3 Questions - i5 / i7, which RAM, which motherboard?

ExChill

Reputable
Jul 9, 2015
2
0
4,510
Hey everyone,

I'm looking to buy a new PC and have a few questions.
I already made a thread in /r/buildapc on Reddit and I'm posting here again to get a second opinion.
Therefore I'm going to use the same form for the post I used on Reddit.

What is your intended use for this build? The more details the better.

Gaming (mostly competitive / esports games like StarCraft 2 and CS:GO), programming

If gaming, what kind of performance are you looking for? (Screen resolution, FPS, game settings)

1920x1080, 120 FPS, low settings

What is your budget (ballpark is okay)?

~1200€ (~1300$)

Post a draft of your potential build here (specific parts please).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor($229.98 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($95.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($334.99 @ B&H)
Case: Lian-Li PC-7HX ATX Mid Tower Case ($101.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $927.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-09 05:35 EDT-0400

I still have a SSD (Samsung 840) and a HDD from my old system and plan to use them both again.

Provide any additional details you wish below.

I often have multiple programs running simultaneously including but not limited to

  • ■ Chrome with ~10-15 tabs, including one or two twitch live streams
    ■ iTunes
    ■ TeamSpeak + Skype
    ■ OneNote / Excel
    ■ Steam / Battle.Net
    ■ 1 game like StarCraft or CS:GO
    ■ Tools in the background like f.lux, Dropbox, pushbullet, iCloud, etc.
    ■ Second Monitor (if it matters)

1.) My question there is, would it be worth to get an i7 instead of an i5?
I read everywhere that an i7 does not matter if you only play games because most games don't make use of the extra cores / multithreading, but does it make a difference when running multiple programs simultaneously? Or do I only need more RAM for that?

2.) I currently have 8GB RAM and in the taskmanager it is most of the time at about 75% so I would like to get more.
Is it "viable" to use 12GB RAM or should I just go for 16GB? I'm asking because I didn't really see much builds with 12GB.
I'm also not sure which RAM (from which manufacturer) I should buy. Are there major differences I am not seeing?

3.) Last question, concerning the motherboard. There are so many different versions of the Gigabyte Z97 (see here) and I don't really see a difference, except for the memory type (for example the Gaming 3, Gaming 5 and Gaming 7 version). Maybe someone can help me out there.
 

Samat

Distinguished
1.) For your use scenario going to i7 would be just waste of money better spent elsewhere (if you did heavy video editing then considering a i7 would be a option).

2.) You would want to stay on dual channel mode for memory so you should go to 16GB if you want more ram (there are 12GB configurations, but those are for the X79 platform which has triple channel memory (3x4GB modules), those kits are useless to your system). You should buy any 2x8GB kit that is compatible with your motherboard (memory speed doesn't make any realworld difference, but you should propably still get DDR3-1600 or better, DDR3 is cheap atm so you might find a bargain on DDR3-2133 memory for example but spending extra money on expensive memory would be just a waste of money).

3.) You get more features going up from Gaming 3 to Gaming 5 and so forth, you should check Gigabyte (or other manufacturers) website for product details to see the differences and if you need any of these extra features (so you can decide which version best suits your needs, no point in paying for features you never going to use).
 

ExChill

Reputable
Jul 9, 2015
2
0
4,510


Chrome is using most of the RAM, unless a game is running.
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I wouldn't really play on 2 monitors. Just play on 1 and Chrome / TeamSpeak / whatever on the other.