Attention Low-End/Midrange Gaming System Builders

[Ken g6]

Did this thread die?

Yeah, kind of, at least for now. I'm not sure what to do with video card prices inflated by mining.

 

[shortylickens]

Yeah, kind of, at least for now. I'm not sure what to do with video card prices inflated by mining.

Damn I must be out of touch.

I didnt know video card bitcoin mining was a thing until just now.

 

[whm1974]

Damn I must be out of touch.

I didnt know video card bitcoin mining was a thing until just now.

Yeah but that was replaced by ASIC devices while other coins still use GPUs for mining.

This Mining is responsible for the higher prices of midrange and better GPUs.

 

[Flacco]

Yeah, kind of, at least for now. I'm not sure what to do with video card prices inflated by mining.

Hopefully things will get better soon. I'm hoping to buy a new PC with Coffee Lake. Was planning on upgrading cards as well, my current is a 970.

 

[Vybz]

I don't understand what bit mining is and how people make money from it. You build a rig to do transactions or calculations online and you get paid for it?

 

[R0H1T]

Well there's a bunch of hoodoo involved as well, also speculators & thieves.

 

[whm1974]

Well there's a bunch of hoodoo involved as well, also speculators & thieves.

Indeed. I'm waiting for the bubble to burst myself.

 

[Vybz]

Like its seems like something that I should get into myself but people have taken it too far making it hard for a person like me who would just like to build one rig for this and make alittle money on the side. It seems like they closed the door on us. I still dont understand it. ok here another part i dont understand if there is a finite amount of bitcoins to mine then how come all hasn't been mined already? anyway I took this thread off topic. I came to this thread hoping to get some ideas for a mini ITX build for my wife but there wasn't any so I hope things gets back to normal soon. Using the gpu to speed up calculations for bit farming was quite genius though. That is what they are made for, doing complicated calculations quickly.

 

[R81Z3N1]

For work reason's and the cost initially was one reason I stayed away, not to mention TIRL "that in real life" some luxuries have to be put on hold.

What I am doing now is boinc mining using gridcoin, setup a few machines with boinc on them and install a wallet and an approved project and let it go to work. I figure you help science, and get a little digital coin that can be traded for other things, or not. Might not pay for electricity but do feel better mining for science, and fit's in the hobby budget.

 

[Ken g6]

Updates! Can you believe it?

$1000: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ThZcJV
$500: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NHKqTH

 

[crashtech]

RAM prices as well as high GPU prices have put a serious crimp in the budget, I think. For those who have to have a faster video card, several sacrifices would have to be made, like going down to 8GB RAM, going to a Ryzen 1600 with its included Wraith Spire cooler, and using a cheaper SSD. Thankfully the selected AB350M has 4 RAM slots, so it would not be hard to go to 16GB later, though it would be less cost effective:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/crashtech/saved/#view=YHM3FT

Really it seems with prices the way they are, even with AMD being a better competitor, the budget for an effective midrange machine should probably be $1200 now, that would allow for 16GB and a 1070 easily.

 

[whm1974]

RAM prices as well as high GPU prices have put a serious crimp in the budget, I think. For those who have to have a faster video card, several sacrifices would have to be made, like going down to 8GB RAM, going to a Ryzen 1600 with its included Wraith Spire cooler, and using a cheaper SSD. Thankfully the selected AB350M has 4 RAM slots, so it would not be hard to go to 16GB later, though it would be less cost effective:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/crashtech/saved/#view=YHM3FT

Really it seems with prices the way they are, even with AMD being a better competitor, the budget for an effective midrange machine should probably be $1200 now, that would allow for 16GB and a 1070 easily.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you only needed DDR4-3200 if you are planning on overclocking? wouldn't 2666 be fine for sticking with stock speeds?

 

[crashtech]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you only needed DDR4-3200 if you are planning on overclocking? wouldn't 2666 be fine for sticking with stock speeds?

All AMD CPUs are unlocked, and the stock cooler will allow for a mild OC, so I just stuck to RAM that didn't deviate too far from Ken's build. The listed set was actually cheaper than some other DDR4-3000, which is what Ken's build used. I suppose my assumption was that a better cooler could be added later as well, that's what my son eventually did with his Ryzen rig. I think RAM OCing in particularcan really help gaming performance with Ryzen.

