CPU and MB upgrade help

[KristofferO]

Hello everyone!

I currently have a intel core i7 4790K running a stable overclock at 4,8Ghz on a MSI Z97 Gaming 5 motherboard and with 32Gb of Hyper X Fury ram and a MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Sea Hawk X(the hybrid version).

Currently the cpu is being cooled with a Corsair H110i AiO cooler and the same for the hybrid 1080. All drives in my system is SSD's.

 

I am now in the process of placing a large order for all the parts to create a custom hardline water loop from EK for my entire system, and thinking it might be a hassle to upgrade the hardware later on due to the hardline tubing and having to drain, make new tubing and do the entire loop again after I am done with the loop I am therefore wondering about upgrading my MB to a DDR4 board and a new cpu before doing the build. Also I am going to order a M2 SSD as a windows boot drive.

 

Is there any big gains in performance by upgrading this cpu and mb or is it good enough for a while more? And what would be a good cpu to upgrade to without having to spend 1000$?

I mostly play CS:GO and Planet Coaster, but frequently play GTA V with the Redux graphics mod and other more demanding games with stunning graphics. From time to time GTA V will stutter with everything set to ultra. But I dont think the single 1080 is the problem? Planet Coaster does the same when building bigger parks with alot of people in them so I am guessing the CPU is being the bottleneck?

 

Hoping someone here is able to help and maybe give a good suggestion to upgrading on my rig

Thanks in advance

-Kristoffer

[Trav_X]

A 4790k at 4.8 is amazing for gaming, and the 1080 is basically the best GPU you can reasonably buy, of course the Titan XP is better buts it's $1200. The jump to get DDR4 wouldn't change that much in terms of performance either. I don't think the 4790k is bottlenecking either. I'd say the 1080 is jsut being pushed if you're doing the Redux mod. I don't think any big component upgrades would change your performance. Mobo doesn't really affect frame rate either. 

[Ctown0812]

What resolution are you gaming at?

[KristofferO]

14 minutes ago, Ctown0812 said:

What resolution are you gaming at?

1920x1080. I prefer higher frame rates and smooth gameplay rather than 4k @ under 100 fps

 

So there is no performance gain in going from a z97 chipset mobo to a, lets say z170 or x99?.

 

Im mostly interested in what cpu i could get that would make my rig perform better without spending thousands of dollars.

[DunePilot]

20 minutes ago, KristofferO said:

1920x1080. I prefer higher frame rates and smooth gameplay rather than 4k @ under 100 fps

 

So there is no performance gain in going from a z97 chipset mobo to a, lets say z170 or x99?.

 

Im mostly interested in what cpu i could get that would make my rig perform better without spending thousands of dollars.

You aren't going to gain anything... your 4.8GHz is essential = to a 6700k at 4.6GHz, it would be a whole lot of money for almost zero noticeable difference. I would suggest waiting to do your big budget build in a year or two on the LGA 2066 platform when we have a decent jump above the 6700k and 7700k and 3D X Point support and most GPUs should be HBM2 by then and hopefully making 4k high refresh rate gaming a reality.

[KristofferO]

4 minutes ago, DunePilot said:

You aren't going to gain anything... your 4.8GHz is essential = to a 6700k at 4.6GHz, it would be a whole lot of money for almost zero noticeable difference. I would suggest waiting to do your big budget build in a year or two on the LGA 2066 platform when we have a decent jump above the 6700k and 7700k and 3D X Point support and most GPUs should be HBM2 by then and hopefully making 4k high refresh rate gaming a reality.

Thank you for your reply.

Do you think adding a second 1080 would make a noticeable difference instead?

 

I will still need to do the water loop because most likely my corsair cpu cooler is starting to go bad on me(cpu temps have risen the last couple of weeks even when idle)

And due to the hybrid solution on my gpu as well there is no room for a extra gpu if i wanted it. And i still dont want only air cooled cards because i am overclocking them too.

