Time for an upgrade for a slightly 7 year old PC

[bluestorm]

To start things of I will list what I have and by the way the CPU, RAM and PSU are from 2007 or 2008 era, same as my Thermaltake ArmorPlus(Armor+) VH6000BWS. My case needs a new replacement as well due to not so great cable management options. Plan to get the Corsair Obsidian 700D.

Boot: Kingston SSDNow 300 120 GB
Graphics: PNY GTX 660ti
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition at 3.2GHz
Ram: Corsair Dominator 4x 2GB TW3X4G1600C9D
PSU: COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro1000 RS-A00-EMBA 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 Plus
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (rev. 3.0)

The upgrade is in cause for speed, faster video encoding (HEVC, x265) and some light gaming of GTA 5 with future proofing. I have been looking at motherboards and ram and CPUs but have no knowledge in choosing what is right. The parts I would like to switch are MOBO, CPU, and ram. I would like to switch to intel but need help to choose the right parts. The top I can speed is $600. Maybe a little more if it goes over.

 

[modernwar99]

I take it this isn't a gaming build?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $398.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-23 12:14 EDT-0400

Xeon is a great budget option, about equal in performance to a i7 4790 except it has no iGPU and locked multiplier. As long as your PSU isn't making any noise or shutting down randomly, it's a solid unit and shouldn't need to be replaced yet. For exactly $600 you could get a i7 6700k, LGA 1151 mobo, and DDR4 RAM but that is arguably overkill and not very price efficient. Also if you don't have a SSD... get one! My computer is noticeably faster after picking one up.

 

[modernwar99]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $573.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-23 13:17 EDT-0400

What is your top priority? Gaming or video rendering?

 

[bluestorm]

Video encoding in the HEVC x265 margin which is more demanding than x264. But to the point of future proofing I would like to be ready and not just be ready now. Would the below parts be sufficient for demanding video encoding, and gaming? About my GFX I will upgrade that later. Pretend I have a 960 or 970 and base of of the below specs.

Intel Core i7-5820K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.3 GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W BX80648I75820K
MSI X99A SLI PLUS LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Desktop Memory Model CMK16GX4M2B3000C15R

 

[NightAntilli]

I'd do 2x8GB rather than 4x4GB since you'll have two additional slots available for if you ever need more than 16GB. Fat chance, but hey, you never know how fast memory requirements will grow, and, the price difference is negligible anyway. There will be no difference in performance either afaik.

 

[bluestorm]

Thanks for that input it was only 10 dollars more too.

 

[bluestorm]

The motherboard mentioned "MSI X99A SLI PLUS LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard" actually has 8 memory slots. Which motherboard were you speaking of?

 

[NightAntilli]

Oh. Forget I mentioned anything then xD

 

[bluestorm]

Turns out it is way over my budget. topping at $916 with the H110 GTX cooler. If anyone has any insight on a CPU, Motherboard, and RAM configuration. The recommendation of Intel Xeon E3-1231V3 Haswell 3.4 GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150 80W BX80646E31231V3 Server Processor seems to be good. So I will start there, what motherboard is compatible with this CPU that has at least 6 Sata 3.0 6GB/s or more "would be a bonus" plus RAM of 2x 8gb 16GB with great performance. Plus do I need special RAM with a server processor?

So far I'm stuck between MSI Z97 GAMING 5 LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
and MSI Z97A SLI KRAIT Edition LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

And maybe this CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model CMD16GX3M2A2400C11

With these 3 below I get the compatibility message under the 3 list...

MSI Z97A SLI KRAIT Edition LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model CMD16GX3M2A2400C11
Intel Xeon E3-1231V3 Haswell 3.4 GHz LGA 1150 80W BX80646E31231V3 Server Processor

Memory operating voltage of 1.65V exceeds the Intel Haswell Refresh CPU recommended maximum of 1.5V+5% (1.575V). This memory module may run at a reduced clock rate to meet the 1.5V voltage recommendation, or may require running at a voltage greater than the Intel recommended maximum.

 

[bluestorm]

This is what I have gotten down to and all I need is confirmation that these items can perform HEVC x265 encoding decently performance wise and also run games reasonably.

MSI Z97A SLI KRAIT Edition LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Xeon E3-1231V3 Haswell 3.4 GHz LGA 1150 80W BX80646E31231V3 Server Processor
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-1866C9D-16GXM

 

[modernwar99]

The Xeon supports ECC memory, but consumer grade LGA 1150 mobos don't support it, so regular DDR3 works fine. ECC is useless to your average person anyways. The new skylake version of that CPU (Xeon E3-1230 v5) should be launching soon too if you wanted to hold out, since futureproofing seems to be your biggest concern. Otherwise that build looks solid.