PC Upgrade Help/Recommendations

[JRolley]

Hey guys I'll be upgrading my CPU, RAM, Motherboard and PSU in about 3-4weeks time and I've narrowed down the parts I'm looking at but just looking for some finalization/opinions.

Currently I'm considering

CPU:
i5-4570K
i7-4770K

Motherboard:
ASUS Z87 Deluxe
ASRock Z87 Extreme9
MSI Z87 MPOWER MAX
ASRock Z87 OC FORMULA
ASUS Sabertooth Z87

RAM:
Corsair Vengeance Pro 1600/1866/2133Mhz (2x8GB) 16GB Kit

PSU:
Corsair AX760i
Corsair AX760
Seasonic XP-760

This computer will be used for gaming and uni work (Engineering). Which of these parts would you personally recommend or feel free to make your own recommendations. I know some of this may be overkill for some people but that isn't really the help I'm looking for. Also will a 760W PSU be fine if I upgrade to a R9 290 Non-Reference once they become available?

Current Specs
Case – Corsair 650D
PSU – OCZ 850W
GPU – Radeon HD6970
Motherboard – Gigabyte P55-UD3r
RAM – 4x2GB G.Skill Ripjaws
CPU – i7 860
CPU Cooler – Corsair H100

Thanks guys!

[Lays]

Do you absolutely need one of those "higher-end" motherboards? You don't really gain any Overclocking potential, just a few extra features you'll probably never use for an extra 100$.

 

I'd say 4670k, this mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128592

 

and a corsair rm650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139056&Tpk=corsair%20rm850  (you won't need 760watts, unless you're going SLI)

 

the ram just get 1600mhz, it doesn't really make a difference with higher frequencies

[brob]

If you put an SSD and some more memory in your current system you'd get a little more time out of it.

 

If you are putting in a single gpu any psu over 600W would suffice. My choice is almost always Seasonic. They make terrific psu.

 

For some computational work, the i7 offers better performance, but only if the software makes use of multiprocessing. In gaming it has a bit of an edge over the i5, but small enough that most generally don't consider it worth the extra cost.

 

I'm a huge fan of Asus motherboards. The Z87-Deluxe has WiFi and Bluetooth, the Z87 Sabertooth doesn't. Otherwise there is very little difference between the boards. Pick the one with the features you need and will use.

 

While there are benchmarks that show higher frame rates in BF4 with faster memory, I'd stick with DDR3-1600. One thing not generally reported on with these benchmarks is that the higher memory speeds also show larger variances in frame rates. In fact one particular set of data I saw had the 2133MHz (if I recall correctly) memory producing a low of 31 fps, about 25% lower than 1600MHz low in the same test.

[JRolley]

Thanks for the replies just thought I better clarify a few things
I do have an SSD (Intel 520 Series 120GB)

and the reason I'm updating is because I'm having issues with my current components so I thought it'd be best to just upgrade all/most of the them.

I know higher-end motherboards tend to be overkill especially when not using 3-WAY CF or SLI because a lot of the extra price is due to PLX. I just like the additional features that I will use on some of the higher end boards like the additional USB 3.0 ports, better quality components and chips and other things like nice UEFI Bios and Wifi ac adapters (Z87-Deluxe and ASRock OC Formula). I find it really pointless for this generation of boards to still include PCI slots (UD3H) and I'd like the addition PCI-E 1x or 16x slots for future expansion just in case I decide to go with that route.

With the PSU going down from a Seasonic 760 Platinum to 660 only saves me $20 which I think isn't a lot to spend just in case I do decide to get a 2nd GPU

[JRolley]

I've decided I'd like to eventually buy 2 R9 290 with non reference coolers. For this would it be better to go with 860W or 1000W considering I'll be OCing the cards and the CPU?

 

Also as far as RAM goes is there much of a performance difference between an 1866 C9 kit vs 2133 C11? Which is the better option?

 

As far as motherboards go I've narrowed it down to the Asus Z87 Deluxe and the MSI MPower Max. Is there a reason to choose any one of those or are they both very solid boards?

 

Cheers

[Artem]

If you're going to doing CAD and rendering your models, go with the 4770k. High frequency memory does help when rendering models that take 45 minutes or so to render. Corsair has some very overpriced memory, I suggest taking a look at g.skill's 2133mhz cas 9 memory. As far as motherboard, i'd go with something like the msi z87-gd65 gaming. Very nice board and not overpriced like asus rog boards.

[JRolley]

I think I've made my final decision and would just like to make sure it's all good

Motherboard: ASUS Z87 Deluxe
CPU: i7 4770K
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-X 16GB Kit (8Gx2) DDR3-2133 F3-2133C9D-16GXH
PSU: Seasonic 1000W 80Plus Platinum 

I decided to go for the 1000W Platinum because I'll be getting an R9 290 once non-refs come and and will be going crossfire in the near future. I know I could be fine with 860W but I thought 1000W may be a better option if I'm OCing the CPU and both GPU and non-ref ones may pull more power than standard ones.

[brob]

I think I've made my final decision and would just like to make sure it's all good

Motherboard: ASUS Z87 Deluxe

CPU: i7 4770K

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-X 16GB Kit (8Gx2) DDR3-2133 F3-2133C9D-16GXH

PSU: Seasonic 1000W 80Plus Platinum 

I decided to go for the 1000W Platinum because I'll be getting an R9 290 once non-refs come and and will be going crossfire in the near future. I know I could be fine with 860W but I thought 1000W may be a better option if I'm OCing the CPU and both GPU and non-ref ones may pull more power than standard ones.

 

Nice, if a little over the top on psu. Enjoy.

[JRolley]

One last thing I noticed that the in Crossfire it runs Dual 8x where as some of the even higher end boards (ASRock Extreme 9, Gigabyte G1, Maximus 6 Extreme) run Dual 16x is there a big performance difference? I know performance suffers a lot going from 8x to 4x but I'm not sure how much it does from 16x to 8x