Skylake or upgrade mobo/PSU/GPU

[beclauss]

Hey guys, I'm currently planning to upgrade from my MSI H81M-E33 to possibly a skylake build. However I want to know if it'll really mean much in terms of gaming. I'm also wondering if I should just simply upgrade to an H97 or Z97. I also wish to upgrade my GPU to an R9 390 My current rig:

 

i5 4570

8 GB RAM

GTX 760

600W PSU

Windows 8.1

 

So basically, is it worth upgrading to an overclockble skylake build along with an R9 390 or will an R9 390 function with little to no bottleneck with an i5 4570. Another reason why I wish to upgrade is because I want PCI-E 3.0 x16 speeds (I'm currently at 2.0 x8 speeds) while I'm aware its little to no difference at all, I want to have full 3.0 x16 speeds so I'm good in the long run.

[Matt100HP]

Get the R9 390 first and try it? You won't be losing anything as you're going to buy one anyway. 

[jcw150]

4 minutes ago, beclauss said:

Hey guys, I'm currently planning to upgrade from my MSI H81M-E33 to possibly a skylake build. However I want to know if it'll really mean much in terms of gaming. I'm also wondering if I should just simply upgrade to an H97 or Z97. I also wish to upgrade my GPU to an R9 390 My current rig:

 

i5 4570

8 GB RAM

GTX 760

600W PSU

Windows 8.1

 

So basically, is it worth upgrading to an overclockble skylake build along with an R9 390 or will an R9 390 function with little to no bottleneck with an i5 4570. Another reason why I wish to upgrade is because I want PCI-E 3.0 x16 speeds (I'm currently at 2.0 x8 speeds) while I'm aware its little to no difference at all, I want to have full 3.0 x16 speeds so I'm good in the long run.

For now you would see the biggest improvement by upgrading your GPU.

 

Also what is your budget and location?

[Coaxialgamer]

You probably should upgrade your gpu , as skylake won't give you a noticeable performance boost.

[arsradu]

Overclockable CPU with no support from the motherboard and water cooling, should not be in your plans.

 

I've got the exact same CPU and while I'm not really into gaming, the thing that I would upgrade, if I had your PC, would be the GPU and the PSU (not by much, but it also depends on how efficient  the current one is).

 

The difference in performance when going for a Skylake build does not justify the cost. At least not right now.

[beclauss]

1 hour ago, arsradu said:

Overclockable CPU with no support from the motherboard and water cooling, should not be in your plans.

 

I've got the exact same CPU and while I'm not really into gaming, the thing that I would upgrade, if I had your PC, would be the GPU and the PSU (not by much, but it also depends on how efficient  the current one is).

 

The difference in performance when going for a Skylake build does not justify the cost. At least not right now.

Forgot to mention, if I were going to go skylake, I'd get an OCable motherboard and PSU along with an aftermarket cooler

[beclauss]

1 hour ago, jcw150 said:

For now you would see the biggest improvement by upgrading your GPU.

 

Also what is your budget and location?

Budget.... ehhh I'd say 650 or something, and what do you mean by location?

[arsradu]

1 minute ago, beclauss said:

Forgot to mention, if I were going to go skylake, I'd get an OCable motherboard and PSU along with an aftermarket cooler

Do you really want Skylake? And if yes, why? It's your money and it's your decision, but I'm just saying:
1. you can get PCI-E 3.0 without upgrading your CPU. Just need another motherboard with 1150

2. you can save some money on the overclockable CPU and invest it in something else.

 

As for motherboard, for Skylake, how would GA-H110M-S2 DDR3 sound like?

[beclauss]

3 minutes ago, arsradu said:

Do you really want Skylake? And if yes, why? It's your money and it's your decision, but I'm just saying:
1. you can get PCI-E 3.0 without upgrading your CPU. Just need another motherboard with 1150

2. you can save some money on the overclockable CPU and invest it in something else.

 

As for motherboard, for Skylake, how would GA-H110M-S2 DDR3 sound like?

Well I'm just wondering if its really worth it in terms of gaming, thats all. If I don't get a skylake, I might get a Z97 motherboard and an EVGA 80+ Gold PSU

[arsradu]

18 minutes ago, beclauss said:

Well I'm just wondering if its really worth it in terms of gaming, thats all. If I don't get a skylake, I might get a Z97 motherboard and an EVGA 80+ Gold PSU

For gaming, and for as far as I know, the GPU is nowadays more important than the CPU. Since most of the newer games are not as much CPU intensive, as they are GPU intensive. So investing in a Skylake chipset, the goal being gaming, I'm not sure is the best choice.