I guess I will wait a year or two for the next platform to come out and do the cpu and mobo upgrade then instead. I can afford to redo my loop after that long so it should be fine

 

Thanks for your inputs.

[DunePilot]

3 minutes ago, KristofferO said:

Thank you for your reply.

Do you think adding a second 1080 would make a noticeable difference instead?

 

I will still need to do the water loop because most likely my corsair cpu cooler is starting to go bad on me(cpu temps have risen the last couple of weeks even when idle)

And due to the hybrid solution on my gpu as well there is no room for a extra gpu if i wanted it. And i still dont want only air cooled cards because i am overclocking them too.

I guess I will wait a year or two for the next platform to come out and do the cpu and mobo upgrade then instead. I can afford to redo my loop after that long so it should be fine

 

Thanks for your inputs.

I have no idea about your income but you should really think long and hard about how much you want to spend and how soon you want to upgrade. I just spent $1500 on my loop and it was a really simple one for my X99 build with just a single gpu, cpu, and two rads. The cost adds up quick. You could do a Kaby Lake build in January or February but you'll be out at least $400 for cpu, $250 for board $100-200 for ram for a rough guess. You better plan on at least $800-1500 for a custom loop. Is that worth it to you? Do you want to just buy another $120 AIO instead and save that extra $800-2500 for your next build? The option with your GPU is to sell it and a buy a 1080Ti in January or Feb too. Just trying to toss you ideas to think about.

[Lord Nicoll]

1 hour ago, KristofferO said:

Hello everyone!

I currently have a intel core i7 4790K running a stable overclock at 4,8Ghz on a MSI Z97 Gaming 5 motherboard and with 32Gb of Hyper X Fury ram and a MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Sea Hawk X(the hybrid version).

Currently the cpu is being cooled with a Corsair H110i AiO cooler and the same for the hybrid 1080. All drives in my system is SSD's.

 

I am now in the process of placing a large order for all the parts to create a custom hardline water loop from EK for my entire system, and thinking it might be a hassle to upgrade the hardware later on due to the hardline tubing and having to drain, make new tubing and do the entire loop again after I am done with the loop I am therefore wondering about upgrading my MB to a DDR4 board and a new cpu before doing the build. Also I am going to order a M2 SSD as a windows boot drive.

 

Is there any big gains in performance by upgrading this cpu and mb or is it good enough for a while more? And what would be a good cpu to upgrade to without having to spend 1000$?

I mostly play CS:GO and Planet Coaster, but frequently play GTA V with the Redux graphics mod and other more demanding games with stunning graphics. From time to time GTA V will stutter with everything set to ultra. But I dont think the single 1080 is the problem? Planet Coaster does the same when building bigger parks with alot of people in them so I am guessing the CPU is being the bottleneck?

 

Hoping someone here is able to help and maybe give a good suggestion to upgrading on my rig

Thanks in advance

-Kristoffer

I don't think Skylake offers all that much over the refresh of Haswell, but spending all that on water cooling is really only advisable for pretty high end PC's, I'm in the middle of buying the parts for a custom hardliner, The specs are roughly I7 6700k, SLI GTX 1080ti (once released) and the Maximus VIII Formula, with all the bells and whistles, and even then that is going to a graphics heavy workhorse that still costs a shit ton. 

[KristofferO]

On 1.12.2016 at 9:43 PM, DunePilot said:

I have no idea about your income but you should really think long and hard about how much you want to spend and how soon you want to upgrade. I just spent $1500 on my loop and it was a really simple one for my X99 build with just a single gpu, cpu, and two rads. The cost adds up quick. You could do a Kaby Lake build in January or February but you'll be out at least $400 for cpu, $250 for board $100-200 for ram for a rough guess. You better plan on at least $800-1500 for a custom loop. Is that worth it to you? Do you want to just buy another $120 AIO instead and save that extra $800-2500 for your next build? The option with your GPU is to sell it and a buy a 1080Ti in January or Feb too. Just trying to toss you ideas to think about.