 

[whm1974]

All AMD CPUs are unlocked, and the stock cooler will allow for a mild OC, so I just stuck to RAM that didn't deviate too far from Ken's build. The listed set was actually cheaper than some other DDR4-3000, which is what Ken's build used. I suppose my assumption was that a better cooler could be added later as well, that's what my son eventually did with his Ryzen rig. I think RAM OCing in particularcan really help gaming performance with Ryzen.

Yeah I hear you, but if I was doing a new build with either Ryzen or Coffee Lake I would go with DDR4-2666 memory as I won't be overclocking since I prefer stability and longer lifespan of equipment. I'm on a fixed income.

 

[Ken g6]

Picking compatible RAM for Ryzen systems is a real pain. I picked the two DDR4-3000 sets that were listed as compatible with the mobo.

 

[crashtech]

Yeah I hear you, but if I was doing a new build with either Ryzen or Coffee Lake I would go with DDR4-2666 memory as I won't be overclocking since I prefer stability and longer lifespan of equipment. I'm on a fixed income.

That's the great thing about building PC's, they are fully customizable! I think these builds that Ken posts could be seen as a starting point, not everyone has the same needs. For instance, many users will have a HDD out of another machine that could be used as bulk storage, freeing up that money for a bigger/better SSD or anything else that's desired.

 

[whm1974]

That's the great thing about building PC's, they are fully customizable! I think these builds that Ken posts could be seen as a starting point, not everyone has the same needs. For instance, many users will have a HDD out of another machine that could be used as bulk storage, freeing up that money for a bigger/better SSD or anything else that's desired.

Well I thought about upgrading from a Haswell i5 to a 6 core CPU and reuse the rest of my current rig, but I really don't want to spend ~$400 or more to do it.

 

[crashtech]

Well I thought about upgrading from a Haswell i5 to a 6 core CPU and reuse the rest of my current rig, but I really don't want to spend ~$400 or more to do it.

I don't think a Ryzen 1600 would be that much of an upgrade from a Haswell i5, depending on what you are doing. Presuming you wouldn't mind a used CPU, a 4770 might be a good upgrade option for you, or even one of the many 8 thread Xeon E3 models if your motherboard supports it. Note that the one I linked requires discrete graphics.

 

[whm1974]

I don't think a Ryzen 1600 would be that much of an upgrade from a Haswell i5, depending on what you are doing. Presuming you wouldn't mind a used CPU, a 4770 might be a good upgrade option for you, or even one of the many 8 thread Xeon E3 models if your motherboard supports it. Note that the one I linked requires discrete graphics.

Well I do have a GTX 970 installed. call me after the 1070 drops to $250 or less. That is most likely the upgrade I would see the most benefit from anyway.

 

[Caminetto]

Damn shame about this thread. Nothing quite like it and it was always the "goto" spot for any of my builds.

 

[Ken g6]

Damn shame about this thread. Nothing quite like it and it was always the "goto" spot for any of my builds.

Value in hardware has gotten harder to find.

 

[whm1974]

Value in hardware has gotten harder to find.

Well the 2200G and 2400G does bring some value back at the low end at least.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well the 2200G and 2400G does bring some value back at the low end at least.

If only mobo compatibility with those APUs wasn't such an issue. Maybe it will be worked out in the next few months. (ASrock AB350M Pro4 UEFI/BIOS, I'm looking at you!)

 

[daveybrat]

If only mobo compatibility with those APUs wasn't such an issue. Maybe it will be worked out in the next few months. (ASrock AB350M Pro4 UEFI/BIOS, I'm looking at you!)

Larry, this is the new best cheap motherboard to pair up with a Ryzen APU. It's labeled as a B350 motherboard but actually uses an X370 chipset. It also has native support for Ryzen 2200G and 2200G!

It's a steal for only $64.99

 

[whm1974]

If only mobo compatibility with those APUs wasn't such an issue. Maybe it will be worked out in the next few months. (ASrock AB350M Pro4 UEFI/BIOS, I'm looking at you!)

Yeah we will have to probably wait until the 400 series of chipsets come out.