Ideal rx480 build?

Ever since the announcement of the RX 480 I've been obsessing with building a rig that uses it. I am thinking of a budget rig that doesn't need to be a powerhouse, but isn't terribad. But I'm away from my computer guy who walked me through my last build and he picked the parts. What would be the ideal setup for this card? The budget should be around $600 including the card and I have a OS ready to go. Is it possible to build a machine that uses this card well for this price?

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/mxPXLD

Maybe something like this? 960 as placeholder.

I'd like to tell you to stretch the budget by another $100 to get better parts though.

What build do you have right now? Maybe parts can be salvaged.

I'd probably wait to hear about the GTX 1060 unless you're dead set on AMD.

BASE COMPONENTS:

Cheap AMD 8-core system

• $104.99 (w/ Promo code EMCEKEL26) - AMD FX-8300 8 Core 3.3GHz 95w CPU
• $44.99 (w/ $10 Rebate) - GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-USB3 (rev. 6.0) AM3+ 760G Micro ATX Motherboard
• $54.99 - Team Dark 16GB (2x8GB) 240 pin 2400MHz DDR3 RAM

Nice AMD 8-core system

• $219.99 (Combo - w/ $20 Rebate) - AMD FX-8320 8-core 3.5GHz CPU +
• Gigabyte GA-99FXA-UD3 R5 Motherboard
• $54.99 - Team Dark 16GB (2x8GB) 240 pin 2400MHz DDR3 RAM

Cheap, upgradeable Intel system

• $108.98 (Combo) - Intel Pentium G4400 Skylake Dual Core 3.3GHz 65w CPU +
• 16GB V-Color 2400MHz DDR4 RAM
• $50.98 - MSI H110M Pro-D LGA 1151 Motherboard (4+2 phase)

Cheap, overclockable, upgradeable Intel system

• $108.98 (Combo) - Intel Pentium G4400 Skylake Dual Core 3.3GHz 65w CPU +
• 16GB V-Color 2400MHz DDR4 RAM
• $89.99 (w/ $10 Rebate) - ASRock Z170A-X1 LGA 1151 Motherboard (Overclockable w/ Non-K CPU's)

Nice, but affordable, overclockable Intel i5 Skylake System

• $204.99 - Intel Core i5-6500 Skylake Quad core 3.2GHz 1151 65w CPU
• $107.99 (w/ $10 Rebate) - ASRock Z170 Pro4 LGA 1151 Motherboard (Overclockable w/ Non-K CPU's)
• $61.99 - 16GB Team Dark 3000MHz DDR4 RAM (15-15-15-35)

The rest of the system:

• $24.99 (w/ $5 Rebate) - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
• $6.99 - Arctic Silver Thermal Paste
• $35.91 (w/ $5 Rebate) - FSP Group Berserker 500w 80 Plus Bronze PSU
• $49.99 - WD Blue 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 64MB Cache Hard Drive
• $17.99 - LITE-ON Black 18x DVD-ROM
• $5.75 - Sunon 120mm 93CFM 3-pin Case Fans

Now, just pick out a decent case and you're good to go.

after 960 I wouldn't get too excited about 1060 but you never know!

@SuperClocks: With the ram prices being what they are one should definitely get higher than 1600mhz sticks. While the difference varies from game to game the higher freq ram has proven to greatly boost minimum fps levels

I'll look at the prices of faster DDR3 right quick. But honestly, the AMD systems are a bad investment anyway. Even the Dual core Intel builds would be better, IMO. While the 8 core AMD would be better at the moment for DX12, AM3+ is about to die. LGA 1151 has a ton of upgrade options.

Yes I would feel bad getting any amd cpu when nothing they have on offere can even beat stock 2500k i5 from 2011?

Zen better bring them back in to the game so Intel actually have to compete with their prices

Wait for RX480 or 1060 and tell us your current rig specs so we could suggest you on what to keep for your upgrade.

sadly guys I gave my old rig to my cousin so there will be no salvaging this time. All I got is the OS. I figured I could whip up a cheap something that will keep me afloat for a year or two until I can do a real setup. I can probably add another hundred to the budget but since this would be my first time really working with AMD I am pretty out of the loop.

Do you have any link for this? Is this about changing the base clock and it needs custom bioses?

https://www.google.com/search?q=asrock+non+k+overclock&oq=asrock+non&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.8477j0j4&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

@Coseniath: ASRock figured out how to circumvent Intel's bclk lock. The bioses come straight from ASRock.

