New PC Parts!

SteveGrabowski · January 30, 2015

I haven't actually bought the CPU yet so I am definately willing to change the CPU to avoid any problems.

You need to find the BIOS version. The i7-4790k and i5-4690k are way better CPUs than the i7-4770k and i5-4670k on average and the newer versions sell for the same price as the older ones do. When did you buy your board? If it's at all recent you probably already have a new enough BIOS to support Haswell Refresh CPUs, though don't chance it and make sure before buying. A call to tech support is a small price to pay to ensure you can use a CPU with much better temperatures and overclocking headroom.

AaronHilton · January 30, 2015

You need to find the BIOS version. The i7-4790k and i5-4690k are better CPUs than the i7-4770k and i5-4670k on average and the newer versions sell for the same price as the older ones do. When did you buy your board? If it's at all recent you probably already have a new enough BIOS to support Haswell Refresh CPUs, though don't chance it and make sure before buying. A call to tech support is a small price to pay to ensure you can use a CPU with much better temperatures and overclocking headroom.

I haven't bought them yet. I'm discussing with people about the parts before I buy all of my parts. I will only be building the PC in mid February. And by the looks of it, BurgerBum user seems to have created a new parts list that I need to consider. I am very new to this and this will be my first Gaming PC build so I am just looking for advice on what to buy.

January 30, 2015

I can't say I do. Like i mentioned, I am new to dealing with BIOS so I wouldn't be able to comment much on that

Just buy the i7 4770K instead then you won't have any issues. The only main difference between the i7 4770K and i7 4790K is the improved thermal interface material. So if you were overclocking the cpu then the i7 4790k should run cooler. As you already have the board then this makes more sense.

BurgerBum · January 30, 2015

This was my original parts list (excluding the case).

Will the parts list that you linked be able to perform as good/out perform this list?

I am definately looking for the best build I can get for the price.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/aaronhilton/saved/7ZVbt6

it will preform pretty much the same.

also i would stay away from the 970 seeing as all the hate surrounding it currently.

BurgerBum · January 30, 2015

Just buy the i7 4770K instead then you won't have any issues. The only main difference between the i7 4770K and i7 4790K is the improved thermal interface material. So if you were overclocking the cpu then the i7 4790k should run cooler. As you already have the board then this makes more sense.

get the 4690k and get hardly any drop in preformance for 100$ less.....

SteveGrabowski · January 30, 2015

For example, I bought an H81 board in August and it already had a new enough BIOS preinstalled to run any LGA1150 CPU even though H81 originally only supported Haswell and not Haswell Refresh CPUs. So I didn't need to do a BIOS update when I installed a Haswell Refresh Xeon E3-1231v3 in my H81 board.

AaronHilton · January 30, 2015

it will preform pretty much the same.

also i would stay away from the 970 seeing as all the hate surrounding it currently.

Yeah I have started seeing quite a lot of contraversy around the 970. Will the i5 perform just as well as the i7?

And also, will I still be able to use the Ripjaws RAM I have already? Since I have already bought it I feel reluctant to send it back.

SteveGrabowski · January 30, 2015

Just buy the i7 4770K instead then you won't have any issues. The only main difference between the i7 4770K and i7 4790K is the improved thermal interface material. So if you were overclocking the cpu then the i7 4790k should run cooler. As you already have the board then this makes more sense.

I disagree. The 4770k runs 500MHz slower than the 4790k. A simple call to tech support might tell him how to find out the BIOS version he has. Unless he bought the board last summer he probably already has a new enough BIOS to use Haswell Refresh. No reason to be lazy and not make a 10 minute phonecall to find out if he can use a better CPU.

AaronHilton · January 30, 2015

For example, I bought an H81 board in August and it already had a new enough BIOS preinstalled to run any LGA1150 CPU even though H81 originally only supported Haswell and not Haswell Refresh CPUs. So I didn't need to do a BIOS update when I installed a Haswell Refresh Xeon E3-1231v3 in my H81 board.

Yeah I understand you now. When I decide on the parts I want to buy, I will be sure to check all of this

SteveGrabowski · January 30, 2015

Yeah I have started seeing quite a lot of contraversy around the 970. Will the i5 perform just as well as the i7?

