New Hardware New Motherboard-CPU-Memory needed

D

DragonD

The Division of None
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
3,240
I've decided I need to upgrade my gaming computer.

I hadn't realized how old it was, until I started to actually think about it. I built it back in 2009.... so yea. Old.

I have no ideal what's relevant anymore. So would like some suggestions.

I don't need a new case or power supply (upgraded ps a few years ago).

I need the basics:
  • Motherboard
  • CPU
  • Heatsink
  • memory

I don't have a budget. I'm all about "value" and "bang for the buck". Meaning I don't mind spending the money, if it's worth it.. but I don't want to spend it, just to spend it.

(don't need to wait until Black Friday either....)


soo.. what do y'all suggest?


.
 
DragonD said:
I've decided I need to upgrade my gaming computer.

I hadn't realized how old it was, until I started to actually think about it. I built it back in 2009.... so yea. Old.

I have no ideal what's relevant anymore. So would like some suggestions.

I don't need a new case or power supply (upgraded ps a few years ago).

I need the basics:
  • Motherboard
  • CPU
  • Heatsink
  • memory

I don't have a budget. I'm all about "value" and "bang for the buck". Meaning I don't mind spending the money, if it's worth it.. but I don't want to spend it, just to spend it.

(don't need to wait until Black Friday either....)


soo.. what do y'all suggest?


.
Click to expand...

Well. Where to start?

Lets start with the CPU. Because that will dictate the rest of your build.

Since I noticed in your last thread that you did pick up that 970 (or are going to.) I will try to keep it in the same ball park, performance wise.

I would reccommend an i5 4690k. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117372

This processor will be plenty enough to keep up with any game you throw at it and paired with your GPU, you should see very pleasing performance increases in all aspects. For a $230 price tag and black friday coming up, I think it could be had at less than $200.

The motherboard is a tough decision for us to make. We dont know what you really do with your PC. Do you plan to overclock? Future SLI plans? Do you plan to pair drives in a RAID configuration? What size is your case?

I would reccommend the ASUS Sabertooth Z97. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132132

Its got a lot of packed features. 4 USB 3's. 4 USB 2's. Turbo boost for your CPU. ThunderboldEX support with a thunderbolt header and supports up to 1866 speeds of memory. All around the best bang for your buck motherboard in my personal opinion.

Memory is pretty standard. If you're looking for fast and an excellent choice in memory I would recommend mushkin.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226223

All around just a great company. You wont see much savings in this department as most memory prices are the same. Go cheap on memory and cheap is what you get.

The heatsink is purely up to personal opinion. I personally do not think you will ever need an aftermarket heatsink for your CPU so long as you dont plan to overclock. But if you do I would recommend a noctua branded cooler. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608041

Hope I helped. If you have questions just ask.
 
Good points Cloaked...

My current specs.

  • Case - Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer
  • PSU - Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power CPX SLI Certified
  • AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition
  • ASUS M4N82 Deluxe AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI AMD Motherboard
  • G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit
  • Rosewill RCX-Z5 92mm Two Ball Bearing / FDBB CPU Cooler
  • EVGA GTX 560 TI
  • 300G Velociraptor
  • WD terabyte drive (32M cache, 7200 rpm)

I'm building it for gamming. I do other stuff, but if it can handle my gamming, it can handle the other stuff I do.

The last 3 or 4 builds I've done have been AMD. But.. like I said, the current config dates back to 09...back then AMD was clear tops.

I plan on adding a solid state drive for the boot/windows. I'll use the raptor for gaming only (the Tera drive is data..)

I don't do any overclocking anymore.

How does the i5's compare to the i7's? (Was there even an i6?)
The i7's are less than 100 bucks more than the i5....

Ugh, I remember when I built the current rig (was that REALLY that lone ago..getting old). Anyways, I remember spending like 2 months researching, spec'ing, planning.

But havn't kept up with new tech since.. had no need to.
 
DragonD said:
Good points Cloaked...

My current specs.

  • Case - Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer
  • PSU - Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power CPX SLI Certified
  • AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition
  • ASUS M4N82 Deluxe AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI AMD Motherboard
  • G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit
  • Rosewill RCX-Z5 92mm Two Ball Bearing / FDBB CPU Cooler
  • EVGA GTX 560 TI
  • 300G Velociraptor
  • WD terabyte drive (32M cache, 7200 rpm)

I'm building it for gamming. I do other stuff, but if it can handle my gamming, it can handle the other stuff I do.

The last 3 or 4 builds I've done have been AMD. But.. like I said, the current config dates back to 09...back then AMD was clear tops.

I plan on adding a solid state drive for the boot/windows. I'll use the raptor for gaming only (the Tera drive is data..)

I don't do any overclocking anymore.

How does the i5's compare to the i7's? (Was there even an i6?)
The i7's are less than 100 bucks more than the i5....

