Started my new build. What is your opinion

[Razorsedge877]

 So far I have a  Gigabyte gtx980 that came in last week and a Pony 240gb SSD (for my operating system). On Tuesday I will be receiving a Corsair Obsidian 750 Case (I like the plain look and seems roomy) and a Samsung 850 Pro Series 512gb SSD (for Steam and my games). Now my question. Which processor would offer better stock performance. A i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz or a i7-4790K Haswell Quad-Core 4.0GHz. I have never overclocked before and the i7 4790 is rated 4.0ghz so is probably capable of playing skyrim with Skyrim revisited installed but the recommended specs for Far Cry 4 are an AMD 8 core so games requiring higher cores probably aren't far off in the gaming  industry. Which do you think  I should buy and why?

[phazer11]

The 5930k is quite likely overkill but if you want future proof and have the budget...

Make sure not to skimp on the motherboard or powersupply (PSU) otherwise you're shooting yourself in the hands and feet.

[TechAngel85]

I think you're going a little overboard there. ::
 
The official recommended specs:

Supported OS: MS Windows 7 SP1, MS Windows 8/8.1 (64-bit versions only)
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400S @ 2.5 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz or better
Memory: 8GB
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 or AMD Radeon R9 290X or better (2GB VRAM)
Direct X: Version 11
Hard Drive: 30 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card with latest drivers

 

A Core i5 like my Core i5-4670K is more than enough to run Far Cry 4 for the CPU.

[Nozzer66]

If that's your two choices, then the 4790 will do now, but the 5930 will future proof you on CPU for another good few years.

 

However having a Rolls Royce processor wont help if you have a Ford Model T motherboard. :)

[TechAngel85]

Those high-end processors are aimed more towards content creators and not gamers. Very few to no games are going to use 6 to 8 cores. Even modern games use no more than 3 or 4 and when most games "recommend" a quad-core or more CPU, they typically will not use more than 2 or 3 cores because the system itself will need some room to run as well.

 

This video is a couple years old but it's still pretty relevant in terms of the message that 4 cores is enough for gaming and HT rarely matters for a straight up gaming rig. That stuff is really only useful for content creators.

 

Don't let me bust your "enthusiast bubble" though! If you want a hardcore and probably overkill rig, then certainly build one. But I'm with these other guys. Buy a Core i5-4670K @ 3.4GHz and put that saved money towards a good motherboard, RAM or a bigger/better monitor if you're buying one. If you need more power from that CPU in the future, buy aftermarket cooling and overclock it. Personally, I've never overclocked mine and haven't seen any reason to yet.

[Nozzer66]

If it's a Linus Tech video it'll be pretty spot on. He's my goto guy for CPU parts and videos.

[Razorsedge877]

   _{I'm Definitely Not planning on Skimping on a Motherboard. I'm Looking at the ASUS Rampage V (6 Core),  GIGABYTE GA-X99-GAMING G1 (6 Core), GIGABYTE GA-X99-GAMING G1 (6 Core). Or the ASUS Rampage IV Black (4 Core), ASUS MAXIMUS VI (4 Core).}

   _{I'm not really sure why because I have never used their product but I'm Drawn more to the ASUS products, I thought about the Gigabyte because that's what my card is but read a few bad reviews.}

   _{I know I'm going a little overboard because I figure if I spend an extra 100 dollars on a motherboard or processor it will last three or four years instead of getting a cheaper board and than in two years having to spend another 250 on a MB, ect. Does My reasoning make sense or am I looking at this wrong? T already play on a 50" Sony so I am happy with my monitor. About the only other question I have is buying RAM. I'm not sure what kind to buy. I plan on watercooling and in the future may add another video card}

 

Edited November 16, 2014 by Razorsedge877

[TechAngel85]

ASUS products will not lead you astray. They are about the only brand I use for motherboards.

 

Future proofing doesn't necessarily mean having the best and most expensive components. Being smart about their interactions is better than having brute strength. I have the ASUS z87-Plus board and it has all the bells and whistles I need. I could have spent $100 more on the board but there was really no point. I also have the Core i5-4670K that is not overclocked. It handles any games that I play without even sweating. This combination will be good for 4-5 years because if I ever need extra juice, I can just overclock the CPU and call it a day. Seeing that this processor has never struggled with anything so far, I don't see any logical reason to have anything faster than it right now for just gaming purposes. The board is also rock solid. So I've spent approximately half of that you're planning on spending on your top choices for the motherboard and processor and I can guarantee that in gaming only scenarios with the same graphics card, you'd have no advantages over my hardware. Proof is in that video I posted. So, your reasoning isn't wrong but is it the most practical for the application? Probably not. A lot of the high-end products on the market are just for enthusiasts and simply add a lot of bells and whistles that most users will never take advantage of. The base features of the ASUS boards you mentioned are just as good as the Z87 boards I linked.

