Motheboard died, need to ugprade from 775 architecture. What's the "

[lobski]

Since 2007, I've been using a P5B Deluxe with q9550. I think the motherboard died. I might as well go all out and upgrade to Haswell. But I haven't been following up with the current mobo/cpu trends, and I need help!

I am falling towards the 4770k for maximum overclockability, with a Z87 motherboard. I'm falling towards the ASUS z87 sabretooth as well. I'll probably get around 12gb of ram or something.

Could I please get some insight? Is the 4770k and z87 Sabretooth a good combo? I would like something relatively high end!

p.s. I hear the Haswell series has crap overclocking abilities, is this true? Is it better to get Sandy/Ivy Bridge and get a higher overclock than a Haswell?

Thanks for helping a newbie!


Oh, I'm from Canada, and I'll most likely order from NCIX.

edit: Screwed up title. Ugh

 

[dave_the_nerd]

12GB of RAM? Nope. Haswell's dual-channel, and if you want to overclock, keeping it to a pair of DIMMs can help system stability. So, 8 or 16.

Haswell doesn't have "crap" OC - it's just a bit hotter running than Sandy Bridge, so you can't get quite as high a GHz number. (Seems like people are posting 100-200MHz less at a few degrees warmer.)

It's got higher IPC though so it's a wash. No reason to buy the old platform/tech.

4770K and Z87 Sabretooth would definitely be high end.

 

[CAxVIPER]

Even with haswells "crap" overclocking it doesn't take nearly as much to get the same performance. You can grab a cheap 775 cpu off ebay and try first if you don't really want to upgrade. As stated though make sure you get a set of dual channel ram.

If you go z87 my choice right now is the Gigabyte z87x oc with trident x ram. The colors clash though if you are about aesthetics

 

[tarmc]

depending on where you are, check out memory express.

 

[lobski]

Thanks for the replies. I'll get 16GB I guess.

Also, Should I get the Sabretooth or the Maximus VI Hero?

 

[Pseudoics]

I also just upgraded from a Q9550 after my motherboard also died. I had a poor overclocking chip, running 3.3Ghz. Reading all the Haswell reports I was prepared for only modest OCs once again, but this wasn't the case! I went with a 4770K on a Z87-PRO with 16GB 2133 ram. I tried the AI suite auto overclocking for a baseline to see what it would get, and it ran 4.8GHz @ 1.275v all day no problem! Like people have said, Haswell is just much hotter running. The silicon lottery is always at play too so what you get will vary from others. I'm currently on 4.7Ghz @ 1.245v because I wasn't happy with 80deg+ running temps on 4.8.

The speed difference coming from a Q9550 to Haswell (combined with an SSD) is simply amazing. You will not be disappointed

 

[JimmiG]

Personally, I don't see the point with those super high-end motherbords that cost almost as much as the CPU itself, considering Intel changes sockets almost on a yearly basis. Unless you specially need any of the features provided by those mobos, I'd say get a good <$160 mobo from Asus or Gigabyte. All the extra heatsinks and fancy color schemes are just fluff. However don't get a bargain bin motherboard either, as it might not be able to deliver enough power to the CPU when OC'd.

The chip itself will set the limit when overclocking. The variation between different 4770K's is quite large and most are pretty medicore overclockers compared to IB and especially Sandy Bridge. Pseudoics, you got a "golden" chip. Many won't even post at 4.5 GHz even with silly high voltages. Mine only does 4.4 GHz at 1.24V, same voltage that gets you to 4.7 GHz. To be stable at 4.5 GHz I need at least 1.3V, probably more for long-term stability.

Haswell still makes a lot more sense than IB, though. The difference between e.g. 4.4 and 4.6 GHz is less than 5%. The IPC improvements with Haswell make up for that. If you get a "good" Haswell chip that overclocks higher, it will leave IB far behind.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Personally, I don't see the point with those super high-end motherbords that cost almost as much as the CPU itself, considering Intel changes sockets almost on a yearly basis. Unless you specially need any of the features provided by those mobos, I'd say get a good <$160 mobo from Asus or Gigabyte. All the extra heatsinks and fancy color schemes are just fluff. However don't get a bargain bin motherboard either, as it might not be able to deliver enough power to the CPU when OC'd.

Two reasons:

1) Higher quality components allow higher CPU power draw at stable voltages, and therefore better OC.

2) PCI-E x16 slot configuration is usually set up to better accommodate multi-GPU setups. Sometimes they even have those PLEX chips.

Please note that I have a $120 motherboard, and did not consider the tradeoff worth it. But I can see the logic.

The chip itself will set the limit when overclocking. The variation between different 4770K's is quite large and most are pretty medicore overclockers compared to IB and especially Sandy Bridge. Pseudoics, you got a "golden" chip. Many won't even post at 4.5 GHz even with silly high voltages. Mine only does 4.4 GHz at 1.24V, same voltage that gets you to 4.7 GHz. To be stable at 4.5 GHz I need at least 1.3V, probably more for long-term stability.