Ugh, I remember when I built the current rig (was that REALLY that lone ago..getting old). Anyways, I remember spending like 2 months researching, spec'ing, planning.

But havn't kept up with new tech since.. had no need to.
Click to expand...

They never made an i6. The i5 is comparable to the i7. The only reason I recommended an i5 is because you're looking at the best bang for your buck. An i7, while only $50-70 dollars more would be a great choice you can get similar performance out of an i5. If you're a video maker and like to render video's, photo's and other things of that nature then sure. I would recommend the i7. But if you're just a gamer looking to do a few odd ball stuff on the side, the i5 will be plenty now and for a few years to come.

I also recommended the top of the line i5 processor you could get. You could very well get one of the i5's under $200 and come out with an excellent CPU.
 
Cloakedsphere said:
They never made an i6. The i5 is comparable to the i7. The only reason I recommended an i5 is because you're looking at the best bang for your buck. An i7, while only $50-70 dollars more would be a great choice you can get similar performance out of an i5. If you're a video maker and like to render video's, photo's and other things of that nature then sure. I would recommend the i7. But if you're just a gamer looking to do a few odd ball stuff on the side, the i5 will be plenty now and for a few years to come.

I also recommended the top of the line i5 processor you could get. You could very well get one of the i5's under $200 and come out with an excellent CPU.
Click to expand...

I think taking some time to understand the differences between the i5 and i7 is important to make a decision. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp is a decent article. The i7s are generally quad-core with larger L3 caches (4MB-8MB) while the i5s are dual-core with smaller L3 caches than the i7 (3MB-6MB). Right now is an interesting buy time as the Haswell-e was recently released which has the Z99 chipset and DDR4 memory. I believe the Broadwell chips come out in 2015 which any Motherboard compatible with the Z97 (haswell and broadwell chipsets) will work.

I think most hardware people will agree that Intel is the best bang for buck in the CPU world right now. As already mentioned, the CPU and MB combo are very dependent. My advice would be to get a Z97 chipset board as that allows you to go with the current Haswell (iX-4XXX) as well as the future Broadwell CPUs. I think the i5-4XXX is a great gaming CPU. I'm not sure you'll get a lot out of the i7-4XXX, but your mileage may vary and it won't hurt to have the extra cores and the large L3 cache.

As for memory, don't ask me. DDR3 memory prices suck right now and won't likely improve any time soon. (I guess we can blame a major fire last year as well as the manufacturers retooling for DDR4 as well
 
GreazyMeal said:
I think taking some time to understand the differences between the i5 and i7 is important to make a decision. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp is a decent article. The i7s are generally quad-core with larger L3 caches (4MB-8MB) while the i5s are dual-core with smaller L3 caches than the i7 (3MB-6MB). Right now is an interesting buy time as the Haswell-e was recently released which has the Z99 chipset and DDR4 memory. I believe the Broadwell chips come out in 2015 which any Motherboard compatible with the Z97 (haswell and broadwell chipsets) will work.

I think most hardware people will agree that Intel is the best bang for buck in the CPU world right now. As already mentioned, the CPU and MB combo are very dependent. My advice would be to get a Z97 chipset board as that allows you to go with the current Haswell (iX-4XXX) as well as the future Broadwell CPUs. I think the i5-4XXX is a great gaming CPU. I'm not sure you'll get a lot out of the i7-4XXX, but your mileage may vary and it won't hurt to have the extra cores and the large L3 cache.

As for memory, don't ask me. DDR3 memory prices suck right now and won't likely improve any time soon. (I guess we can blame a major fire last year as well as the manufacturers retooling for DDR4 as well
Click to expand...

Not sure where you got the information stating an i7 is quad core and i5's are only dual core. The i5 I listed is a quad core CPU with a 6mb L3 cache. The fastest processor in its price range. We can recommend a $300 motherboard and a $300+ CPU all day long if he is looking for ultimate performance without sticker shock.

As for DDR4, I would not recommend getting any motherboard that supports DDR4 memory at this time. The technology is still very new and I would wait a minimum of another year before telling people to jump into DDR4 RAM as it is very expensive for even a motherboard that supports DDR4.
 
Cloakedsphere said:
Not sure where you got the information stating an i7 is quad core and i5's are only dual core. The i5 I listed is a quad core CPU with a 6mb L3 cache. The fastest processor in its price range. We can recommend a $300 motherboard and a $300+ CPU all day long if he is looking for ultimate performance without sticker shock.

As for DDR4, I would not recommend getting any motherboard that supports DDR4 memory at this time. The technology is still very new and I would wait a minimum of another year before telling people to jump into DDR4 RAM as it is very expensive for even a motherboard that supports DDR4.
Click to expand...

