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Good i7 4820k CPU Motherboard combo...

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As some of you will be aware I am going to do the shift from AMD cpu to Intel.

I asked about the i4770k and mobo combo a short time ago and I got the answers I was looking for.

So now im weighing up the possibility's of getting the i7 4820k cpu too and would like advise on whick mobo to pair it up with if I decide on this cpu.
I want to unlock the full potential of my MSI R9290X lightning GPU.

The board will need aw well as PCIEX16, a pcie slot for my wifi card and a standard pci slot for my sound card.
Ill be using the rig for Photoshop 6, lightroom and elements, some video and music coding, and also gaming.

OS will be win pro 8.1

Ill weigh up cost's when I have decided on the board.
Cheers!
 
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Is there anything in particular you need the socket 2011 CPU for? Neither of the 4770k or 4820k would be bottlenecked by a single (or dual) 290x. 3+ gpus would benefit slightly from more pci-e bandwidth which socket 2011 offers. Mobo-wise depends on your budget and what you need it to do.
 
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Is there anything in particular you need the socket 2011 CPU for? Neither of the 4770k or 4820k would be bottlenecked by a single (or dual) 290x. 3+ gpus would benefit slightly from more pci-e bandwidth which socket 2011 offers. Mobo-wise depends on your budget and what you need it to do.

Firstly id like a cpu thats going to last me a few years so I dont have to worry about upgrading for a while.
Ive already said what the main uses will be, but who knows!
As for budget, im looking at no more than £200 for the mobo.
 
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Hi there,

Although the X79 platform has more PCIE bandwidth (32 PCIE 3.0 lanes vs 16 PCIE 3.0 lanes on Z87) the i7 4820k CPU can actually be slower than the i7 4770K, so this may not be the best option if you want the most CPU speed for your money.

Both the 4820K and 4770K are running 4 physical cores and 8 threads (due to hyperthreading) and the 4820K is clocked marginally higher at stock (3.7GHz vs 3.5GHz). However, the 4770K is built using the current Haswell architecture, while the 4820K is built using Ivy Bridge Architecture (hence it is called Ivy Bridge-E) - so clock-for-clock performance is slightly lower.


Also, if you opt for a i7 4820K then you will get a lot of PCIE bandwidth - however based on your assessment of the PCIE/PCI cards you will be running the bandwidth available on the Z87 platforms shouldn't really limit you.

Therefore, if I was you I would either:

- Buy a Z87 board + i7 4770K
- Wait for the Haswell refresh CPUs and boards to arrive in the next few months (which also support future broadwell CPUs)
- Buy a X79 board and i7 4930K CPU (Ivy Bridge-E Hex core, so tangible performance benefit over 4770K)
- Wait for Haswell-E to arrive (could be a while).
 
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Hi there!

Plenty to think about there thanks!
If I do go with the i7 4770K then ill be pairing up with the Gigabyte OC board, because it suits my needs and I can put all my cards in and they wont have to share bandwidth.

The arrival of the Haswell refresh CPU's/Mobo's sounds unteresting, could very well bring the prices down of the current hardware.

I am leaning towards the i7 4770K at present.
 
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As have been said there are options on the haswell Z87 side that offer motherboards with the lanes to support multi GPU setups. The 4770K/Z87 also offers some features that the X79 doesn't simply because its slightly older.

Also there is the haswell refresh coming soon so there will be the Z97 motherboards for haswell as well as haswell-e soon on the 2011-3 X99 motherboards.

Bottom line there is always something out in 3-6 months. Best options is decide the features that are important to you, set a budget and get the maximum you can for the money and enjoy it.
 
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Hence me asking about a mobo for the 4820.

The thread has turned into a bit of a 4779k v's 4820 battle.
Im not asking that, im asking for advise on mobo's for the 4820.

I know my budget and roughly when ill make the change. Id just like a second set up to look at before I buy.
 
Soldato
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If you do want to go down the X79 route then I would personally pick the MSI X79A-GD45 Plus. Its a pretty good price at £140 on OCUK and seems to feature everything you need while also getting decent reviews.

As you have highlighted the Z87 gigabyte OC board will offer you no troubles with PCIE slots and costs basically the same as this MSI Z79. Therefore, it is really a pick between a slightly faster CPU (Z87 / 4770K) and platform with more PCIE lanes, two more memory slots and the ability to upgrade to a hex core (X79 / 4820K).

Therefore, on balance I can see the advantages to you of the X79 option, in particular the extra RAM slots (since the applications you use are memory-heavy) and the upgradability to a hex core like an i7 4930K (which will give a tangible performance increase when running those applications).
 
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Neither really - as both are at the end of the line.

The next mainstream processors (Haswell refresh) will need Z97 board and will not work with any existing Z87 boards. Similarly, the enthusiast-level Haswell-E CPUs will need a new X99 chipset and will not work with X79 boards (X99 and haswell-E are expected at the tail-end of this year I believe).

That said, X79 does have upgrade options if you go for a i7 4820K - as you could at a later date buy a i7 4930K to run in it (perhaps when they drop in price second-hand). As this upgrade would give you a big performance boost due to the 50% more cores. In contrast the i7 4770K is the best that will ever be available for the Z87 platform.
 
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Ive just read that Haswell Refresh CPU's will be out in April and are backwards compatible with 1150 pin boards.

Ah, on further reading that does seem to be the case, my bad. I think I mixed up Broadwell with haswell refresh.

So haswell refresh chips do look like they will work on existing Z87 boards (after a BIOS flash no doubt) and these new chips will give slightly higher stock clockspeeds and better overclocking performance. On the other hand Broadwell which is the real next generation, will need a 9-series chipset (like the Z97) to work and won't be compatible with Z87.
 
Soldato
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Indeed :)

It looks like broadwell will be a direct replacement of the haswell and haswell-refresh price points - so it should be priced at the same level. However, its a while to wait if you want new PC hardware soon.

If you already have a system that is working ok and you are happy to wait around a month for better overclocking Haswell-refresh parts then I say that's a good choice.
 
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Do you have an SSD by any chance?

If not I would STRONGLY recommend you pick one up before you put money down on a new intel system. You wouldn't believe the performance bottleneck mechanical hard drives cause in modern high-end systems, the difference is like night and day.

Something like a Samsung 840 Evo 250GB would be ideal and costs around £100.
 
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Do you have an SSD by any chance?

If not I would STRONGLY recommend you pick one up before you put money down on a new intel system. You wouldn't believe the performance bottleneck mechanical hard drives cause in modern high-end systems, the difference is like night and day.

Something like a Samsung 840 Evo 250GB would be ideal and costs around £100.

Now its funny you should mention that, no I dont, Im running a HHD, but i am planning to go to SSD ASAP!

I was looking at this one... http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-159-SA&groupid=701&catid=2104

Im also going to Windows 8.1 pro from windows 7 pro.
 
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Soldato
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Ah, well in that case I think this is going to be a lot less expensive for you :)

The samsung 840 pro is a very fast ssd that uses SLC NAND. However it's mainly aimed at enterprise users and the performance increase it offers compared to the very nice 840 evo is not worth the extra ~£50 for most enthusiast users. Here is an in-depth review which compares the two models (and many others) : http://www.anandtech.com/show/7173/...w-120gb-250gb-500gb-750gb-1tb-models-tested/8

Out of interest, why are you moving to windows 8?
 
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