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Not after playing everything on Ultra or 4k or VR just a capable mid-range gaming build, any advice or suggestions welcome.
CPU - i5 4590
Motherboard - ASRock B85M-DGS
GPU - GTX 950
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 1x8GB 1600MHz
PSU - EVGA 500W B500
SSD - Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB
HDD - 1TB Seagate Barracuda
Will probably look to double the RAM at some point later on, maybe accompanied by a CPU and GPU upgrade.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or improvements. :)
Personally I would go for a Skylake system, unless you need a feature that's much cheaper on Haswell boards it'll only be £5-10 more. It's also much more likely to support any CPU upgrade you're considering as both Kaby Lake and Cannon Lake will use LGA1151.
I would go for dual channel memory, as slower memory does seem to be impacting minimum frame rates in the occasional game.
What features do you want from the motherboard?
AMD's 370 replacement is due out in a month or two, so that'll likely be a much better buy than a GTX 950 if you're not in any hurry.
A 240GB SSD runs to about £15 more, so I don't find the 120GB models a very attractive proposition.
Limiting yourself to Haswell keeps you at an older generation of not only CPU but motherboard and RAM too, would strongly advise against it. DDR4 RAM is not much more expensive (if at all).
For midrange graphics AMD generally gets you more bang for the buck, wait for the rx480/70/60 depending on your budget.
You've chosen a flex-atx motherboard which is unusual, any reason for not going regular mATX? Also, no case choice so far. I'd recommend The Aerocool Deep Silence Cube or the Fractal Design Define Mini :)
I agree with the others, there's no point in getting old tech, you've not mentioned a budget but based on the items you've chosen a Skylake is more than possible, it may even cost less.
I built my son a PC for xmas based on his sisters spec the xmas before and spent less for the equivalent Skylake / DDR4 machine.
AMD 8300 or 8350 as minumum cpu`s
gigabyte GA-990fx-gaming motherboard
trident x 2400 ram, need 2x sticks only for 1866mhz or 2000mhz, wont work with 4
AMD r9 380x
don't need to care much for intel with directx 12 and vulkan, AMD with 8 cores will probably be better
You might need a case too.
With RAM it's worth noting that if you're only using one stick you only get half the speed. Two sticks allows for dual-channel operation and doubles the bandwidth available.
If you post your budget then people might be able to tweak some items for a better build.
I'd suggest a 960 over a 950. Buying an entry level card is sometimes a bit of false-economy; you have to replace it sooner. I've always considered the x60 series cards a good entry point for gaming. In fact, I'd rather an i3 with a 960 than a i5 with a 950.
the AMD r9 380x destroys the gtx 960, especially when you can buy another next year instead of building a new box
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEYtV72-Afk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSver1eSzmo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMnpknaAq0g