Build/Upgrade Need everything but the Case, GPU and PSU

Gerard_Smith

Hi

I think its time to think about upgrading my rig (built in 2013) for the VR future. I'll be keeping the case (Cooltek Antiphon) GPU (GTX 980) PSU (Seasonic S12-II 620W) and CDR drive. I figure everything else will need replacing (unless there is a way for me to keep my current SSD and HDD without wiping them?)

I'll be wanting a Core i7 for overclocking and preferably an Asus motherboard. Also a CPU cooler that is easy to install would be great as I am terrible with the things.

I could conceivably stretch to €1000 but really don't expect to.

Any suggestion for this upgrade/build? Thanks.

Eoinmc97

Core i7 6400 (you can BCLK OC this to pace with the K version. Completely stable too! Look it up online for tutorials if needs be)
Pick up a nice AIO liquid cooler that fits your case to cool this and you're good to go! The Kraken X61 and Corsair H100i are very good performers.
The Asus Z170-A mobo is excellent for overclocking and has quite a large array of features featured in the ROG range, without the price.
Obviously, VR will want 8-12GB so you could pick up some 2400MHz DDR4 from Corsair.
If you want more storage, you could just add another HDD. Obviously, the Core i7 can be dropped to the equally fast Core i5 6600(K for an extra €30) to save about €80.

Core i7 6700: €350 (K version is €390)
ASUS Z170-A: €145
8GB DDR4 RAM: €49
NZXT KRAKEN X61: €125
Corsair H100i: €140
About €670 I think

Gerard_Smith

Watercooling would be a problem with my case. I'd have the cover the rear exhaust with the radiator. Not great for case temps.

Gerard_Smith

Any other suggestions?

TerrorFirmer

Why the i7? If it's just for gaming there's zero difference between it and an i5 - does come into it for editing/rendering/encoding and similar tasks.

If you built it in 2013, I'd be surprised if you need an all new motherboard and processor - unless you went AMD when you built and want to switch to Intel?

Most 2nd gen i5's (2011+) and virtually all 3rd gen i5's are still at the top of the CPU charts in games, so you would see little change.

VR can be very punishing on GPU's and minimum frame rates are critical to the experience. Depending on the CPU you have which quite possibly does not need changing, selling your GTX980 for 450 and picking up a 980Ti for 700 would be a far better investment in that you would see a radical difference in the VR gameplay experience (game depending of course).

Eoinmc97

I wouldn't sell your GPU yet when 14nm is coming this year in June.
If you can't watercool no biggy, just get a decent air cooler, perhaps from Be Quiet or Noctua, as they are topping the air charts at the moment.
As TerrorFirmer said the differences between i5s and i7s is negligable, as Hyper-Threading does jack for games. So you could save €80 like I said above.

Gerard_Smith

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Why the i7? If it's just for gaming there's zero difference between it and an i5 - does come into it for editing/rendering/encoding and similar tasks.

If you built it in 2013, I'd be surprised if you need an all new motherboard and processor - unless you went AMD when you built and want to switch to Intel?

Most 2nd gen i5's (2011+) and virtually all 3rd gen i5's are still at the top of the CPU charts in games, so you would see little change.

VR can be very punishing on GPU's and minimum frame rates are critical to the experience. Depending on the CPU you have which quite possibly does not need changing, selling your GTX980 for 450 and picking up a 980Ti for 700 would be a far better investment in that you would see a radical difference in the VR gameplay experience (game depending of course).

I have an Intel Xeon E3-1230v2, it made sense financially at the time. According to the oculus system checker its the only part of my rig that isn't up to VR snuff. Then again that might just be because its technically a server processor. I never did figure out how to BCLK OC the thing but outside of VR it hasn't become a bottleneck yet.

TerrorFirmer

That's essentially a 3rd generation i7 processor in all but name, so you already have what you were looking for in your first post!

If you want a direct comparison, it's more or less the same as the i7-3770.

It doesn't need upgrading and won't for countless years to come either.

Eoinmc97

So., in reality you are VR ready!

TerrorFirmer

Eoinmc97 wrote: »

in reality you are VR ready!

ED E

Eoinmc97 wrote: »

So., in reality you are VR ready!

If you have €600 in your wallet

BloodBath

ED E wrote: »

If you have €600 in your wallet

Try €700.

Gerard_Smith

Well thats nice to know! After some googling it seems the oculus specs checker only looks for the name of your processor, it doesn't run any kind of benchmarks.

ED E

Gerard_Smith wrote: »

Well thats nice to know! After some googling it seems the oculus specs checker only looks for the name of your processor, it doesn't run any kind of benchmarks.

It takes about 10-15s to run, of course it doesn't!

MarkAnthony

BloodBath wrote: »

Try €700.

Try €742 plus all the sh!t you have to do for the wife to get her not to kill you.

I swear Occulus are in league with intel over this trying to get people to upgrade.

As for OCing modern CPUs, tbh I'm convinced it's not worth it these days.

BloodBath

Yeah you really don't need anything.

Buy yourself a 2560x1440/144hz g-sync monitor if you are really itching to get something new and shiny.

Definitely better value than the oculus for around the same price at this moment in time.

Digital Solitude

A 4460 would hardly push the Occulus, while all the experts are here?

I really want one

Lu Tze

I had a DK2 for a while. Was snowed under at the time at work, so only got around to playing with it about 6 weeks after getting it. Was really impressed, but sold it on at the time as knew i wasnt going to get to use it much for months after that. Regretting it now that i see the price of the consumer version, even excluding the cost of the GPU upgrade it would required. And at least my HD7970 was grand for the DK2!

Will likely have to wait it out for a few years i reckon

Xenoronin

I think the 4460 would still push it. There isn't a lot between the recommended 4590 and the 4460 other than a couple of MHz in clock speed. Main factor was always going to be the graphics card. Someone (Mark Anthony?) did mention that a better processor would increase the minimum framerate which can make VR a bit jarring. Still doubt it would make a huge difference.

Eoinmc97

There's no benchmarks yet but apparently the Core i5 4590 was chosen over the others was because the minimums on the 970 dipped only to 60FPS in either eye (and down to 41FPS in both) whereas the others "saw noticable and unpleasant drops to unsatisfactory frame rates in both single and dual eye tests"
However, the 6400 is fine to run it, which on paper is slower than the 4590...

TerrorFirmer

That's rubbish, because the 4590 is barely a few percent faster than other i5's - if one is experiencing spikes and bad drops, so will the other.

Realistically all Haswell i5's perform the same unless you're talking about overclocked K models.....or the S and T models maybe.

Eoinmc97

What's important to note about the 4590 is that the turbo boost on all cores is 3.6GHz, whereas the 4460 can only reach 3.2GHz on 4 cores.

Still, I agree that this difference is minute, but why would Occulus bother? (Unless they are getting financials from Intel)