Picking the right CPU for me (plz help)

[Trav_X]

Okay boys, it's upgrade season. Spring Break is fast approaching, and Summer Break as well. I'm gonna need some SERIOUS gaming hardware for the upcoming seasons. My original plan was going for a Skylake i7, or maybe even a Broadwell chip. I could get some super cool decked out mobo, like the MSI Z170 Gaming M9 ACK, or like the ASUS Z170 Sabertooth Mark 1. Then I could get some hot HyperX or Crucial RAM, slap in a GTX 970, and call it a day, all for less than a grand. 

 

But then I had a a revelation.

 

If I am gaming, then why the F*** would I get some super crazy hexacore fancy i7, but only get a 970? Why not just get some cheaper CPU that is fast enough to perform stuff like Photoshop CS6 and record using OBS during games and use Google Chrome, and then get a 980Ti? (Sorry guys I just prefer NVIDIA). That's where my predicament it.

 

I was immediately drawn towards getting an i5-4690k cause it is overclockable, has four solid cores, and isn't some completely years old outdated processor architecture. Devil's Canyon is somewhat recent (2014, right?) and the i5-4690k is a good option in my book. As well, I could keep my existing 16GB of DDR3 1600Mhx HyperX Fury ram, instead of having to spend like $70-90 on the same 16GB amount of DDR4. In a budget under $1000, that amount of money on RAM is almost 10% of my total budget! So, I was wondering, for a 980Ti gaming focused build, what would be a good budget CPU that could run stuff like games, CS6, OBS, maybe some occasional F@H and BOINC, but more focused towards gaming?

 

 

TLDR - Need a good budget CPU that I can get a good non-ASRock board with for less than maybe like $300-350.

[FatPenguin]

2 minutes ago, Trav_X said:

-snip-

If you want to overclock get a 6600k and a z170 board

if you don't want to overclock get a 6600 or 6500 and a H170 board.

 

also if you want to get a bit more power for a gpu get a 390X

[adorach72]

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80662i56500 is a good i5  doesnt hurt the pocket book priced at 189 dollars atm

[Killervolt]

Yeah I think that it would be a good idea to get a 4690K. Grab one of those and an MSI Krait Z97 or something. Have fun!

[IsaacDaGrazin]

Wat does TLDR mean?

[Killervolt]

Just now, IsaacDaGrazin said:

Wat does TLDR mean?

too lazy didn't read

[TheRandomness]

Just now, IsaacDaGrazin said:

Wat does TLDR mean?

Too long; didn't read.

[FatPenguin]

1 minute ago, IsaacDaGrazin said:

Wat does TLDR mean?

too lazy: didn't read

[HKZeroFive]

Or get the best of both worlds and get a Xeon 1231 v3 with hyperthreading at the cost of an i5. Reuse the DDR3 and you're set for both gaming and workstation applications.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $339.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-14 18:49 EDT-0400

[Neokolzia]

PSA ~ Pascal is releasing GTX 1080 and 1070 apparently in and around end of May, may be worth waiting for, should be a decent performance bump.

 

It is notable also to consider selling your RAM used is generally... fine, can easily sell 16gb of ddr3 for 60-70$, its pretty bulletproof, specially if you can prove it works, or just make a quick video of it working before plucking it out, i.e look into case, view ram, look at screen doing screen stuff.  (Assurance)

 

Which would unlock thought of upgrading to Skylake/Haswell-E  (Broadwell(Non-E) never really took off and was basically abandon-ware, i.e gl finding it)

 

Personally my recommendation for Power users is the 5820k, with a cheap motherboard (obviously over 350$ total)

Otherwise play it safe and go for the 6600k, Gigabyte and Asus both have good Cheap Z series motherboards;

 

Option C, Save a bit more and overclock with Bclk overclocking a i5-6500, or don't overclock at all and just get a i5-6500 xD.. (Requires Z170 for overclocking)

 

[SteveGrabowski0]

I'd wait two months for Pascal. Then you can probably get an unlocked Skylake chip, 16GB DDR4-3000, and a badass gpu.

[Moonzy]

8 minutes ago, Trav_X said:

record using OBS during games

pretty much going to kill an i5 if you're playing demanding titles, i suggest going with @HKZeroFive's build

[Trav_X]

10 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

pretty much going to kill an i5 if you're playing demanding titles, i suggest going with @HKZeroFive's build

Thanks, I'm actually interested in that Xeon now  

 

11 minutes ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

I'd wait two months for Pascal. Then you can probably get an unlocked Skylake chip, 16GB DDR4-3000, and a badass gpu.

