Yeah, there is room for more, if my chip allow it.I think the Gigabyte board may not allow it to go further though, cannot conclude this without using a different A88X mobo to test.

 

My HD 7950 boost edt is running at 1115 Core and 1425 memory, rock stable. It hovers around 75c in valley, which is a bit high, but given that the room we were sitting in had 2x 295x2s running + a massive amplifier for my friends home cinema system, guessing the ambient room temps was around 25-27c.... So, it should be able to go a bit lower, and if i use MSI afterburner i MAY be able to get it slightly higher with a voltage boost.

 

Oh, and in case anyone wonders, it could run minesweeper at 60FPS in fullscreen, havent tested minecraft yet, but i will.

 

Screens of benchmarks should come in a couple of weeks, when i get time to test it again.....

Oh good luck!