What would you do?

[JesseStillwell]

Hi everyone,

 

This is my current situation. My MSI Z97 Gaming 5 motherboard which houses my 4790k died on me quite a while back, I had to replace it with a crappy Asrock H81m-vg4 r2.0 as that was the only thing locally available at the time. I have been running the H81 for quite a while now.

 

I have a 4790k cooled by a Corsair H105, 16Gb of G.Skill Trident X DDR3 @ 2400mhz (only operates at 1333mhz on the Asrock H81), MSI RTX 2080, 2.5" 256Gb Samsung 840 Pro, Sound Blaster Zx, and a Corsair 750w PSU.

 

I really love this system and the 4790k is a powerhouse still to this day. I often need single core performance for Revit, and this CPU has always done a good job.

 

My main issue is the H81 motherboard, it's holding my system back badly. I rolled back the Bios just so I could overclock it. It's possible to overclock on this board, but it only has one option, 4.5ghz and you can't control the voltage or anything else. I tested it, and it wasn't worth it. I took back to stock as it runs much cooler and will hit 4.4ghz off the turbo boost without issues.

 

I keep thinking maybe I should get another Z97 motherboard secondhand off eBay or locally and keep running this system for a while. I would delid/liquid metal, overclock to 5.0ghz, and have my RAM speed back to normal or higher. Problem is that the Z97 boards are quite rare and expensive. I'm looking at prices around $100.00 - $200.00 for a good second hand Gaming 5 or MPOWER mobo. I might be able to find something locally for around the same price or a bit cheaper if I scoured around hard enough.

 

I use my PC for a bit of everything. Music production, 4K movies, a bit of gaming, Revit, AutoCAD, a bit of Photoshop and Premiere. I can play AC Odyssey at 4k, but it's not buttery smooth.

 

What would you guys do? If you upgraded, how would you re-purpose the old setup? I still have a GTX 770 laying around, and I would get an m.2 for a the new set up. So basically, a micro ATX case and a PSU would put the 4790k back into action for something. Maybe sell it?

 

If I upgraded, I'd probably go Ryzen 5 3600 with an MSI B450 Tomahawk and 16Gb or 32Gb of 3200mhz RAM. Money isn't an issue for me, but the value of the 3600 is hard to beat. How would you upgrade considering the way my PC is used?

 

P.S I would like to thank you for reading my post and providing any recommendations or ideas. It's much appreciated.

[Jurrunio]

you could still check on Z87 boards, but personally I'd move on. That's what I would do on my 2600k system if the board gives up the ghost, even though I am low on budget for a system I only use 3 months per year so I'll end up getting something newer but still used.

[Stormseeker9]

I would go the ryzen route. Tomahawk + 3600

[Streetguru]

17 minutes ago, JesseStillwell said:

If I upgraded, I'd probably go Ryzen 5 3600 with an MSI B450 Tomahawk and 16Gb or 32Gb of 3200mhz RAM. Money isn't an issue for me, but the value of the 3600 is hard to beat. How would you upgrade considering the way my PC is used?

Just do that, but if money isn't an issue just buy the ASUS Prime X570 board with it.