Lag free, Work PC

[SnipingBow]

Hi, can you help me build my lag free, work PC?

• I use a lot of excel folders 30 +
• I use a lot of web browsers
• I use many accounting/finance programs
• Light gaming
• I want to be able to watch 4k videos on my 60hz 4k monitor.

Budget : arround 1 400 $ CAD = 1 000 $ US

 

I have a really low tolerance for lag. I think an i7 would be best. Also I heard that the Radeo RX 480 is a great graphic card for 4k videos.

 

Thanks

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

RX480 and an i5 should do for work and 4k videos. The lower cheaper cards should also do 4k videos

[Jackson D]

11 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

RX480 and an i5 should do for work and 4k videos. The lower cheaper cards should also do 4k videos

It would probably work for 4K videos although depending on the game it may struggle to run 4K.

 

[SnipingBow]

Can anyone give me an actually build plz

[aisle9]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($262.75 @ Vuugo) 
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($69.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: ADATA Premier SP550 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($147.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($104.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB GAMING X Video Card  ($325.98 @ NCIX) 
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($41.75 @ Vuugo) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($48.98 @ NCIX) 
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter  ($44.99 @ Memory Express) 
Total: $1131.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-26 17:34 EST-0500

 

You can tweak from there. I have a system with the same basic idea for similar tasks, and it serves me well. Mine's carrying an i5-6500 and GTX 1060. Because I left some money on the table, you can tack on another 3TB HDD for bulk storage or upgrade the SSD to 1TB. I think you'll be set for years to come with an 8GB RX 480, assuming you don't end up deciding to do any demanding 4K gaming along the line. If you really want an i7 (you don't need it), there's room to replace the 6500 with a 6700.

 

Edit: to note, you don't really need a GPU at all for what you're talking about doing. The 480 is thrown in because you mentioned light gaming in another thread.

[SnipingBow]

15 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($262.75 @ Vuugo) 
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($69.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: ADATA Premier SP550 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($147.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($104.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB GAMING X Video Card  ($325.98 @ NCIX) 
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($41.75 @ Vuugo) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($48.98 @ NCIX) 
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter  ($44.99 @ Memory Express) 
Total: $1131.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-26 17:34 EST-0500

 

You can tweak from there. I have a system with the same basic idea for similar tasks, and it serves me well. Mine's carrying an i5-6500 and GTX 1060. Because I left some money on the table, you can tack on another 3TB HDD for bulk storage or upgrade the SSD to 1TB. I think you'll be set for years to come with an 8GB RX 480, assuming you don't end up deciding to do any demanding 4K gaming along the line. If you really want an i7 (you don't need it), there's room to replace the 6500 with a 6700.

 

Edit: to note, you don't really need a GPU at all for what you're talking about doing. The 480 is thrown in because you mentioned light gaming in another thread.

Thank you very much.

I don't understand when ppl tell me I don't need a GPU for 4k videos. On my laptop (that don't have any dedicated GPU) the 4k videos are trash. I mean you can't watch any of them. Thats why I want a GPU.

[aisle9]

18 minutes ago, SnipingBow said:

Thank you very much.

I don't understand when ppl tell me I don't need a GPU for 4k videos. On my laptop (that don't have any dedicated GPU) the 4k videos are trash. I mean you can't watch any of them. Thats why I want a GPU.

A couple of things could be going on there. One, what CPU does your laptop have? Skylake's iGPU (HD Graphics 5XX) is more than capable of handling 4K 60Hz video by itself. The old Intel HD 4400 graphics engine, well, isn't.

 

Two more things to consider are the power mode your laptop is in and heat. If you haven't taken apart your laptop, cleaned it out and replaced the thermal paste within the last year or so and you're comfortable doing so, do it. I'll throw an example from my somewhat recent past at you: by opening up and cleaning out my i5-3210M laptop with compressed air, then replacing the thermal paste on the CPU, my temperatures under load dropped from 91C to 61C, and the PC's performance increased by a good deal as it stopped throttling. It's also good to make sure your laptop is on a hard, flat surface when you have it turned on to allow air to flow underneath and around it without obstruction.

 

The power option is another big one. If I'm going to be watching video or gaming on a laptop with an older iGPU, I crank the power options up to high performance. It forces the CPU to stay at its maximum frequency, which increases heat and power consumption, but also avoids your CPU randomly deciding to downclock at a bad time (assuming your temperatures are under control).

 

Some laptops will have a setting in BIOS that allows you to allocate extra memory to the iGPU, which also helps. At the end of the day, the integrated GPUs in laptops are overwhelmingly trash. Desktop iGPUs, especially AMD APUs and Skylake's iGPU, are typically better. If all you were doing was watching 4K video, I would recommend dropping the iGPU altogether, or at least getting a much cheaper GTX 1050/1050 Ti, and upping your storage instead. As it is, you've got plenty of room in the budget for a 1TB SSD or a second HDD.

[brob]

While a discreet gpu is not strictly necessary for driving a 4K display, even a relatively low-end model will offer a snappier display than the cpu's integrated gpu. In other words, a discreet gpu will make for a snappier system.

 

I normally would not suggest an unlocked cpu for the needs described in the OP. But a curious fact is that, at least currently, an i5-6600K is roughly the same cost as the locked version. Putting it on a modestly overclockable platform should allow a small boost in cpu clock. Which should also lead to snappier performance.

 

Unless fps gaming is important, I would stick with a low-end gpu. It will provide all the performance necessary for the work described and allow for light gaming.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($289.99 @ DirectCanada) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($34.75 @ Vuugo) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($174.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($94.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($179.99 @ Memory Express) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card  ($184.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX Mini ITX Tower Case  ($84.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $1134.67
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-26 22:41 EST-0500