Is "Zen" worth the wait?

[AceTaker]

I'm in the process of changing my Dell Inspiron 570 (4GB Edition) to a budget gaming PC. I'm having a hard time decided whether I should wait till it comes out, and have a big budget of $300 to upgrade the Case, Motherboard, Memory, and CPU. I also could get those items during September, with a budget of $200.. I know that most people would say : "Wait till zen comes out" but I've been stuck with this potato PC for a long time. So, the question is, is Zen worth the wait, or should I go with $200 and get a better PC... I already have an R7 250, and I'm getting a EVGA 500B Power Supply soon. Thanks in advance!

[2FA]

Cheaper versions of Zen won't come out till 2017. The super high-end is the one coming out likely this Q4.

[c00face]

7 minutes ago, AceTaker said:

I'm in the process of changing my Dell Inspiron 570 (4GB Edition) to a budget gaming PC. I'm having a hard time decided whether I should wait till it comes out, and have a big budget of $300 to upgrade the Case, Motherboard, Memory, and CPU. I also could get those items during September, with a budget of $200.. I know that most people would say : "Wait till zen comes out" but I've been stuck with this potato PC for a long time. So, the question is, is Zen worth the wait, or should I go with $200 and get a better PC... I already have an R7 250, and I'm getting a EVGA 500B Power Supply soon. Thanks in advance!

What's two months compared to the years you've been stuck with a potato PC. If you can hold out for years with the potato PC, what's two months going to do?

[Energycore]

We don't know

 

I'd only wait if you can use your current computer for tasks right now. If you're tired of your old PC, just but it in the bin.

 

The EVGA 500B is a decent choice. for $200 you'll have a hard time upgrading mobo + CPU + RAM however, so maybe the wait is worth it for the purpose of putting more money into it (like, $350-400) so that your upgrade is real and massive.

 

I'll take my own account as an example, back in 2011 I built the computer I have right now, and originally I was going to spend $500 on it. I went over that and spent $650, and the result is that if I'd gone with the cheaper build it would have become unplayable sooner. My 2011 build can do the latest games on mid settings still, 5 years later.

 

The fact remains that there's a sweet spot for the price / performance of a gaming PC, and right now it's between $600 and $1000. Any higher and you get diminishing returns, any lower and you start having a hard time fitting good components into it.

[Energycore]

2 minutes ago, Supermangik said:

What's two months compared to the years you've been stuck with a potato PC. If you can hold out for years with the potato PC, what's two months going to do?

Do you actually have an official, trustable piece of information that Zen processors will be available within 2 months? Cuz if you do that'll change the situation we're in right now, as gaming PC recommendators.

 

Or is it, like consensus seemed to be, more like 6-9 months?

Also keep in mind, that Inspiron was not a potato when it came out.

[AceTaker]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

Do you actually have an official, trustable piece of information that Zen processors will be available within 2 months? Cuz if you do that'll change the situation we're in right now, as gaming PC recommendators.

 

Or is it, like consensus seemed to be, more like 6-9 months?

Also keep in mind, that Inspiron was not a potato when it came out.

I know, but now-a-days, it is.

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, AceTaker said:

I know, but now-a-days, it is.

What's your actual budget for an upgrade right now, and what do you already have that you could reuse / have already bought?

 

Perhaps we can put something together today. If you're not satisfied, waiting for bigger budget / new releases is always an option.

[AceTaker]

Usually I get stumped at the processor, and motherboard.. :L Priciest, and important...

[AceTaker]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

What's your actual budget for an upgrade right now, and what do you already have that you could reuse / have already bought?

 

Perhaps we can put something together today. If you're not satisfied, waiting for bigger budget / new releases is always an option.

I could reuse the case, once I get the stupid I/O shield out... Also the Hard-drive, and CD-Drive...

[AceTaker]

2 minutes ago, AceTaker said:

I could reuse the case, once I get the stupid I/O shield out... Also the Hard-drive, and CD-Drive...

I would rather not mess with the I/O shield...

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, AceTaker said:

I could reuse the case, once I get the stupid I/O shield out... Also the Hard-drive, and CD-Drive...

Alright, couple more things to make sure you can get a good upgrade today.

 

- How many expansion slots does the case have / how wide is it?

 

- What's your budget that you could throw down right now?

 

- Go to CrystalDiskInfo, download the app, and see if your hard drive turns in a good health status. Aging Hard Drives can be an issue for a system's stability and may die out of the blue, but if its health is good, it'll be fine.

 

- CD Drive is fine, if it works.

[AceTaker]

I was thinking of this.. http://pcpartpicker.com/list/VyRd6X

[YongKang]

It's not out yet and the earliest is next year. If your pc can hold out this long, it doesn't hurt waiting for next year. 

I know for a fact that I've been using my laptop for 8 years and it even have trouble keeping more than 6 google chrome tabs open but I'll still wait cuz I don't have the money. It still good enough for school work but not the gaming beast it was 8 years ago.

