The Upgrade/Downsize...

RIRed48

RIRed48

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
360
I want to build (built my last 5 machines) a new, very fast, Mini-ITX form factor gaming PC to replace the rig I have listed in my 'sig' I'm getting a new MB/CPU/CPU water cooler/Mem/case/& PS. In the new rig I will use my Samsung EVO 1TB SSD, Razer mouse and mech KB, and my audio components (M-Audio AV40 2.0 speakers, and when the wife is home (hates Battlefield 4) use our Sennheiser PC360 headset) > I HOPE both can be connected to the existing sound ports on the new MB....
huh.gif


The new rig would be:
* Asus Z170I Pro Gaming MB (Or should I get the ROG Maximus Impact 8, considering what I want/need to do?)
* i7-6700k unlocked CPU (will OC it... for fun, maturity is over-rated)
* Corsair 2x8GB LPX DDR4 3200 Mem
* If I go Fractal case, can use Corsair Hydro H100i, but would have to get external optical dvd/rw-Samsung SE-208GB, and new EVGA 650GS PS
* This new MB has a WiFi card onboard (is this the one that folks have been replacing with the Intel...)
* I do like music on the PC... hope onboard sound solution is very good...buddy has a Creative(?) external ZXR sound card he really likes...hmm... ( My existing Xonar Essence ST internal won't fit)
* 27" Acer Predator XB271HU... seems 1440P the emerging serious gaming standard now / need Display Port
* Windows 10 Pro, flash drive delivery (?)

Thinking out loud here.... Wife needs replacement PC for her Vista OS Dell from @ 8 yrs ago...HMM... I do have in my rig another SSD, an Intel X25 160GB with Win 7 on it.....If I can SELL her my rig and use $ for the new one....

Does this possible rig make sense? Ideas... thanks.
 
Honestly, it won't be that much faster than your current PC to be worth the cost. With that said, what is your wife using her PC for?
 
Dangman said:
Honestly, it won't be that much faster than your current PC to be worth the cost. With that said, what is your wife using her PC for?
Click to expand...

Web-surf, email, couponing, teaching activities, MS Word use, some casual word-games. Noticing some new progs won't run on her OS, Vista. Also, her Dell 24" newish monitor has regular issues not coming out of 'sleep' mode, regardless that it's set not to do so in settings and on the Dell.

I want to upgrade, as I haven't since April of 2011 when I put this one together. And I have a love/hate relationship with this Corsair monster of a case. (weighs a ton)
 
RIRed48 said:
I want to build (built my last 5 machines) a new, very fast, Mini-ITX form factor gaming PC to replace the rig I have listed in my 'sig' I'm getting a new MB/CPU/CPU water cooler/Mem/case/& PS. In the new rig I will use my Samsung EVO 1TB SSD, Razer mouse and mech KB, and my audio components (M-Audio AV40 2.0 speakers, and when the wife is home (hates Battlefield 4) use our Sennheiser PC360 headset) > I HOPE both can be connected to the existing sound ports on the new MB....
huh.gif


The new rig would be:
* Asus Z170I Pro Gaming MB (Or should I get the ROG Maximus Impact 8, considering what I want/need to do?)
* i7-6700k unlocked CPU (will OC it... for fun, maturity is over-rated)
* Corsair 2x8GB LPX DDR4 3200 Mem
* If I go Fractal case, can use Corsair Hydro H100i, but would have to get external optical dvd/rw-Samsung SE-208GB, and new EVGA 650GS PS
* This new MB has a WiFi card onboard (is this the one that folks have been replacing with the Intel...)
* I do like music on the PC... hope onboard sound solution is very good...buddy has a Creative(?) external ZXR sound card he really likes...hmm... ( My existing Xonar Essence ST internal won't fit)
* 27" Acer Predator XB271HU... seems 1440P the emerging serious gaming standard now / need Display Port
* Windows 10 Pro, flash drive delivery (?)

