Notebook recommendation in this thread -> https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4163097

GTX1060 cannot do SLI at all, even with the 6GB, that's why I mentioned to run them in solo mode and go for a PSU upgrade only.

SLI ready mobo is expensive as it is only available on a mobo with at least 2 PCIe x16 slot (cards will run at x8 after SLI), so you need at least Z170/Z270 for it (if you are using LGA1151 socket CPU).

Yes it does have 2 x16 slots but one will run at full x16 mode and another one at x4 mode, so when you CF the GPU, the second card will have its performance reduced due to low bandwidth issue. This is not recommended for mid & high end GPU unless you are okay with the reduced performance.

Went to Lowyat Plaza this afternoon and was able to spot few RX580 there.

Zotac is 5 years (selected models), others are mainly 3 years.

Mini is of course cheaper than others as it is the lowest end series of Zotac model, their AMP and AMP Extreme are the high end series.

For 1k budget, only new G4560 and i3 can fit (after adding up the mobo and RAM), i5/i7/cheapest Ryzen all require > 1k (total around 1.3k for the cheapest parts available).

If you are okay with used item, look for used third gen i7 or fourth gen i5 and their respective mobo in Garage Sales, they can be bought under 1k.

x1 is okay for bitcoin mining, nowadays BTC mobo all come with PCIe 2.0 x1 slot, ASrock just announced one BTC mobo with 13x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots at Computex Taipei

About the PSU, yeah go for a decent quality one like Superflower Leadex Gold or EVGA G2 (or G3 for latest model), decent unit with 600W is enough to power up 2 GTX1060.

If I recall correctly, it is Atom, I didn't ask for the price since I wasn't there to hunt for GPU

Intel Pentium G4560 - RM 244
ASRock H110M-DVS - RM 242
G.SKill Aegis 4GB DDR4 2133MHz RAM - RM 149
WD Blue 1TB HDD - RM 219
CM lite Power 350W - RM 126
Armageddon Vulcan V1x - RM 79
Asus DVD-RW SATA ODD - RM 69
BenQ GW2270 - RM 390

Total: RM 1518 (ETECH price inclusive of GST)

You can request to get AVF casing which comes with OEM PSU to reduce the total cost.

Intel Core i5 7400 - RM 771
Asus H110M-K - RM 259
G.SKill Aegis 8GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM - RM 285
Gigabyte GTX1050Ti 4GB GDDR5 Windforce - RM 699
WD Blue 1TB HDD - RM 219
FSP Hexa+ 550W - RM 210
Tecware F3 - RM 119
ViewSonic VA2259-SH IPS - RM 449

Total: RM 3011 (ETECH price inclusive of GST)

Ryzen 5 1400 build is possible if you can top up your budget by extra RM 100.

AOC I2769VM - around 1k

Dell S2718H (with HDR & FreeSync) - around 1.3k

This post has been edited by terence_nwb: Jun 6 2017, 09:57 AM

Corsair Spec 01 to 04 are under Corsair Carbide series so he is technically correct.

And 04 is the new model that just came out last month in Malaysia.

Both are different things, one is memory one is CPU.

If you are running low on memory then adding more memory will fix the issue, but if the culprit is the slow CPU (4th gen i5 is still kicking a** these days BTW unless you are doing heavy CPU stuffs on it), then adding more memory won't be able to solve the issue.

And nope, 16GB is not overkill, it depends on your usage pattern and common practice on memory management.

I did say it is fast UNLESS you run heavy stuff with it, so it depends on what you do with your PC (or what you use for), there are many application these days and it is impossible to cover all of them under same category, if you do a lot of heavy video rendering, 3D rendering etc then the i5 will be noticeably slower than Ryzen 5 1600 in terms of the time needed to complete an operation.

Official system requirements stated 2GB RAM for 64 bit OS, that's the minimum value recommended by Microsoft.

Some users don't do intense stuff with their PC, only email, light browsing, videos & music etc, 4GB is enough for these super easy and light weight tasks.

8GB is a common value nowadays if you are a normal user (light to medium multitasking, gaming etc.), 16GB or more if you are a heavy user.

My office rig only has 4GB of RAM, my usage pattern on this rig is light and only for email, light browsing and music, 4GB is enough for me, so until now I still haven't upgrade it to 8GB yet, so in conclusion, it depends on your usage pattern, if you aren't craving for more memory, then getting more memory will not speed up your PC, it is like you build 3 lanes road in a kampung but then the demand is not there yet (low traffic flow) and you expand the lane again to 6 lanes, isn't it a waste of resource and money?

