Equipment Recommendations In Replacing Matx Rig

Specs of my recently totaled mATX rig are in my signature. Replacing it as per a renter's insurance claim. Going to do a one-to-one replacement of components when and where possible (particularly so as not to run into issues with the insurance company), but no matter what, the motherboard is going to be new/different.

This was originally built as a Hackintosh, a frustrating experiment I eventually abandoned, first by dual booting, then by scrapping OSX altogether, opting instead for Win7Pro. I had BSOD issues early on (documented in other support threads), many more since my rig was damaged mid-move in a collision, even with a fresh reformat. The more I have been reading up on my Gigabyte GA-Z87M-D3H, the more I'm seeing that many folks had BSOD problems present when all memory slots were filled, which were fewer or absent when one or more slots were empty. For this reason, and the fact that the MB has long been discontinued, I'm in the market for a mATX-sized upgrade that will be compatible with all the other components listed.

An Amzaon reviewer describing these issues said he/she upgraded to a ASUS Z97-A and had no further issues, but that was in 2014...

Any and all suggestions, including what other components should definitely be upgraded instead of replaced, are greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

-newmy51

 

current build idea:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/newmy51/saved/J8dykL

 

Questions / comments / suggestions:

What are your planned uses for this computer? This will determine if your hardware choices are up to the job, or if you're spending money on stuff that you don't need/won't do you any good.

You chose an Intel Core i7-6700K. Any reason why you picked a old 6th-generation processor when Intel is currently shipping 9th-gen chips?

Are you dead-set on an Intel CPU? The latest AMD Ryzen CPUs are very nice and more cost-effective.

Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound: I would get Arctic Cooling MX-4 instead. It performs better, isn't electrically conductive, and costs the same.

MSI B250M PRO-VDH motherboard: Outdated, expensive, doesn't support anything newer than 7th-gen processors.

Four 16GB DIMMs: Do you need 64GB of memory? Again, we don't know what you're going to use the PC for, but that much memory is overkill for most people.

SanDisk Extreme Pro 480GB 2.5" SSD: For $200?! Wow, SanDisk thinks quite highly of their dated drive.... For that much money, you could get a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD (Samsung 970 EVO or a WD Black SN750) that will run circles around any SATA SSD.

Video card / Power supply:

• $140 is a lot of money for a 500W, 80+ Bronze power supply.
• The GTX 1660 Ti can draw 120-130W when it's pushed to the max.
• I would prefer a bit more "head room" for power, something in the 600-700W range.
• The Seasonic FOCUS SSR-650FM, 650W, 80+ Gold, semi-modular power supply goes for around $100.

TP-Link TL-WN881ND WiFi card: Its speed maxes out at 300Mbps. If you have Gigabit Ethernet, in the house or to the Internet, then you won't see the full speed with this adapter.

 

Thank you very much for the comprehensive reply. To answer some of your questions:

My main use of the machine is focus stacking and other photo editing, with the ability to multitask in parallel without slowdown. Focus stacking is *extremely* memory intensive. I have gotten away with 32gb in the past, but I have also hit the ceiling on multiple occasions with stacks significantly smaller than those I plan to make in the future.

I've heard some of the same concerns wrt to silly component choices from talking about this build elsewhere, on- and offline. I'm very glad I started these conversations before buying anything. I have a lot to learn, and barely knew what I was doing when I built the original rig, much less now.

Will post back with a mock-up of a (hopefully less ridiculous) build, incorporating all the advice received thus far.

 

Okay, that explains the large amount of memory.

Is your focus-stacking software multi-threaded? That would have a big impact on the CPU choice.

 

from:https://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker

Fully utilizes modern multi-core processors and multi-processor computers

nothing about multi-threading. i can ask the creator/developer, but might not hear back for a bit.

2 side notes:

1. if I'm only interested in GPU integration in Lightroom for improved performance, and way, way down the list is some gaming here and there, should I even upgrade my GTX 760 to something like a GTX 1660 or just keep it? It doesn't appear to be damaged, but it's included in the claim since who knows how much life it has left on it after the accident.

2. how important is it to upgrade to Win10 over Win7 for performance reasons? there are some older pieces of software I'm not sure will run on the newer OS, and I'm an old fogey and like the more standard appearance of a classic-themed Win7.

also, here's the new, in-progress build: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/newmy51/saved/wjJJbv

 

quick update re: GPU acceleration on Lightroom. these are the GPU requirements on Windows machines as per Adobe:

Minimum system requirements to use GPU for display
Windows

• Windows 7 or Windows 10 Anniversary Update (version 1607) or later
• GPU with support for DirectX 12 or for some GPUs, OpenGL 3.3 or later
• AMD GPUs:
  • On OpenGL (Win 7) systems, the following cards are not supported:
    • AMD FirePro cards
    • AMD Radeon HD 5670
    • AMD Radeon HD 6450
• Intel GPUs:
  • DirectX 12 support is required (which means Windows 10 is required)
  • Skylake GPU or later is required

which I'm pretty sure means the GTX 760 is fine so long as I upgrade to Win10 (which I should probably do regardless)

 

One processor core = one thread. Intel came up with hyperthreading, where one core can have two threads. AMD uses this feature too on some of its Ryzen processors.

More threads = more workers to do the job.

I would replace it. The 1660 runs circles around the 760 (click here for the stats). Also, the 760 is 6.5 years old now; the 1660 is only 8 months old. It's better supported and has a lot of life left, whereas the 760 is ready to be put out to pasture.

FYI - Microsoft is ending all support for Windows 7 in January 2020. Also, it is more difficult to support new processors and chipsets on the older o.s. because Intel and AMD no longer write drivers for these products in Windows 7. It will be a lot less hassle to go with Windows 10.

Windows 7, 8.1 & 10 compatibility testing for Windows XP, Vista & 7 computers
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-windows/310e06a4-b181-45ec-ae6d-ee93a1632932

Download and run Microsoft's compatibility checker. Ignore any hardware complaints since you're building a new machine. Look for complaints about apps, and then check if newer versions of those apps are available.

If nothing else, you can always set the app to run in Windows 7 compatibility mode under Windows 10. This doesn't work for everything, but I've had good success with it for the few apps that didn't like 10.

How to Make Windows 10 Look and Act More Like Windows 7
https://www.howtogeek.com/277448/how-to-make-windows-10-look-and-act-more-like-windows-7/

This setup looks like a better fit for the job. The Ryzen 5 3600 is a nice processor: 3.6 GHz base / 4.2 GHz boost, 6 cores / 12 threads, more bang for your buck than the Intel Core i7.

Here are a couple more cases that you might want to consider (nice looking, good cooling):

Fractal Design Nano S, solid side or side window
https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/define-nano-s/black/
https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/define-nano-s-window/black/

BitFenix Phenom
https://www.bitfenix.com/products/chassis/mini-itx/phenom-mini-itx/[/QUOTE]