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Build (Upgrade) thoughts

vanongart
By vanongart
in New Builds and Planning
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Hi all,

 

I am quite unsure what to do, I do have an older Desktop:

CPU:      AMD Athlon II X4 635, 2,9GHz

RAM:     12 Gb 1333 MHz

GPU:     HD6950 2Gb

Display: 1080p

 

I would like to be able to play some newer games like Dying Light, Evolve, Far Cry 4, Battlefield 4...

ATM BF 4 runs with like nearly ~28 fps, with drops down to idk way to low ^^

 

I guess just changing the GPU will not do the trick?

So I'm most likely going to invest in new core components (MoBo, CPU, RAM, GPU).

 

What you guys think of:

MoBo:    ASUS Z797-P

CPU:      I5-4460

RAM:     16Gb 1600 MHz RAM

GPU:      either an 960 or an 970?

 

Will the I5-4460 bottleneck a 970?

Also will my old 425W (Enermax Modu 82+)PSU be able to run the system stable?

 

Or I'll go a bit different approach - and go with an I7-4790 and a 960 for now and upgrade the GPU (With a 4K Display) in ~ 1 1/2 years...

(I'm a software developer - so processing power is also appreciated)

 

What do you guys think?

 

Thanks,

Vanongart

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You won't need to swap out your ram. Even 1333 DDR3 is fine. So long as you have 4GB Sticks. Make sure you stay in dual channel mode. If your 12GB is 2x 4GB and 2x2GB, that works out well too. You want multiples of 2 sticks.

 

Just get an h97 mobo and an i5-4460 with stock cooler

then I'd suggest an R9 290, provided it's cheap in your area, and a better PSU. Those 4 items (mobo, CPU, GPU, PSU) are really all you need if you already have a good case and HDD. You could throw in an SSD if you really wanted, but it's not necessary.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($269.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($47.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $559.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-09 11:14 EST-0500

 

That would be sufficient.

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So here is my current build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kc2WwP

 

Idea 1 would be:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zQt9vK

(I5-4460 & GTX 970)

 

Idea 2 would be:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tPjBWZ

(I7-4790 & GTX 960)

 

(HDD's missing in all builds - I've got enough of those lying around)

 

With the GPU - idk i just don't feel comfortable with ATI cards - their drivers produce way too many issues in my experience (or i had bad luck with my last 3 cards).

Really? wouldn't the slower RAM drag the CPU down?

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($214.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($333.94 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec P183 V3 ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: Enermax REVOLUTION X't 430W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $625.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-09 11:37 EST-0500

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Okay,

 

And I couls also ditch the expensive Z97 for a H97 board - I dont plan on going SLI?

Or are there any other drawbacks?

The point of a Z97 board is for overclocking K series CPUs. If you don't do that, then you don't need a Z97 board.

 

Also if you're just using a 1080p screen, the parts I outlined in my build would probably be your best bet. The power usage of a GTX 970 is actually quite a bit higher once overclocked, more like 200W, so a 430W PSU is cutting it close, especially with all those drives. Honestly it sounds weird to me that you've been able to get away with 430W PSU with an HD 6950.

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($326.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Antec P183 V3 ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: Enermax REVOLUTION X't 430W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $568.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-09 11:39 EST-0500

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The point of a Z97 board is for overclocking K series CPUs. If you don't do that, then you don't need a Z97 board.

 

Also if you're just using a 1080p screen, the parts I outlined in my build would probably be your best bet. The power usage of a GTX 970 is actually quite a bit higher once overclocked, more like 200W, so a 430W PSU is cutting it close, especially with all those drives. Honestly it sounds weird to me that you've been able to get away with 430W PSU with an HD 6950.

 

Well I have some textures (Shadows) flickering in BF4 but that's it - in other games run normal. Maybe I've falsely accused the AMD drivers for my issues - and the PSU is to blame?

 

Anyway - what would be your recommendation on a PSU?

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CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.69 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($76.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00) 

Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00) 

Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00) 

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card  ($326.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Case: Antec P183 V3 ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $0.00) 


Total: $638.65

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-09 12:12 EST-0500

 

Okay this is what I came up with...

I still took the Z97 board - for upgrade reasons (and not that much more expensive)

The PSU - I took the most appealing (availabe at my store of choice)

 

 

Looks okay - or any problems in sight?

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The SSD's I have laying around (and not heavily used), and also some larger HDD's (2x500GB, 1x 2TB, ...)

 

Problem is just - I live in Austria - I've never heard of "Rosewill Capstone" - neither have the stores I'm going to order from. ^^

Other good units that might be available in your area are the SuperFlower Golden Green, but the EVGA 600 Bronze unit is still sufficient.

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Ah - ok - yeah its not that easy picking the "right" PSU ...

 

Yeah they got the SuperFlower Golden Green HX 80 with various wattages - 650W should be enough?

Superflower are good. They actually make the EVGA G2 as well.

 

A 650W psu is enough for any single card system. 

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Great then I've got my shopping list!

 

ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX DC2OC, 4096 MB GDDR5 (358,87 €)

MB S1150 ASROCK Z97 Anniversary Edition ATX retail (90,77 €)

CPU/Core i5-4460 3.20GHz 6M LGA1150 BOX (174,37 €)

Super Flower Golden Green HX 80 Plus Gold Netzteil - 650 Watt (78,44 €)

 

702,45 € = ~ 794,73 $

 

Tower, Ram (12GB DDR3 1333 MHz), SSD & HDD stay

 

Any last comments?

Thinking about  maybe taking the I5-4690K ... to be a bit more future proof, on the other side ~50€ ...

