PC Upgrades

[K0MP4CT]

So with my new job starting soon and selling some old hardware (Xbox One and some PC parts), I've decided I want to get away from this awful AMD processor. I use awful loosely, it isn't awful, but I'm sick of having such good hardware and being held back by the CPU. 

 

I want to upgrade the CPU however with this, the motherboard and RAM. Obviously since I'm switching to Intel pretty much any newish processor will be an improvement however, I'd like some feedback or advice or possible additions/changes to what I am looking at.

 

What I have decided on so far:

Intel Core i5 4460

MSI Z97 Motherboard

 

As for memory I'm unsure on what to buy, can I use my current DDR3 RAM with this motherboard? I really don't want to be spending more than £220. I'm also assuming that the i5 stock cooler will do fine for cooling? I'm not planning on any overclocking. Thanks for your replies

[UnlimitedTMD]

you can use those DDR3 RAM sticks just fine, stock cooler is OK, not good, but OK

[K0MP4CT]

you can use those DDR3 RAM sticks just fine, stock cooler is OK, not good, but OK

I'm not so much worried about noise, but will it be efficient enough to keep it cool? I have silent wings 2 fans along with it in the case itself.

[Johannes_Lazor]

yea, as long as it is DDR3 it will work, but i would recommend using a H81 or B85 chipset as that CPU cant be overclocked.

[lh99]

get a h97 mb and maybe a cheap coolermaster t4 or hyper 212 evo, because it´s not so loud like the stock cooler.

[K0MP4CT]

yea, as long as it is DDR3 it will work, but i would recommend using a H81 or B85 chipset as that CPU cant be overclocked.

 

As I said I'm not interested in overclocking but thank you for the suggestion!

 

get a h97 mb and maybe a cheap coolermaster t4 or hyper 212 evo, because it´s not so loud like the stock cooler.

As I also said, I'm not worried about sound

[UnlimitedTMD]

I'm not so much worried about noise, but will it be efficient enough to keep it cool? I have silent wings 2 fans along with it in the case itself.

I wasn`t talking about the noise , it`s just that the temps aren`t really good with stock coolers, but acceptable (especially when not OC`ing)

[K0MP4CT]

I wasn`t talking about the noise , it`s just that the temps aren`t really good with stock coolers, but acceptable (especially when not OC`ing)

 

My apologies, I am aware you were discussing temps, I was just stating that if noise isn't any issue, will the stock cooler prevent the CPU from overheating?

[UnlimitedTMD]

My apologies, I am aware you were discussing temps, I was just stating that if noise isn't any issue, will the stock cooler prevent the CPU from overheating?

it`ll do just fine mate

[runit3]

My apologies, I am aware you were discussing temps, I was just stating that if noise isn't any issue, will the stock cooler prevent the CPU from overheating?

No plans of SLI/Xfire

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£155.99 @ Amazon UK)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£64.98 @ Aria PC)

Total: £220.97

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

If you're thinking of SLI/Xfire

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£155.99 @ Amazon UK)

Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£89.58 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £245.57

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-29 18:23 GMT+0000

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-29 18:22 GMT+0000

 

*edit* Stock cooler is fine for locked Intel chips, also isn't as leaf-blower like compared to stock AMD

[K0MP4CT]

So I'm a little worried right now because I'm not actually sure the motherboard will fit my case. I've looked around for ages to try and find a smaller one that is actually good, any suggestions? No more than £65. 

 

My case right now is a "Corsair Carbide SPEC-03"

[bomerr]

Skylake allows BLCK OCing on non K CPUs. So best bang for the buck is the i5-6500 with a Z170 mobo that allows OCing on non K CPUs.. 

 

e.g ASROCK mobos http://overclocking.guide/asrock-z170-non-k-overclocking-guide/

[K0MP4CT]

Skylake allows BLCK OCing on non K CPUs. So best bang for the buck is the i5-6500 with a Z170 mobo that allows OCing on non K CPUs.. 

