Building PC - Intel for Dummies + vs AMD + assorted questions

ccjmk · Oct 22, 2014

Hello! I'll start briefly introducing myself; my name's Iñaki, i'm from Argentina and i'm currently working on updating my PC, intended for gaming + regular usage (web browsing / spotify / torrenting, nothing a gamer pc can't handle). I'm also an informatics student, so I program quite a lot. I'm out of shape in terms of PC specs & features, but as a collage student on the subject I can understand and/or read about something and understand it with moderate ease.

My current PC is:
AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+ (2.01GHz)
2GB DDR2 667 MHz
XFX R9 280x gfx card
(I'm out of home now and don't recall the mobo, but can look for it later today if it's somehow important)

Notice the newer gfx card, my pc got hit by a lightning strike (indirectly though, my hypothesis is that it hit the coaxial TV cable and somehow the ADSL modem survived, cause it only blew my TV & my older MSI 7950GT gfx, which was connected to the TV through cable)

I've just bought the R9 280x some two weeks ago, and would like to update the rest of the core (CPU+mobo+ram). I'm settled on 8GB DDR3 ram, but i'm definitely out of knowledge to decide between AMD and Intel. Also, I moderately understand the differences between AM3+ and FM2+ architectures on AMD, but Intel is blurry, unknown world to me.. on my local provider it seems like there's only LGA 1150 mobos available and i'm unaware of any alternatives on Intel side.

Some focus points:

-As for money available, Argentina has hugely inflated prices (AMD FX 8350 processor is AR$ 3600 here, which is around US$400 against US$190 I see on Ebay) so this might be hard to define. But with that x2 value variance, I'd say I have some 500 US$ available (expecting to pay around US$1000 at my end)

-I don't intend on buying a CPU with integrated graphics like AMD's FM2+ as I consider my new gfx card more than enough for my needs and would like to maximize CPU power avoiding any diversions on graphics.

-I don't intend on using multiple displays. At most extreme scenario (highly unlikely though, and I can simply avoid it if needed), I might use a 19' monitor for playing while having a movie running on my 42' LED TV, or viceversa (playing on the TV & having someone else web-browsing on the monitor, etc)

-I'm not particularly worried about power consumption (I'd probably need to buy a better PSU, but i'm not worried about continued-use power consumption levels in terms of electric bills)

-I DO worry about temperate. I live in Buenos Aires, which has high humidity and summer temperatures that can go as high as 35º (38/40º on extreme scenarios)

Currently there's availability of AMD FX 8350 & FX 9590, Intel i7 4790, 4790K, 3770 and some i5's on the local market. On motherboards, AMD 990x and 970, Intel Z87 and Z97 are available.

Which chipset/architecture would be the best for me ? Would retail cooling be enough for the CPU or should I pursue higher-performance cooling right out of the box?

Thanks a lot for any assistance provided, and sorry for the long post!

IndyAJD · Oct 22, 2014

If you don't plan on overclocking, stock coolers will generally work fine. However if your worried about the outside temperature affecting it, you could get a third party cooler like this one. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2 Just don't forget thermal paste if you do.

As for whether AMD or intel....the i7s listed and the newer i5s will perform better than the 8350 and 9590 in most games. However they all should work fine, so get whatever is the most budget friendly for you. For a motherboard, if you don't plan on overclocking, an H97 would be ideal (as its cheaper), however if its not available in your area than the Z97 would be ideal.

Guest · Oct 22, 2014

the intel world is pretty straight-forward these days. lga 1155 motherboards and CPUs are being phased-out but are still available in the US where i live. the newer lga 1150 motherboards are the current "mainstream" platforms for intel CPUs. currently, lga 1150 motherboards with the z97 chipset are the latest and greatest for intel. i wouldnt even bother with the slightly older z87 unless availability and pricing in argentina are something to worry about (again im not familiar since i live in US). there are other options to the z97 chipset though. if overclocking isn't a concern for you, then an h97-based board would do you just fine. the only major difference is that it doesnt offer CPU overclocking support out of the box. now, people are going to argue with that statement, im sure, cause they just cant help themselves when it comes to being the smartest anonymous person on the forums. but, that's basically the general idea.

as far as CPUs go, i would have a look at youtube for some videos on the differences between the intel CPUs themselves. it would be WAY too much to explain to you right here. but here's a start : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLSPub4ydiM&list=PLQMVnqe4XbictUtFZK1-gBYvyUzTWJnOk

to answer your question though, for a gamer, i would go with an intel core i5 at least if youre looking to get the most out of that new card you bought. any intel cpu with a K-suffix at the end is unlocked, allowing you to overclock it (with a z97 or z87 motherboard)

but there are other, cheaper options from AMD that would suit you well, too. they just aren't QUITE as fast as the newer intel CPUs in games.

geofelt · Oct 22, 2014

First, your current psu will do the jog.
It is the graphics card that demands most of the power.

With your budget the i7-4790K is by far the best cpu available.
If you can find a i5-4690K for enough less, that would be almost as good.
You will want a Z97(lga1150) based motherboard to allow mild overclocking if you wish.
Integrated graphics comes, but you need not use it.
It is a nice fall back if you should ever have a problem with discrete graphics.

Multiple displays is a very handy thing to use if you have two screens.
Gaming will be on the primary monitor. The side monitor will not impact gaming.
Either integrated or discrete works the same.