 

Anyway - thanks a lot guys!

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Great then I've got my shopping list!
 
ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX DC2OC, 4096 MB GDDR5 (358,87 €)
MB S1150 ASROCK Z97 Anniversary Edition ATX retail (90,77 €)
CPU/Core i5-4460 3.20GHz 6M LGA1150 BOX (174,37 €)
Super Flower Golden Green HX 80 Plus Gold Netzteil - 650 Watt (78,44 €)
 
702,45 € = ~ 794,73 $
 
Tower, Ram (12GB DDR3 1333 MHz), SSD & HDD stay
 
Any last comments?
Thinking about  maybe taking the I5-4690K ... to be a bit more future proof, on the other side ~50€ ...
 
Anyway - thanks a lot guys!

 

You could go with the i5 4690K but you would also need a cooler if you plan to overclock the cpu as the stock Intel one wouldn't be good enough. If you don't ever plan on overclocking then you can stick with the i5 4460 and the stock cooler.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Okay - wow this is way more of a hassle than I thought and I wanted to share my experience so far:

 

I ordered my Parts (went for the I5-4690K) :

  • ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX DC2OC, 4096 MB GDDR5
  • MB S1150 ASROCK Z97 Anniversary Edition ATX retail
  • CPU/Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz 6M LGA1150 BOX
  • Super Flower Golden Green HX 80 Plus Gold Netzteil - 650 Watt

My Storage configuration is:

  • 1 Samsung 830 120Gb as System
  • 1 Samsung 840 Evo 120Gb for fast Data
  • 2x500gb Samsung 7200RPM for mass storage
  • 1 generic DVD burner
  • 1 e-SATA connection from case

(I already had the disks from my previous build/some laptop upgrades)

 

I put everything together - and booted the thing up, first thing I noticed were some strange noise/behavior from my 2x500gb HDD's.

Every time I booted - one of the two disks behaved like this: (I could hear this clearly)

 

Start spin -> Move Head in place -> reset head to neutral (klicking noise - no head crash though - I know how this sounds)

The disk does this 3 or 4 times - then shuts itself down and the system proceeds to boot normally.

 

The other one (at random) was working fine.

 

This is what I tested:

  • changed/rotated the SATA cables
  • changed power cables
  • tested with different PSU (525W)
  • BIOS Upgrade (1.40 AsRock UEFI)
  • Even with just one of the two drives connected - same behavior
  • tested the drives separately in an external case (they work).
  • just unplugging the SATA cable (leave power) and the spin up normally

My conclusion was - okay MoBo defect. Ordered a new one (the same)  - same behavior.  :angry:

 

This is where I'm at now ... pretty frustrating ... can it be that the board is just "crap" and having issue with all SATA ports occupied?

I think I'm going to order now a different brand of MoBo - last AsRock for me. Any suggestions? I think I'll go with an Asus (ASUS Z97-C ?) - even if it costs 30, 40€ more...

 

BTW - everything else is working great (CPU, GPU, RAM) - I can play Dying Light maxed out on 60-70 FPS constantly.

Power consumption of complete system is at ~250W - 260W (measured with a plug between wall and PSU)

 

Just the drives won't work.

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Okay - wow this is way more of a hassle than I thought and I wanted to share my experience so far:

 

I ordered my Parts (went for the I5-4690K) :

  • ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX DC2OC, 4096 MB GDDR5
  • MB S1150 ASROCK Z97 Anniversary Edition ATX retail
  • CPU/Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz 6M LGA1150 BOX
  • Super Flower Golden Green HX 80 Plus Gold Netzteil - 650 Watt

My Storage configuration is:

  • 1 Samsung 830 120Gb as System
  • 1 Samsung 840 Evo 120Gb for fast Data
  • 2x500gb Samsung 7200RPM for mass storage
  • 1 generic DVD burner
  • 1 e-SATA connection from case

(I already had the disks from my previous build/some laptop upgrades)

 

I put everything together - and booted the thing up, first thing I noticed were some strange noise/behavior from my 2x500gb HDD's.

Every time I booted - one of the two disks behaved like this: (I could hear this clearly)

 

Start spin -> Move Head in place -> reset head to neutral (klicking noise - no head crash though - I know how this sounds)

The disk does this 3 or 4 times - then shuts itself down and the system proceeds to boot normally.

 

The other one (at random) was working fine.

 

This is what I tested:

  • changed/rotated the SATA cables
  • changed power cables
  • tested with different PSU (525W)
  • BIOS Upgrade (1.40 AsRock UEFI)
  • Even with just one of the two drives connected - same behavior
  • tested the drives separately in an external case (they work).
  • just unplugging the SATA cable (leave power) and the spin up normally

My conclusion was - okay MoBo defect. Ordered a new one (the same)  - same behavior.  :angry:

 

This is where I'm at now ... pretty frustrating ... can it be that the board is just "crap" and having issue with all SATA ports occupied?

I think I'm going to order now a different brand of MoBo - last AsRock for me. Any suggestions? I think I'll go with an Asus (ASUS Z97-C ?) - even if it costs 30, 40€ more...

 

BTW - everything else is working great (CPU, GPU, RAM) - I can play Dying Light maxed out on 60-70 FPS constantly.

Power consumption of complete system is at ~250W - 260W (measured with a plug between wall and PSU)

 

Just the drives won't work.

 

I don't think it is your motherboard.  I assume your OS is on an SSD?  Have you tried to disable boot priority for the HDs in the bios?  

 

Are you sure something with the drives themselves is not off? 

 

Maybe I should ask like this:  If you have four drives, and 2 of them work while the other two do not, why do you suspect the motherboard?

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