[SOLVED]Logical Upgrade from Q6700

It's good to be back on the forums after a short hiatus. Will be working on that case mod again, shortly.

Anyways, I have this tough little Q6700 I'm looking to upgrade. I've had it for around 6 years now, actually bought it off of ClubIT when that was still a thing. G0 stepping and all. My motherboard never liked OCing(which is weird because it was supposed to be built for it) so it's been at stock speeds it's entirety of life. It's still a great little chip and can take on just about anything I throw at it, however the 775 socket is coming to an end, and with no DDR3 support on my board, I might as well upgrade everything. I need a new video card, since the majority of my computing is Gaming.

I've been looking at the i5-3570K and another ASUS board, the Sabertooth Z77. I will be running 16GB of RAM for now(2x8GB for upgrades later) in the 1600 flavor. Also another Vapor-X Sapphire, 7950, since it's a heck of a lot more powerful with 3GB for the nominal amount of money over the 78xxs.

I don't edit videos, anymore. Nor do I OC/crunch/fold/etc. I'm looking to find out if the extra money spent on an i7 could be saved in the MOBO, since the Sabertooth is hella expensive(230). Ok, the Maximus was like 300 when I bought it, but now I'm married and had to beg the wife just to let me do this. If you haven't noticed I'm pretty brand loyal, and even if I went with AMD I'd probably stick to Asus boards, unless someone can steer me away from them.

Basically I need the whole computer built for around $1,000. I want a SSD for OS and a few games. I have the case already, and need to upgrade the PSU. And I want it to be semi-future-proof. I'm not looking to get another 6 years from this thing. But 3 years is acceptable to me with minimal upgrades.

Sorry, I've been out of the game for a while lately because of work. I just need some basic info if anyone is willing to help. I've googled my off for the past few weeks and priced a few builds on Newegg. Benchmark results can only go so far.

Main games to be played: Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3, and Firefall. I play all the crappy games like CoD on XBOX.

3570k and ASRock z77 extreme4. You wont see much of a difference with an i7 for gaming and while the sabertooth is an amazing board, the ASRock will do everything you need and more. I know ive hit up to 5.2 ghz stable on my 2500k with the extreme4. Take the money saved and use that for the SSD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
Get a free set of ram for 143 shipped.

You beat me to it heater. He's what I feel would fit your needs, just make sure your case is wide enough to fit the heatsink and add OS of your choice.

Agree with a lesser board... Sabertooth is solid and carries a 5 year warranty if that tickles your fancy, but there are boards right around that price that are MUCH better for overclocking (not that you are doing that) and dont have gimmicks inflating the price.

That said, since you are not overclocking, I first say, why a "K" CPU? Save $20 and get the non K. That also means you can get a lesser board all around. The ASrock Z77 Extreme 4 is arguably the best bang for our buck board out at this time (it will also overclock well if you so choose to do so).

Thanks for the quick replies guys. I did see that MoBo in cyber deals, and it's a great price with the RAM. It's not 2x8, but it ends up being cheap. I added another set of the same sticks for the 16GB. Here's what I ended up with.

Price difference ends up being about 1144 - 998.

Mandrake4565 said:

You beat me to it heater. He's what I feel would fit your needs, just make sure your case is wide enough to fit the heatsink and add OS of your choice.

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Solid build that leaves plenty of room for a nice GPU!

I know you said you dont want to OC, but i would highly advise still getting a K cpu. While its not needed right now, a year or two down the road when games start pushing your cpu to hard, a nice overclock will alow you to get more time out of your rig. So instead of upgrading 2-3 years from now, you will proly get an extra year out of your investment for a small $20 extra now.

For the 16gb, at the current time there is no need for it for a gaming rig. 8gb is more than enough for the time being

EarthDog said:

That said, since you are not overclocking, I first say, why a "K" CPU? Save $20 and get the non K. .

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The K is the same price on Newegg right now, 214.99. So, why not? It gives me wiggle room.

Edit: the 3570 has a 15$ promo code.

Heater said:

For the 16gb, at the current time there is no need for it for a gaming rig. 8gb is more than enough for the time being

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It's not as luxurious as 32GB but it still sounds fancy to me knowing I have 16. Plus with the prices of RAM these days you can no never go wrong to buy a little more.

Edit: those thumbnails didn't become thumbnails...

Proto said:

The K is the same price on Newegg right now, 214.99. So, why not? It gives me wiggle room.

Edit: the 3570 has a 15$ promo code.



It's not as luxurious as 32GB but it still sounds fancy to me knowing I have 16. Plus with the prices of RAM these days you can no never go wrong to buy a little more.

Edit: those thumbnails didn't become thumbnails...