 

You'll want to look for good quality RAM so don't go with some unknown off brand.  I have these sticks in my system: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148486 I went with this product for a couple of reason (the sport edition is black):

• They're low profile just in case I need to install an aftermarket heatsink one day (future proofed that)
• They're low voltage so they use less power to achieve the same performance.
• They are a lower CAS latency that normal DDR3 1600 sticks (8-8-8-24 compared to 9-9-9-24)
• Due to the lower voltage and lower CAS latency they have great overclocking potential according to reviews, if it is needed (mine aren't overclocked...yet).

Hopefully that will give you some ideas to think about when looking for system RAM.

[Freyrgjurd]

I recently got my I7 3770k fried by a lighting storm, now I have an I5-4690k version and I have the same performance in Skyrim and other games as before.

 

What you need to understand is that all games get their juice mainly from the GPU. Your CPU is going to murder you if it BOTTLENECKS your GPU.

 

I have a 670 and while I was getting the money to buy the new i5 and a new mobo, I used it on an old Core 2 Duo. It was horrible.

 

I would recomend that you get and Devil's Canyon I5 (or I7 if you do video editing and stuff like that) for the overclock potential and use the money on a die hard PSU (1000w +), so you can buy another 980 for a SLI rig later on.

 

For the motherboard, the Asus Rampage series is the most trustworthy board I ever had. The building quality of the PCB and the raw material invested in the components will allow you a higher overclock, lower temps and higher stability.

 

I would not recomend the Hashwell-E platform, since it is mainly for editing (Photoshop and stuff). Up to 64Gb of ram, quad-channel and all that. No game will make wonders.

 

It's up to you. If you have the money, go for overkill. I7 5xxxK, Hashwell-E, lots of mem and a good GPU rig. It'll be future proof for 3~5 years IMO.

Just my 2 small cents ^^

[Razorsedge877]

Hey everyone. I am about to buy my CPU and motherboard tomorrow. I have 3 motherboards I need help choosing from. Two of them are from ASUS and 1 is from Gigabyte. they are in order from 1st choice to third choice. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132247 ,https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128700 , and https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131974 . The CPU I am buying will be https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369. Money is not an issue, looking for performance and I understand these are all probly overkill. Which would you choose and maybe why.

[werewulfking]

Yeah defenitely go with the first one. Its Asus so good product quality and it is so much overkill. The second Asus is so targeted for overclockers that it doesn't really make any sense and if the price is the same i would choose asus over gigabyte although i currently have a rather cheap gigabyte motherboard and it is doing its job quite well even with my overclock from 3.6 to 4.0 Ghz.

But Asus is really the brand to go to. Other than that there really is nothing to say if money is no object as all the necessary features are there in all motherboards and performance is less regulated by the motherboard than ever for Haswell.

 

And please don't buy a 1000+  Watt Power Supply like Freyrgjurd suggested. It's too much power and I doubt that two 980 will even go to 750 Watts unless you buy those Kingpin EVGA edition cards and put it under dry ice cooling.

[Greg]

I've used ASUS motherboards exclusively for the past decade or so because they are rock solid, so I tossed out the Gigabyte for this reason alone.

 

Of the two remaining choices, I would pick the ASUS Maximux VII Formula motherboard because it's cheaper than the ASUS Maximum VI Extreme, the ASUS Maximus VI Extreme has features I'll never use (OC panel, four-way CrossFireX, SSD secure erase). Even so, I think the ASUS Maximus VII Formula is a bit overkill unless you're into overclocking with liquid cooling.

 

For comparison, I built my new rig last November using the same process and the ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1 motherboard, which comes out about $100 cheaper.

[phazer11]

Either of those ASUS boards will do you solid, can't say I've researched gigabyte much for this current chipset though. I will also recommend the Sabertooth series with their thermal armor dust covers and general reliability. Plus I love ASUS customer support. The Sabertooth's also come with an additional two years of warranty.