first gaming pc, a lot of doubts, plz some help :)

[nautiluz92]

Hi everyone, I’m new here and I’m choosing the parts ill buy for my new PC in July 15 or 20. Right now I’m studying computer science so I know a little about computer parts and new technologies. With Haswell processors in the local market, I’m looking for some help to make the right choice, so I hope you could help me with some of your knowledge and experience.

The first thing I’m having trouble with, is if I should buy a Haswell processor or an Ivy breach processor, that’s because for what I’ve read, the new architecture doesn’t represent a huge leap in performance and gets hotter than the previous architecture when you make some overclock. In the other hand with the new Haswell architecture is easier make some overclock because of the BLK multiplier, need less voltage to achieve higher speeds than the last generation and some reviews affirm that Haswell show a better performance with less MHz than the last generation with more MHz at the time that both of them are overclocked (for example a 3570k at 5 ghz have similar performance with a 4670k at 4.6 ghz). Then I have the chipset trouble, its worthy buy a z87 mobo? In my case, I’m not a person who makes a lot of upgrades to the pc, and I haven’t a lot of money so if I buy this pc, I think I won’t be buying a new one in almost 3 years, so the quality of Haswell of being future proof is something that I don’t know is its worthy for me.

Having this questions in mind, Ive made one build for each chipset, where the only difference is the mobo and the processor . the build is as follows:

1.5 TB HDD green WD
Asus maximus V formula
Msi 7950 twinfrost 3gb
Intel core i5 3570k
Corsair RAM 8gb at 2133
Corsair watter colling h100i
Corsair HX professional series 750 W modular power supply
Thermaltake overseer RX-1 or Cooler Master Storm Trooper (I can’t decide in this point neither, help pls !!! its worth the extra money ? )

In the Z87 build ill buy a 4670k for sure, but for the motherboard, there is a lot of good options out there that I don’t know what to choose. After read a lot of reviews, I think that a MSI Z87 Mower Max is a good option, especially because the on board audio boost (which I hope works at the level of ASUS ROG solution), UEFI style, software and look, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, etc. But if you have different alternatives, I’ll be happy to hear them (it’s complicate to make the correct choice, when you have so many options out there).

To end this large post, I believe that is important to make clear that ill use this PC to run the best games in the market right now, play a large variety of mmorpgs and make some overclock. Also maybe in the future some Photoshop and design stuff.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this.

I hope you can help me to make the best decision.

Nautiluz.

PD: I’m really sorry about my English, I know that is not the best, any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Theocnoob]

You don't need to get a board in the $200-300 dollar range (no idea what your local currency is. I'm quoting US dollars). You can easily get away with a $160 motherboard and get a decent overclock. If you want an extremely high overclock and plan to use liquid nitrogen, then get the best board possible. That doesn't sound like it's what you're doing.

I'd go with the Haswell build instead of the Ivy Bridge build. Like you said, the Haswell doesn't have to be overclocked as high as the Ivy to show the same results. Also, Haswell gives you six sata 6gbps ports instead of just 2 on Ivy bridge.

 

[nautiluz92]

Thank you very much for your help that makes all easier for me, I´ll change the board then.

Thanks again.

Nautiluz

 

[Knufire]

Hey, welcome to OCF!

When trying to recommend a build to you, there's some information that's extremely helpful for us to know. If you could answer these few short questions, we'd be happy to help!

• What are you planning to do with this compuer? Please be as specfic as possible.

• What is your budget?
  
  1. Does this include a copy of Windows?
  2. Does this include peripheals (a keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers, etc.)?
• Are you from the United States or a different country? Are you ordering from your own country or from across borders?
  
  1. Wherever you may be from, does the store that you are planning to order from have a website? It's okay if it isn't in English, we can manage.
  2. If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter?

• Do you have any specific requests with the build?
  
  1. Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind?
  2. Would you prefer the build to be particularly small?
  3. Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet?
  4. In general, do you prefer this to be a computer that you can spend money on now and let it rest, or a box built for continuous upgrading?
  5. Do you ever plan on utilizing NVIDIA's SLI or AMD's CrossfireX technologies? These features, with a compatible motherboard, allow a user to link multiple identical graphic cards together for added performance. In real world terms, this lets you buy a second identical graphics card down the line as a relatively cheap and easy way to gain a fairly large boost in performance. However, this requires buying a SLI/CFX compatible motherboard and PSU now, which may result in slightly higher initial cost.

Once again, thank you in advance for taking the time to answer these, and I hope you enjoy your stay at OCF!

 

[nautiluz92]

Hi again:

Than you very much for your feedback ill use the form to be as specific as possible.

• What are you planning to do with this compuer? Please be as specfic as possible.
  
  I'll use this pc to play the newest games in the market, at 1080p if its possible, also i want make some overclock and twitcks with the build ( im not a pro, but I want to learn), also this pc will be my multimedia center.

