Upgrading from i7 930 (4ghz OC) to new CPU

Nashable · May 28, 2014

Hey there I currently have a i7 930 OC'd to 4ghz (water cooling), 16gb Ram and a GTX 760

I do a lot of gaming on the machine and it's primary purpose. I'd like to keep my budget to below $500-$600 for CPU, Memory and MB. One of the main games I play is just about to get HT support so I'd like to stick to a i7 or HT capable CPU

I picked out the following:

Xeon E3-1230V3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116906 (I believe Xeon has HT)
ASUS Z97-A: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118
2x HyperX Fury Black Series 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104460

I had also just read about the new Devil's Canyon processors but worried that the i7 is going to push this above my budget.

I assume my previous water cooling setup would carry over to the new CPU type but advice there would be great.

Thanks for reading, looking forward to hearing the community's suggestions!

fatboyslimerr · May 28, 2014

I wouldn't combine an E3-1230v3 with a Z97 mobo and watercooling. That just doesn't make sense.
I would wait for devil's canyon to be released and see what it does to i7 4770K and Z87 mobo prices.
You might be able to get what you need for under $600 and that i7 4770K will really benefit from your watercooling setup.

CodenameHaswell · May 28, 2014

I would suggest a 4770k and a Z87 board, sure, Z97 has new features and whatnot, but the question is, will you really utilize all the features? Z97 boards are new, so the price will be more than they should be.

i7Baby · May 28, 2014

For $600 you need cpu, mobo, and ram -

I don't think you need a Z97 for the Xeon. Z97's are aimed at overclockers. You can't overclock a Xeon. The Xeon is basically an i7 4770

There is some debate about Xeon 1230 vs i5 4670k. But at least you can overclock the i5. Which is what I'd prefer.

Mobo - see - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/mainstream-gaming-z97-motherboard,review-32948.html - get an ASRock Z97 Extreme 4

Ram - 2 x 4gb 1866 known brand eg corsair, g skill, kingston,crucial, adata. I'm not sure if 2 x 8 gb will fit your budget.

Nashable · May 28, 2014

So basically a Xeon with a Z87 and no overclocking or wait for Devil's canyon and then see what that does to the prices of the i7s (as I want hyper threading)

delaro · May 28, 2014

"quote"I don’t recommend upgrading your CPU unless the potential replacement is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in game performance. "quote" -- Staff of Tom's Hardware

Your I7-930 O.C is 2 tiers behind the current Gen of CPU's, Broadwell in theory should be a worthy upgrade.

All I3's, I5's and I7's have HT and have for many years including your current i7 930. Why pick a Xeon? Why limit yourself further down the line by not being able to overclock? I don't really see huge gains in FPS from spending more than what a i5-4670K costs unless your running Multi Monitors or huge Resolutions. Broadwell might give you more bang for you buck at least that is what I'm waiting for in replacing my AMD systems.

Joseph DeGarmo · May 28, 2014

I've heard statements mentioning that Broadwell will not reach the desktop platform. If that's the case, then the upcoming Haswell-E 5820k (6-core sub-$400 CPU) would be the most worthy upgrade from a 930. Then you will also need an X99 motherboard and DDR4 RAM. The total upgrade costs will go up to about $800-1000. You could keep saving up cash until you can get that kind of upgrade.

logainofhades · May 28, 2014

Nashable :

You only need Z97 if you intend to SLI or Crossfire GPU's. Otherwise pick up an H97 Pro4. If you do, Z97 extreme3. You don't need the water cooling setup, but as long as you have the mounting hardware necessary to work with 1156/1150, by all means go ahead and reuse it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($249.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $409.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-28 13:47 EDT-0400)

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Upgrading from i7 930 (4ghz OC) to new CPU

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