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Psyrion

Psyrion

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Aug 31, 2013
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(Long winded post, so apologies in advance for what may be a bit of a read)

After four years, I'm upgrading my system to a new current-gen Intel system (I'm not a fan of AMD's products for gaming). The current build is an i7 920 D0 Step @ 3.62 ghz, Prolimatech Megahalems for cooling, and an AS Rock x58 Extreme board. However, I'm getting uncharacteristically lost on the current Intel offerings.

I have three questions:

First, should I be looking into an Ivy Bridge or Haswell setup? I WILL be overclocking from stock to at least 4.1-4.2, minimum.

Second, should I be looking at an i5-k or i7-k? My current purchase plan is the i7 4770k on an MSI z87-GD65 board, but I've read a few articles that contradict each other as to whether the i7 is worthwhile solely on the grounds of HyperThreading. I'm an avid gamer, everything from WoW to Battlefield 3. My goal is to ensure performance in games for at least 2-3 more years. I don't encode/edit video, but I do some minor audio production as a hobby.

Last, should I be looking into a closed loop liquid coooler like the Corsair H80i, or a Noctua NH-D14? (My case is an Antec Nine Hundred, and I plan to go to a Corsair 600T in a few months).

Sorry if this is a bit much to ask about, I went from building systems daily for TigerDirect/CompUSA to sitting on my rear for months at a time and mostly gaming, and I'm a bit out of the loop on current hardware; so I appreciate any help/answers that the community can give.

Thanks!
 
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satyamdubey
Hi Psyrion,

First things first. you are probably far more experienced than me in building PCs so half of the stuff that I'll suggest would likely be something you already know :)

If you have not read it yet, read this review: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-4770k-haswell-review,3521.html
and this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-heat-sink-haswell,3554.html

In it's gist, it suggests that for enthusiasts, Ivy is a better bet than Haswel.

For gaming, HT is not making any difference yet. Crysis 3 is supposedly well optimized for HT but the differences between i7's and the i5's are not remarkable to the extent that it justifies the extra dollar if gaming is your only focus.

For cooling...
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Applepienation

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Jul 19, 2013
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Whether to go with Ivy Bridge or Haswell is really up to you. Ivy-bridge (i5-3570k or i7-3770k) will overclock higher and be cooler than Haswell (hitting 4.4 will be difficult with Haswell), but Haswell and the next intel processors will use the same chipset, allowing easier upgrades. Additionally, Haswell is more power effecient than ivy bridge.

i7s will give a slight performance increase in some (not all) games. If budget is not an issue, you want maximum available performance, then go for the i7. I don't know if audio production will benefit from the extra threads. But if you are willing to sacrifice a small amount of performance, then save $100 and go for the i5-4670k. That's what I did.

If you intend to try for very high overclocks then a closed loop liquied cooler might not be a terrible idea. I also recently bought a i5-4670k and a Corsair H100i to try to get a good overclock. Might want to wait for more opinions first though.
 
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satyamdubey

satyamdubey

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Jun 19, 2012
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Hi Psyrion,

First things first. you are probably far more experienced than me in building PCs so half of the stuff that I'll suggest would likely be something you already know :)

If you have not read it yet, read this review: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-4770k-haswell-review,3521.html
and this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-heat-sink-haswell,3554.html

In it's gist, it suggests that for enthusiasts, Ivy is a better bet than Haswel.

For gaming, HT is not making any difference yet. Crysis 3 is supposedly well optimized for HT but the differences between i7's and the i5's are not remarkable to the extent that it justifies the extra dollar if gaming is your only focus.

For cooling: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/h100i-elc240-seidon-240m-lq320,3380.html

One of our readers did a youtube review on the Siedon and that is a reliable good cooler series as well.

Hope this helps in some way
-Satyam
 
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Psyrion

Psyrion

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Aug 31, 2013
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Well, the reason I have an i7 NOW was the Intel Retail Edge program; in 2009, the Big Deal promotion was an i7 920 and a copy of Windows 7 for 130 bucks.

