Need Expert Opinion for System Upgrade

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AnPCtester

AnPCtester

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Hi all,

I need some expert opinion on whether to upgrade to new system now or wait for skylake and 170 series mobos to come.

This is my current pc config: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GcBGRB

This system was built in 2009 with E4600 and 2 gigs ram. I have gradually updated the system with graphics and a good PSU but it is lagging behind in games with my current monitor. I plan to buy a 1080p monitor soon and I am sure I have milked this machine for all its worth.

I know that the haswell would be a great jump in computing ability now but I prefer to hold on to my computers for atleast 4 to 5 years with gradual updates. As skylake introduces new techs like DDR4 ram, my question is should I get a haswell machine within the next month or hold on till christmas and get a skylake + z170 machine.

If I get one now what is the best I can get with around 1000-1200 dollars budget.

Sorry for the long read & Thanks for any and all advice given ...
 
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I don't think you can overclock the e3-1231v3, because of locked multiplier. Not sure about overclocking it by overclocking the RAM. If you want to overclock you should get an i5-4690k or an i7-4790k. But overclock is not very important in gaming.

The e3-1231v3 is a i7 without iGPU, so the performance is very good:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1231+v3+%40+3.40GHz
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/CPU-Hardware-154106/Tests/Xeon-E3-1231-v3-Test-1126500/

If I was you I would only upgrade now if I wanted to do something that I couldn't with current build. If I could play all the games I wanted even at low settings I would not upgrade now. Prices of older hardware will probably go down when new ones are released, so...
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AnPCtester

AnPCtester

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Apr 17, 2015
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I see my initial post was too short so I updated it but was not fast enough.
Anyways my budget is around 1000-1200 dollars and I need a full computer except monitor and peripherals

Thanks
 
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lcp1109

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wait or update is really up to you, it will depend on how bad you need a new PC. Is there some game that you want to play that you cant? Or any similar problem with other type of work? If yes, then upgrade now, if not, you can hold on a bit and see what the future will bring. Some prices are going up right now, and if you are not in a big hurry you should probably wait a bit more.

If you are in a hurry you can go with this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($121.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($140.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($337.35 @ Amazon)
Case: Enermax Fulmo ST ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G-750 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($107.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1123.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-17 15:36 EDT-0400
 
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AnPCtester

AnPCtester

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Thanks for the reply. You're right that waiting for parts is up to me but what I am looking for is best bang for my buck. For example, DDR3 ram are at end of life as DDR4 has arrived in the x99 chipset. If I use haswell + z97 chipset, then I am locking myself in an obsolete ram standard. Thus waiting for skylake + z170 chipset is a big pro for the waiting idea. Conversely, DDR3 is cheaper and will likely remain so for 2015 maybe even 2016. This is a good con for the waiting idea. What other such pros and cons exist for this situation according to you??

Can you also explain your reason for choosing the xeon e3-1231v3??? How well does it overclock and how long of a useful product life can be expected??
 
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lcp1109

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I don't think you can overclock the e3-1231v3, because of locked multiplier. Not sure about overclocking it by overclocking the RAM. If you want to overclock you should get an i5-4690k or an i7-4790k. But overclock is not very important in gaming.

The e3-1231v3 is a i7 without iGPU, so the performance is very good:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1231+v3+%40+3.40GHz
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/CPU-Hardware-154106/Tests/Xeon-E3-1231-v3-Test-1126500/

If I was you I would only upgrade now if I wanted to do something that I couldn't with current build. If I could play all the games I wanted even at low settings I would not upgrade now. Prices of older hardware will probably go down when new ones are released, so when skylake is release you might get a better deal for the same build if you buy it now.

The DDR3 will not be outdated so soo, the DDR4 still have very high latency and you can get DDR3 with up tp 2400 mhz, so the performance difference is not great.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8959/ddr4-haswell-e-scaling-review-2133-to-3200-with-gskill-corsair-adata-and-crucial/8

You can also read this http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-4.html , when they talk about i7-5820k
 
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AnPCtester

AnPCtester

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Excellent suggestions and I followed up on the links. You have good points and I completely forgot about the latency issue of DDR4. I was talking about the DDR4 and overclocking because it is a way to future proof the machine as I want it to run for 5+ years without any major overhauls like mobo or CPU upgrade. As for the i7-5820k is far too much out of budget for me.

My major personal workload of the PC is gaming and watching movies along with some minor editing of photos for posting to Facebook and Instagram as well some video editing of family videos for events like birthdays. I am a student so other than tons of web searches and plodding through research archives I dont have anything else to do. I can still play most of my games like skyrim, starcraft 2, mass effect and witcher @ 30 fps ~ mid-high details, so I think an i5 should be sufficient.

I am gonna wait a day or two to see if anyone else comments. If not i will give this the best answer and close the topic. Thanks again for your effort.
 
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lcp1109

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no problem

If you want a more future proof CPU you should go with E3 or i7, for the extra threads/virtual cores.

I mentioned the i7 5820k so you can see some of the advantage and disadvantage of a build with ddr4. But this type of build are very expensive. No idea how the skylake prices will be, but they will support both DDR3 and 4
 
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AnPCtester

AnPCtester

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I am mostly sure that I will wait. Unless some disaster happens my current PC will last till christmas and even if I decide to get the haswell instead of skylake I will surely get lower prices. It a win win situation for me. :) :)

I will consider the i5 vs e3 or i7 situation after I have done more research. Anything particular you may want to point out will be appreciated.
 
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lcp1109

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http://www.pcgameshardware.de/CPU-Hardware-154106/Tests/CPU-Test-Benchmark-AMD-Intel-675663/

This articles concludes that the e3 have better gaming performance (about 6%) then the i5 4690k, and 9% more overall performance (graphic close to the end of the article, which is in German)

 
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