 

Z97 motherboard with no CPU OC?  You really want to spend some money and you don't know how, do you? :)))

[beclauss]

11 minutes ago, arsradu said:

For gaming, and for as far as I know, the GPU is nowadays more important than the CPU. Since most of the newer games are not as much CPU intensive, as they are GPU intensive. So investing in a Skylake chipset, the goal being gaming, I'm not sure is the best choice.

 

Z97 motherboard with no CPU OC?  You really want to spend some money and you don't know how, do you? :)))

Eh, I've just heard Z97 is better overall lol

[arsradu]

16 minutes ago, beclauss said:

Eh, I've just heard Z97 is better overall lol

It ise better. Especially for OC. If you don't want to OC, or, in your case, can't, due to the CPU restrictions, investing in a Z97 motherboard is not really the way to go. Cause you won't be able to use that motherboard at its full potential.

 

I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard as well. But it's more complicated in my case. Cause I can't be sure that the reason/issue for which I want to upgrade/change my motherboard won't be the same with the newer one, as well...

 

So, in my opinion, GPU + PSU upgrade: yes.

CPU and motherboard and probably RAM too (if you're going for DDR4), uhm...not so much.

 

I don't know. I like new things too, don't get me wrong. And I usually like to have the newest and the best and all that. But I'm always thinking:

1. do I need that?

2. can I afford it?

 

If the answer is NO to any of those, I just move on. Or, if I really need that thing and I can't afford it yet, I save some money and I get that thing eventually.

 

But it's up to you. You asked for an opinion. Here it is.

 

You can upgrade your components one by one, especially if you don't have the budget to upgrade them all. But...I would save the money and upgrade them all at once, rather than one by one, unless you really need that specific component right then and there.

 

For example, I got an SSD cause I wanted the speed, I hate waiting for apps to load and for the computer to boot-up.
Also, I needed a bigger monitor (I've been using a 19" 1440x900 Samsung monitor for over 7 years). I needed a bigger monitor. So I got a 25" 2K monitor (which creates the motherboard issues I told you about.). But I really needed a bigger screen for photo editing and overall being able to have multiple windows opened at the same time, on the same screen. So what I'm saying is that you should think what do you really need and what can you afford, before taking a decision in what to buy.

[beclauss]

15 minutes ago, arsradu said:

It ise better. Especially for OC. If you don't want to OC, or, in your case, can't, due to the CPU restrictions, investing in a Z97 motherboard is not really the way to go. Cause you won't be able to use that motherboard at its full potential.

 

I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard as well. But it's more complicated in my case. Cause I can't be sure that the reason/issue for which I want to upgrade/change my motherboard won't be the same with the newer one, as well...

 

So, in my opinion, GPU + PSU upgrade: yes.

CPU and motherboard and probably RAM too (if you're going for DDR4), uhm...not so much.

 

I don't know. I like new things too, don't get me wrong. And I usually like to have the newest and the best and all that. But I'm always thinking:

1. do I need that?

2. can I afford it?

 

If the answer is NO to any of those, I just move on. Or, if I really need that thing and I can't afford it yet, I save some money and I get that thing eventually.

 

But it's up to you. You asked for an opinion. Here it is.

 

You can upgrade your components one by one, especially if you don't have the budget to upgrade them all. But...I would save the money and upgrade them all at once, rather than one by one, unless you really need that specific component right then and there.

 

For example, I got an SSD cause I wanted the speed, I hate waiting for apps to load and for the computer to boot-up.
Also, I needed a bigger monitor (I've been using a 19" 1440x900 Samsung monitor for over 7 years). I needed a bigger monitor. So I got a 25" 2K monitor (which creates the motherboard issues I told you about.). But I really needed a bigger screen for photo editing and overall being able to have multiple windows opened at the same time, on the same screen. So what I'm saying is that you should think what do you really need and what can you afford, before taking a decision in what to buy.

Exactly, I mean I can AFFORD a Skylake build but that will eat up my wallet plus idk if I can get the R9 390 along with that so..... I don't know really

[arsradu]

8 minutes ago, beclauss said:

Exactly, I mean I can AFFORD a Skylake build but that will eat up my wallet plus idk if I can get the R9 390 along with that so..... I don't know really

 

8 minutes ago, beclauss said:

Exactly, I mean I can AFFORD a Skylake build but that will eat up my wallet plus idk if I can get the R9 390 along with that so..... I don't know really

Then get the GPU and PSU first. For gaming, you really need that.