Thinking out loud here.... Wife needs replacement PC for her Vista OS Dell from @ 8 yrs ago...HMM... I do have in my rig another SSD, an Intel X25 160GB with Win 7 on it.....If I can SELL her my rig and use $ for the new one....

Does this possible rig make sense? Ideas... thanks.
Click to expand...

Uh...sell your wife your current rig???!!! Sounds like she'll get it in the settlement anyways. ;-)

Suggest waiting just a bit longer for Kaby on the 1151 platform or see what Broadwell-E brings. 2600k is still a beast with only moderately long teeth.
 
clockdogg said:
Uh...sell your wife your current rig???!!! Sounds like she'll get it in the settlement anyways. ;-)

Suggest waiting just a bit longer for Kaby on the 1151 platform or see what Broadwell-E brings. 2600k is still a beast with only moderately long teeth.
Click to expand...

Yeah, she wants a new one.... and does like mine.

Just looked into early info on that Kaby Lake/series 200 chipset...late 2016/early '17... Not good at *waiting*... had current Asus P8P67/i7-2600k since April/2011. Have to admit, as you said, my rig still handles the FPS Battlefield 4 with excellent speed at high resolutions......

But, that Kaby & chipset will fit a Mini-ITX form factor and subsequent small case like I mention above?
 
I upgraded from an i7 2700k @ MSI mITX b75 something to an 4790k just because i wanted the Asus Impact Rog VII and what it offers like the M.2 4x.
In terms of CPU power, I can't tell a major difference, even though i keep it at 4.5 Ghz.

So my advise is do it because you need the extra connectivity of a newer platform or like in my case i really wanted OC and M.2 4x on an mITX board. The Asus Impact 7 was the only one. Not even the Impact 8 has both of my needs.

Or a quick solution is if you can get the Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe and voila, you have the predecessor of the Impact series and you can OC your 2600k.
 
Rorschach said:
I upgraded from an i7 2700k @ MSI mITX b75 something to an 4790k just because i wanted the Asus Impact Rog VII and what it offers like the M.2 4x.
In terms of CPU power, I can't tell a major difference, even though i keep it at 4.5 Ghz.

So my advise is do it because you need the extra connectivity of a newer platform or like in my case i really wanted OC and M.2 4x on an mITX board. The Asus Impact 7 was the only one. Not even the Impact 8 has both of my needs.

Or a quick solution is if you can get the Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe and voila, you have the predecessor of the Impact series and you can OC your 2600k.
Click to expand...

Funny, as I was just reading a comparison review of the Z170I Pro Gaming vrs the Maximus Impact 8... still debating between the two, or wait til late '16 / early '17 for Kaby/Lake & the i7-7700k.

The Zi70I has M.2 port and is cheaper, Impact 8 better sound, connectivity options, better MB cable management, and more fan headers. And I will OC, 'cause it's fun... :)
 
About your wifes Vista OS PC, just chuck your 160GB Win 7 SSD in there. With an SSD, even 10 year old computers can run extremely fast in almost all applications except gaming and rendering obviously.
With the newer OS the programs will run and you got rid of 10 years of bloatware files and applications that might still be installed on the system.

I agree with the others that when you have a Core i7-K chip, you have no need to upgrade that.
 
RIRed48 said:
Yeah, she wants a new one.... and does like mine.

Just looked into early info on that Kaby Lake/series 200 chipset...late 2016/early '17... Not good at *waiting*... had current Asus P8P67/i7-2600k since April/2011. Have to admit, as you said, my rig still handles the FPS Battlefield 4 with excellent speed at high resolutions......

But, that Kaby & chipset will fit a Mini-ITX form factor and subsequent small case like I mention above?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's still socket 1151. Skylake with some tweaks. Will work with any of the current 1151 itx boards, with a BIOS upgrade, of course.
 
Aircoookie said:
About your wifes Vista OS PC, just chuck your 160GB Win 7 SSD in there. With an SSD, even 10 year old computers can run extremely fast in almost all applications except gaming and rendering obviously.
With the newer OS the programs will run and you got rid of 10 years of bloatware files and applications that might still be installed on the system.

