First own pc build - questions and issues

pawq

Honorable
Jul 26, 2013
4
0
10,510
Hello there,

Recently the motherboard in my good old pc fried, and I'm going to build my first pc quite soon. Fortunately, all the components apart from the motherboard are apparently fine, so at first I'm going to buy a new motherboard, a CPU and RAM, just to get it working. Then, when I gather more money, I'm going to take care of the rest.

I've done lots of reading related to components and their pairing, but since this is my first experience of this kind, I want to make sure that I didn't overlook anything.

This is what I've chosen for now:

Motherboard - Asus B85-Plus
CPU - Intel i5-4670k
Ram - GEIL 8GB 1600MHz (single channel for now)

I've spent hours reading and comparing specs of motherboards with different chipsets, but apparently the only differences are various features (e.g. the number of 6Gb/s SATA slots) that I don't need. That's why I decided to go with the lowest and cheapest chipset, which is the B85. However, I'm not at all sure about this, so here goes my first real question:
What are the differences between the B85 and higher chipsets that cannot be seen from the specifications?

Also, as I plan to play with overclocking, I decided to chose Asus (B85 has unlocked multipliers in the last BIOS versions). B85-Plus, because it's the cheapest motherboard with an 8-pin 12 Volt line, which as I understand is necessary to satisfy the overclocked quads' power consumption. There goes the second question:
Is an 8-pin 12 Volt power connection really necessary to overclock a quad i5? (I'm not talking about pushing it to absolute limits).

I have an OCZ StealthXStream 500W left over from my old pc, which has a 4-pin connection, but as I understand I can plug it to an 8-pin socket for now, and then buy a new PSU when the second phase comes. Is it indeed possible, and would for example an OCZ ZT 550W be appropriate in the second phase?

Initially I decided to go into Haswell because of the new chipset - I want to be able to upgrade in the future. I rejected i7's, simply because they are too expensive, so then the i5-4670k. Do you think this is the right decision?

As for the RAM, I don't suppose it makes that much of a difference, but would GEIL be appropriate, or would you suggest something else?



In the second phase I plan to extend the RAM to either 16GB or 32GB, buy a BitFenix Shinobi case, and add a Zotac GTX 660 (Ti?) AMP! on top. Plus some reasonable air cooling for the CPU, but for now only the issues outlined above are important.

I'll be greatful for any answers, feedback or additional information.
Thanks in advance!
 
the main difference is that the z87 chipset can overclock and has everything needed. the b85 is the second lowest chipset available. it will not overclock

heres what id get
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1kWSs

everything should be fixed. the psu is miles better than whatever OCZ has in place

the 4 pin is enough, but you may as well get a higher quality unit in the first place
 

pawq

Honorable
Jul 26, 2013
4
0
10,510
What do you mean by saying that B85 won't overclock? The price difference is significant (the Gigabyte model costs 105£ at the moment, as opposed to 72£ for Asus B85-Plus).
I'm not questioning anything you say, I'm just asking for a more thorough explanation.

Also, if Z87, why not go for Asus Z87M-Plus or Gigabyte Z87-HD3 then? The Asus is 87£ and the Gigabyte 95£, which is closer to the price of the B85 mobo than the Gigabyte one, and again, I don't see why they would be insufficient.

I apologise for the vagueness of my knowledge, but after all everything ends up with me spending more or less money, so I do ask for proper explanations. Please, treat me as a child here.
 

pawq

Honorable
Jul 26, 2013
4
0
10,510
Let me ask again, pleeease, could you provide some explanation behind the differences? Or some background information? Google isn't really that helpful. :/ Like I found literally no difference between the aforementioned Gigabyte Z87-D3HP and Gigabyte Z87-HD3, apart from a 10 pound price difference. :/ And no difference between those and Asus Z87M-Plus for that matter... :(
 
the main difference between the d3hp and the hd3 is that the d3hp uses a intel network card (which is much better than a realtek found on the hd3) and the d3hp uses the newer IR 3553 mosfets rather than the last gen stuff. the ir3553 is much more capable in terms of providing power

the 10 pound difference is totally worth it
 

pawq

Honorable
Jul 26, 2013
4
0
10,510
I read the manufacturers websites out and through. I don't care about the LAN card really and I found nothing on the MOSFET transistors you mentioned. :(

Could anyone else comment on this?
 
yeah you should really care about it. realtek drivers are crap in the first place and intels networking is pretty much the best there is.

if you can read a technical datasheet
http://www.irf.com/product-info/datasheets/data/ir3553.pdf

you wont find too much data that makes sense to you unless you are a engineer. however the basis is that it can supply up to 40A a piece and that it is the second best thing out there other than the 3550 which is the 60A version. they both run very cool and they are very efficient