I"m fairly certain I used the word 'generally'
"The i7s are generally quad-core with larger L3 caches (4MB-8MB) while the i5s are dual-core with smaller L3 caches than the i7"
 
Well nefore this gets into an unneeded argument, i5= dual & quad core (based on the cpu) & i7 is strictly quad core and more. However, lets not try to push Intel unless DragonD absolutely wants it. I did some research for you when it comes to price vs specs, so feel free to check out this link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...S&percm=19-113-280:$$$$$$$;19-116-899:$$$$$$$

You'll notice that I didnt pick the 4690 as the one that I picked is far more popular and within the same price range. I wanted 1 of each cpu type so I can give a good comparison for Dragond to check out. Hey Dragon, I would say that its safe to presume that once you let us know what kind of cpu you want, we can def go from there when it comes to giving you options on motherboards & memory. Also since you dont plan to overclock, then theres no need to go after an aftermarket heatsink. 1 more thing to keep in mind is that both these cpu's come unlocked (thats what the K next to 4670K stands for). It just simply means that they're available to be overclocked.

I hope this helps clear any misunderstandings.
 
GreazyMeal said:
I"m fairly certain I used the word 'generally'
"The i7s are generally quad-core with larger L3 caches (4MB-8MB) while the i5s are dual-core with smaller L3 caches than the i7"
Click to expand...

The way it's worded, it gives the impression that you're stating i5s are dual-core. The article itself doesn't do a good job explaining quad-core vs dual-core for the i5 series. Most i5s are Quad core these days, unless you go with a budget version.

As for the best bang for the buck. Personally, I say the Intel i5-4690K is the best bang for the buck overall. However, if you're working under certain constraints, such as power, heat, price, or form factor, the best bang-for-the-buck CPU may not always be the i5.

Stick with a Z97 board; I prefer Gigabyte but the earlier Asus recommendation works fine as well. I also recommend 2x8GB DDR3 1600 RAM. Again, I prefer G.Skill, but Mushkin, Corsair XMS, Patriot, and others, will work just as well.

With the 4690K, the K denotes it's Overclockable (multiplier is not locked). So if you're going to OC it, you definitely want to change out from the stock heatsink+fan (which is great in its own right, but for better OC potential, get a new heatsink). The Cooler Master Hyper 212 series and Zalman 9500/9700 series are the best traditional fan/heatsink combos, in my opinion. However, water-cooling is now much easier to install and widely available. The Corsair H50/H80/H90 kits are definitely great options. Cooler Master has several good options as well, but I would personally eye the H80i or H90 from Corsair for water cooling, or the CM 212 Evo for a traditional fan/heatsink combo.

Also, at this stage, it can't hurt to wait for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. That's what I'm doing before I purchase new SSDs and a new GPU (I want the GTX 970)
 
pillar said:
Hey Dragon, I would say that its safe to presume that once you let us know what kind of cpu you want, we can def go from there when it comes to giving you options on motherboards & memory.
Click to expand...

I use to rebuild my rig every couple of years. I always used AMD cause they were (back then) much cheaper and usually even better.

Wasn't a fan boy though. It was just a better cpu for less money.

Now, it seems like Intel has the overall better cpu, yes? So I think I'll go with Intel.

As far as i5 and i7, it does not seem like it's that much more for a i7. 80 bucks?100 bucks? (I'll spend that much taking the wife out to dinner on the weekend...)

I picked up a GTX 970 today.

O MAN, did it make a difference in my gaming. As we all know, even just half a second faster rendering counts.

But I know my old CPU is dragging me down also. So I'd like to replace it.
 
What will you be doing with this PC? Include specific games and programs.

What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (Tower/OS/monitor/keyboard/mouse/etc)

Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line?

Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-tower/full-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

Do you need a copy of Windows 7 or 8.1 included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference for one or the other?
 
_Sushi said:
My bad. This is what you should get:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116989
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157512
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148544

Just get the base i5 because you aren't overclocking. Buying an i7 will make a negligible difference in games. Get this cheaper motherboard because you don't need any of the features of the more expensive motherboards. Get this RAM because you need RAM.
Click to expand...

Wow. Umm.. that's only $375??? Not sure why I've waited so long to rebuild.
 
DragonD said:
Wow. Umm.. that's only $375??? Not sure why I've waited so long to rebuild.
Click to expand...

Well.. that figure doesn't include the new graphics card you just purchased, which would essentially double how much you pay after inclusion.
 
_Sushi said:
Well.. that figure doesn't include the new graphics card you just purchased, which would essentially double how much you pay after inclusion.
Click to expand...

I count that as separate :P

The above 3 items look good. Unless somebody chimes in otherwise, I'll order them tonight.

(although, I may order 16M of ram (2X8)..)
 
So long as you're not overclocking, you can do that build as the H in the motherboard denotes it's not OCing. I personally do not like micro atx boards as it robs me of future upgrade plans with additional space and such. But if it works for you, then go for it. (Again, I'm a Gigabyte fan so all other boards come second to me).
 
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