I agree with the others that when you have a Core i7-K chip, you have no need to upgrade that.
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Wife's computer is a stock Dell XPS420 withe the 'A06' bios from June, 2008. It has a Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz, 1066 bus speed, 4GB DDR2 SDRAM Memory, with Radeon HD 2600XT graphics.

As I said, she has VISTA OS 32 bit. With that machine I could just throw in my old Intel X25 160GB SSD with Win 7 Pro, and it will run? Hmm... if that's so, then dang....
 
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Actually, yeah that will work dependent on the install mode on the SSD. Just throw it in, change boot priority to the SSD in bios and it should boot. In case it doesn't, there is probably a system driver incompatibility or the drive was installed in UEFI. In that case, do a fresh install of Win 7/10 64bit on the SSD while in your wifes system, that should work 100%. That Q6600 you have should be more than sufficient for the workload your wife creates. Paired with new GPUs they even deliver decent-ish gaming performance.
 
Aircoookie said:
Actually, yeah that will work dependent on the install mode on the SSD. Just throw it in, change boot priority to the SSD in bios and it should boot. In case it doesn't, there is probably a system driver incompatibility or the drive was installed in UEFI. In that case, do a fresh install of Win 7/10 64bit on the SSD while in your wifes system, that should work 100%. That Q6600 you have should be more than sufficient for the workload your wife creates. Paired with new GPUs they even deliver decent-ish gaming performance.
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Went to the Dell support site...
The Dell needs 1) latest bios update 'A07', 2) latest upgrade of chipset drivers, and then 3) DL to her desktop the Win 7 driver for her Radeon HD 2600 XT video card.

As I'm a bit new to this, Dell said to :
1) Copy the bios file to a DOS bootable USB flash drive, reboot & go into bios, making the flash drive the bootable drive, and/or simply disconnect the existing hard drive(?), boot to the flash drive and run the program, correct? Now should have latest bios for the Dell...
2) Updated chipset driver 'R174616.exe' (24mb), DL file, unzip, double-click & install
To this point does all this sound right, as I haven't done this in years and don't want to mess up, as she will be all over me like a bad rash if I screw it up...lol.
3) Into bios, to set up boot to the SSD, disconnect existing HD, then boot up.
4) Install new Win 7 64 bit video card drivers for that Radeon HD2600XT vid card which I'll have sitting on her desktop...

Have SanDisk flash drive, right-clicked ...was no option to 'make dos-bootable', doesn't that simply mean to format it? Well, that's what I did... screw-up?

Is this all correct? thx...
 
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Firstly, I'd try the Win 7 SSD without a BIOS update. That works most of the time. When in Win 7, download the graphics card drivers. Most likely you'll also need Ethernet and chipset drivers for that system/motherboard. If it doesn't work you have to create the USB stick. It should be enough to format it to the FAT file system and then copy the bios file onto it. Not exactly sure though.
 
Back to the thrust of my OP...

Ok, I'm just about THERE............looks like the rig I want... ( To repeat, this is a gaming rig and we wanted small form-factor)

Asus Z170I Pro Gaming MB
i7-6700k
Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme Thermal Compound TC-GC-03-A
Corsair Hydro H100I v2 cooler
Corsair LPX (2x8GB) DDR4 3200 c16 Memory (will run on that MB?)
Fractal Core 500 case (plenty of cooling for CPU OC? And room for the Hydro with no probs?)
EVGA SuperNova 650GS PS (enough power? Have 850 now...)
Samsung optical external read/burner SE-208GB (need cable?)
Anker powered 10 port 3.0 USB hub
Which Windows 10 form delivery is easiest to install/setup?
Acer Predator 27” XB271HU monitor
Accell B142C-007B Ultra DP to DP 1.2cable (6.6 feet)
(The Samsung EVO 850 1TB SSD coming over from old rig)

Do I need anything else ? And/or do you suggest some item as a better substitute for something on the list?
 
