New build need opinion/input/advice etc

[joneffingvo]

Hey guy's i'm thinking about rebuilding my system i haven't touched it in almost a year or two so i'm completely out of the loop. The last known setup i have is currently:

CPU: Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition
Mobo: MSI Big Bang X-Power
Memory: Kingston HyperX (12-24GB?)
Harddrive: 2 WD Raptors ; 1 Maxtor 500 GB
Monitor: Sony 1080p 32" HDTV
Sound Card: Soundblaster X-Fi
Video Card: N/A

#1: Buy a GTX 780 along with 2 Samsung S27B970D's (is it 2 overkill?) and then just calling it a day? My question is... Should i just stick to using my Sony 32" HDTV? In regards to the video card is there anything else i should be looking at besides the GTX 780?

#2 Upgrade the mobo/cpu and buying a video card and then calling it a day? I've been looking at the Intel core i7 3930k as well as the AMD FX-8350. I know the 3930k absolutely dominates but is pricey and after adding the motherboard it gets even more expensive. Is the AMD FX-8350 even worth it? Do i even need to upgrade my current CPU/Mobo?

I would love to hear your guys's input/advice!

 

[joneffingvo]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for? Gaming, surfing the web, watching movies, etc

2. What is YOUR budget? $3000.00 and less

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from? US looking at Amazon/Newegg

4. IF YOU have a brand preference? Negative, whatever provides the best performance

5. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds? Overclocking, but nothing extreme.

6. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using? Still debating

7. WHEN do you plan to build it? 1-2 Months

 

[Termie]

Welcome to the forums, joneffingvo!

The FX-8350 is actually slower in some games than the CPU you have, so no, don't do that.

As for actual upgrades, your first course of business should be to get an SSD. That will improve the responsiveness of your system tremendously over those old Raptors.

Next, since you don't have a video card, you obviously need one, and for your system, I'd probably recommend an HD7950. Also, you mention dual screens, but this isn't a workable gaming setup due to the bezel. How were you planning on using the two screens?

Until you settle on what your goals are for the system, it's impossible to suggest a new CPU/motherboard or an upgrade beyond the HD7950 on the graphics side.

 

[joneffingvo]

Welcome to the forums, joneffingvo!

The FX-8350 is actually slower in some games than the CPU you have, so no, don't do that.

As for actual upgrades, your first course of business should be to get an SSD. That will improve the responsiveness of your system tremendously over those old Raptors.

Next, since you don't have a video card, you obviously need one, and for your system, I'd probably recommend an HD7950. Also, you mention dual screens, but this isn't a workable gaming setup due to the bezel. How were you planning on using the two screens?

Until you settle on what your goals are for the system, it's impossible to suggest a new CPU/motherboard or an upgrade beyond the HD7950 on the graphics side.

Thanks for your response Termie! I had no idea that the dual monitor setup wouldn't work due to the bezel. As far as the goal for the system i will primarily be used for gaming and when i talk about gaming i mean i like playing with everything cranked to the max. Should i even upgrade the mobo/cpu or should i just keep my current config and just worry about the video card and etc? How come the 7950 and not the 7970 or the GTX 780?

 

[Termie]

Thanks for your response Termie! I had no idea that the dual monitor setup wouldn't work due to the bezel. As far as the goal for the system i will primarily be used for gaming and when i talk about gaming i mean i like playing with everything cranked to the max. Should i even upgrade the mobo/cpu or should i just keep my current config and just worry about the video card and etc? How come the 7950 and not the 7970 or the GTX 780?

At a resolution of 1080p, you would be somewhat CPU-limited with anything above an HD7950. You could certainly take advantage of a higher-end graphics card than the HD7950 if you went with 5760x1080, or alternatively a single 2560x1440 screen, but in some cases, you'll still be CPU-limited. So I'd either just do a video card purchase in the $300 range, or if you want to do everything at once, you'd want something like the 3930K (or, for better performance/dollar, the 4770K), plus the monitor and a higher-end graphics card.

Just don't buy something like a GTX780 to play at 1080p with your CPU. It will not perform any better than a card at half the cost.

 

[joneffingvo]

Thx again Termie! I'm just confused because i understand there's the core i5 and then the core i7, however you have the core i7 that comes in socket 1150, 2011, etc. Is there one that's better than the other or something?

At a resolution of 1080p, you would be somewhat CPU-limited with anything above an HD7950. You could certainly take advantage of a higher-end graphics card than the HD7950 if you went with 5760x1080, or alternatively a single 2560x1440 screen, but in some cases, you'll still be CPU-limited. So I'd either just do a video card purchase in the $300 range, or if you want to do everything at once, you'd want something like the 3930K (or, for better performance/dollar, the 4770K), plus the monitor and a higher-end graphics card.

