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new build advice

V

vze3rvb2

n00b
Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Messages
28
I will be doing photoshop, music and video conversion, browsing, live in NYC, NY.

I want a Haswell refresh CPU (to replace a QuadCore Intel Q9550),a 1150 motherboard (SLI/Crossfire not required), 8gb RAM, maybe a video card (to replace GTX 550 Ti), USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s, to build before Sept. '15.

I would like to recycle: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold, SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series 256GB SSD, LIAN LI PC-G50A Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower, WD Green 6TB drive x 2, Dell 2408WFP monitor 1920 x 1200, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (?), NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A ATA Device,
Windows 8 Pro (licensed)

Not overclocking.

My questions: i5-4690 vs i5-4460 and can't figure out if I should get the H97 or Z97 (since I am not overclocking) What do I lose by not getting a Z97 board? Can I get by with my current GTX 550 Ti or is that ridiculous?

Thanks for any advice.
 
If you're gonna wait till September to build a new system then Haswell shouldn't be in the picture. Wait for Skylake.
 
So, basically what you are looking for is CPU. motherboard, compatible RAM and maybe a vidcard.

If you're doing Photoshop, I'd recommend more base memory. Photoshop'll be happier with you.

You haven't included a budget, so I'm going to forego a vidcard recommendation to keep it as cheap as possible. If you can let us know what your budget looks like...

If you're going to buy and build RIGHT NOW:

PC Hound Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 ($214.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8GB) AEGIS ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $382.96
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound

If you're going to put off the build until closer to the beginning of September, wait for Skylake. At that point, you'll have a choice of a newer platform or see some price cuts on the current Haswell gear.
 
As Skillz sorta pointed out, really no point in planning now if you're not buying until September. In addition, since you're going to buy all new RAM anyway, might as well skip DDR3 and go straight with DDR4 RAM with Intel's Skylake. That'll make future RAM upgrades cheaper and/or more cost-effective since DDR4 should allow for cheaper single stick 16GB RAM so a regular Skylake system could potentially support up to 64GB of RAM in the future.

But if you were building today, the Core i5 4690 is generally never worth buying. It's stupidly overpriced for what it is. The Z97's main advantage over H97 is that the Z97 supports overclocking Intel's K series CPUs. Since you haven't mentioned overclocking nor have you actually talked about getting a K series CPU, you don't really need Z97 per se.

Your current GTX 550 TI should be fine if you're using Photoshop CS6 or older. Can't vouch for it with newer versions of Photoshop.
 
Audio and Video creation/editing/conversion programs benefit from hyperthreading. Get an i7
 
Thanks all. I hadn't been considering Skylake but waiting will be good for Haswell i5 prices.
 
vze3rvb2 said:
Thanks all. I hadn't been considering Skylake but waiting will be good for Haswell i5 prices.
Click to expand...

Not really. Those prices wont go down much if at all when Skylake comes out. If anything they'll go back up to their original MSRP as to not interfere with Skylake prices.
 
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