The Intel stock cooler will do the job up to a point, even with a little bit of overclocking.
But... I would buy a inexpensive tower type cooler with a 120mm fan.
It will cool better, but , more importantly, it will be much quieter under load.
Something like a $30 cm hyper212.

8gb in a 2 x 4gb kit is good. Nothing wrong with 16gb.
Buy 1.5v 1600 ddr3 ram. Faster does not improve performance significantly(1% ?)
You will need a 64 bit os to use more than 4gb of ram.

ccjmk · Oct 22, 2014

@IndyAJD So main difference between Hxx and Zxx chipsets is the unlocked voltage / clocks / multiplier only ?

9590 is definitelly more budget-friendly for me (AR$4200 vs 5300 against i7 4790K, plus another ~1500 extra on Intel mobo), but if the performance is considerably better and provides a better future performance-perspective I'll go that way blindfolded. As you can see, I'm still struggling with an Athlon64 x2, so I'm definitely not updating my PC in another 5 years

As for overclocking, I haven't really considered it, I guess my budget constraints make me worry too much about damaging a component I won't be able to replace. I definitely need to give it a deeper read, but if the performance increment is at least noticiable, the risks are not high & the cost of overclocking-capable components is not more than 20% extra, I could probably make the leap.

IndyAJD · Oct 22, 2014

ccjmk :

I do believe that is the only difference between Z97 and H97.

Personally, if you will not be upgrading for at least 5 years I wouldn't overclock...at least not yet. Overclocking can (but will not necessarily) reduce the life of the overclocked part. However, what you could do is get a Z97 board with an unlocked CPU and overclock it towards the end of the PCs life to get some extra performance out of it for gaming.

ccjmk · Oct 22, 2014

I've been doing some research (plus lots of reading to catch up!) and I've achieved this: (also found a cheaper provider! hurray!)

-I'm almost settled on Intel Core i7 4790K [AR$ 4600]

-In terms of RAM I'll go for 16gb at once, I get almost a 15% discount for getting the dual channel sets and the difference is something I can definitely pay, unless I am to put it somewhere else (PSU or other CPU+mobo)

I have two(three) alternatives, I'm almost settled for Gskill Trident X 2x8GB (2400MHz, timings 10-12-12-31), but I can't fine-tune against Corsair Vengeance (1866 MHz, timings 9-10-9-27). I guess the +500MHz win over the 1 CAS difference, but I can't confidently tell if the other timing indicators are to be concerned or even if I'd ever feel the difference. As a last consideration, I saw in here that i7 4790K memory controller is limited to DDR-1333/1600 ram. Is this current and/or a concern? am I really WASTING frecuency here and would do better buying a lower-frecuency, lower-timings RAM instead like Corsair Vengeance (1600MHz 9-9-9-24) modules?

-About the mobo, I have three alternatives within my budget:

ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO [AR$ 3200]
ASUS Z97 DELUXE [AR$ 3756]
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK1 [AR$ 3690]

Maximus VII Hero looks like my prefered choice because for whatever I compared it looked the same like others in key aspects like SATA / USB interfaces, PCI Express 3.0 x16 capability and etc. Asus Deluxe seems to have stuff like integrated WiFi & NFC which are not something I'll probably use in a lifetime, but if either it or the Sabertooth have other features I might be ignoring I'd deeply appreciate someone to highlight them!

With Maximus VII Hero, the CPU+mobo+ram kit is AR$ 10200.

I've considered going for LGA 2011-V3 CPUs, but price goes up 50% :/ would it really be worth it?

Thanks again for the huge, TITANIC help you guys have given me so far, because even slight hints trigger my curiosity buffer and I can read more and better.

Guest · Oct 22, 2014

all z97 motherboards, for the most part, will all have the same amount of sata ports and will all have at least one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot. so dont worry about that kind of stuff. where they start to differ is stuff like size (atx, micro atx, mini itx etc...),wifi built in, type and brand of NIC, number of PCIe slots and crossfire/sli support, voltage regulation circuitry, and many nowadays are starting to offer sound solutions on par with many entry level sound cards (some of the board partners even have Creative audio cards built on to the motherboard). honestly if you dont think you need many of those additional features, a moderately priced board from asus, asrock, or gigabyte will do you just fine. here in US i think i bought my gigabyte z87x-d3h for maybe $120? and it is a fine motherboard that has everything i need and nothing else i dont use...

where overclocking is concerened, some will argue with you that you need a more expensive board to have more success overclocking. but from my personal experience with z77 and z87 based motherboards is.......the "mid range" ones have overclocked just fine for me. i had an i7 3770k with a 4.4ghz overclock and it was stable as a rock. my current i7 4770k is also at 4.4 ghz on a "mid range" board and i have no problems whatsoever with stability.

Guest · Oct 22, 2014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157506&cm_re=asrock_z97-_-13-157-506-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157503R&cm_re=asrock_z97-_-13-157-503R-_-Product

asrock has been making some very nice motherboards the past few years and they are very reasonably priced. even Tom's thinks so. many of their motherboard roundups have give an "editors choice" to asrocks cheaper z77/z87/z97 boards. i had a z77 extreme3 and it was a great little MB that ran rock solid for about a year straight with no performance or stability problems at all

ccjmk · Oct 22, 2014

Awesome, I'll settle with the CPU and look for those alternatives also, thanks a lot.

My only lasting concern will be the RAM frequency w/ the CPU controller. I actually asked that appart on the CPU forum so I'll await for a response there. Thanks a lot guys

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