planning an upgrade

[Bardock]

Hey guys, I'm planning to do an upgrade for gaming mostly,photoshoping and experimenting a bit with OCing it. Now my thoughts were around this build:

i5 4670k
Asus Sabertooth z87
R9 280X ( or r9 270X toxic)
2x4gb Geil Black Dragon @ 1600MHz
Corsair Hydro H55

How does that sound? Should I go for the 4670k or should I wait for the Broadwell chips?

Thx in advance

 

[Robert17]

What's your budget? If you read some articles in today's active forums you'll see there are some opinions on ASUS as a MB vendor that are less than flattering. Your choice of the H55 is interesting....is it because of the case you'll be using? Do you intend to overclock?

If you intend to upgrade to Broadwell you'd be best to wait until all of the Broadwell chips are on the market; if you have the itch now, stick with the Z87.

http://www.geek.com/chips/upgrading...dwell-will-require-a-new-motherboard-1568738/

 

[Bardock]

Well i would say i could afford 600-650€ for this upgrade... I wanted an h55 as a starter b4 i start experimenting with OC over 4.1+ What if I build now a Haswell build and then just upgrade to a Broadwell chip? Since both chips use the same socket.. What would u suggest for a mobo?

 

[freakdiablo]

I'd say if you're considering upgrading to Broadwell, then wait till Broadwell. If anything, there might be a price drop on the Haswells. Also, I've heard if you're going with a low end AIO such as the H55 (assuming that's what you mean), then you're better off going with just a decent air heatsink. Similar if not better cooling for similar pricing and no risk of a leak.

Also, the Sabertooth might be overkill and I don't know if you can run Broadwells on z87 boards. Getting something like a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H will do alright for air & basic water based overclocking, and since it's based around the Z97 chipset, you can still get a Broadwell chip. Plus it's ~$90 US cheaper over here, don't know how much cheaper it is in Greece.

 

[Bardock]

So, I went for the Gigabyte mobo suggested (or I might be getting the GA-Z97M-D3H coz I'm thinking of making a tiny, dimension-wise, build) + the 4670k. If I'll go for the miniITX build, I'll stick with the H55 since it's a bit better in terms of space, otherwise I'll be getting a Hyper 212 EVO(for a starting OC around 4.0-4.1, later on I'll be making a custom loop I guess) and the R9 270X toxic. And when the Broadwell chips come out, I'm gonna hit em out. Is the release date yet announced?

 

[Robert17]

Probably end of year, just before the Christmas shopping season, from what I've read on the Broadwell availability.

 

[Bardock]

Welp, I guess it will be good till then. Regarding the two mobos mentioned above, apart from the 2 less PCIs and RAM slots, they are both equally capable of OCing right?

 

[Robert17]

I can't comment on the Gigabyte MBs as I haven't owned one in several years. Perhaps you should also consider MSI; I've enjoyed their MBs lately as well as ASUS. All have various boards in different form factors, some oriented towards OC'ng. If you want a little peace of mind when starting your OC'ng adventures I suggest getting a board with dual BIOSs. It is a very good idea in my opinion as you can flash one BIOS to get the vendor's latest updates while leaving one BIOS at stock settings; if anything goes haywire you can still boot your system.

Check out the websites for Gigabyte and MSI. They are user friendly for understanding what they offer and then go to a site like NewEgg which will allow you to compare your favorite selections side by side to understand in one visualization what you're comparing.

 

[Bardock]

I can't find any uATX mobos from MSI around here though I found the Asus Z97M-Plus but it's like 30-34€ more expensive than the Gigabyte and they are exactly the same.