Office rig: i3 3210 + 4GB RAM

Main rig: i7 6700K + 16GB RAM (in my siggy, for gaming and entertainment usage)

HTPC rig: i5 4460 + 8GB RAM (from my old rig, put in living room)

This "normal user" term, it depends on how you define it and what's your usage pattern, no heavy stuff involved? Stick with what you have, you cannot feel the difference if your usage pattern is light when you upgrade to a faster CPU, observe the usage in task manager to understand which hardware is actually causing the slow down.

I don't game with my i5 HTPC anymore, but previously it was a gaming rig paired with GTX970, no problem running games with this setup.

How many GPU do you plan to invest for Bitcoin mining?

RX470/480/570/580 are all out of stock now, so your last hope would be GTX1060 (and above).

It is better to set a budget or at least the ROI so we can come out with a suggestion.

18 to 24 months is a very long period, based on current rate, you should be able to start earning in just 3 months time with GTX1060 (ROI in ~90 days), so I will start with GTX1060 first since AMD cards are out of stock everywhere currently.

Intel Pentium G4560 ~ around RM 250
Cheap H110 mobo with at least 3 PCIe x 1 slot ~ around RM 250
8GB RAM ~ around RM 275 (4GB is also fine)
GTX1060 6GB ~ around RM 1300 (x 3)
500GB/1TB HDD or 120GB SSD ~ around RM 200
> 750W 80+ Platinum PSU ~ start from around RM 700
PCIe Riser ~ around RM 50 (x 3)
Open Bench Case ~ depends on which one you get, price may vary, just assume it to be around RM 300

Total cost will be around 6k.

AMD Ryzen 5 1600 - RM 1039
ASRock AB350M Pro4 - RM 399
G.SKill Aegis 16GB (8GB x 2) DDR4 2400MHz RAM - RM 570
Zotac GTX1050Ti 4GB GDDR5 Mini - RM 729
WD Blue 1TB HDD - RM 219
FSP Hexa+ 450W - RM 185
Tecware Alpha - RM 219
Dell UltraSharp U2917W - RM 1599
Logitech MK200 Wired Combo - RM 75

Total: RM 5034 (ETECH price inclusive of GST)

For 3k budget rig, basically you have to settle with cheap 1080p monitor (~ RM 400), Ryzen 5 1400 (~ RM 820), GTX1050 (< RM 600) etc. The ultrawide monitor jacked up the total price, if you are willing to ditch it then your rig specs will be much better, I would go for this path anytime as price/performance ratio matters the most

If you really want GTX1070 then you better hunt for cheap GTX1070 in Garage Sales, they are cheaper than what retail stores are selling currently. But your budget can only fit a cheap 1080p 60Hz monitor if you choose this path, so high chance that your GTX1070 will be heavy underutilized (you can consider using DSR to improve image quality in games since you got a lot of headroom left with GTX1070 on 1080p panel).

The below rig is based on GTX1060, the price referenced is not from Penang, but it should give you a rough idea on the specs and cost needed. Not suggesting any AMD cards here due to low stock status thanks to the active cryptocurrency mining worldwide recently

AMD Ryzen 5 1600 - RM 1039
ASRock AB350M Pro4 - RM 399
G.SKill Aegis 8GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM - RM 285
MSI GTX1060 6GB GDDR5 Tiger OCV1 - RM 1300
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD - RM 474
WD Blue 1TB HDD - RM 219
FSP Hexa+ 550W - RM 210
Tecware Alpha - RM 219
ViewSonic VA2419-SH IPS - RM 525
Logitech MK200 Wired Combo - RM 75

Total: RM 4745 (ETECH price inclusive of GST)

For new parts, it's either G4560 or i3 7100, i3 7100 will benefit you more due to higher clock speed (3.9GHz vs 3.5GHz) and CS:GO loves high single core clock speed, you'll gain some FPS boosts from it.

But then it is not worth to upgrade from an i3 to another i3, the performance leap is not significant, if you are okay with used parts, look for used i7 4770/i7 4790/Xeon E3 1230v3/Xeon E3 1231v3, these processors are able to bring significant performance improvements over your current setup, as for the mobo and RAM, you can keep using them since they are compatible with these processors (same socket).

Compatibility and specs wise no problem, you can consider removing the SSD first if you are just around RM 250 away from the GTX1050Ti, add the SSD later when you have more funds (or potentially get a 240GB instead )