Just don't buy something like a GTX780 to play at 1080p with your CPU. It will not perform any better than a card at half the cost.

 

[Termie]

Thx again Termie! I'm just confused because i understand there's the core i5 and then the core i7, however you have the core i7 that comes in socket 1150, 2011, etc. Is there one that's better than the other or something?

Ok, here's a quick breakdown:

2008: Socket 1366
2009: Socket 1156
2011: Socket 1155
2011: Socket 2011
2013: Socket 1150

You don't so much need to worry about the sockets as you do the capabilities of the processors they support. If you want a 6-core processor, you must use Socket 2011 (or the older 1366 you have, which is no longer in production). Otherwise, you can use any of the other sockets. For gaming purposes, the expense of a six-core processor is not fully justified, so most people focus on Socket 1156, 1155, and 1150. Of those, 1156 is no longer in production, and 1155 will likely be phased out over the next year.

In short, if you want a current quad-core processor for gaming, you want to buy one on socket 1150. And then the only decision to be made is i5 (quad-core) or i7 (quad-core with hyperthreading). Based on tests that I and others have conducted, hyperthreading sometimes helps in games, particularly with dual-cores, but quad-cores typically have all the processing power they need with just four threads to handle today's games. Therefore, the bang for the buck processor will be the i5.

Given that you have a big budget and that you seem to keep your equipment around for a while, there's certainly an argument to be made to go for the i7-4770K, which is about $100 more than the i5-4670K. It's fairly likely that future games will use more than four threads, given that the Xbox One and PS4 will each have eight threads available.

 

[joneffingvo]

Ok, here's a quick breakdown:

2008: Socket 1366
2009: Socket 1156
2011: Socket 1155
2011: Socket 2011
2013: Socket 1150

You don't so much need to worry about the sockets as you do the capabilities of the processors they support. If you want a 6-core processor, you must use Socket 2011 (or the older 1366 you have, which is no longer in production). Otherwise, you can use any of the other sockets. For gaming purposes, the expense of a six-core processor is not fully justified, so most people focus on Socket 1156, 1155, and 1150. Of those, 1156 is no longer in production, and 1155 will likely be phased out over the next year.

In short, if you want a current quad-core processor for gaming, you want to buy one on socket 1150. And then the only decision to be made is i5 (quad-core) or i7 (quad-core with hyperthreading). Based on tests that I and others have conducted, hyperthreading sometimes helps in games, particularly with dual-cores, but quad-cores typically have all the processing power they need with just four threads to handle today's games. Therefore, the bang for the buck processor will be the i5.

Given that you have a big budget and that you seem to keep your equipment around for a while, there's certainly an argument to be made to go for the i7-4770K, which is about $100 more than the i5-4670K. It's fairly likely that future games will use more than four threads, given that the Xbox One and PS4 will each have eight threads available.

Thanks Termie! So far here is what i have spec'ed out:

CPU: i7-4770k
Mobo: Asus Maximus IV Extreme or Intel BOXDZ87KLT75K (what would you pick?)
Video: GTX 780

In regards to the monitor going from my 1080p 32" TV to the Samsung monitor would it be a huge difference? Or should i just keep the HDTV? Also are you sure i can't run 2 of the samsung monitors? lol

 

[mfenn]

Thanks Termie! So far here is what i have spec'ed out:

CPU: i7-4770k
Mobo: Asus Maximus IV Extreme or Intel BOXDZ87KLT75K (what would you pick?)
Video: GTX 780

A 3.2 GHz Nehalem is no slouch. I would probably get a GPU (7970 Ghz or GTX 770) and SSD for now. If you still aren't satisfied by gaming performance, then upgrade the CPU/mobo.

In regards to the monitor going from my 1080p 32" TV to the Samsung monitor would it be a huge difference? Or should i just keep the HDTV? Also are you sure i can't run 2 of the samsung monitors? lol

You can definitely run two S27B970D monitors if you want. you just won't want to stretch your game across both because you will have a bezel right in the middle of you view.

Side note, no way would I spend $1000 on a S27B970D. ~$1000 is U3011 country.

 

[joneffingvo]

A 3.2 GHz Nehalem is no slouch. I would probably get a GPU (7970 Ghz or GTX 770) and SSD for now. If you still aren't satisfied by gaming performance, then upgrade the CPU/mobo.



