Trying to decide which motherboard to upgrade to (Compatibility + Welcoming Opinions)

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

sterlin22

Honorable
May 17, 2012
74
0
10,630
Current Rig:

Micro-ATX Intel mobo
GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 (I overclock it to about 1350 mhz, but I can get 1500 mhz)
I5-2310 2.9ghz Sandy Bridge Quad Core
8GB DDR3 1333 Mhz
1TB 7200 RPM HDD
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Corsair GS 700 Watt PSU
Cooler Master Storm Enforcer Medium ATX Case

I plan on upgrading the following parts this Christmas:

CPU - Getting an I7-4790k w/ a Liquid Cooler

Motherboard - No idea what to get, leaning towards ASUS Sabertooth LGA 1150 Z97, despite it being so expensive.

Important notes:

I'm not sure whether or not my PSU will be compatible with a modern MOBO, so here's the link to its specs and information:

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/gs700w

Also, in the DISTANT future, I plan on upgrading my OS to Windows 8.1, getting a SSD of some sort, and getting 16GB RAM 1866 Mhz or better. I have no intentions of upgrading to a SLI variant, but it might happen years down the road. Though I'm pretty positive my PSU doesn't support SLI.

Any assistance, recommendations, opinions, etc. is more than welcome.
 
Solution
photonboy
1) Asus Z97-A
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a

2) cooler: Noctua NH-U12S or Noctua NH-U14S

*Liquid cooler is simply not needed for 4th gen Intel CPU's unless you want to overclock north of 4.6GHz which I don't recommend anyway since it's not going to benefit you much. The liquid cooler is also noisier and less reliable since it has a pump that always runs. The Noctua coolers are dead silent in idle and barely noticeable under full load.

For the i7-4790K just keep the default 4.4 (or light overclock to 4.5GHz). For the i5-4690K use the motherboard quick overclock tool which reboots; it likely will go to about 4.2GHz. Also choose "XMP" for the memory.

3) CPU:
You can save $90 by getting the i5-4690K which will give...
Sort by date Sort by votes
photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
21,567
13
85,015
1) Asus Z97-A
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z97a

2) cooler: Noctua NH-U12S or Noctua NH-U14S

*Liquid cooler is simply not needed for 4th gen Intel CPU's unless you want to overclock north of 4.6GHz which I don't recommend anyway since it's not going to benefit you much. The liquid cooler is also noisier and less reliable since it has a pump that always runs. The Noctua coolers are dead silent in idle and barely noticeable under full load.

For the i7-4790K just keep the default 4.4 (or light overclock to 4.5GHz). For the i5-4690K use the motherboard quick overclock tool which reboots; it likely will go to about 4.2GHz. Also choose "XMP" for the memory.

3) CPU:
You can save $90 by getting the i5-4690K which will give you about the same gaming experience.

*While the new i5/i7 CPU's will produce higher frame rates in some games the i5-2310 is still going to run most games quite well. Many games will run about the same.

Considering the cost of upgrading it might be worth considering if it's worth your while. That will depend heavily on which games you play and how much they'd benefit from a better CPU.

It's about $500 to $600 after tax to upgrade your system (Mobo + new copy of Windows + CPU)

**Here's an example of a game that wouldn't benefit much with an upgrade to the CPU. Not the same frame rate at all frequencies down to 2GHz:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/metro_2033_performance_guide,9.html
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom