Upgrade or wait??

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Joe Kerr

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Mar 31, 2014
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So I was running a z87 mobo, an i5-3570k, a 7950, and 840 pro ssd. A friend of mine wanted a few of my components so I sold them and now I want to upgrade my whole system. However, a lot of all this new tech is confusing, especially on the CPU side. So the age old question...

If I don't actually NEED any of this stuff right now, should I buy a Devil's Canyon CPU, a Z97 Mobo, and run with that?

Or

Should I wait for Haswell-E, x99, ddr4 ram and all that jazz? And even further down the line should I wait for Broadwell or even Skylake when ddr4 comes down in price and go with a z107 mobo?

I'm pretty techno-savvy I'm just utterly confused about the differences between the CPU's and the mobos they fit into.

Also, this would be mainly for gaming and day to day use, where budget isn't really a concern as long as it isn't too ridiculous ie $5000+ range.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Solution
kira70591
x99 or even x79 is completely overkill for gaming and most day to day use. These are workstation machines where higher bandwidth and processing power is needed for uses such as hardcore video editing. If you want a computer now then go with a z97 and a 4970k or a 4960k depending on if you want the i5 or the i7. If you all you do is wait for the next one you will never buy anything. There is not going to be much of a performance increase between Haswell and Broadwell so it is not like you are sinking your money on purchasing a Devils processor. Also, Broadwell will be able to be dropped into a z97 board so you good to go there should you choose to upgrade to Broadwell if you want to.

I am sure when DDR4 comes out it will be incredibly...
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kira70591

kira70591

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x99 or even x79 is completely overkill for gaming and most day to day use. These are workstation machines where higher bandwidth and processing power is needed for uses such as hardcore video editing. If you want a computer now then go with a z97 and a 4970k or a 4960k depending on if you want the i5 or the i7. If you all you do is wait for the next one you will never buy anything. There is not going to be much of a performance increase between Haswell and Broadwell so it is not like you are sinking your money on purchasing a Devils processor. Also, Broadwell will be able to be dropped into a z97 board so you good to go there should you choose to upgrade to Broadwell if you want to.

I am sure when DDR4 comes out it will be incredibly expensive anyways. Might as well go with DDR3 which is still fast enough for games and day to day use by far.
 
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kira70591

kira70591

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In theory it will offer double the bandwidth of pcie3. The interface will also be backwards compatible with earlier versions of cards such as the current pcie3 cards. Howevr, again, it comes down to price. I am sure the new cards will be even more expensive than the current high offerings such as the 780 and you also have to wait for boards that support it to come out. There will probably be pcie4 "capable" boards that offer a half assed choked version of it as the chipset needs to also fully support the features. It is expected to be available in late 2015. This is still quite a ways off and by the time the prices of cards and boards come down and the bugs have been worked out, you may decide that it is time to upgrade your machine again. So I would say it is not worth the wait.
 
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kira70591

kira70591

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I find myself doing the same thing as everyone else. You always want to wait until the next thing comes out as on paper it looks great; however, it real world use you normally do not even see the difference as a lot of software does not even take advantage of what is available today.
 
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kira70591

kira70591

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I would definitely go with a z97 motherboard such as the GD65 MSI board or the MSI Gaming 7. If you wish to overclock a little, an offering such as the MSI z97 Mpower could also be a great option (I have the z87 option and have had absolutely no problems with it). An i5 4960k or the i7 4790k will still be relevant for quite awhile. I myself do not plan on updating my z87 board and i7 4770 for the next couple years (unless I get the itch to build another personal rig :p).

If you do any sort of overclocking make sure to get an aftermarket cooler. I personally always recommend the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo. Fantastic cooler that has one of the best performance / price ratio.
 
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Joe Kerr

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Mar 31, 2014
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Awesome! Thank you Kira!! And honestly I'm pretty sure my z87 and ivy bridge would've sufficed for a while too I just love building computers haha! And honestly my case for this build is an inwin d-fram i was able to snag so its very open and visible so I was thinking of an asus formula or sabertooth because of the sexy armor...any ideas?
 
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kira70591

kira70591

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If you like the looks of it then by all means feel free to get either as they are both excellent boards; however, the armor really only reduces thermals by a couple of degrees most of the time. Huge marketing gimick with a large price tag.
 
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Joe Kerr

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Mar 31, 2014
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Okay, thank you. And one last question and I'll stop bothering you haha. Would you recommend an i5 or an i7? I've heard in terms of gaming theres no big difference but other sources have said the i7 is superior. Any input?
 
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kira70591

kira70591

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No problem :). If you plan to use the machine for mostly gaming then you could get a 4960k i5 and spend the price difference on a superior GPU as this will allow for better performance on games. However, there are some games such as BF4 that are starting to take advantage of more threads which is where the i7 comes into play. If you plan on doing any sort of video editing or encoding then I would go with the i7. It also comes down to bragging rights. i7 are more expensive so you have something shiny to show off. However, like I said, if you plan to use it mainly for gaming then I would go the i5 route but it is your choice.
 
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