 

And maybe update the CPU + mobo + RAM , if you want DDR4. if you go with an OC CPU, make sure the motherboard supports it and get some water cooling solution. That would be a pretty big investment. So getting everything in one shot would be pretty hard.

 

That's what I would do.

 

Also...upgrading the GPU and PSU now, will also give you the chance to see how well does your computer perform in gaming with only these two components upgraded. And you can judge for yourself if you really need to upgrade the CPU and motherboard and all that in the future, or not. If yes, you can start saving and get them too later on.  

[beclauss]

2 minutes ago, arsradu said:

 

Then get the GPU and PSU first. For gaming, you really need that.

 

And maybe update the CPU + mobo + RAM , if you want DDR4. if you go with an OC CPU, make sure the motherboard supports it and get some water cooling solution. That would be a pretty big investment. So getting everything in one shot would be pretty hard.

 

That's what I would do.

 

Also...upgrading the GPU and PSU now, will also give you the chance to see how well does your computer perform in gaming with only these two components upgraded. And you can judge for yourself if you really need to upgrade for the CPU and motherboard and all that in the future, or not. If yes, you can start saving and get them too later on.  

yeah, though PCI-E 2.0 x8 will come to haunt me sooner or later though,t hats the biggest reason why I'm upgrading honestly. I mean its generally not a problem but really, PCI-E should ALWAYS be running at x16 speeds

[arsradu]

1 minute ago, beclauss said:

yeah, though PCI-E 2.0 x8 will come to haunt me sooner or later though,t hats the biggest reason why I'm upgrading honestly. I mean its generally not a problem but really, PCI-E should ALWAYS be running at x16 speeds

If your motherboard is the H81M-E33, then it already is running at x16 speeds, according to MSi.

 

https://www.msi.com/product/motherboard/H81M-E33.html#hero-specification

[beclauss]

5 minutes ago, arsradu said:

If your motherboard is the H81M-E33, then it already is running at x16 speeds, according to MSi.

 

https://www.msi.com/product/motherboard/H81M-E33.html#hero-specification

I wish that were the case, but both my BIOS and GPU-Z report x8 speeds

[arsradu]

5 minutes ago, beclauss said:

I wish that were the case, but both my BIOS and GPU-Z report x8 speeds

Hmm...maybe the problem is somewhere else? You can try posting on MSi forums and getting some official answer on that. If they say there should be x16 then it should be x16. It means you might have a bottleneck somewhere else. But don't be afraid to ask them. After all, it's their product.

Maybe you need to adjust it from BIOS...? I don't know what that BIOS offers. I'm on a Gigabyte motherboard. So I don't really know if there is an option for that.

 

But anyway, I think you should ask them about this. Cause upgrading your motherboard when you don't really need to, would be a pretty stupid thing to do.

[beclauss]

2 minutes ago, arsradu said:

Hmm...maybe the problem is somewhere else? You can try posting on MSi forums and getting some official answer on that. If they say there should be x16 then it should be x16. It means you might have a bottleneck somewhere else. But don't be afraid to ask them. After all, it's their product.

Maybe you need to adjust it from BIOS...? I don't know what that BIOS offers. I'm on a Gigabyte motherboard. So I don't really know if there is an option for that.

 

But anyway, I think you should ask them about this. Cause upgrading your motherboard when you don't really need to, would be a pretty stupid thing to do.

I did ask their tech support and it really looks like a motherboard problem that I could TECHNICALLY RMA but I really don't wish to do that, I'd like a better quality motherboard than this anyway.

[arsradu]

13 minutes ago, beclauss said:

I did ask their tech support and it really looks like a motherboard problem that I could TECHNICALLY RMA but I really don't wish to do that, I'd like a better quality motherboard than this anyway.

Understood... Yeah, that sucks.

 

Ok, then you should still think if you need that CPU. Cause that will change a lot of things, especially financially speaking.

 

If you decide that you don't (and in my opinion, you don't need an OC CPU, especially Skylake), then you could do this instead:

1. upgrade the GPU and the PSU. There is really no way around it.

