help with cpu choice

distantthunder · Jul 22, 2014

hi. been awhile since i built a pc as i been using laptops. so i got my pc case, but been looking to see what cpu to go with. ivy bridge or haswell, or haswell refresh. not sure about devils canyon or broadwell as it. any advice on what chip to buy and why would be greatly appreciated as its doing my head in. lol with some sites say stay with ivy others say haswell heats up which reminds me of AMD cpus. others say better than ivy bridge.

plan on doing work. some light gaming. not sure on OC yet . dont like where intel was saying some things on haswell like locking speeds, so advice would be great as haswell is reminding me of microsoft and vista.

thanks in advance

Zircoben · Jul 22, 2014

distantthunder :

Depending on your budget, the obvious choice would be a Haswell Refresh CPU, or a Devil's Canyon CPU (both just Haswell + some clock speed and thermal improvements), which were both just released a couple months ago.

If you want to get either of those, you will need an H97 or Z97 motherboard.

If you don't want to spend that much, you will want to get a normal Haswell CPU and then you can use that in the cheap H81 or B85 motherboards.

Hope that helps!

Zircoben · Jul 22, 2014

For simple work and gaming, this is the best you can do for the money:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($185.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $238.97

i7Baby · Jul 22, 2014

Choices these days, from cheap to expensive -
FM2+ socket - For amd A10 series with good integrated graphics or Athlon cpu's - for $500+US build
AM3+ socket for amd fx series - for $800+US build - very popular
LGA1150 - for intel locked and non locked i3, i5 and i7 cpus - for $1000+US build - very popular
X79 - for intel i7 4 and 6 'extreme' core cpu's - for $1500US+ build

You need to work out a budget and go through http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

See build examples - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/310222-31-hardware-member-system-gallery

distantthunder · Jul 22, 2014

Zircoben :

distantthunder :

Depending on your budget, the obvious choice would be a Haswell Refresh CPU, or a Devil's Canyon CPU (both just Haswell + some clock speed and thermal improvements), which were both just released a couple months ago.

If you want to get either of those, you will need an H97 or Z97 motherboard.

If you don't want to spend that much, you will want to get a normal Haswell CPU and then you can use that in the cheap H81 or B85 motherboards.

Hope that helps!

thanks for the info. i been looking at motherboards with the Z97 chipset. what do you think of AMD as i see they have 8 cores as well. are they any good compare to intel..

i7Baby · Jul 22, 2014

Intel 4 core cpu's have another 4 'threads' or logical cores. Intel cores are more effective than amd cores
eg http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-4690-vs-AMD-FX-8350

distantthunder · Jul 22, 2014

i read about amd fx, but dont know how good of a chip it is from amd next to intel with the LGA1150. so yes it is very tough to call as i see the FX is using 200W compare to intel 84W. thankd for the info there.

i7Baby :

i7Baby · Jul 22, 2014

The LGA1150 i5's are more than enough for 95% of pc builds these days.

distantthunder · Jul 22, 2014

thanks i7baby. i think i am going to go with intel there and the LGA1150. i hope is compatible with broadwell when it comes out. i think i will see about the haswell refresh. what are the CPUs with the K at the end for? what is their advantage and disadvanges?

i7Baby :

Zircoben · Jul 22, 2014

I would say this:

Intel CPUs are good for any build above $700, the point where a decent graphics card (750 Ti) and an i5 may be purchased.

Under $700, a 4 core Athlon CPU or a 6/8 core FX CPU with a GTX 750 or R7 graphics card is ideal. Not recommended.

Intel i3's are good CPUs, but when it comes down to it, it is only a dual core. I have two i3's in my house, my personal one (haswell) and an old original i3, the i3-550. The old one is really lagging around a lot, and I'm honestly disappointed. Hyperthreading just isn't powerful enough to be on par with a true quad core, even an AMD one.

Zircoben · Jul 22, 2014

distantthunder :

The -K series CPUs are for overclocking. If you are just a light gamer and don't have an ultra-high budget, don't worry about it.

Only the Z97 or H97 motherboards are supposed to be Broadwell compatible, I would just get a cheap H81 board and an i5 like my first build.

i7Baby · Jul 22, 2014

LGA1150 CPU's - http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=187_1490

The i5 4690k and i7 4790k are 'unlocked' cpu's - they can be 'overclocked' - made to go faster. Very popular for gaming enthusiast high end builds.

There are some exceptions eg the G3258 pentium cpu is also an unlocked cpu. It's an anniversary special.

kunthakenthe · Jul 22, 2014

i would recommend you go with a i5 for gaming or a i7 for gaming and other task like rendering,editing,etc. A z97 board is very overclockable and newer it also allows for upgrading to the next gen broadwell chips. the K series like i5 4690k or i7 4790k will overclock not the 4690 or 4790.

distantthunder · Jul 26, 2014

hi all been looking at the haswell and and ivy bridge. confused why sites say there is not much between the 2 and the same with the z97 and h97 chipset. does anyone know the difference between the 2 chipsets as well? I am thinking towards haswell refresh. not sure about going with the K version. with the broadwell coming soon to save buying a new motherboard in future.

i7Baby · Jul 26, 2014

Z97 allows for the use of high speed M2 storage devices eg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0ZX1PA5339

Z97 take the Haswell Refresh/Devil's Canyon cpu's eg i5 4690, i5 4690k, i7 4790k

Z87 doesn't have M.2 and needs a bios update to use Haswell refresh cpu's

kunthakenthe · Jul 26, 2014

z97 boards can let you upgrade to broadwell later ths year. are better overclockrs and come with more better features ex. m.2

distantthunder · Jul 27, 2014

been looking at the gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 (rev. 2.0) motherboard. even though it doesnt have the m.2 or sata express. can these be added onto the pci slots in future. i notice it is ready for broadwell as well. plus has overclocking and software.

kunthakenthe · Jul 27, 2014

distantthunder :

i dont think so as sata express need pci e 2.0 lanes and so needs to be soldered on. M2 sata aswell. all z97 boards/h97 board are ready for broadwell. H97 cant overclock but can be upgraded. the z97 has more features and can be upgraded. I would recommend a asrock fatality z97 board it has m2 sata(i dont think it has sata express i dont even think thats out yet lol) and can overclock low-high(not to high like 5ghz but you know).

kunthakenthe · Jul 27, 2014

also overclocking software is all over the internet so dont worry you can do it from the bios aswell so need just for that mobo because of it. secondly after overclocking make sure you stress test the cpu so you know you have a safe overclock thats not overvolted,overheat,etc

help with cpu choice

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