Yes, I will probably wait for Pascal to see the new GPU options and then upgrade  before the summer time too

 

13 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

Or get the best of both worlds and get a Xeon 1231 v3 with hyperthreading at the cost of an i5. Reuse the DDR3 and you're set for both gaming and workstation applications.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $339.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-14 18:49 EDT-0400

I'll definitely look into that, looks very compelling  

 

15 minutes ago, Killervolt said:

Yeah I think that it would be a good idea to get a 4690K. Grab one of those and an MSI Krait Z97 or something. Have fun!

Thanks  

[Trav_X]

13 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

Or get the best of both worlds and get a Xeon 1231 v3 with hyperthreading at the cost of an i5. Reuse the DDR3 and you're set for both gaming and workstation applications.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $339.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-14 18:49 EDT-0400

Are there any real trade offs besides the hyper threading? Is there any sacrifice with getting a Xeon over an 'I' series processor? And btw, do you need H97, or is Z97 necessary for anything? Im not very knowledgable about Xeons, so is board type a factor in Xeons? Overclocking?  

[Moonzy]

4 minutes ago, Trav_X said:

Are there any real trade offs besides the hyper threading? Is there any sacrifice with getting a Xeon over an 'I' series processor? And btw, do you need H97, or is Z97 necessary for anything? Im not very knowledgable about Xeons, so is board type a factor in Xeons? Overclocking?  

a xeon is not overclockable, therefore a h97 and z97 board wouldnt make a difference as z97 enables overclocking

you wont be able to overclock the xeon so going with h97 is more budget oriented

[Neokolzia]

2 minutes ago, Trav_X said:

Are there any real trade offs besides the hyper threading? Is there any sacrifice with getting a Xeon over an 'I' series processor? And btw, do you need H97, or is Z97 necessary for anything? Im not very knowledgable about Xeons, so is board type a factor in Xeons? Overclocking?  

You aren't able to overclock Xeon's, the main Feature of a Z97 is generally overclocking, rest of the features are "Meh" typically, but some important ones can be sometimes the limitations in SLI and Crossfire configurations, or lack of any ability to Crossfire/SLI, in a H97 (generally not a issue as more people stray away from multi-card setups)

 

I don't have experience with Xeons but far as I'm aware they're as plug and play as any other processor, Zero overclocking again, so don't need to worry about that.

[HKZeroFive]

3 minutes ago, Trav_X said:

Are there any real trade offs besides the hyper threading? Is there any sacrifice with getting a Xeon over an 'I' series processor? And btw, do you need H97, or is Z97 necessary for anything? Im not very knowledgable about Xeons, so is board type a factor in Xeons? Overclocking?  

No overclocking on the Xeon unfortunately so a H97 is enough here. In relation to i7 processors, Xeons lack an iGPU which shouldn't be a problem since you're planning on getting a GTX 970. This specific Xeon is the equivalent of an i7 4790 without the iGPU.

 

As for tradeoffs, I guess price? Other than that, basically the same as a locked i7.

[Trav_X]

1 minute ago, HKZeroFive said:

No overclocking on the Xeon unfortunately so a H97 is enough here. In relation to i7 processors, Xeons lack an iGPU which shouldn't be a problem since you're planning on getting a GTX 970. This specific Xeon is the equivalent of an i7 4790 without the iGPU.

 

As for tradeoffs, I guess price? Other than that, basically the same as a locked i7.

Alright, that sounds simple enough. Any specific things I need to configure for it to work? And what's the deal with ECC memory  it's not necessary right? As well, I'm getting a 980Ti, not the 970, as mentioned in my TLDR paragraph(s), so if there aren't bottlenecks than this Xeon sounds like a better option

[IsaacDaGrazin]

23 minutes ago, FatPenguin said:

too lazy: didn't read

 

24 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

Too long; didn't read.

 

25 minutes ago, Killervolt said:

too lazy didn't read

Thanks

[HKZeroFive]

2 minutes ago, Trav_X said:

Alright, that sounds simple enough. Any specific things I need to configure for it to work? And what's the deal with ECC memory  it's not necessary right? As well, I'm getting a 980Ti, not the 970, as mentioned in my TLDR paragraph(s), so if there aren't bottlenecks than this Xeon sounds like a better option

Shouldn't be any bottlenecks as far as I know.

 

No, ECC is not necessary. Normal memory is fine.

[Trav_X]

4 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

Shouldn't be any bottlenecks as far as I know.

 

No, ECC is not necessary. Normal memory is fine.

And by the way, how do you like your MSI 980Ti? I saw it in your signature, and that's the card I was planning on getting, you have the red Twin Frozr one? How do you like it? Good cooling? Any coil whine xD?

[HKZeroFive]

42 minutes ago, Trav_X said:

And by the way, how do you like your MSI 980Ti? I saw it in your signature, and that's the card I was planning on getting, you have the red Twin Frozr one? How do you like it? Good cooling? Any coil whine xD?

I like it. Gives me a solid FPS at 1440p and it's relatively cool and quiet at load, hovering around the 70C mark. The custom fan curve helps though.