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I know you have your heart set on a asus board, but your money would be better spent on a GPU. if you went with the ASRock board and went with a 212 cooler you would be able to squeeze in a 7970 Ghz gpu. That will give you a much better experence IMO. Ive had the extreme4 since launch and it has been an amazing board bar none. Looks nice, overclocks like a beast with stable volts, well laid out bios, easy updates.

EDIT: You could also easily drop down to a 750W or even a bit lower. The rig i mentioned had 680SLI with a 2500k (higher tdp) at 4.6 daily with a 750W Corsair. That would save you even more cash which you could use twards your sabertooth. Just remeber, the biggest factor for a gaming rig is the GPU, and that is were most of the cash should go. With your budget you should shoot for the 7970 GHZ IMO.

With the ASRock set up, I'd only be saving 10$ on the cooler versus the Xigmatek, which not only got really good reviews at Frosty's, but it goes with the theme of my case mod. The Vapor-X 7970 is 425, compared to around 310 for the 7950. There comes a point, for me, where diminished returns are far too great for my wallet.

Proto said:

With the ASRock set up, I'd only be saving 10$ on the cooler versus the Xigmatek, which not only got really good reviews at Frosty's, but it goes with the theme of my case mod. The Vapor-X 7970 is 425, compared to around 310 for the 7950. There comes a point, for me, where diminished returns are far too great for my wallet.

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For the boards:

ASRock 134.99
Sabertooth: 228.99

That right there would get you most of the way to the 7970. For the cooler I cant say much there, as at the end of the day its your money and you get to look at it all day so as long as you enjoy it that is the main thing.

For the 7970, again this would get you much more than the board would offer. It will be able to keep up with the newest games longer, and should have better resale value. While its pretty much imposible to make a futureproof computer, getting the longest use out of your hardware between upgrades is always nice without breaking the bank.

Here is a quick review for you to look at. It is for the HIS 7970 but the benches show for both the reference 7950 and 7970 ghz so you can see if the performance difference is worth it.

EDIT: For your wallet as well, if you dropped down to a quality 750 or even 650W PS that would give you even more cash and have plenty for that system.

I would keep build no 1 with the Asrock Mobo and buy 2 x of these in Xfire! Why because the money you save on build 1 you could easy buy 2 of these cards and still have change left over. Also wow you would have one hell of a set and build!

1, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

P.S. If you wait till the Green Monday sale maybe you can get more bang for your Buck?

Ajay57 said:

I would keep build no 1 with the Asrock Mobo and buy 2 x of these in Xfire! Why because the money you save on build 1 you could easy buy 2 of these cards and still have change left over. Also wow you would have one hell of a set and build!

1, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

P.S. If you wait till the Green Monday sale maybe you can get more bang for your Buck?

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Only issue with CF is the lack of support in some games, microstutter, heat, and noise. Single card solutions always seem to work better to me. Also it might be a bit tight with his budget. Last i checked the 7870 xfire was a bit faster than a single 7970, but that would be up to the OP if he could budget/want to deal with a crossfire setup.

That costs even more than the single $410 he doesnt want to buy... also, I personally never suggest SLI/CrossfireX off the bat with midrange cards on 1920x1200 or less (no upgrade path, not needed, more power, more heat, noise, possible scaling issues... but that may just be me.

Its just something a bit different i also agree about what you said ED, but from looking at the higher cards the feed back. Is lets say not to positive and you happen to say the other day how the 7870 was doing so good. Just throwing a few ideas into the pond and looking at the Ripples so to speak! Yes he could just go with the Gigabyte 7870 i posted or 2 if he so wishes regards all. AJ.

What feedback? Newegg? LOL. Not trusting that at all outside of DOA issues. And if there are problems its brand specific, so no problem with the 'line' of cards. We all LOL @ newegg reviews for the most part (again outside of DOAs).

And yeah, like I said, he was already wincing at paying $410 and that solution is $460.

Anyway, looking at some performances inside BF3, I dropped the PSU to the TX750, and picked up the money in the 7970. I remember back when I bought my Q6700 that the equivalent Xeon processors were considerably cheaper. Is it still the same? AFAIR the Xeon chips are without integrated graphics, otherwise you're getting the same architecture for cheaper.

Proto said:

Anyway, looking at some performances inside BF3, I dropped the PSU to the TX750, and picked up the money in the 7970. I remember back when I bought my Q6700 that the equivalent Xeon processors were considerably cheaper. Is it still the same? AFAIR the Xeon chips are without integrated graphics, otherwise you're getting the same architecture for cheaper.

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Nope, as of now the I series processors are cheaper, and the xeons are not unlocked so you couldnt overclock much

Thanks for the help guys. I can be stubborn at times and I needed someone to talk me out of that Asus board!