2. upgrade the motherboard so that the GPU can take advantage of that PCI-E 3.0 and x16 and all that. I would keep the socket 1150 for now, maybe until Skylake CPUs drop in price.

3. get yourself some time to see if your upgraded system works fine for gaming.

4. if yes, you just saved yourself some money and stress. if not, you have time to think on which CPU you can get and whether or not (that depends on the price of the Skylake CPUs at that time) is it worth upgrading to Skylake or simply to a more powerful Haswell CPU. But at least you will be able to enjoy some games, while thinking about that.

[beclauss]

1 minute ago, arsradu said:

Understood... Yeah, that sucks.

 

Ok, then you should still think if you need that CPU. Cause that will change a lot, especially financially speaking.

 

If you decide that you don't (and in my opinion, you don't need an OC CPU, especially Skylake), then you could do this instead:

1. upgrade the GPU and the PSU. There is really no way around it.

2. upgrade the motherboard so that the GPU can take advantage of that PCI-E 3.0 and x16 and all that. I would keep the socket 1150 for now, maybe until Skylake CPUs drop in price.

3. get yourself some time to see if your upgraded system works fine for gaming.

4. if yes, you just saved yourself some money and stress. if not, you have time to think on which CPU you can get and whether or not (that depends on the price of the Skylake CPUs at that time) is it worth upgrading to Skylake or simply to a more powerful Haswell CPU.

The good thing is, going from PCI-E 2.0 x8 to x16 won't be a massive difference (small difference really) but will be more assuring that all my components are working flawlessly

[arsradu]

3 minutes ago, beclauss said:

The good thing is, going from PCI-E 2.0 x8 to x16 won't be a massive difference (small difference really) but will be more assuring that all my components are working flawlessly

I agree.  Then you need at least the GPU, the PSU and the motherboard. If you really want PCI-E 3.0, there are motherboards out there that have that, while still on socket 1150, so that you don't have to upgrade the CPU, as well. And they are pretty cheap too.

 

In time, you can decide what to do with your CPU.

[brob]

15 minutes ago, beclauss said:

I wish that were the case, but both my BIOS and GPU-Z report x8 speeds

I would RMA the motherboard if this is accurate.

 

Upgrade the gpu and if you don't have one already, get a decent size ssd.

 

My reasoning is that once the motherboard is operating to spec, there will definitely be no bandwidth issue. There likely isn't even now. With that out of the way, performance improvements will come from the better gpu and ssd. The return on investment replacing the motherboard and possibly going to Skylake would be much lower.

 

There is no point worrying about what will happen in a year or two, let alone three or four years from now. For all we know next year could bring a major paradigm shift in gpu interfaces and requirements. Or the new AMD processors might blow Intel out of the water (just kidding :)).

 

[arsradu]

15 minutes ago, brob said:

I would RMA the motherboard if this is accurate.

 

Upgrade the gpu and if you don't have one already, get a decent size ssd.

 

My reasoning is that once the motherboard is operating to spec, there will definitely be no bandwidth issue. There likely isn't even now. With that out of the way, performance improvements will come from the better gpu and ssd. The return on investment replacing the motherboard and possibly going to Skylake would be much lower.

 

There is no point worrying about what will happen in a year or two, let alone three or four years from now. For all we know next year could bring a major paradigm shift in gpu interfaces and requirements. Or the new AMD processors might blow Intel out of the water (just kidding :)).

 

LOL

 

Yeah, I would RMA the motherboard too. Problem is, while it's sent for repair/replacement (and that usually takes a while), you're pretty much stuck with no PC. Which, speaking from my own experience, really, really sucks. Also, there is no guarantee they will repair it. Service guys are really, really nitpicky about these things, always trying to give the product back to you without repairing it, or blaming it all on you or 3rd party causes. I hate it when they do that! So...yeah. I would do it just in case. But I wouldn't hope for too much from them.

[beclauss]

1 hour ago, arsradu said:

LOL

 

Yeah, I would RMA the motherboard too. Problem is, while it's sent for repair/replacement (and that usually takes a while), you're pretty much stuck with no PC. Which, speaking from my own experience, really, really sucks. Also, there is no guarantee they will repair it. Service guys are really, really nitpicky about these things, always trying to give the product back to you without repairing it, or blaming it all on you or 3rd party causes. I hate it when they do that! So...yeah. I would do it just in case. But I wouldn't hope for too much from them.

Nah, I simply want a better motherboard, this one honestly sucks