Thinking about upgrading CPU + Motherboard

[dalekphalm]

Hey Guys,

 

I'm currently running (as per my sig) an x58 EVGA motherboard with a Xeon w3520 (i7-920 equivalent) and I've been contemplating an upgrade soon. The x58 chipset is quite old, with no USB 3.0 support, and it has weird incompatibilities and oddities that I come across occasionally.

 

I do video transcoding and occasional work (just for fun) in Adobe Creative Suite (mostly photoshop, some dreamweaver, a bit of the rest). This is of course, in addition to gaming.

 

Here is what I'm currently thinking:

CPU: i7-4790K

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H

 

I'm looking at the i7-4790K for a couple of reasons. First, it's the newest architecture (Devil's Canyon I believe), so (in theory) it will get me the largest increase in performance over my Nehalem CPU. Next, it has a base frequency of 4.0 GHz and a boost of 4.4 GHz. I WILL be doing OC'ing on the CPU... eventually. But it likely won't be right away.

 

For the motherboard, this is where I would like the most assistance with. I chose the GA-Z97-UD3H for a number of reasons. I picked it using PCPartPicker with very little research. Firstly, I'm only looking at "The Big Three" MSI, Gigabyte, or ASUS, for motherboards. Second, I'd LIKE Z97, to have the latest tech (And perhaps eventually get an m.2 SSD?) BUT I'm not 100% set on Z97 if you guys can give me a compelling reason to stick with Z87 instead. Third, it's QUITE inexpensive, coming in at ~$150 CAD, but still seems to have a decent amount of features (m.2, SLI/X-Fire, decent number of PCIE 1x slots, and so on). However, I did not put a lot of research down into this board.

 

I would LIKE to keep the motherboard at or under $150 without sacrificing a good amount of features (no cares given about wifi or bluetooth, or dual LAN), and while keeping good OC ability.

 

So what do you think? Any alternative suggestions? Keep in mind my location is Canada, so the pricing is a bit different (meaning higher lol) than our American neighbours.

 

Is there ANYTHING comparable from AMD right now that may be cheaper? I know the FX-8350 is still a beast in games, but would it beat out my i7-920 in multitasking/heavy load software? Are the FX-9xxx CPU's even worth anything at all, considering they're supposedly just madly OC'd and excellently binned FX-8xxx cores?

[Shd0w2]

AMD still hasn't brought a nextgen CPU to the table. 8350 is basically a 3770k or 3570k

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

Yes, get a 4790K and a Gaming Grad Z97 Mobo; MSI GD65 Gaming, Gaming 9 or Mpower are my favorites or if your looking for something reasonably priced, a Z97 SLI,just my loyalty to the Brand 

[adnank77]

If you waited that long .. I guess you could wait until September .. 

 

http://wccftech.com/intel-haswelle-x99-chipset-release-date-leaked-haswell-refresh-pentium/

 

 

I know Haswell-e will be expensive at launch along with DDR4 memory .. but it's worth the wait .. Expect that X79 will drop in price once the X99 is out so you could go that path then if budget is an issue .. 

[juretrn]

Another X58 bites the dust I will soon be alone. Most people here probably won't reccommend a 9xxx, unless you're a huge AMD fan. Obviously, you cannot go wrong with the 4790K, unless you do a whole lot of video work, then a X79 platform would be better. If I were you, I would stick with Intel.

[Gachr]

4790K would be a good choice. I would take the ASUS Z97-A or ASRock Z97 Extreme4, you didn't mention ASRock but it's also good.

[Leonard]

While your thought is a good one i am of the view that x58 is very relevant and you should wait until x99 for an upgrade.