PC Upgrade Advice (CPU,Motherboard, RAM & Cooling)

[Krupi]

Hi Chaps,

 

I could do with some advice/direction in what is best to get for DCS. I have a rough idea thanks to the great threads on this board (Big thank you to tiborrr) however I am very much out of the loop after having not upgraded my PC (i7 930) for the last 6 years.

 

Here is what I know so far...

 

Budget £600-700 this is

 

CPU

 

Heavily leaning towards an i7 67000K however if you think you can argue me down to an i5 6600K please do ;) it is £100 cheaper.

 

Motherboard

 

I won't lie this is where I am really lost at sea, I simply have no idea which way to turn with all the ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte versions avaliable.

 

Currently looking at a MSI Z170A KRAIT/Asus Z170-A or is it worth buying something bigger like Asus Maximus VIII Hero.

 

RAM

 

16GB DDR4 the MHz doesn't appear to have a huge impact...

 

Cooling

 

Air or water cooled? I am not sure I have a Corsair H80 on my current PC however it still sounds like the argument over air vs water is still raging 6 years on!

 

So there you have it, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

P.S. Depending on the answers I might get a new Case, I currently have this monstrosity...

I am not going to lie that case is probably my most regretted purchase (I was young and stupid) and while the design is cool I think they would have sold a lot more if they had focused on it's anti-theft features i.e. it's weight! The damn think might have a handle but it is still over 21kg EMPTY I have had enough it is out. I could raid my parents house and strip bare my brothers dead PC which gives me an old Antec 902

however both these these cases have a flaw if I go for water cooling then I cannot fit the large radiators (240mm etc...) :doh:

[=DECOY=]

Hi there. What your looking at is a good setup. However what graphics card?

 

 

And my I ask are you using one monitor or 3, or VR even

[=DECOY=]

Also air cooling with a good circulation and fan controller. You can easily achieve an effective cheaper option.

 

I have the zalman z11 with a digital fan controller and it sticks around 28c while playing dcs for hours.

[Krupi]

I am getting a Rift soon however I am sticking with my current 780 for the moment, it is as good as the minimum spec GPU for VR :)

 

It is fairly new and I know DCS won't benefit from that much from a GPU upgrade.

[Demon_]

If you can overclock a cpu to 4.4Ghz, take the 6600K.

 

Currently looking at a MSI Z170A KRAIT/Asus Z170-A. Both are good.

[Krupi]

Okay, interesting.

 

Currently I have only been looking at pre built bundles, if I do it myself I could save £100 and do the OC myself or would you leave it to the professionals?

 

Actually forget that I just looked and the price of the pre built one was not that much than the total components only around £50

Edited June 12, 2016 by Krupi

[=DECOY=]

Mate I have the 970 oc for my cv1 and it only allows low settings

 

You will need this card as a minimum as per the oculus minimum requirements

[Krupi]

From what I have read that surprises me. I have seen a few people running DCS/CV1 with a 780 I am not going to upgrade just yet. DCS is all about the cpu.

[BitMaster]

I use an external Radiator to bypass that "in the case" hassle totally and it is not that much more expensive if at all...if you want to overclock your CPU at some point.

 

If you stick with stock settings there is no need for WC but some good venting.

[Krupi]

I use an external Radiator to bypass that "in the case" hassle totally and it is not that much more expensive if at all...if you want to overclock your CPU at some point.

 

If you stick with stock settings there is no need for WC but some good venting.

 

I am currently looking at this...

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/defcon-1s-asus-maximus-viii-hero-intel-core-i7-6700k-4.60ghz-overclocked-skylake-bundle-bu-074-og.html#t=a1

 

Or

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/defcon-2s-msi-z170a-krait-configurable-overclocked-skylake-bundle-bu-073-og.html

 

So overclocked by professionals not by my ham-fisted self :smilewink:

[CAT_101st]

I recommend saving more money.

[Krupi]

So what would you recommend?

 

Did you mean purchase the cheaper of the two or save more money and get more expensive components?