And also, will I still be able to use the Ripjaws RAM I have already? Since I have already bought it I feel reluctant to send it back.

People complain about the 970 not being a good SLI option due to stuttering thanks to the 0.5GB of gimped VRAM on it. Whether or not that is true is still up in the air, and it's something you should monitor as professional reviewers begin to explicitly test that 3.5GB to 4.0GB window of gimped VRAM. As of now it doesn't seem like a huge deal from professional reviews I have seen the last couple of days, but buyer beware until this question is definitively answered. There is a definite difference in smoothness of gameplay and VRAM usage vs the GTX 980, but there should be for two different classes of cards. The newest reviews testing this have shown a difference, but not a catastrophic difference yet. Definitely watch all the techsites you can for professional reviews testing this partition in the 970.

BurgerBum · January 30, 2015

Yeah I have started seeing quite a lot of contraversy around the 970. Will the i5 perform just as well as the i7?

And also, will I still be able to use the Ripjaws RAM I have already? Since I have already bought it I feel reluctant to send it back.

other than like a 5% or 10% in content creation, you wont lose much more than half a frame ingame.(which personally is still worth losing as its 100 dollars cheaper)

as long as its DDR3 youre fine. if its too fast for the mobo it will underclock itself to the highest supported speed. although thats pretty rare.

you're god on RAM.

SteveGrabowski · January 30, 2015

Yeah I understand you now. When I decide on the parts I want to buy, I will be sure to check all of this

You shouldn't decide on the CPU you're buying until you figure out the BIOS version of your board. The i7-4770k is nowhere near as good a CPU as the i7-4790k is, so if you can run it then the 4790k is the way better buy unless you find a huge discount on the 4770k. If you're buying a k CPU these differences in temperatures matter hugely for what kind of speeds you can run and what kind of cooling you need to get there. An i7-4790k is binned to run at 4.4GHz so you know you're getting a really high quality chip, the best of the best on LGA1150. An i7-4770k is only binned to run at 3.9GHz.

AaronHilton · January 30, 2015

People complain about the 970 not being a good SLI option due to stuttering thanks to the 0.5GB of gimped VRAM on it. Whether or not that is true is still up in the air, and it's something you should monitor as professional reviewers being to explicitly test that 3.5GB to 4.0GB window of gimped VRAM. As of now it doesn't seem like a huge deal from professional reviews I have seen the last couple of days, but buyer beware until this question is definitively answered. There is a definite difference in smoothness of gameplay and VRAM usage, but there should be for two different classes of cards. The newest reviews testing this have shown a difference, but not a catastrophic difference yet. Definitely watch all the techsites you can for professional reviews testing this partition in the 970.

Thanks for the advice! Since I am only building this in Feb, I will definately see what the result is on this whole situation regarding the 970. I have been a fan of the GTX line and it was my first choice but if more information comes out on it, I'm sure it will sway my decision.

BurgerBum · January 30, 2015

People complain about the 970 not being a good SLI option due to stuttering thanks to the 0.5GB of gimped VRAM on it. Whether or not that is true is still up in the air, and it's something you should monitor as professional reviewers being to explicitly test that 3.5GB to 4.0GB window of gimped VRAM. As of now it doesn't seem like a huge deal from professional reviews I have seen the last couple of days, but buyer beware until this question is definitively answered. There is a definite difference in smoothness of gameplay and VRAM usage, but there should be for two different classes of cards. The newest reviews testing this have shown a difference, but not a catastrophic difference yet. Definitely watch all the techsites you can for professional reviews testing this partition in the 970.

^^^ this is the best post i have seen today. ^^^

i will continue to reccomend a 290/290x over the 970 unless said 290/x is within 20 dollars of the cheapest 970.

AaronHilton · January 30, 2015

You shouldn't decide on the CPU you're buying until you figure out the BIOS version of your board. The i7-4770k is nowhere near as good a CPU as the i7-4790k is, so if you can run it then the 4790k is the way better buy unless you find a huge discount on the 4770k. If you're buying a k CPU these differences in temperatures matter hugely for what kind of speeds you can run and what kind of cooling you need to get there. An i7-4790k is binned to run at 4.4GHz so you know you're getting a really high quality chip, the best of the best on LGA1150. An i7-4770k is only binned to run at 3.9GHz.