 

I'd appreciate if you read my previous comment before commenting...I'm not looking for a Skylake processor as I also don't want to be upgrading to DDR4.

[bomerr]

I'd appreciate if you read my previous comment before commenting...I'm not looking for a Skylake processor as I also don't want to be upgrading to DDR4.

 

DDR4 ram isn't expensive. it's like 40 dollars for 8GB. 

 

The 4460 is garbage as this point. It only runs as 3.4 Ghz. The 6500 will run at 4.4-4.8 Ghz. So it's 1 entire Ghz faster and it has architectural improvement over the Haswell too. Rough estimate is it'll be -40% faster. 

[K0MP4CT]

DDR4 ram isn't expensive. it's like 40 dollars for 8GB. 

 

The 4460 is garbage as this point. The 6500 will run at 4.4-4.8ghz. So it's 1 entire Ghz faster and it has architectural improvement over the Haswell too. 

 

If Skylake was as cheap as you're assuming, everyone would have switched to it. Like I said, I'm not looking to upgrade to Skylake, 4th or 5th gen only.

 

Plus, DDR4 RAM is not 40 dollars for 8GB it's £40.

[bomerr]

If Skylake was as cheap as you're assuming, everyone would have switched to it. Like I said, I'm not looking to upgrade to Skylake, 4th or 5th gen only.

 

A) Lots of people don't need to upgrade.

B. Most people don't know you you can BLCK OC on Skylake. It's literally happened about 1 month ago.

C) Like I said, 4460 -> 6500 OC will be roughly -40% faster. It's a complete waste of money buying the 4460/Z97 at this point, much like it's a waste of money getting anything AMD at this point. 

[K0MP4CT]

A) Lots of people don't need to upgrade.

B. Most people don't know you you can BLCK OC on Skylake. It's literally happened about 1 month ago.

C) Like I said, 4460 -> 6500 OC will be roughly -40% faster. It's a complete waste of money buying the 4460/Z97 at this point, much like it's a waste of money getting anything AMD at this point. 

 

1. the i5 6500 alone is £170. Along with a motherboard and DDR4 ram is over my budget.

2. I'll say again, I'm not looking to overclock plus I'm not looking for a Skylake processor right now.

3. I'm well aware that Skylake has more performance, however it costs more.

 

If you're not going to help me with the question I've asked then don't comment. I'm sorry if that's rude but I think it's fair.

[bomerr]

1. the i5 6500 alone is £170. Along with a motherboard and DDR4 ram is over my budget.

2. I'll say again, I'm not looking to overclock plus I'm not looking for a Skylake processor right now.

3. I'm well aware that Skylake has more performance, however it costs more.

 

If you're not going to help me with the question I've asked then don't comment. I'm sorry if that's rude but I think it's fair.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NxwyJx

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NxwyJx/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£165.00) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£91.31 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £256.31

 

 

250 quid from Amazon for the cpu + mobo. You can get 8GB of ram for another 40. So 290 total. You can wait 1 week extra to get the 70 quid difference and you'll have 40% performance improvement.

 

If you buy the 4460 you might bottleneck right now or for sure when you upgrade the GPU. Then you'll be in the exact same situation you are in right now trying to upgrade from the AMD cpu and the 220 you spent on the 4460 will be completely down the drain. 

 

Plus with Z170 you have the option of getting a kaby lake cpu in the future. Z97 is a completely dead platform at this point. 

[K0MP4CT]

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NxwyJx

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NxwyJx/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£165.00) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£91.31 @ Amazon UK) 

Total: £256.31

 

 

250 quid from Amazon for the cpu + mobo. You can get 8GB of ram for another 40. So 290 total. You can wait 1 week extra to get the 70 quid difference and you'll have 40% performance improvement.

 

If you buy the 4460 you might bottleneck right now or for sure when you upgrade the GPU. Then you'll be in the exact same situation you are in right now trying to upgrade from the AMD cpu and the 220 you spent on the 4460 will be completely down the drain. 