After the removal of FSB and going to DMI, o/cing the base clock, resulted to crashes, being unstable and sometimes lower performance.

Did this change with Skylake?

Also Asrock might deliver for the moment new bioses but if Intel order them not to, they will immediately stop o/c and that means you will either have bios updates or o/cing...

It did indeed. The BCLK frequency is now separated from DMI and PCI-e, and only controls the cores and RAM linkage. The RAM multiplier can of course be changed to lower it's frequency.

As for the bioses, it's too late. The overclockable bioses (For every z170 ASRock board) are out there, and people cannot be forced to update their bios. It doesn't matter what Intel and ASRock do now.

Also, the exploit has been applied to motherboards from other companies, too. Overclockable bioses for Non-K CPU's are available for MSI, ASRock, Asus, and Gigabyte motherboards.

@bunchanumbers: Whatever you do, make sure you have enough money for the NX launch, in case...you know who appears in a launch title! ^_^

Yeah I know, but they immediately removed them too when Intel told them to. When Intel says "jump" mobo manufacturers say "how high?"... Intel Skylake Non-K Overclocking BIOSes Pulled

Ofc, you can keep the o/c enabled bios, but as I already said that means no bios updates. And if you find a problem (like the common memory stability problem), you will have to choose between living with the problem or losing the o/c.

And I don't know if you lose the warranty aswell...

How much more would a K version of that i5 cost? 20$?

Just a little more. $25 :P

And this is the difference between i5 6500 and i5 6600K. For the i5 6600 and i5 6600K the difference is only $4.

Thanks for this! This is what I was looking for. The nice AMD 8 core setup looks excellent. What kind of case would you recommend with that setup?

And yes @Cobra_nVidia NX will be my dream machine but its a year away! Plus this rig will be good practice since my computer guy moved to Wyoming.

What's your current CPU? How long can you wait for AMD ZEN?

Multi-threading is important for Windows Store's XBO ports.

No this will be a from scratch build, outside of a W8.1 installation disc I'll be upgrading to W10 later. I have no idea what the difference is between Zen and their current builds. But the cpu in the decent AMD build is 8 cores. That should be good for DX12 games right?

@bunchanumbers: Better PC CPU competition when ZEN arrives.

Just remember free upgrades to Win10 ends July 29th 2016. :P

I'd wait for Zen. If AMD price it competitively you could get a quad-core or even six core for a decent price.

Forget the RX 480.... massive issue with it overdrawing power from pci-e slot.

I would agree with you, but nVidia being a company who commits really shitty business practices in order to keep the competition down, rather than just making good products to do well, I would never buy a product from Nvidia again. Same with Intel, all the anti-competitive practices have made me never want to buy from them again.

Don't bother waiting for Zen (will be just another disappointment from AMD) and stay away from 480s (https://community.amd.com/thread/202410).

AMD decided to have their new card overdraw power from the PCI-E port for the sake of using a 6-pin connector, so their practices are kind of shitty too. As it stands right now, Pascal just seem staright up superior to Polaris.

Big mistake on there part, and they will pay for it. But nVidia has gameworks that intentionally cripples the performance of AMD video cards. Project Cars is one such game, and I saw zero performance increase going from a 280X to a 390X. And we have yet to see AMD's flagship product.

Is there a chance that the aftermarket versions could end up with a 8 pin connector? I'm thinking that version will be ideal for me. Plus it should have better cooling. Either way this build is happening this year. My laptop finally kicked the bucket.

@bunchanumbers: I think there's a software fix out right about now and (no idea if it introduces any issues or tradeoffs) and I'm sure we'll see 8-pin connectors soonish.

I'm still considering getting one too, especially because I've been with NV since forever and would kind of like to see the grass on the other side.

Sapphire is already making an 8 pin version.

Avoid AMD. At all costs. I regret my AMD build, it's an 8350 and 290 setup but it's hardly upgradeable. The 8350 bottlenecks graphics cards more powerful than a 390x, and I can't upgrade the 8350 to a better CPU because the 9590 is just a badly overclocked 8350. I have to replace my mobo for an Intel one if I want to upgrade. I'd have to replace the RAM too since DDR4 is the new standard and more.

Just. Avoid. AMD.