I'm only considering the i7 as a point of future-resistance, whether it's Ivy or Haswell. And 4.4 was a typo, I've corrected that. If an i5-4670k will last me 2 or 3 years and be a solid enough performer for gaming WHILE multitasking (Chrome, Netflix, Winamp/iTunes, uTorrent, etc.), that would work out for me, especially if I can get a decent 4.0 ghz or so out of it.

Regarding the cooler; if I go with the i5, I can afford to replace my case as well (again with a Corsair 600t Silver), so I'd probably be looking into a larger closed loop over the Noctua (on top of the fact that I'd like to limit weight on the board, my current Prolimatech cooler is just ridiculous in that aspect.)
 
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Psyrion

Psyrion

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Well, it looks like I'll be going with the following (per the advice here and a little research using Anandtech's comparison tool):

CPU: i5-4670k (OC)
RAM: G.Skill Sniper 1866 C9 16GB (2x8GB)
MB: MSI Z87-GD65
GFX: MSI GTX760 TF 2GB
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB
Storage: 300GB WD Velociraptor (Game/Program) and WD Black 750GB (Storage) (I'll buy a 1TB in a couple months around Black Friday)
PSU: Corsair 650 Watt
Case: Corsair Graphite 600T Silver

Still on the fence about the coolers; I could easily get a Noctua NH-D14, but I sort of wanted to try a closed loop system on this build, namely a Corsair H80i. But I'll just have to do some more research and figure out what's best for overclocking that i5 to 4.2.

Thanks much for all the help!

(Update: Ended up going with the Noctua, tried and true works for me.)
 
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Psyrion

Psyrion

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Definitely going to as soon as I can afford that and a new PSU ^_^.

 
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tmcclelland47

tmcclelland47

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In my opinion, get an i7-3770K and since you're an avid gamer an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 (the ASUS DirectCU II variant) and an ASUS Maximus V Extreme. In an insane use config (everything at full load, every port filled with some kind of device, 8 15,000 RPM HDDs, and 2 780s) you would be looking at a 1000-watt PSU. But with one 780, a good quality 800 or 850 would be perfect. Tell me what you think, because I'm also looking at building a new PC, since my P4 would love a break.
 
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IAmSnowy

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How long is your upgrade cycle? If it's longer than average (say 4 years) then go with the i7, you'll thank yourself in a few years.Sure it won't provide any significant performance increase over the i5 but it's HT'ed.ALSO if your upgrade cycle is longer then definately go with haswell, since it's a standard 10% performance increase over Ivy.The die is the same size, a very common misconception is that haswell is a bad overclocker..NEWS FLASH it's not.Look up overclocking videos/posts on youtube/google..You can easily get atleast 4.3 ghz.
 
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tmcclelland47

tmcclelland47

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If I was able to get my 3.73GHz P4 up to 4.5GHz, then I'd better be able to do that with a modern CPU! Granite I did it outside when it was below freezing and I had every fan in it going at 100%, but still...
 
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Psyrion

Psyrion

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Aug 31, 2013
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The i7 breaks my budget by about 100 if I include a case (which I'd like to do, my Nine Hundred is showing age), and the 780 is close to 300 dollars more than I'd ever spend on a card.

Regarding hyperthreading, is it really worth sacrificing my enclosure for? Im on a build budget of around 1100-1150, and I'd like to maximize the upgrade with an upgrade path that could reasonably include moving to Haswell-E on LGA-1150 as early as their launch, because I expect to be in a better position then. So if an i5 will run games on the logic end, and, with a GTX 760 and an X-Fi card, perform fine in graphics, maxing out MORE than my current GTX 470, its worthwhile.
 
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Applepienation

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Hyper threading isn't worth the upgrade if all you're doing is gaming, and if you were willing to throw large amounts of cash at a gaming computer you may as well shoot for a 2011 CPU. I had the choice between an i7-3770k and an i5-4670k and went for the i5 due to the upgrade compatibility and cheaper cost.

An i5-4670k with a GTX 760 will work great, and you can get another 760 later to keep up for a very long time.
 
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