 

Plus with Z170 you have the option of getting a kaby lake cpu in the future. Z97 is a completely dead platform at this point. 

 

 

I'm a student selling old things and getting paid about £6 an hour working weekends only. The ignorance here is bliss. For one, an i5 4460 is hardly going to cause a bottleneck to a GTX 970. Secondly, this is simply me swapping from AMD to Intel, not me trying to build a super computer using Skylake. I really won't say it again, I'm not looking for a Skylake processor.

[bomerr]

I'm a student selling old things and getting paid about £6 an hour working weekends only. The ignorance here is bliss. For one, an i5 4460 is hardly going to cause a bottleneck to a GTX 970. Secondly, this is simply me swapping from AMD to Intel, not me trying to build a super computer using Skylake. I really won't say it again, I'm not looking for a Skylake processor.

 

 

You can see a benchmark here for the 4460. It only runs at 3.4 Ghz and has no hyper threading so it's weak sauce. And this it will for sure bottleneck the 970 in some games and will 100% bottleneck whatever GPU you get. Hence the reason everyone recommends the 4690k. The clock speed makes a huge difference to offset the lack of hyper threading. 

[K0MP4CT]

 

You can see a benchmark here for the 4460. It only runs at 3.4 Ghz and has no hyper threading so it's weak sauce. And this it will for sure bottleneck the 970 in some games and will 100% bottleneck whatever GPU you get. Hence the reason everyone recommends the 4690k. The clock speed makes a huge difference to offset the lack of hyper threading. 

 

Hence why I'm asking for a different motherboard. You're clearly pulling these facts out of thin air "And this it will for sure bottleneck the 970 in some games and will 100% bottleneck whatever GPU you get." There is always going to be a bottleneck regardless how powerful your CPU is. All a better CPU will do is lower that bottleneck, the i5 4460 is not "weak sauce" and if I can find a cheaper motherboard I will happily upgrade to a better CPU. Yet, you continued to throw Skylake at me when I clearly stated several times to you that I am not looking for a Skylake processor. If you were to actually pay attention to what I was looking for then this whole discussion would not have been necessary.

[bomerr]

 There is always going to be a bottleneck regardless how powerful your CPU is. All a better CPU will do is lower that bottleneck,

 

Ya I read what you said. You wanted to upgrade to a better CPU because it was limiting your 970 and you happened to pick another CPU that would still limit your performance. In other words you want to throw money down the drain. 

 

And that quote is 100% not true. There should never be a CPU bottleneck. When the CPU is bottlenecking the system it's a bottleneck because it's limiting the performance of the GPU. Some games are heavier on CPU usage than others hence why I said some games. The bottleneck will vary game to game. 

[K0MP4CT]

Ya I read what you said. You wanted to upgrade to a better CPU because it was limiting your 970

 

Incorrect, I want to upgrade my CPU simply because Intel is much better than AMD in general and looking at benchmarks using the i5 4460 with the 970, they are all above 60fps constantly at 1080p.

 

Nowhere did I state "because it is limiting my GPU" or anything similar to that.

[bomerr]

Incorrect, I want to upgrade my CPU simply because Intel is much better than AMD in general and looking at benchmarks using the i5 4460 with the 970, they are all above 60fps constantly at 1080p.

 

Nowhere did I state "because it is limiting my GPU" or anything similar to that.

 

Bro that's the definition of bottleneck. Getting lower and unstable FPS because CPU is limiting GPU.

 

Hence wanting to upgrade to a more powerful CPU. 

[K0MP4CT]

Bro that's the definition of bottleneck. Getting lower and unstable FPS because CPU is limiting GPU.

 

Hence wanting to upgrade to a more powerful CPU. 

 

You really aren't understanding me are you? I am simply, upgrading the CPU. Not because of a bottleneck, not because I'm struggling to run games, but because I would like a better CPU. This whole thread has just turned into an unneeded discussion, one which I am not taking any further than this.