Two questions regarding what I really need

[sherretz]

So, I've set out on a bit of an adventure. I'm trying to find a way to get into Haswell for $300 or less. I got an Asus Z87 PLUS from Ebay for $100 and a set of Corsair Vengeance 8GB for right around $62.

What I'm starting to realize is that I'm not going to utilize the true potential of the Z87 board, so I'm considering reselling the board when it shows up and grabbing an H87 board to take its place.

This leaves me with two questions:
1) Is my PSU still adequate, with regards to connectors? (I'm assuming yes)
2) Is this just a case of buyer's remorse and I'm overlooking the fact of "a bird in hand...."?

I'm about 90% certain my Antec 300 has the holes drilled for m-ATX, so I don't see that as a hindrance.

Yes, I realize this is partially inappropriate given the forum, but I need people with mobo experience to check my choices. Can you provide any thoughts?

 

[ninjacore]

Yea, your PSU is still fine.

I don't think you'd make more than $10-15 off the Z87 you bought after shipping and eBay/Paypal fees. I'd say stick with it and start looking for a good deal on a CPU. You should be able to find a 4th gen i5 for under $200.

I used m-atx and full atx in my old Antec 300, by the way, so you're good there too.

 

[sherretz]

Great, thanks! Any places besides Ebay you'd recommend looking for the procs? I can't seem to get the thread in the classifieds on here to show up; not sure if I'm just overlooking a setting.

 

[EarthDog]

You need to have an ISP/EDU/MIL email here at the site. If you have that, PM a classifieds moderator (RollingThunder to name one) to help.

 

[ninjacore]

overclock.net and other forums have classifieds as well (not as good as ours ).

Do you live near a microcenter? BestBuy will sometimes price match MC prices.

 

[sherretz]

I don't believe there's a MC nearby. I live in DE and work in Philly.

 

[EarthDog]

There is one in Philly/St David according to their website...

 

[ninjacore]

Should be able to get a pretty good deal on a Haswell i5 there or maybe even a good combo deal and sell whichever motherboard you can get more money out of

 

[sherretz]

Hm. I wonder if Newegg will price match. I offered a guy $159.99 for a 4570S (on Ebay) and he replied/accepted in about 6 minutes. I haven't committed to the buy yet because now I'm wondering how good of a deal it really is. Proc was only used "a few hours" which by my guess means he was trying to decide between two procs.

4570S at MC is only $10 more, which leaves me conflicted. I'm still digging in MC so there may be some combo deals as well.


ED: I sent a forum PM to JoT since he authored one of the stickies. I'm not sure if he's the correct person to PM.

 

[ninjacore]

I believe the S is the low-power version of the Haswell i5. I don't think that's all that great of a deal as you gain ~1/2 Ghz going with the 4670k. I'd keep looking. Not sure if newegg price matches. I feel like I would have heard more about it, if they did. I am sure that they do not

 

[ninjacore]

I thought the 4670K was a little cheaper than it is ($230 on newegg and probably $210 on ebay). Microcenter is definitely going to be your best option at $200 and since you have one "local", you might be able to get BestBuy to price match.

 

[sherretz]

Ooh! Time for a new experiment. Newegg has the Iron Egg Guarantee, which is their own price match. And the Intel procs are part of it. I'm going to send them the info and see what they say. I think I can convince them that the store is nearby; if not, then I can call BB.

The only issue with this is that it's "In-Store Only"; but nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess.

 

[sherretz]

Update: Newegg doesn't pricematch with MC. That's fine; the store is close enough to where I work that I can take a detour on a Friday during lunch.

I'm still digging through motherboards. Didn't like what MC had for the pricepoints. I know Newegg can get me a mobo quick since I'm relatively close to their NJ warehouse. I feel confident I can get at least $100 for that Z87 board if I resell it.

 

[EarthDog]

I still don't understand why you would sell the board you have... You got a bangin deal on it, why sell it, and get a lesser board? Sounds like a ton of hassle to downgrade to me.

 

[ninjacore]

I agree. You won't be making enough in the end to justify the downgrade.

 

[sherretz]

I probably won't end up doing it once I have all the parts in front of me.


....and now I've come to realize after reading through a few things, that I may be committed to that 4670S since my offer was accepted. I contacted the seller and told him I didn't realize it was an S-series when I bid on it (true statement). We'll see what happens.

Ugh, now I feel like I've mucked this all up.

 

[sherretz]

Mobo showed up last night. Took care of the Ebay problem. Taking a trip to Microcenter tomorrow for the proc. Still waiting on my RAM to come in, but that should be here by tomorrow (YESSSS)