I have been googling to try and find out what BIOS version my board has but I have had no luck. If you know what to look for, the board I have is the ASRock Z87 Extreme 3.

Here is a link to the one that I bought if you can see it on there. Sorry if this seems tedious, I am a newbie.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D1COG4A?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

dizmo · January 30, 2015

I would have no idea how to change the BIOS to make it compatible. Is there a different CPU I should go for? I'm not massively bothered, just as long as I can overclock it to decent speeds.

You could try and find a deal on a 4770k. I've seen a few used and even some new ones go for $250 CAD, so you could probably pick one up around the same price if you hunt.

The performance difference between that and the 4790k is basically nothing.

I also just had a quick google and I have found a list of compatible motherboards for the 4790K and the Z87 isn't on there.

http://processormatch.intel.com/MotherBoards/CompatibleBoards

That's an issue.

SteveGrabowski · January 30, 2015

I have been googling to try and find out what BIOS version my board has but I have had no luck. If you know what to look for, the board I have is the ASRock Z87 Extreme 3.

Here is a link to the one that I bought if you can see it on there. Sorry if this seems tedious, I am a newbie.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D1COG4A?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Call their tech support. They may be able to tell you based on the serial number, or they may be able to tell you how to find out (it could be marked on the BIOS chip the board shipped with). This really is something worth finding out as the 4790k is superior in every way to the 4770k.

AaronHilton · January 30, 2015

Call their tech support. They may be able to tell you based on the serial number, or they may be able to tell you how to find out (it could be marked on the BIOS chip the board shipped with). This really is something worth finding out as the 4790k is superior in every way to the 4770k.

I'm just looking on the back of my mobo case and it says CPU Support : Supports 4 Gen Intel Core i7/i5/i3/ Xeon etc..

Surely my 4790k CPU falls within this category? I don't understand why it wouldn't work.

SteveGrabowski · January 30, 2015

I'm just looking on the back of my mobo case and it says CPU Support : Supports 4 Gen Intel Core i7/i5/i3/ Xeon etc..

Surely my 4790k CPU falls within this category? I don't understand why it wouldn't work.

None of us can tell you whether it will work or not. None of us can tell you the BIOS version you have. Whether it works or not is entirely dependent on the BIOS version you have.

AaronHilton · January 30, 2015

None of us can tell you whether it will work or not. None of us can tell you the BIOS version you have. Whether it works or not is entirely dependent on the BIOS version you have.

Alright, sorry if I'm frustrating you. You sure do have more patience that I would. Thank you so much for the help anyway!

SteveGrabowski · January 30, 2015

Alright, sorry if I'm frustrating you. You sure do have more patience that I would. Thank you so much for the help anyway!

Sure. No problem bro.

BurgerBum · January 30, 2015

my friend came over and saw me workin on this thread.

''why are they worrying about this so much?!?! just buy a Imac''

me: ''well, there erent very many imacs that fit this persons needs for this price range really''

''so he's a gamer?''

me: ''seeing the parts he chose innitially yes''

''why not an alien ware?''

me: *breaks my mouse from gripping too tight*

yes.

January 30, 2015

I disagree. The 4770k runs 500MHz slower than the 4790k. A simple call to tech support might tell him how to find out the BIOS version he has. Unless he bought the board last summer he probably already has a new enough BIOS to use Haswell Refresh. No reason to be lazy and not make a 10 minute phonecall to find out if he can use a better CPU.

A clock speed difference of 500MHz won't really make a whole lot of difference.

The i7 4770K is around £25 cheaper than the i7 4790K.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74770k

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74790k

If the op wants to check on the bios before hand then that is His call. Buying an i7 4770K (or i5 4670K) isn't a bad choice though.

AaronHilton · January 30, 2015

my friend came over and saw me workin on this thread.

''why are they worrying about this so much?!?! just buy a Imac''

me: ''well, there erent very many imacs that fit this persons needs for this price range really''

''so he's a gamer?''

me: ''seeing the parts he chose innitially yes''

''why not an alien ware?''

me: *breaks my mouse from gripping too tight*

yes.

Oh good lord x_x

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