You can definitely run two S27B970D monitors if you want. you just won't want to stretch your game across both because you will have a bezel right in the middle of you view.

Side note, no way would I spend $1000 on a S27B970D. ~$1000 is U3011 country.

Thanks for your response mfenn, so you don't think my current mobo/cpu setup right now will be a bottleneck for the GPU?

 

[joneffingvo]

After much thinking i've decided against getting a new monitor and will be sticking to my HDTV. So far the list i've compiled:

CPU: i7 4770K
Mobo: Maximus Formula VI Formula or Extreme
Harddrive: Crucial SSD 512GB

My question is should i stick to the i7 4770k or should i get the 3930k?

 

[Cerb]

Off of that topic, why not get a newer faster SSD, like a Crucial M500, Sandisk Extreme II, Samsung 840 Pro, or Corsair Neutron GTX (of which, the Samsung 840 Pro is the fastest, usually)?

 

[joneffingvo]

oops i thought they were all the same lol

Off of that topic, why not get a newer faster SSD, like a Crucial M500, Samsung 840 Pro, or Corsair Neutron GTX (of which, the Samsung 840 Pro is the fastest, usually)?

 

[joneffingvo]

Any other mobo recommendations?

 

[TazFTW]

A Maximus IV is for socket 1155. Haswell (the 4770K) uses socket 1150, so if you going to buy a Maximus it'll be a Maximus VI.

 

[joneffingvo]

A Maximus IV is for socket 1155. Haswell (the 4770K) uses socket 1150, so if you going to buy a Maximus it'll be a Maximus VI.

oops that's what i meant Maximus VI! Now i'm debating if i should get the Maximus VI Hero or Extreme or wait for the Formula which comes with the thermal armor...

 

[Termie]

Those are some very expensive motherboards you're looking at. Any particular reason you're interested in them? For the average user, a $150-200 motherboard is already going to be very feature-rich. If you really want to spend money, I'd go for the Asus Z87-Pro, which can be had for $200 if you catch it on sale.

 

[joneffingvo]

I've decided to go with the Maximus VI Hero, the extreme is nice but I wouldn't be using it to it's potential and the hero is in the $200 range.

Those are some very expensive motherboards you're looking at. Any particular reason you're interested in them? For the average user, a $150-200 motherboard is already going to be very feature-rich. If you really want to spend money, I'd go for the Asus Z87-Pro, which can be had for $200 if you catch it on sale.

 

[Torn Mind]

You will likely be thermally limited before you can take advantage of the finer tweaker features on that board. But it's still a nice board, albeit pricey.

 

[DSF]

You never really did answer what it is about those motherboards that interests you. You're probably way overspending. Thermal Armor for example is just marketing fluff.

 

[joneffingvo]

You never really did answer what it is about those motherboards that interests you. You're probably way overspending. Thermal Armor for example is just marketing fluff.

I had the Rampage Extreme 3 as my original mobo with my core i7 extreme edition and it was an overall good mobo and i liked all the features. I really wanted the Extreme but i know i won't utilize all the features and the Hero is priced at $229 on newegg so it won't break the bank!

 

[mfenn]

I had the Rampage Extreme 3 as my original mobo with my core i7 extreme edition and it was an overall good mobo and i liked all the features. I really wanted the Extreme but i know i won't utilize all the features and the Hero is priced at $229 on newegg so it won't break the bank!

$229 is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a Socket 1150 motherboard. Just because you massively overpaid in the past does not mean that you have to massively overpay again!

You can get a quality board for much less. Check out the ASUS Z87-A for $140 AP.

 

[joneffingvo]

$229 is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a Socket 1150 motherboard. Just because you massively overpaid in the past does not mean that you have to massively overpay again!

You can get a quality board for much less. Check out the ASUS Z87-A for $140 AP.

well not only that but the ROG motherboards look bad ass also especially the upcoming Formula one lol

 

[mfenn]

well not only that but the ROG motherboards look bad ass also especially the upcoming Formula one lol

Buying a motherboard based on looks is silly IMHO. The looks don't change the performance.

I was actually just alerted to an even better deal for you:

i7 4770K + MSI Z87-G45 Gaming $410

 

[joneffingvo]

Buying a motherboard based on looks is silly IMHO. The looks don't change the performance.

I was actually just alerted to an even better deal for you:

i7 4770K + MSI Z87-G45 Gaming $410

ooh that makes my choice even harder... I was actually looking at this mobo before i decided on the Hero. Only thing that scares me is i currently have the MSI Big Bang X Power right now and only after 3 months of use one of the memory slots went bad which left a sour taste in my mouth.