Small form factor case reccomendations.

[MadmanRB]

Still investing in a high priced mobo and processor

 

[35g700]

Money isn't the issue, I've just heard that RAM speed matters more now than it did 6 years ago.

Intel Coffee Lake RAM Speed Matters for Gaming? See The Results

I'm not going to cheap out and get 2133 RAM, but I was mostly curious if it was worth it to pay the premium for 3200 with lower timings over 3000, and it doesn't seem like it is.


Another question: Any USB3 SD reader card recommendations? I'm going to be using this for editing RAW photos as well, and importing photos via the USB port on my a6000 takes forever. Also looking for a good alternative to lightroom if anyone knows. I'm leaning towards DxO because I've used their extension for photos on my laptop and it's been quite good.

 

[PP Mguire]

Still investing in a high priced mobo and processor

And for good reason. Ryzen is good, but if you have the money the 8700k is still better by a fair amount. And really, for similar performance he'd need to invest in a high end Ryzen board with a 1700 with a high end cooler to OC while with an 8700k could get a cheaper board and not need to OC. The costs can equalize.

Money isn't the issue, I've just heard that RAM speed matters more now than it did 6 years ago.

Intel Coffee Lake RAM Speed Matters for Gaming? See The Results

I'm not going to cheap out and get 2133 RAM, but I was mostly curious if it was worth it to pay the premium for 3200 with lower timings over 3000, and it doesn't seem like it is.


Another question: Any USB3 SD reader card recommendations? I'm going to be using this for editing RAW photos as well, and importing photos via the USB port on my a6000 takes forever. Also looking for a good alternative to lightroom if anyone knows. I'm leaning towards DxO because I've used their extension for photos on my laptop and it's been quite good.

Sorry, but my bucket of salt is on standby with that link. They don't really line up with similar results from reputable sites. They're saying their min with a single 1080 and 3200 RAM is 192 while the TPU review at 1080p shows 149 average (not min) and a 5GHz clocked 8700k. TPU's min same setup is 114 with a 5GHz clocked 8700k AND 3200MHz RAM. The significant boost in all core clock speed shows negligible difference in a CPU hog game and even with a GPU OC you're not going to see an 80fps boost. Deus Ex shows a 33fps difference, and almost 40fps difference in Dishonored 2.

As somebody with 2 Titan XPs TW3 at 1080p and no Hairworks I average what they're claiming with a single Titan XP OC'd. I went back and set my RAM to 3000 and ticked off my 5.1GHz OC then tossed an extra 200MHz on the GPUs while I was at it. I call total bull**** on every number on that list.

Also, with a 970 you're going to be limited by GPU at 1080p way before the CPU or RAM will become an issue.

I also have an a6000, bought this and seems to do ok.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KXWIJL6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[35g700]

Yeah, I'm not too worried about RAM speeds anymore.

I know the 970 will be my primary bottleneck, but I do plan on getting the next gen nVidia/AMD cards because they'll be a more significant upgrade. I'm really disappointed that Vega isn't that good because I was hoping to go FreeSync, but I'm just gonna wait. Maybe next gen we'll have cards/monitors with HDMI 2.1 and no need for FreeSync/GSync anymore.

Just ordered that card reader - thanks for the recommendation.


I did almost go Ryzen, but it didn't seem like it'd be a huge upgrade from my 4.5GHz 2500K.

 

[PP Mguire]

Yeah, I'm not too worried about RAM speeds anymore.

I know the 970 will be my primary bottleneck, but I do plan on getting the next gen nVidia/AMD cards because they'll be a more significant upgrade. I'm really disappointed that Vega isn't that good because I was hoping to go FreeSync, but I'm just gonna wait. Maybe next gen we'll have cards/monitors with HDMI 2.1 and no need for FreeSync/GSync anymore.

Just ordered that card reader - thanks for the recommendation.


I did almost go Ryzen, but it didn't seem like it'd be a huge upgrade from my 4.5GHz 2500K.

Personally for my 7700k I meant to get 2133 or 2400 and only realized I got 3000 once I got the package. There really shouldn't be any reason for gaming in particular to favor faster RAM speeds on the 8700k if they didn't on the 6700k or 7700k. I mean, They're all 3 practically the same thing only the 8700k has 2 more cores slapped on it. I know I'm beating the dead horse still but I'm a bit pissed that a site would inflate scoring for views.

Either way if I'm fine with 2 cards you'll be fine with 2 or 1. If you get 2 Volta cards (not Pascal refresh, thanks ****ty Vega) you should be going 4k anyways which puts all stress on the GPUs. Even the 1600x keeps up with the 8700k in 4k. I wouldn't put too much hope into VRR embedded into the HDMI standards, it's basically there for consoles because I'm pretty positive our graphics card makers will not support outside of their home brewed standard. VRR/Gsync/Freesync isn't that great anyways.

Tbh the 8700k won't be too much of an upgrade either. When I did my testing with one recently using my Titans it handled it's own even at 4GHz.

 

[35g700]

Ordered everything yesterday. I ended up going regular ATX with a mid tower because the cases were still like half the weight of my 932. Still nothing on my 8700K preorder from Amazon. Apparently NewEgg and B&H have received stock and are shipping to customers so I'd think Amazon should be getting some soon.

Now to decide what to do with my old 2500K...

 

[PP Mguire]

Ordered everything yesterday. I ended up going regular ATX with a mid tower because the cases were still like half the weight of my 932. Still nothing on my 8700K preorder from Amazon. Apparently NewEgg and B&H have received stock and are shipping to customers so I'd think Amazon should be getting some soon.

Amazon seems to be the last place to get stock of PC stuff.

 

[35g700]

Amazon seems to be the last place to get stock of PC stuff.

Yeah, I'm really disappointing with that.

Apparently people were able to order 8700K's from NewEgg yesterday and they shipped out too.

 

[PP Mguire]

Yeah, I'm really disappointing with that.

Apparently people were able to order 8700K's from NewEgg yesterday and they shipped out too.

I'd order one, but I used my 8700k money on my car. I think next thing I do is just water these cards. Got a solid 6 months + to go till Volta.

 

[35g700]

Just got an update from Amazon and it's coming this Thursday, the same day as the case.

Is it at all possible to install Windows 8.1 on Coffee Lake? I have an extra 8.1 license and I'm thinking I may install 8.1, upgrade to 10, then do a full reinstall of 10. Otherwise I'll have to buy a 10 key.