Edited June 12, 2016 by Krupi

[Krupi]

Okay so looking around a bit it seems that most ppl agree that for DCS if you can get 4.4-4.5 GHz on a i5 6600K then I shouldn't bother getting the i7, agreed?

 

The only real question I have now is what motherboard to get, s the Asus Hero worth the extra money compared to an Asus Z170-A or MSI Z170 Krait?

 

Thanks for your help chaps, much appreciated.

[Rangi]

Personally I wouldn't bother with the more expensive motherboard (lots of features you will probably never use) and the 6600k will be as good as the 6700k if overclocked to 4.5. If you have a little time and intelligence it really is very easy to build and overclock yourself and I find it interesting and satisfying to know what goes on inside the magic box.

[Hadwell]

Okay so looking around a bit it seems that most ppl agree that for DCS if you can get 4.4-4.5 GHz on a i5 6600K then I shouldn't bother getting the i7, agreed?

 

The only real question I have now is what motherboard to get, s the Asus Hero worth the extra money compared to an Asus Z170-A or MSI Z170 Krait?

 

Thanks for your help chaps, much appreciated.

 

An i5 at 4.5 ish is fine, but with a cpu like that, not having a 980ti or a 1070/80 is almost sacrilege so I think that's what he meant by save your money.

[Malefic Rage]

Hi Chaps,

 

I could do with some advice/direction in what is best to get for DCS. I have a rough idea thanks to the great threads on this board (Big thank you to tiborrr) however I am very much out of the loop after having not upgraded my PC (i7 930) for the last 6 years.

 

CPU

 

Heavily leaning towards an i7 67000K however if you think you can argue me down to an i5 6600K please do ;) it is £100 cheaper.

 

Motherboard

 

I won't lie this is where I am really lost at sea, I simply have no idea which way to turn with all the ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte versions avaliable.

 

Currently looking at a MSI Z170A KRAIT/Asus Z170-A or is it worth buying something bigger like Asus Maximus VIII Hero.

 

RAM

 

16GB DDR4 the MHz doesn't appear to have a huge impact...

 

Cooling

 

Air or water cooled? I am not sure I have a Corsair H80 on my current PC however it still sounds like the argument over air vs water is still raging 6 years on!

 

So there you have it, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

Hi Mate. You can actually get quite a decent DCS system without going overboard on price. I assume you aren't planning to run it on a huge monitor at 4K resolution so here's my opinion.

 

CPU: A core i7 won't get you much benefit beyond a good core i5 because of the way DCS is programmed. I suggest getting a core i5 6600K and overclocking it to 4.2 Ghz to get the most out of it. At this point in time, don't use an AMD CPU as the current architecture is rather old and does not perform well with DCS.

 

Cooling: If you want to overclock, a better fan is required. I use a Be Quiet! Pure Rock CPU Cooler. It is a great cooler for a good price. Don't bother with liquid cooling, it doesn't help unless you want to do extreme overclocking and/or want a quiet PC. It is also much more expensive.

 

Motherboard: If you don't overclock, pretty much anything will do for a budget system. You don't need much at all. If you overclock, just make sure you have a motherboard with the Z170 chipset. It is required for Intel CPUs. One nice option would be a high quality on-board sound card. I use an ASRock Z170-Pro4 which is perfect for my needs/budget.

 

RAM: DDR4 is needed for the latest motherboards/CPUs. Don't pay any attention to latency, the difference it makes is tiny. Frequency overclocking helps a bit but not enough for me to bother. Just get some stock standard DDR4 2133. 16GB is recommended for DCS.

 

Graphics Card: You don't actually need a monster for DCS to work well at medium-high settings. I have a Radeon R9 290 and get up to 120FPS with a minimum of 60. Buying one of those second hand would be a good bargain. A Radeon R9 390 or a Geforce 970 would do everything you need. A Radeon R9 380 or Geforce GTX 960 might be adequate if you don't go for the highest detail settings.

 

Storage: If you don't have on already, I strongly recommend a Solid State Drive. They'll make your computer sing. Unless you do a lot of disk writing, any will do.

 

Good luck with it mate.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Malefic Rage
Minor edit, wrong CPU model.

