Pretty complicated TWO Computer Build / refurbishment

[maxAndTina]

Hi everybody.

 

After about 1 YEAR of convincing, my girlfriend finally agreed to upgrading her computer.
(in short: How bad was it? Sims3 took 1 hour to load with sub 20FPS...)

 

inline edit: i´ve manually changed the prices. In the tables, please have a look at the total price instead of the part price to get the correct euro-price.

 

Situation:
I currently own a (5 year old) gaming PC (see below: "My PC (current)"). I thought long and hard about just giving her my pc for about 400€ but it doesn´t seem sensible.
Here is my thought process - please, if you have a better idea - just say so.
I want to upgrade my computer to play newer games at 60fps with good graphics (ie GTA 5 or Cities Skylines or Witcher 3 or Overwatch).
My GF just needs an all around upgrade. (Currently she owns a i3-530, 4gb ram, HD 5700 Series GPU).

I´ve had a look at i.e GTA 5 and was noticing that my CPU was no problem for the game. Many still believe that the 3570K is still a good processor and I think so too. Youtube-Benchmark Videos with my GPU of choice (RX 480) and the i3570k look promising. Furthermore, I do own a substanial Air cooler and a overclocking ready motherboard. I´ve had it run at stock speed for years, but now the time has come to overclock it.

I also had a look at newer CPU´s and their benchmarks compared to the 3570k. They may be better, yes, but the price/value just doesn´t add up. If I want to improve my CPU performance i´d have to spend ~ 150-200€. Please note: I´d have to spend 150-200€ to *just improve* it. Meaning I get - lets say a 20% increase in performance for a whopping 180€. This just doesn´t make sense, since I still own a 3570k.

 

My GPU is another story, since I clearly want to improve it, I do have to buy a new one. I considered the 1050 TI, the GTX 1060 or the RX 480. The 1050 TI is a upgrade and for about 140€ it´s a fair game. However I really do want better performance and importantly price/value ratio is a very important to me.

My 16 gb DDR3-1600 still hold up today, as many of you are aware, increased ram speed is not that important for gaming, so I see no reason to upgrade it.

I still own a 3TB Harddrive, so no need for an upgrade there either.

As for my girlfriend, I think she only needs 8gb ram (i´d be fine with 8gb too AFAIK). So I intially thought about splitting up my ram with her (i used to develop on this machine, hence the 16gb). *more on that later.

 

"To make a long story short"
First up I selected a CPU for her:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor 
Total: €58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-04 17:15 EST-0500

 

 

It´s recommended here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlZoWUW_2yw and i´ve had a look at the the benchmarks.
For reference i´ve had a look at https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_value_available.html

 

| CPU (BOXED!)                   | X4 860K | X4 845  | FX-4300 | G-4560  |
| Clockspeed (Base)       | 3,7     | 3,5         | 3,8           | 3,5     |
| CPU Mark                     | 5490    | 5441    | 4635        | 5079    |
| Price in Germany (€)    | 72      | 60         | 64             | 58      |
| Value (Higher = Better) | 76      | 90         | 72             | 87      |

 

The G-4560 is a close second to the X4 845. But i´ve seen that it was recommended multiple times for gaming - so I thought it would be better. The BOX cooler seems fine to be to be honest. No overclocking is intended.

For a motherboard I want something kind of future-proof for my GF. When I want to upgrade my GPU from the RX 480 to something better, I want my GF to get my (then old) GPU. Also I want her to be able to make use of dual-channel ram for up to 16gb. So I basically just went with the cheapest (!) model there was, that met those requirements (fits G-4560 + G670 + RX 480).
And thats where i´m QUITE unsure i´ve made no mistake. See - it needs to fit the those two GPU´s and support the Kaby Lake G-4560.

And thats where I struggle, to be honest. With the Ram (thats were I made the asterik). Should we split ram (8gb per person?). Should I get her an DDR3 Board?
This one (sry, no PCPartPicker-Link.)?
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=832 51€
Or this?
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B150M Pro4SD3/ 62€

(what would be a noticeable difference between those two?)

 

(Possible Boards at a GERMAN online shop: https://www.mindfactory.de/Hardware/Mainboards/Desktop+Mainboards/INTEL+Sockel+1151.html/listing_sort/3)

 

As for the Power Supply:
For GTX 670 (http://www.gigabyte.de/Graphics-Card/GV-N670OC-2GD#sp) a 550w PSU is recommended
I think 550w is enough for the RX480 also (online-calculator says so, FYI: she also needs a DVD drive (has already old one))
So this one seems cheap&good:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: Corsair VS 550W ATX Power Supply
Total: €42.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-04 17:17 EST-0500

Ok back to the other parts:
Both boards are mATX. My girlfriend choose this case herself:
https://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/Inter-Tech-MA-01-Micro-Mini-Tower-ohne-Netzteil-schwarz_1125240.html
Question: Would both GPU fit?

 

What is your intended use for this build? The more details the better.

For me:
Bf1 + GTA 5 + Cities Skylines + Overwatch
Girlfriend:
Sims 3 + FinalFantasy Type Zero

 

If gaming, what kind of performance are you looking for? (Screen resolution, framerate, game settings)

Both 1080p.
Me:
60fps (as maxed as it gets for stable 60 fps)
Girlfriend:
30fps-60fps (as maxed as it gets with unstabilty between 30 to 60 fps)

 

Budget:
GPU Replacement: 250€ max.

Girlfriend: 200-400€ for everything.

In what country are you purchasing your parts?

Germany

 

-------------------------------------

My PC (current)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($398.27 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright HR-02 Rev.A(BW) 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card
Power Supply: be quiet! 580W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Full 32/64-bit  ($139.94 @ My Choice Software)
Monitor: Asus VS248HR 24.0" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor
Other: Hitachi Deskstar HDS723020BLA642, SATA, 2,0 TB
Other: Sharkoon T28
Total: $602.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-04 17:18 EST-0500

My PC (expected)
(same as above, but new GPU)
Here, after much consideration between different editions of the RX480 i´ve chosen the
8GB HIS Radeon RX 480 IceQ X2 OC Active PCIe 3.0 x16 (Retail). It gives the BEST price/value ratio. For this purpose only I created a huge excel file and looked things up for 3-4 hours...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: HIS Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card
Total: €225.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-04 17:18 EST-0500

 

Also: could someone please - for the love of god and all that is holy - check for compatibility (cpu<->board , board<->case, the TWO gpu´s <->board)? i´ve tried but i dont find ie the requirements for the kaby lake cpu...AFAIK only the socket matters...?

thanks very much! Max & Tina

 

[bcguru9384]

wow i think i give you award for longest post ever

lol

you seem have understanding needed and have done good research

in month may you should expect price drops

so i say wait just teensy bit longer

then you maybe able get some rather great parts cheap from college students want summer fun money