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Mobo for i7 4790?

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  • Intel i7
  • Motherboards
Last response: in Motherboards
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August 9, 2014 6:38:12 PM

Hi there! I am building a PC and have decided to go with the 4790 as it seems the most cost efficient. I have been looking at mother boards and want something inexpensive (cheap but will work)

This build will be for strictly video editing and recording music, so a sound card slot or quality sound, along with the expansions necessary for an audio interface is a must.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction, any help is much appreciated.

More about : mobo 4790

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August 9, 2014 7:00:31 PM

By investing slightly more you can buy i7 4790K which can be overclocked. You have to buy z97 board (1150 socket).
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August 9, 2014 7:48:48 PM

Hey,
You're far better off overall to get the i5-4690K (Devil's Canyon refresh. Google that) and overclock that slightly than to spend more for a non-overclockable i7.

(I recommend the Noctua NH-U12S cooler for the CPU. I've compared many. Stock is far too noisy. The CM "EVO" cooler is good value but still somewhat noisy under load. The above Noctua is silent in idle (about 300RPM if fan control optimized); in fact it was the ONLY fan running and I couldn't hear it from six inches away. Under load it's barely audible from a normal distance away even if the only fan running which it won't be.

i5-4690K: $230, or $200 at Microcenter
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690k

Z97 Motherboard example:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a

*There's a couple different options here. Keep in mind an i7 of same series is roughly $100 more but only performs 30% better at the SAME FREQUENCY if you can fully utilize every thread so typically there's almost NO difference. For video conversion it matters but overall it may only be a 15% time savings since not all processes can fully utilize all threads at all times (such as the first pass, or enabling features which only support two threads). Again though, the OVERCLOCKING of the i5-4690K can add about 15% to performance which would tend to give you the SAME performance overall for video conversion compared to a non-overclockable i7 (but the i5 "K" would be faster for other tasks).

Not sure what to say about the XEON but even at the same price I'd say get the i5-4690K as it's overclockable so per-core performance is higher. There are differences such as no iGPU which may be desired for some video conversion tasks even with an existing video card.

XEON vs Haswell: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9249758/Intel_s_...
*Haswell is 10% faster than Ivy Bridge, so if I understand this correctly then the E3 Xeon's are Ivy Bridge performance?

MOTHERBOARD:
In general I prefer Asus, Gigabyte, and Asrock in that order but you must research each board model. The Asus Z97-A is about the cheapest I'd go while still getting good quality. It supports Crossfire/SLI

More expensive boards have different features that add to cost such as:
- Crossfire/SLI
- M.2 SSD
- better Audio solution
- better capacitors, and VRM's especially for OVERCLOCKING the CPU
etc.

There's several boards that look good overall as well:
- Asus Maximus Hero VII ($200) has excellent audio
- Asus SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK2 ($170?) has a 5-year Warranty with focus on highest quality (this cheaper version doesn't have the Thermal Armor and backplate of the Mark1)

- Asrock Z97 Fatal1ty Killer ($120) looks like a good value though no SLI support
- Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ($145) also looks like a reasonable value

- MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ($140) oddly similar name/look to Gigabyte above. May be a good value. Normally I don't recommend MSI though I've heard things have been getting better.

It's hard to recommend a specific board, but if audio is fairly important I'd get the Asus Hero Maximus VII. You should also go to the websites to look at features, and Amazon, NCIX etc to look at customer feedback.

SUMMARY:
I recommend->
a) i5-4690K CPU
b) Noctua NH-U12S cooler
c) Z97 motherboard (after reviewing/comparing)
*Again, make sure the Z97 you choose is a good overclocker, supports SLI/Crossfire as applicable and has whatever other features you want. If money isn't too tight the Asus Maximus Hero VII seems a good choice. If money is a bit tight then maybe the Asus Z97-A.

**Since you mention AUDIO, note the Hero VII has some audio shielding. Not sure exactly how important that or the other features are but you can investigate.
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