New motherboard + CPU £200-300 budget

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Ryan Conway

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Aug 19, 2013
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Ok so here is my current build.
ASUS M4N68T Motherboard Socket AM3
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Quad-Core Processor - 3.20 GHz
ATI Radeon 7950 HD 3GB

I just got that graphic card a few weeks ago to replace my Sapphire 5770, so now my processor is letting me down in gaming.

Now I obviously need a new motherboard as the current one is only socket AM3, but could anyone recommend a motherboard, and cpu upgrade? As I'm a bit unsure what to go for this time round, AMD again or Intel.

My budget is around £200-300

Thanks :)
 
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gustafangus

gustafangus

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Jan 20, 2013
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You could get a 4670k and a MSI board.

All together 250 (pounds).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Z87-G43-Motherboard-USB3-0-LGA1150/dp/B00CXOMGGW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389712068&sr=8-1&keywords=lga1150

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Graphics-BX80646I74770-Generation-Technology/dp/B00CO8TBOW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389711993&sr=8-1&keywords=i5+4670k
 
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Calvin7

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Gigabyte 970A-DS3P AM3+ AMD 970 DDR3 ATX
http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyte-970a-ds3p-am3--amd-970-ddr3-atx-8Y95.html?src=3

AMD FX8-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8 Core AM3+ 4.0GHz 16MB 125W
http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-fx8-8350-black-edition-vishera-8-core-am3--4-0ghz-16mb-125w-8BXF.html?src=3

Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866Mhz CL9 Vengeance Low Profile Blue Performance Desktop Memory Kit
http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair-8gb--2x4gb--ddr3-1866mhz-cl9-vengeance-low-profile-blue-performance-desktop-memory-kit-86RB.html?catid=15006&src=3
 
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DeathAndPain

DeathAndPain

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The AMD is significantly slower, so since the 4670 fits into your budget, do not bother to buy the FX-8350.

You may want to go for a 4670 without "K" and a B85 motherboard though. The CPU will be cheaper, the motherboard will be a lot cheaper, your CPU will have a few additional abilities (even though you may never need them), and all you will be losing is the ability to overclock. In return, the excellent power-saving features of the 4670 will be operational (they are disabled once overclocking is enabled, causing your CPU to consume a whole lot of additional energy which then needs to be dissipated by potentially noisy fans).
 
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gustafangus

gustafangus

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I agree with DeathAndPain, since the FX8350 uses waaay too much power for the performance it actually brings.
The 4670 and the 8350 trade blows, but usually the i5 wins.

If you're overclocking go with a 4670k, if not, a normal 4670.
 
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Ryan Conway

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I like what i see, i was looking at the i7-3770K and cpuworld says it's 1% faster than a 4670k but its like 1.7x the price
so if i get the 4670k which is like £6 more expensive than the 4670 should i get the B85 motherboard or the z87x will i even need the z87x ? or just the z87

also I have 6gb ram, think its just standard 1333mhz ddr3
 
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gustafangus

gustafangus

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The b85s are a value group of motherboards. They are limited to the features of the Z87.

I say Z87, like the MSI one. You'll have amazing overclocking potential on the 87 board and those boards easily handle CROSSFIRE/SLI.

So, I say, go with a Z87.

Good luck.

 
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gustafangus

gustafangus

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And yeah, sometimes i7s can even BE SLOWER in games than i5s. since most games today use 2-3 cores. I know personally, because i have a 3930k and gaming was TERRIBLE on stock speed. I am now running @4,5ghz and it's good, but for gaming purposes, never buy an i7.
 
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gustafangus

gustafangus

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I think the Gigabyte makes a better board here. It has larger heatsinks, more PCI slots and it has better audio, according to reviews. But it costs more, and since both support the 4670k, then see how much you wanna spend. But Id go woth Gigabyte here.

Good luck!
 
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Ryan Conway

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These are what i am going to buy.
ASUS Z87 A Intel Z87
Intel Core i5 4670K
Zalman Z9 Plus Midi Tower Case
Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card

So in total my build will be

Ati Radeon HD 7950 3GB
6GB DDR3 Ram
ASUS Z87 A Intel Z87
Intel Core i5 4670K
Zalman Z9 Plus Midi Tower Case
Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card

cost me around, £300 for the case, motherboard, and cpu, and soundcard was about £60-80

:) thanks for the help guys

 
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DeathAndPain

DeathAndPain

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The PCI standard is like 15 years old. It was introduced when 486 were still current processors. You really plan on buying a sound card for this ancient slot?

Be smart and go for a PCI-E sound card instead. Modern mainboards only support PCI so people can keep using their old cards. There is zero point in buying any new PCI cards anymore.
 
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gustafangus

gustafangus

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Your choice ain't bad, but I wouldn't get a sound card. Sound cards dont actually improve quality of sound, and therefore I wouldn't reccomend them much. In your case, I'd get a SSD. That way you'll be able to put on your OS and it'll accelerate your PC allot.

My $0.02
 
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gustafangus

gustafangus

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Wow, didn't even notice. Thanks for best answer, means allot :)

 
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Ryan Conway

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order has already been shipped, is it worth returning for the PCIE? I'm sure i read that the pci version was more reliable.

Also i need a soundcard for dolby digital live for my astro a40s :)
 
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DeathAndPain

DeathAndPain

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I can only say that I would never consider buying a PCI card anymore, so yes, returning it may make sense. As far as reliability is concerned, PCI is so old a technology that mainboard manufacturers need to use bridge chips so somehow connect this ancient tech to the modern rest of the mainboard, and while this basically works, weird effects are not unheard of. Meanwhile, PCI-E has been on the market long enough to be considered mature, it is directly supported by the Intel chipset, and - last but not least - you can expect PCI slots to vanish in the near future, seeing that they serve no purpose that PCI-E could not fill at least as well, so when you upgrade your machine in a few years, you may find yourself need to discard the PCI sound card, while a PCI-E sound card would certainly last multiple future mainboard generations (as I expect PCI-E to last similarly long as PCI did).
 
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XennoTech

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can you please cite some examples on which an i5 would outperform an i7 in a gaming application? no overclocking if possible.

thanks!
 
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sora

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lol i don't think an i5 would outperform an i7 unless the i7 was an older gen like the i7 920.
 
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DeathAndPain

DeathAndPain

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I remember reading about instances where the hyperthreading feature allegedly caused laggy playing on an otherwise fast i7 (last time yesterday by the owner of such a chip, even though I cba to locate the corresponding thread again). I am not sure how trustworthy these reports are. I would not take this too seriously when considering an investment, because future games will be programmed with hyperthreading in mind, and older ones require way less performance than modern CPUs can deliver, so a Haswell i7 can compensate for any HT inefficiencies by means of sheer processing performance.
 
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