[Energycore]

2 minutes ago, AceTaker said:

I would rather not mess with the I/O shield...

If it's a fixed I/O shield it may take some careful measuring and a rotary tool / steel scissors to get it out and plonk the new mobo's I/O shield in there.

 

Or you could cut the old shield out and not worry about precise measurements, and just run your mobo without a shield (it will only matter for dust management).

[AceTaker]

2 minutes ago, Energycore said:

If it's a fixed I/O shield it may take some careful measuring and a rotary tool / steel scissors to get it out and plonk the new mobo's I/O shield in there.

 

Or you could cut the old shield out and not worry about precise measurements, and just run your mobo without a shield (it will only matter for dust management).

Considering my budget starting is 200$ I would have plenty of money with that list I sent you.

[Energycore]

2 minutes ago, AceTaker said:

I was thinking of this.. http://pcpartpicker.com/list/VyRd6X

I don't think the Athlon 845 is really a significant upgrade. Do you know the model of your processor? Chances are the bigger bottleneck for gaming performance is the 4GB of RAM.

[AceTaker]

2 minutes ago, Energycore said:

I don't think the Athlon 845 is really a significant upgrade. Do you know the model of your processor? Chances are the bigger bottleneck for gaming performance is the 4GB of RAM.

Its an AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.0 Ghz

[AceTaker]

6 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Alright, couple more things to make sure you can get a good upgrade today.

 

- How many expansion slots does the case have / how wide is it?

 

- What's your budget that you could throw down right now?

 

- Go to CrystalDiskInfo, download the app, and see if your hard drive turns in a good health status. Aging Hard Drives can be an issue for a system's stability and may die out of the blue, but if its health is good, it'll be fine.

 

- CD Drive is fine, if it works.

- 4 Expansion Slots

- 200$ Starting Budget

[Energycore]

2 minutes ago, AceTaker said:

Its an AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.0 Ghz

 

2 minutes ago, AceTaker said:

- 4 Expansion Slots

- 200$ Starting Budget

Ouch.

 

Alright, we can give you an actual upgrade. What's your case's thickness? (Specifically the expansion slots. Are they 5 inch full slots or 2.5 inch half slots?. Can a big graphics card fit in there? If so, your case may be usable, although it might take a bit of modding. Otherwise getting a $40 case isn't a bad idea).

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($29.98 @ Newegg)
Other: Cases are overrated ($0.00)
Total: $190.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-03 23:34 EDT-0400

 

There's also this option: literally don't run a case until you can afford one, and get yourself a much better gaming CPU

[SageOfSpice]

Any model number on that mobo?

Not sure if there is much point to upgrading your CPU and mobo too much, as then you're being held back by that GPU.

 

If you want to maximize what you have right now, you may be able to install a better processor in your existing motherboard which would keep costs down and allow you to better utilize your GPU. 

 

If you want the potential to upgrade your system later, then changing platforms would be a good idea.

 

I want to get an idea of what we're working with here first, though.

 

What do you eventually want your computer to be able to do?

[AceTaker]

4 minutes ago, Energycore said:

 

Ouch.

 

Alright, we can give you an actual upgrade. What's your case's thickness? (Specifically the expansion slots. Are they 5 inch full slots or 2.5 inch half slots?. Can a big graphics card fit in there? If so, your case may be usable, although it might take a bit of modding. Otherwise getting a $40 case isn't a bad idea).

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($29.98 @ Newegg)
Other: Cases are overrated ($0.00)
Total: $190.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-03 23:34 EDT-0400

 

There's also this option: literally don't run a case until you can afford one, and get yourself a much better gaming CPU

5-Inch Full Slots (Not sure about a big graphics card)

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, AceTaker said:

5-Inch Full Slots (Not sure about a big graphics card)

That'll do. You probably can keep your Inspiron Case and use it with a Micro-ATX motherboard. To be sure, can you post pictures of it?

[AceTaker]

4 minutes ago, SageOfSpice said:

Any model number on that mobo?

Not sure if there is much point to upgrading your CPU and mobo too much, as then you're being held back by that GPU.

 

If you want to maximize what you have right now, you may be able to install a better processor in your existing motherboard which would keep costs down and allow you to better utilize your GPU. 

 

If you want the potential to upgrade your system later, then changing platforms would be a good idea.

 

I want to get an idea of what we're working with here first, though.

 

What do you eventually want your computer to be able to do?

- Model Number is  4GJJT

- I'm not really interested in putting in another AM3 Processor

- Gaming (Skyrim, or Battlefield), and School Work

[AceTaker]

2 minutes ago, Energycore said:

That'll do. You probably can keep your Inspiron Case and use it with a Micro-ATX motherboard. To be sure, can you post pictures of it?

I'll try

 

[AceTaker]

3 minutes ago, AceTaker said:

I'll try