I am lucky enough to have a very, very good job and my income is way above the average household, so that isnt an issue to be perfectly honest. The cost of the cooling build as of now is only at around 750 euro on EKWB's webshop. That is including the second water block for my coming second gpu card.

The lower temps and nearly complete silence is worth it in my opinion as my current rig is making a lot of noise and my fiance keeps complaining about it when she is trying to get something done in the same room.

But of course. there is no denying that 1000euro is a lot of money and I understand that its not for all to spend that kind of money on their pc's. It is a wise advice you gave about thinking long and hard and really see if it is something you need or can manage without or maybe with a cheaper solution. A lot of people should do that and not jump into something like this just for the hell of it. 

I will hold on upgrading the cpu, ram and motherboard as of now and instead do a fresh install on a new Samsung 960 PRO M.2 SSD and see if it gives me back the performance and quick boot times im used to.

On 1.12.2016 at 9:49 PM, Lord Nicoll said:

I don't think Skylake offers all that much over the refresh of Haswell, but spending all that on water cooling is really only advisable for pretty high end PC's, I'm in the middle of buying the parts for a custom hardliner, The specs are roughly I7 6700k, SLI GTX 1080ti (once released) and the Maximus VIII Formula, with all the bells and whistles, and even then that is going to a graphics heavy workhorse that still costs a shit ton. 

I know my PC isnt top of the line. But Im not aiming for 4k gaming on multiple displays and so on. I am aiming for complete silence and maximum fps on 1080p. Im going to add a second 1080 once the parts for the water loop arrives since the rad on my 1080 hybrid is taking way too much space in my case to let me add a second card right now.

Im mostly doing the water loop because i want a silent rig, lower temps and more overclocking headroom in regards to temps.

The reason I am going with a hardline build as my first custom loop instead of soft tubing is because I love a challenge and I love working around building computers and everything tech as a hobby. Im setting off a weekend with a friend of mine and doing the assembly of the loop once everything arrives. + there is no denying that the aestethics of a hardline build is awesome!

[DunePilot]

On 12/6/2016 at 11:08 AM, KristofferO said:

I am lucky enough to have a very, very good job and my income is way above the average household, so that isnt an issue to be perfectly honest. The cost of the cooling build as of now is only at around 750 euro on EKWB's webshop. That is including the second water block for my coming second gpu card.

The lower temps and nearly complete silence is worth it in my opinion as my current rig is making a lot of noise and my fiance keeps complaining about it when she is trying to get something done in the same room.

But of course. there is no denying that 1000euro is a lot of money and I understand that its not for all to spend that kind of money on their pc's. It is a wise advice you gave about thinking long and hard and really see if it is something you need or can manage without or maybe with a cheaper solution. A lot of people should do that and not jump into something like this just for the hell of it. 

I will hold on upgrading the cpu, ram and motherboard as of now and instead do a fresh install on a new Samsung 960 PRO M.2 SSD and see if it gives me back the performance and quick boot times im used to.

I know my PC isnt top of the line. But Im not aiming for 4k gaming on multiple displays and so on. I am aiming for complete silence and maximum fps on 1080p. Im going to add a second 1080 once the parts for the water loop arrives since the rad on my 1080 hybrid is taking way too much space in my case to let me add a second card right now.

Im mostly doing the water loop because i want a silent rig, lower temps and more overclocking headroom in regards to temps.

The reason I am going with a hardline build as my first custom loop instead of soft tubing is because I love a challenge and I love working around building computers and everything tech as a hobby. Im setting off a weekend with a friend of mine and doing the assembly of the loop once everything arrives. + there is no denying that the aestethics of a hardline build is awesome!

Be sure and buy plenty of extra tubing, you will waste tons of it on the first few tries especially if you have any complicated bends with more than two bends unless you take your time and measure them out.