2016 Xeon E3-1246 V3 mITX PC Build

[KingKrimson]

I'd rather not say where I am, though I do live in the USA and I've ordered on Newegg, Amazon, B&H and Jet. On foot, I go for Best Buy.

The rig has been built last month for $815 with Windows 10 as the OS 64bit. Currently, its only serious job is reencoding matroska format videos into mp4 format videos and so far, it works. x265 HEVC to mp4 conversions is a total pain, and to some, a waste of time, but I do it because I want to.

Right now, I'm planning all my upgrades. Here's what I got and what I plan to buy around May. Once my next paycheck comes by, I plan to spend around $500-600.

PC Hound Part List

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1246 v3 ($0 - Owned)
Motherboard: ASUS H97I-PLUS ($0 - Owned)
Memory: CORSAIR 16GB (2 x 8GB) Vengeance Pro ($0 - Owned)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 04G-P4-3978-RX ($359.99 - Unavailable)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 110-B2-0750-VR ($0 - Owned)
Storage: PNY 240GB CS1311 SSD7CS1311-240-RB ($0 - Owned)
Storage #2: SAMSUNG 250GB 850 EVO MZ-N5E250BW ($89.99 @ B&H)
Storage #3: TOSHIBA 5TB X300 HDWE150XZSTA ($144.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 250D (CC-9011047-WW) ($0 - Owned)
Mouse: HP ($0 - Unavailable)
Keyboard: DELL KB212-B ($0 - Unavailable)
Monitor: Acer S200HQL GBD ($0 - Owned)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B ($0 - Owned)
Case Fan: KINGWIN CF-08LB ($0 - Owned)
Case Fan #2: KINGWIN CF-08LB ($0 - Owned)
Total: $594.97
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound

In addition to Handbrake encoding, I want to be able to play 2016's games like DOOM, Quantum Break (when it's fixed) and Killer Instinct at 50-60FPS+ at a 1920x1080p resolution, 60hz. I'm not interested in overclocking the rig, nor do I want to play 4K settings or use VR. Just normal gaming, nothing fancy.

I'd like to get more input on what GTX 970 with backplates I should go for. The EVGA GTX 970 FTW+ is better, while the MSI 970 100ME, while weaker in terms of its core clock, has a great cooler.

That said, yeah, give me some tips, tricks, improvements and thanks.

 

[rhansen5_99]

So you are looking at a budget of $600 to upgrade your machine? While that 250gb Evo 850 is a great drive, I use it my self, you can get a 480gb m.2 MyDigital SSD for about $120 here: MyDigitalSSD SSDs: 480GB mSATA $115, 240GB $60 & More + Free S&H This drive has a phision 10 controller and Toshiba Flash.

Another new player in the m.2 market is the Sandisk x400 series, they look like a serious competitor to the 850 evos

Also on a bag for the buck the 970 GTX seams a little off, especially for $359, I would maybe wait for a deal to pop up as the next gen stuff is bound to come out soon. If the rumors are true you are looking at about a 40% power reduction per performance with the 14nm shrink, so worst case you might be able to grab a second hand card on the cheap, or maybe the new stuff slots in the same price bracket. If you have not used the jet.com coupons before you can maybe grab a Zotac 970 for around 250$ Zotac ZT-90101-10P GeForce GTX 970 Graphic Card - $253.53

As far as storage, western digital just released their 8tb my books, for around $250, which is basically the 8tb sata helium drives, but these only make sense if you are limited on drive expansion and if you are willing to pry open the external drives.

Just my 2c

 

[KingKrimson]

So you are looking at a budget of $600 to upgrade your machine? While that 250gb Evo 850 is a great drive, I use it my self, you can get a 480gb m.2 MyDigital SSD for about $120 here: MyDigitalSSD SSDs: 480GB mSATA $115, 240GB $60 & More + Free S&H This drive has a phision 10 controller and Toshiba Flash.

Interesting.

Another new player in the m.2 market is the Sandisk x400 series, they look like a serious competitor to the 850 evos

According to anandtech, Samsung will roll out their 1TB m.2 950 Pro sometime this year to rival Sandisk's 1TB m.2 x400. I won't be able to afford that Samsung m.2 for a while, unless I gradually save up or go for sandisk's.

Also on a bag for the buck the 970 GTX seams a little off, especially for $359, I would maybe wait for a deal to pop up as the next gen stuff is bound to come out soon. If the rumors are true you are looking at about a 40% power reduction per performance with the 14nm shrink, so worst case you might be able to grab a second hand card on the cheap, or maybe the new stuff slots in the same price bracket. If you have not used the jet.com coupons before you can maybe grab a Zotac 970 for around 250$ Zotac ZT-90101-10P GeForce GTX 970 Graphic Card - $253.53

Rationally, I should agree with you on waiting for Pascal!GeForce at Computex Taipei...

Instead though, I got mad out of agony after GTC2016 and decided right then and there to plan getting a GTX 970. Sure, the FTW+ seems expensive, but it's the best of EVGA's 970 line, though I'm aiming for MSI's GTX 970 100ME despite said GPU being the same as the original with a backplate. I have a Newegg $50 gift card and I intend to use it on whatever of these two GPUs should they get cheaper around May 2016 and if DOOM can really run in the 970 at 1920x1080p, 60hz, 50-60fps+. Should history repeat itself as it did with DOOM 3 in 2004, I can hold off on DOOM until Pascal!GeForce rolls out.

About Jet, I've already used that coupon for my psu. Fortunately, they have sent me another coupon via mail that allows me to buy anything with 15% off, three times. The drawback is that the total discount limit is $25, instead of $30.

As far as storage, western digital just released their 8tb my books, for around $250, which is basically the 8tb sata helium drives, but these only make sense if you are limited on drive expansion and if you are willing to pry open the external drives.

Noted, but I'm not gonna tinker with external hard drives... I prefer portable hard drives myself.

Perhaps I should just go for the GPU and mech hard drive next month and then gradually save up for the m.2 and another mech hard drive. Handbrake and archiving media is the future, after all.

 

[horrorshow]

I'd go with a 500GB 850 EVO, a 4TH WD Red drive, and hold out for a couple of months for Pascal/Polaris.

Although the 970 is certainly not a bad card.

 

[rhansen5_99]

I understand about wanting a killer EVGA 970GTX card, just if the $100 premium is worth it was my question . I also think you misunderstood what I was suggesting on the external 8TB WD, in that you could just harvest the drive that is inside of it and get a nice SATA 3.5" drive. Bang for the buck though I am not sure for the extra $100, getting that extra 3TB makes sense. If your use case for that drive is more of just storage and read, the Seagate 8tb backup drives are okay, but they are Shingled magnetic, so writing to the drives can be a bugger, but they are $199 a drive(same idea of shelling external enclosure). I was just thinking about your case, and that it only has room for two 3.5" drives, and future expansion.

I would up-vote the 950pro NVME drive, but you are going to really pay $$$ for them

Also if you are not turned off by refurbished or traded up cards the EVGA bstock store has a 970GTX for $249 right now : EVGA - Products - B-Stock. I have had pretty good luck with my 980TI from there