[Krupi]

Hey chaps thanks again for advice, to clarify I am after a future proof upgrade built around VR I have a Rift on the way.

 

I am looking to replace my current cpu a i7 930 which has lasted me a good 6 years.

 

With that in mind would you still say the i5 6600K is the best choice (I imagine Yes).

 

I have never owned a particularly expensive Motherboard however a lot of people say you need one to do a good overclock?

 

Regarding the GPU my EVGA FTW 780 will last me another year before I upgrade and the prices of the current generation drop, of course if the 780 doesn't cut the mustard then I will replace it.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Krupi

[Malefic Rage]

Oh VR, sorry. I do think the core i5 6600K would be fine. As for motherboards, you don't need an expensive one unless you want to go SLI/Crossfire. Just as long as it uses the Z170 chipset which is required for overclocking (along with a K CPU)

[Krupi]

Don't apologise I should have said it from the start.

 

Out of the following which Motherboard would you get?

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-z170-a-intel-z170-socket-1151-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-647-as.html

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-z170a-krait-gaming-3x-intel-z170-socket-1151-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-307-ms.html

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-maximus-viii-hero-intel-z170-socket-1151-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-651-as.html

[Rangi]

I have the Asus z170a and it does the job fine. I have taken the overclock up to 4.6 but use 4.4 for general use as the extra doesn't make that much difference except to the heat and power consumption. Unless there is a specific feature on the maximus you need it's not worth the extra pounds.

[Krupi]

Okay thank you for the advice chaps, I have narrowed it down to the three choices below

 

I am currently looking at the following options.

 

No.1

CPU - i5 6600K @ 4.6GHz

Motherboard - Asus Ranger (Only reason I am going for this over the Z170-A or Asus Gamer Pro is because I can get a 280 SSD card for half the price so why not)

Cooling - Corsair H100i

RAM - 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance

 

Total - £609

 

Alternatively

 

No.2

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/defcon-2s-asus-z170-a-configurable-overclocked-skylake-bundle-bu-071-og.html#t=b1c6

 

CPU - i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz

Motherboard - Asus Z170-A

Cooling - Corsair H100i/Asetek 570XL (Same compoenent really)

RAM - 16GB (2x8GB) Kingston Fury DDR4

 

 

Total - £509

 

However that would not come with a SSD card worth ~£70 and the ram/motherboard is not as good so really the therefore Total - £579

 

Finally

 

No.3

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/elite-tier-skylake-bundle-intel-i7-6700k-oem-4.50ghz-z170-viii-hero-16gb-3200mhz-ddr4-hybrid-c-bu-044-as.html

 

CPU - i5 6700K @ 4.5GHz

Motherboard - Asus Hero

Cooling - Corsair H100i

RAM - 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance

 

Total - £655

 

However that would not come with a SSD card worth ~£70 therefore Total - £725

 

My mouse was hovering above ordering No.1 until No.3 showed itself, I know I had decided to rule out an i7 however if i continue to use my current 128GB SSD and for only ~£45 more I get a i7 6700K and a Hero over the Ranger.

 

 

ARGHHH... Spoilt by choices again, goddamned 1st world problems!

Edited June 13, 2016 by Krupi

[Krupi]

If I think about this logically, the I do not need an i7... I do not need a Hero (Which is basically the Hero with LED's :doh:)...

 

The 280GB SSD that comes with the Ranger would be very beneficial as I can definitely install DCS now on it and be happy which is not the case with my current 148GB SSD.

 

I think No.1 is the best choice, do you chaps concur?

[Demon_]

Your Corsair H80 don't fit on the socket 1151?

What is this Ranger?

[Krupi]

Your Corsair H80 don't fit on the socket 1151?

What is this Ranger?

 

No, I don't think so + I want to give my brother my old components.

 

This is the Asus Ranger deal.

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-rog-maximus-viii-ranger-intel-z170-s-1151-ddr4-satae-m2-usb-31-atx-plus-samsung-250gb-850-evo-2

[Demon_]

Then, the Samsung 850, Maximus 8, Corsair H100i, 6600K. I think this is very good.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Demon_