• What is your budget?
  Is hard to say beacuse in my country the parts are in some ways expensive beacuse they have taxes and import cost on them, but in US dollars are more or less 1160, in Colombian pesos are 2.310.000 and the max budget is 2510000 in a extreme case. The local store that I'll mention later dont have haswell and z87 in the stock right now but feel free to recommend and board under 260 us dollars, and i choosed a 4670k as my processor, so please just consider all the parts exept the processor and the mobo for the budget i mentioned before.
  
  1. Does this include a copy of Windows?
     No, i have an original win8 ( my university give it to their students for free )
  2. Does this include peripheals (a keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers, etc.)?
     No, i have already all the peripheals
• Are you from the United States or a different country? Are you ordering from your own country or from across borders?
  I'm living in Colombia right now, and I'm ordering form a local store in the moment.
  
  1. Wherever you may be from, does the store that you are planning to order from have a website? It's okay if it isn't in English, we can manage.
     yes, they have the web page is http://www.compuhobby.com/
  2. If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter?

• Do you have any specific requests with the build?
  Yes, I'd prefer that the mobo have an integrated audio solution ( something like audioboost from msi), a bios that let me do a lot of twicks and modifications,fan control, good software package, good overclocking capabilities, etc.
  
  Intel core i5 4670k as processor
  
  
  1. Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind?
     Yea, i really want to to do it, I'm thinking on make a 4.5-4.6 overclock
  2. Would you prefer the build to be particularly small?
     The size doesnt matter
  3. Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet?
     A general noise level is fine, but not extremly loud.
  4. In general, do you prefer this to be a computer that you can spend money on now and let it rest, or a box built for continuous upgrading?
     Mmm, my economical resources are limited , so i think the first option is the best for me right now
  5. Do you ever plan on utilizing NVIDIA's SLI or AMD's CrossfireX technologies?
     Yes, this is the only update that I have in my mind for this build.

Once again, thank you in advance for all your help and sorry for my english.
Nautiluz
[/QUOTE]

 

[Knufire]

I would go with:
CPU: i5-4670K

CPU Cooler: High end air (Thermaltake Silver Arrow, Phanteks TC14-PE, Noctua NH-D14) or AIO water cooler (Corsair H80i, NZXT Kraken X40)

Motherboard: Any Z87 board that has at least 8 black squares around the CPU socket area. These indicate that it has at least 8 power phases, which deliver power to the CPU and are important when overclocking. The ASUS Z87-A/Z87-Plus, the MSI gaming series boards, ASRock Extreme series boards, and Gigabyte UD3 and above boards all have this. All the extra stuff like improved audio/wireless/bluetooth can be added with addtional add-in cards, and the cost of these together still come out to be less than the more expensive board. Really don't need anything above the US$170 range or so.

RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 1.5V. Specific brand and/or model do not really matter

Storage: I would recommend a SSD boot drive, 120-240GB range, as well as a 7200RPM drive of however much space you think you need for storage.

PSU: If you are going with a 7950 or 670 or below, 650W is fine. If you go for a 680/7970/770/780/Titan, you need a 750W. These wattages are chosen with dual cards in mind.

Video card: Best you can afford. 7950 < 670 < 7970 < 770, in order of least performance to greatest.

Case: Whatever you want, but remember, it's just a metal box.

 

[nautiluz92]

Hi again, sorry for left alone the post for so long, but i was looking for another local store that sell msi gaming mobo(the store that i mentioned before, just sell Asus and Gigabyte ¬¬), after that the build look like this:
CPU: i5-4670K
CPU Cooler: H100i/H80( the difference is like 10 US dollars)
Motherboard:Msi G45/GD 65( I dont know what features make the difference in these mobos)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 Corsair Vengance CL9 1.5
Storage:SSD OCZ Agility 3 Sata 3 120 GB, Seagate 1TB 7200 RPM.
Video card:EVGA 770 superclocked (msi will arrive to the store in a week dont know which brand is better in this case)
Case: Thermaltake overseer RX-1
PSU: XFX PRO 850W( the difference with XFX PRO750W is like 5 US dollars)

Thanks again for your help.
Any comments are welcome.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

For the video card, I just got the EVGA 770, and highly recommend their version with their ACX cooler.

 

[nautiluz92]

Update:

After compare side by side msi GD 65 and msi g45 the difference are that G45 misses the following components:

HI-C CAP
A Hi-c CAP is a very small, but super-efficient capacitor. Besides ensuring enough spacing around a CPU socket to install large coolers, it also allows for 93% energy efficiency. Thanks to Hi-c CAP`s MSI mainboards are the most energy efficient in the market

SUPER CHARGER
With MSI Super Charger you can simply deliver MORE power to your smartphone, tablet, USB game controller or portable console. This allows you to quickly charge these devices for use when you're not gaming on your PC, eliminating the need for wall power sockets.

GO2BIOS
Entering a BIOS can be a frustrating job. Because nowadays motherboards boot lightning fast, MSI added the GO2BIOS button. Simply push it before you start or restart your system and you'll go straight to the system's BIOS when your motherboard powers on.

Multi-BIOS II
V-Check Points
Debug LED
Easy Button 3
Clear CMOS button
2 more Sata 3 ports

In my country, the price difference is around 55 US dollars after taxes, between this 2 mobos, is better to go with G45 or is worth the 55 US update dollars?