Haswell still makes a lot more sense than IB, though. The difference between e.g. 4.4 and 4.6 GHz is less than 5%. The IPC improvements with Haswell make up for that. If you get a "good" Haswell chip that overclocks higher, it will leave IB far behind.

 

[Ketchup]

Hello lobski, can we assume you are going to get something that will last you as long as the other one did?

If you are, all three are so close (in performance) right now it probably won't matter much if you go Sandy/Ivy/Haswell.

If I were in your shoes right now, I would probably go with Ivy. I did the build in my sig a little differently than previous builds. I bought the Sandy and a great Z68 board when Ivy was out. Got a great deal on those parts that were still brand new, and I couldn't be happier. With a Haswell build, you are going to spend a lot of extra money on parts that aren't that much better (may even still have some bugs on the motherboard).

Just something to think about.

I will say I bought the 660 a week after it came out, as It offered better performance for the money than the 500 series.

 

[JimmiG]

Two reasons:

1) Higher quality components allow higher CPU power draw at stable voltages, and therefore better OC.

2) PCI-E x16 slot configuration is usually set up to better accommodate multi-GPU setups. Sometimes they even have those PLEX chips.

Please note that I have a $120 motherboard, and did not consider the tradeoff worth it. But I can see the logic.

1. I agree, but this is no longer the case with Haswell. Even a mid-range board will allow the CPU to draw enough power for it to reach 100+C with high-end cooling. The limit is no longer the motherboard, but the CPU itself. The silicon lottery will determine your overclock, not the motherboard. You should still avoid the bargain bin motherboards for exactly the reasons you stated, but anything else is fine unless you're planning to use LN2 for cooling.

2. That's why I said " Unless you specially need any of the features provided by those mobos" The same is true for additional SATA3 ports, built-in wifi, better built-in audio and anything else that may or may not be a benefit to you.
However you don't have to pay $250 to get a good PCI-E setup (X8/X8) that will work for 99% of users. Even with a PLX chip, again the Haswell chip itself limits the total number of PCI-E lanes going to the CPU to 16. If you want tri-SLI, you'd better go with LGA2011.

 

[SocketF]

If you want to save money, you can try the current "bang for the buck" setup:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2336785

OC-discussion:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335636

Old platform and no AVX, yes, but who cares, if you got 6cores ^^

If you want to spend mor $$ and want to have high OCs, maybe wait a few more weeks for the Ivy-E chips for socket 2011. Due to a better heat transfer between die and lid, they should oc better.

 

[lobski]

Hi,

So I finally went with this and pulled the trigger;

Intel 4770k

Maximus VI Hero

Corsair AX860 PSU

G.Skill 2x8GB kits

samsung 840 Pro 256GB

GPU will be my current one, gtx480.

The reasoning for the 4770k is that, I will rarely ever upgrade the mobo/cpu. I plan on using the cpu/mobo for at least 7-8 years. I think getting the i5 4670 for 8 years isn't better than getting a 4770k for that length of time. My only gripe with this is the crap overclockability the 4770k seems to have. But oh well.

I DO plan on getting a 780 or something similar in a few months or something.

 

[Zap]

PSU is overkill, but I'm sure you'd be happy with the machine as spec'd.

I plan on using the cpu/mobo for at least 7-8 years.

I cannot imagine still using a CPU/mobo from 2005 as my daily use machine. Intel was still in Netburstlandia. At least AMD came out with the dual core A64 platform, but still any of the lowest end current socket AM3+/FM2/1155/1150 CPU will likely annihilate it.

But props to you for your patience with old and slow computers. :thumbsup: I don't have the fortitude for that.

 

[lobski]

PSU is overkill, but I'm sure you'd be happy with the machine as spec'd.



I cannot imagine still using a CPU/mobo from 2005 as my daily use machine. Intel was still in Netburstlandia. At least AMD came out with the dual core A64 platform, but still any of the lowest end current socket AM3+/FM2/1155/1150 CPU will likely annihilate it.

But props to you for your patience with old and slow computers. :thumbsup: I don't have the fortitude for that.

Lol, I used a p5b deluxe and a q9550 up until a few days ago. Surprisingly, it played my games very well with my overclocked 480 at 2560x1600. I think it ran about 90% of games, except for games like Crysis, Planetscape 2, and a very few others. But I played most games pretty well! I hate, HATE installing a new mobo, because that means reformatting, installing all the programs again, tweaking and changing settings to my suites, etc. Its so annying!

 

[Zap]

I hate, HATE installing a new mobo, because that means reformatting, installing all the programs again, tweaking and changing settings to my suites, etc. Its so annying!

Haha, I hear ya. I used to be that way with games, always saving my CFG files to retain my keyboard maps.

I eventually came across a solution. I made myself use default keys. D: Took some getting used to, but now I can sit down at just about any FPS game and play right away. I still have one friend that always, always, always fiddles with keys. These days I laugh at him.