Cpu, Mobo, Ram Recomendation $300

[ddpaulb]

AMD or Intel. 6 sata ports.
I have new Antec Earthwatts 450 psu, and 1 graphics card. No plan to CF or SLI. Not a big gamer.
Going into ATX case.
Reliability is paramount.

 

[myocardia]

Which brand of CPU you should buy will depend totally on what you're wanting that CPU to do for you. One brand is as reliable as the other. CPUs don't fail, PSUs and motherboards do, so spend your money there, buying high-quality parts.

 

[ddpaulb]

Which brand of CPU you should buy will depend totally on what you're wanting that CPU to do for you. One brand is as reliable as the other. CPUs don't fail, PSUs and motherboards do, so spend your money there, buying high-quality parts.

As for what I want to do: photo editing, graphic design, music recording and sequencing.

 

[Abwx]

music recording and sequencing.

Lots of tracks.?.

 

[ddpaulb]

Lots of tracks.?.

Between recorded audio and sequencing 32. I think that would cover most things.

 

[RussianSensation]

Option 1:

Core i5-6400 + 8GB DDR4 2133 = $218.73
+
GIGABYTE GA-B150M-D3H = $85 + $2 SH - $10 MIR = $77
= $295.73

Option 2 for a bit more $:

Core i5-6500 + MSI H170A PC Mate combo = $284.98
+
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 = $42.99
= $327.97

With Option 1, you'd go single channel to start and once you save up enough $, later on you can add another 8GB stick of DDR4.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Has anybody tested skylake with single channel ram? Knowing its sensitivity to ram speeds, not sure I would go with 2133, much less single channel.