 

[nautiluz92]

Thanks for your fast reply, is the same EVGA 770 superclocked or there is any difference?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I recommend getting the dual-fan design (their ACX cooler), as it runs the GPU cooler and its quieter than the reference design.

 

[nautiluz92]

thank you very much, im asking the local store about it right now ill post asap i get the answer.

 

[Theocnoob]

In my country, the price difference is around 55 US dollars after taxes, between this 2 mobos, is better to go with G45 or is worth the 55 US update dollars?

I'd get the 65 over the 45. Higher quality components is the main reason.
There's nothing wrong with ASUS and Gigabyte boards by the way. In an earlier post you said you went to another store because the first store only had ASUS and Gigabyte. I would have stuck with the first store personally. But that's just my personal brand preferences.

 

[nautiluz92]

jeje thanks for your reply, before Z87 i didnt think ill buy a MSI being honest, but things change and i would like to give it chance for this time. The actual local store is a little bit cheaper but offer 2 year warranty over the build, the other one just 1 year. I dont know many about the electronic components( thats goes further of my knowledge), but in the msi webpage the only difference in componentes is that the GD65 have H-Caps and the GD 45 doesnt, is this the only difference?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[nautiluz92]

Ok, the local store confirmed that they didnt sell the gtx770 with ACX, but the sepuerclocked version have a very good reviews in newegg(the one that doesnt have ACX). In the other hand pls someone can confirm the fact the GD65 have better components? , or if i should go with the G45. Because i dont know which of that 2 boards suits me for the needs i listed at the start of the post.

Thank you very much for your advise.

Nautiluz

 

[MediaMind]

You don't need to get a board in the $200-300 dollar range (no idea what your local currency is. I'm quoting US dollars). You can easily get away with a $160 motherboard and get a decent overclock. If you want an extremely high overclock and plan to use liquid nitrogen, then get the best board possible. That doesn't sound like it's what you're doing.

I'd go with the Haswell build instead of the Ivy Bridge build. Like you said, the Haswell doesn't have to be overclocked as high as the Ivy to show the same results. Also, Haswell gives you six sata 6gbps ports instead of just 2 on Ivy bridge.

The extra cost for Haswell and a new Z87 board, for barely minimal performance gains (stock vs stock) if it comes to overclocking, haswell has been a nightmare from what I've noticed. Ivy and Sandy-Bridge owners are staying put and the ones who did buy Haswell, completely regret it and recommend those thinking to upgrade, not to. I think with the cheaper Ivy and a board like ASRock Extreme6, the Ivy will out perform the 4770K because you can actually clock the 3770K at 4.5GHz without issue, where as only 10% of Haswell owners were able to reach 4.6GHz. OP, stick with Ivy and if you using editing software, get yourself an nVidia GPU because of CUDA. I had 2x MSI Lightning 7970s in CrossFire and it performed a LITTLE better than a GTX 680 in the same rig.

 

[nautiluz92]

Hi MediaMind,thanks for your comment, jejeje now i dont know what to buy XD, so if you say so, should i go with 3570k ? and consecuently with a z77 mobo ?. I did a little bit of research on the Asrock z77 exterme6 and is a fantastic mobo and i really like 3570k too, so the difference btw 3570k with Asrock extreme 6 and 4670K with Msi gd65 gaming is jut 35 dollars. So please give me your advice, to make the best buy.

Thanks again for all your help.

Nautiluz

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Broadwell should be on the same socket as Haswell, while any board supporting an Ivy Bridge processor is a dead socket.

Leave yourself the upgrade path.

 

[Knufire]

The extra cost for Haswell and a new Z87 board, for barely minimal performance gains (stock vs stock) if it comes to overclocking, haswell has been a nightmare from what I've noticed. Ivy and Sandy-Bridge owners are staying put and the ones who did buy Haswell, completely regret it and recommend those thinking to upgrade, not to. I think with the cheaper Ivy and a board like ASRock Extreme6, the Ivy will out perform the 4770K because you can actually clock the 3770K at 4.5GHz without issue, where as only 10% of Haswell owners were able to reach 4.6GHz. OP, stick with Ivy and if you using editing software, get yourself an nVidia GPU because of CUDA. I had 2x MSI Lightning 7970s in CrossFire and it performed a LITTLE better than a GTX 680 in the same rig.

I don't know what you're talking about...ASUS binned a bunch of chips and the average chip will boot (not stable, but boot) at 4.6GHz at around 1.25V, which is high-end air/AIO liquid voltage range. Nearly all the Haswell CPUs I've seen with that type of cooling reach at least 4.4GHz stable, and a Haswell at 4.4GHz is definitely faster than an IB at 4.5GHz.

Also...I'm not saying your personal experience is wrong, but 2 7970s being only a little better than a single 680 means there was clearly something wrong with your setup.

 

[nautiluz92]

Thank you very much, for your fast reply. The thing is, that i dont plan to upgrade after 2 o 3 years the CPU ( ´cause my economical situation), so i this case, it is still relevant the fact that Bradwell will have the same socket?

Thanks again.

Nautiluz