TheKDoge
39 months ago
I'd like someone to take a thorough look at the fourth revision of my planned upgrade. This will be my second build.
My current PC and first build, for reference
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | $229.00 @ B&H |
| CPU Cooler | Corsair H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $59.99 @ B&H |
| Thermal Compound | Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste | $11.99 @ Newegg |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $57.76 @ Amazon |
| Memory | Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory | $59.99 @ Newegg |
| Storage | Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $76.77 @ Amazon |
| Video Card | PNY GeForce GTX 960 2GB XLR8 Elite OC Video Card | $183.98 @ Newegg |
| Case | Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case | $29.99 @ Newegg |
| Power Supply | SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $64.99 @ B&H |
| Optical Drive | Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer | Purchased For $0.00 |
| Monitor | Acer H236HLbid 23.0" 60Hz Monitor | $129.99 @ B&H |
| Other | Windows 7 Professional with Service Pack 1 32/64-bit (English) - Microsoft Imagine | $0.00 |
| Other | Samsung 250GB 750 EVO | $69.99 |
| Other | Autodesk 3DS Max 2014 - Student Edition | Purchased For $0.00 |
| Other | Kerbal Space Program | Purchased |
| Other | Space Engineers | |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $994.44 | |
| Mail-in rebates | -$20.00 | |
| Total | $974.44 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-16 16:27 EDT-0400 |
I don't really know what I'm doing wrong with the budget, but the closer to $800 the better.
Priorities, in order:
- Mid-low maintenance for 4 years; ideally, this will last me through college
- Potentially run CAD software
- Average 60 FPS in Space Engineers in space, mid-high graphics settings or better.
- Average 30 FPS, minimum 20 FPS in Space Engineers on planets, mid-high graphics settings or better. Periodic framerate drops acceptable.
- Run KSP in realtime [1 physics engine second == 1 real world second].
- Rendering with Autodesk 3DS Max [NVIDIA mentalray, which uses CPU, or NVIDIA iray, which uses a CUDA-equipped GPU]
Both games will be modded. I love me some modding.
Part reasons: (please tell me how my choices are good/not so good/bad)
- CPU: Better performance than the non-overclockable version. May overclock someday.
- CPU Cooler: It's supposed to be very quiet, and should serve me well if I want to overclock. As far as I know, the colder you can keep your CPU, the longer it will last.
- Thermal paste: Supposedly this stuff is all the rage.
- MOBO: My needs are simple. This was cheap and has good reviews.
- Storage: Combination SSD for boot + important programs and HDD for mass storage.
- Memory: DDR4 RAM, and fast. Bonus points for being red.
- Video card: Haz me some CUDA cores for rendering and meets the recommended requirements for all the games that I want to play on it. Cheaper (barely) than an R9 380 and ~$50 cheaper than the supposedly equivalent RX 480.
- Case: Has filters. I should be able to set this up with positive pressure.
- Power Supply: Fully modular.
- Optical drive: I already own it and it has it's uses, so why not?
- Monitor: Supposedly a really good monitor. 1920x1080 + IPS.
- OS: Windows 7, free courtesy of Microsoft Imagine. Yay for student discounts? Possibly to be dual-booted with Linux.
As this is a learning experience for me, please do not post part lists without an explanation of the choices you made and why you made them.
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