CPU Upgrading : A Perilous Journey (AKA An Old Man Needs Your Help)

Discussion in 'Processors, Motherboards & Memory' started by Maximus_Detritus, Jul 23, 2015.

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  1. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    Hello everyone :)

    So I've decided to finally ditch my Q6600 + P5 mobo for something a bit swankier and, well, modern (or at least something remotely 2010-ish).

    I've narrowed it down to the Intel i5 series of processors, but am unsure as to what sort of processor I should get. How big is the performance difference between the 4 tiers of i5 processors? What's the sweet spot for price VS performance? I've been out of the game for an extraordinarily long time (hence the hardware I 'rock' now), so I'm easily confused about the new line of mobos, chipsets, etc.

    I don't know my Z97s from my H85s etc. So any help would be appreciated.

    What would this PC be used for? Gaming, naturally. Other than that, I've got a budget of roughly 1.5k. Thanks in advance :)
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Jul 23, 2015
    #1
  2. Chai

    Chai Administrator Staff Member

    Are you overclocking? If not, it can be a lot cheaper. No need for z97 motherboard nor the highest end i5 4690k. Just get the most value for money i5 and I can guarantee you will not be able to tell any difference between the 4 tier.
     
    Chai, Jul 23, 2015
    #2
  3. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    Chai! Good to hear from you again!

    So what sort of mobo + proc combo should I be looking at? Any specific recommendations?
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Jul 24, 2015
    #3
  4. Chai

    Chai Administrator Staff Member

    I'm using asus maximus 7 ranger with i5 4690k, but I don't think it is within your budget. But I would stick to Asus or gigabyte, and any i5 that fits your budget.

    Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
     
    Chai, Jul 24, 2015
    #4
  5. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    Any chipset in particular? H97? Something else?
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Jul 24, 2015
    #5
  6. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    What's your budget BTW?
     
    Adrian Wong, Jul 24, 2015
    #6
  7. Chai

    Chai Administrator Staff Member

    Depending on your budget, there's really no best motherboard now. It's 'what's best for you'. There are way too many motherboard variants around. You can even get a cheap z97 which can be quite decent. H97 is the non overclock version of z97. If it is cheaper, you should consider that.

    Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
     
    Chai, Jul 24, 2015
    #7
  8. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    Trying not to spend more than 1.5k on the whole shebang. If I can get 8GB of RAM in as well for the price, then why not.
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Jul 24, 2015
    #8
  9. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    I'm assuming your PSU is still running fine... and has all of the necessary connectors. If so, then I would get a cheap H97 motherboard, a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and spend whatever you have left on a good graphics card.

    Of course, I'm assuming you want to upgrade to play games... :mrgreen:
     
    Adrian Wong, Jul 24, 2015
    #9
  10. Chai

    Chai Administrator Staff Member

    Personally, I would prioritise graphics card first, gtx770 vs gtx960 vs r9 380, which ever is cheapest. Personally I would pick gtx960 for its power efficiency. Get the lowest end i5 and a h97. I'm not sure when sky lake is coming out, might want to wait for that.

    Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
     
    Chai, Jul 24, 2015
    #10
  11. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    Yeah, the graphics card is really the most important upgrade. :thumb:
     
    Adrian Wong, Jul 24, 2015
    #11
  12. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    Just so you guys know, this happened : -

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Yes, that is an EVGA GTX980 FTW edition.

    I guess the CPU upgrade can wait till next month.

    So, I'm looking at an i5-4590 + Asrock H97 Pro4 + 8GB DDR3 ValueRAM.

    Thoughts?
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Jul 29, 2015
    #12
  13. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    You are SO lucky to have a friend who would sell this virtually brand new card to you second-hand!! :thumb: :thumb:

    Sounds good! :thumb:

    BTW, do you have any budget left after that for an SSD?
     
    Adrian Wong, Jul 29, 2015
    #13
  14. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    Life could be worse. :thumb:

    What's the going rate for SSDs?

    Say, 256GB? I have a feeling 64 or 128 would be way too small.
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Jul 30, 2015
    #14
  15. zy

    zy zynine.com Staff Member

    minimum 256GB... for me at least. :mrgreen:
     
    zy, Jul 30, 2015
    #15
  16. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    ZY! It's been too long! :D

    Alright, but how much should I be looking to pay for one?
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Jul 30, 2015
    #16
  17. zy

    zy zynine.com Staff Member

    Hello, welcome back :wave: .

    I do lurk around, I just don't post as much.

    I'm not familiar with Malaysia prices :oops: They are about ~USD$100 for mainstream ones.
     
    zy, Jul 31, 2015
    #17
  18. Adrian Wong

    Adrian Wong Da Boss Staff Member

    I would say 256 GB is a nice size. 128 GB could be too small unless you are just using it for a boot and app drive, with the bulk of your storage on a secondary HDD.

    The prices vary quite a lot, depending on the speed and brand of the SSD.
     
    Adrian Wong, Aug 1, 2015
    #18
  19. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    I guess you can probably figure out my second question.

    Which brands, what speeds? And Yeah, still no idea on pricing. A bit lost about this.
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Aug 7, 2015
    #19
  20. Maximus_Detritus

    Maximus_Detritus Moderator

    Okay, now that Intel have announced a new round of processors, should I hold off and wait for the current gen of processors to drop in price? Should I just aim for Broadwell instead of Haswell?
     
    Maximus_Detritus, Aug 7, 2015
    #20
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