
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
The new Devil's Canyon-based Core i5-4690K essentially replaces the Core i5-4670K that we selected for the mid-range enthusiast build in our last SBM machine. To be honest, the -4690K isn't a colossal upgrade compared to its predecessor, offering a mere 100 MHz clock rate jump and better thermal interface material under the heat spreader.
Then again, when you're after a peak overclock, every little bit counts. Hopefully, Intel's enhancements allow the -4690K to differentiate itself from the first-generation Haswell-based quad-core processor it displaces. We paid $240 for that chip last quarter, and the same amount this time around.
Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Core i5-4690K
In most of our testing, we've seen the Core i5-4670K top out in the 4.3 GHz range after small voltage increases and multiplier adjustments. I'm willing to get a little more involved than that to push the Core i5-4690K further.
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer
Read Customer Reviews of ASRock's Fatl1ty Z97 Killer
With a significant share of the budget dedicated to the CPU cooler and RAM, I also needed a motherboard that'd help complement my overclocking effort. ASRock's Fatal1ty Z97 Killer might be just what I need.
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Read Customer Reviews of Noctua's NH-D14
Noctua has an excellent reputation as a manufacturer of premium CPU coolers, and its NH-D14 exemplifies why. Sporting two 120 mm fans and capable of rivaling many closed-loop liquid cooling systems, this is a popular choice for fans of big air.
Of course, the $79 price tag is somewhat daunting, and my pictures do not fully convey the heat sink's immense bulk. But then again, nobody said optimizing performance was cheap or easy.
- Changing Focus For A Look At Processor Performance
- CPU, Motherboard And Cooler
- Graphics Card, Power Supply And Case
- Memory, Hard Drives And Optical Storage
- Building And Overclocking
- How We Tested
- Results: Synthetics
- Results: Media Transcoding
- Results: Rendering And Productivity
- Results: Adobe Creative Cloud
- Results: Compression Tools
- Results: Battlefield 4 And Arma 3
- Results: Grid 2 And Far Cry 3
- Power And Temperature
- Q3 2014 Mainstream Enthusiast PC Under $1300 Verdict



[EDIT by cleeve]
They are not reversed. Check out the accompanying writeup to help make sense of it.
[/EDIT]
While I'd agree on the cheaper case, the 970 wasn't an option since they hadn't been released when they were buying parts for this quarter's SBM.
From Page 3 of the article: "The GeForce GTX 970 launched last week wasn't available (or even public information) back when we ordered the pieces for this build. So, I needed something cheaper than the Radeon R9 290 that wouldn't sacrifice gaming performance. Under $300, the best option was Nvidia's GeForce GTX 770."
Obviously, today the 970 would be a much better choice, but that option didn't exist when this build was purchased.
Good job. There is always that guy who does not read the article when it explains why the brand new card was not used, because it was not an option at the time of the review.
So congrats on being that guy this time. It only took 3 posts to get there.
on the last page:
may be you meant the Q2 enthusiast system. imo, yea, the q3 build doesn't seem as attractive as the q2 one. i think that one could add the ssd from this build and still be the better pc.
i wonder if you guys would build an fx8350/8320 pc as an alternative build at this price range for the ongoing overclocking theme.
I'd like to know more about the thickness / flexibility of the ASRock mobo. Otherwise, I don't think I have any niggles over performance-related parts.
I've never had any problems with Asrock and I'm on my second Asrock board.
Can I haz your 3GB 770 plz ?
Don't think the Q2 rig was properly setup if you are losing to the 770 in every test...
in page 5, GTX 770 overclocking used AMD OverDrive utility?
is there some kind of mistake or what?