The Upgraders Problem

[Little_Devil]

Hi guys (and girls, if any.) NFG here (like brand new, just got the account activated.) and I have a specific question to all you Intel guys out there, although I suppose the advise can be applied to any upgrader.

Currently I have 2 systems (see signature). I have a kind of crappy motherboard which doesn't really allow overclocking on the regular BIOS (a beta UEFI bios is available, but I've tried it and it has some serious flaws) and that has my i5 3570K on board. Since this motherboard (a Z68 series Gigabyte) has been a continual thorn in my side with not allowing overclocking, not recognizing XMP 1.3 (so my high speed 1866 ram just sits at 1600) and of course boot loop on occasion I am thinking it's time for a change.

Enter computer number 2. A Z87 MSI board with a G3258 currently overclocked to 4.4 Ghz. A decent every-day runner. Hell, even runs GTA V acceptably well, but I want to get a performance increase. I guess the long and short is this:

Should I pay $130+ S&H and Tax (I am in California) for a Z77 Asrock (basically the only "new" 1155 Z77 that is still made and sold on Newegg) or should I just go all in and go with a new quad core i5 (I was thinking 4690K, I have a semi-good cooler. The H80i) or maybe go with a Xeon E3 1231v3 since it's a quad core with hyper threading (I sometimes use virtual machines for Linux stuff.)

Any advice would be good. I'm trying to do this by the end of the week, when I get paid for another PC build I am doing. I appreciate you taking the time to read this poorly worded question.

 

[J Macker]

I have no idea what you use the computer for.

But only you can answer the question:

Is the potential performance gain (+ about 15-20% for encoding, maybe 10% in games) worth spending $150?
Your gaming experience is severely limited by that ancient GTX 660. So if you primarily use the computer for games, I'd strongly recommend spending that money on a new video card.

You already have a good psu & heatsink, so it's literally the cost of the motherboard.

Or, pay ~$300-$350 for a new i5 & motherboard, for about the same performance. Sure you'll get a few more features on the motherboard. The question only you can answer is; what is that performance or feature gain worth to you?

 

[Killerxp100]

You can probably find a good deal on a used Z77 board here or on ebay.

 

[Little_Devil]

I have no idea what you use the computer for.

But only you can answer the question:

Is the potential performance gain (+ about 15-20% for encoding, maybe 10% in games) worth spending $150?
Your gaming experience is severely limited by that ancient GTX 660. So if you primarily use the computer for games, I'd strongly recommend spending that money on a new video card.

You already have a good psu & heatsink, so it's literally the cost of the motherboard.

Or, pay ~$300-$350 for a new i5 & motherboard, for about the same performance. Sure you'll get a few more features on the motherboard. The question only you can answer is; what is that performance or feature gain worth to you?

My Z87 can support everything that is currently out, as far as mainstream CPU's. I don't have any problems gaming on the GTX 660, so that is a non-issue. I use my computer for gaming, virtual boxes, content creation (YouTube). I should also mention price. It's either $150 for the motherboard or $150 for the CPU (I have a hook up for that kind of stuff.) Seeing as how my current i5 is either out of warranty or soon to be out of warranty, maybe just replacing the CPU is the best option, and since my i5 is still good to SOME people maybe I can recoup some cash and sell it locally.

 

[Little_Devil]

You can probably find a good deal on a used Z77 board here or on ebay.

I appreciate that suggestion, but I want something new with a warranty. If something goes south, I don't want to be left with no option other than to be out the cash I used to buy it.

 

[bonehead123]

For gaming, the i5-4690k would be your best choice, followed by an i7-4xxx. The Xeon won't do much for you in that regard, but could be better utilized for the other stuff you mentioned....You should not have any problems selling your old CPU & recoup some $$ that way

As for the mobo's, Z87 is a great sweet spot right now, so why you are considering going backwards to a Z77 I'm not sure. I would either keep what you have or go forward with a Z97 mobo, which is still a socket 1150 and will accept a wide range of currently viable cpu's. Your cost-to-performance ratio will be higher this way...

Personally, I am & would suggest you also save your $$ for the next generation mobo's (X99) & cpu's (Skylake) which will be out soon and will.....

A) far exceed the features & performance of current setups, and
B) be more future-proof.

Just MHO and of course, YMMV

 

[schizrade]

You can probably find a good deal on a used Z77 board here or on ebay.

I am all about lightly used gear. Let somebody else take the new tax, ill grab it after it is "old".