That motherboard doesn't seem to be all that reliable judging from the Newegg reviews. You might as well go for this better reviewed and cheaper Gigabyte mITX motherboard:
GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

As for the PSU, it'll be enough. But I would just spend the extra cash for the eVGA 750G2 if you're planning on using the PC for 6+ years since PSUs do degrade in output over time.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438017

The Fractal Core 500 does have a difficult time fitting in a 240mm radiator but it can be done. Just requires more work.
 
Dangman said:
That motherboard doesn't seem to be all that reliable judging from the Newegg reviews. You might as well go for this better reviewed and cheaper Gigabyte mITX motherboard:
GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

As for the PSU, it'll be enough. But I would just spend the extra cash for the eVGA 750G2 if you're planning on using the PC for 6+ years since PSUs do degrade in output over time.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438017

The Fractal Core 500 does have a difficult time fitting in a 240mm radiator but it can be done. Just requires more work.
Click to expand...
Thanks for input... I've had Asus just about forever since '93, and have found 2 folks who have had both MB's, and they favor the Asus. And to simplify my installation, I believe I'm going with the smaller Corsair water-cooler the H75.
 
RIRed48 said:
Thanks for input... I've had Asus just about forever since '93, and have found 2 folks who have had both MB's, and they favor the Asus. And to simplify my installation, I believe I'm going with the smaller Corsair water-cooler the H75.
Click to expand...
I have an Asus motherboard as well (see my sig) but that doesn't stop me from recommending better motherboards from other manufacturers if need be. As for the CLC, forget the H75 and go for this HSF instead:
ARCTIC COOLING Liquid Freezer 120 ACFRE00016A 120mm Liquid CPU Cooler - Newegg.com

Did pretty damn well in [H] Reviews:
Introduction - Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer 120 AIO CPU Cooler Review
 
Dangman said:
I have an Asus motherboard as well (see my sig) but that doesn't stop me from recommending better motherboards from other manufacturers if need be. As for the CLC, forget the H75 and go for this HSF instead:
ARCTIC COOLING Liquid Freezer 120 ACFRE00016A 120mm Liquid CPU Cooler - Newegg.com

Did pretty damn well in [H] Reviews:
Introduction - Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer 120 AIO CPU Cooler Review
Click to expand...
Appreciate that info... will continue to read... thx....

Of these 2 cases, the Fractal Core 500 or the Phanteks Evolv, which do you think is stronger in terms of workable room, cooling options, etc... ? Thx...
 
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I have to contradict the Newegg reviews. Got a Z170I and it's all working fine. 5GHz wifi was not working, neither with the Windows nor the Asus driver, but it works if you use Atheros Killer drivers.
 
Sheesh.... the nVidia announcement re/ the 1080..... Thank God IRS owes us a lot of money this year...
 
Keep going back and forth between the Asus ROG PG279Q and the Acer XB271HU..... Dang, it's close...
 
Considered the Fractal Nano S? It's smaller than the Phanteks ITX, but has a great layout for what you're trying to do, especially with the 240 rad, easy to build in and change hardware in the future, easy cable management, good air filters, and a window if you want it since you're putting in such nice hardware.

 
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astheria said:
Considered the Fractal Nano S? It's smaller than the Phanteks ITX, but has a great layout for what you're trying to do, especially with the 240 rad, easy to build in and change hardware in the future, easy cable management, good air filters, and a window if you want it since you're putting in such nice hardware.

Click to expand...


Thanks for the video. Looks to be much more room for an easier build than the Core 500. But, has it the same excellent native cooling ability as the Core 50?
 
Learned of 2 other interesting Mini-ITX cases... The NCase M1 and the Dan 4 (Kickstarter fully funded... guy from Germany)...

And since last post, got the 27" Acer XB271HU monitor. (2560x1440), G-Sync, IPS, at 165hz.... Just WOW and amazing...very pleased.
 
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