GPU/CPU upgrade advise.

Ethan62

Ethan62

Ethan62

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Joined
8 Feb 2007
Posts
261
My brother currently has the below specification.

I3-4150 @3.50GHz
16GB RAM DDR3 1600/1333/1066 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
Asus H81M-K
Sapphire R9 270 2GB
500w PSU

He is considering buying the following. Does anyone foresee any problems or have any alternative suggestions (my suggestion was to buy a Ryzen MOBO as he is already at memory limit for the MOBO)?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga...-pci-express-graphi-gx-30f-ea.html#tech_specs

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...cket-lga1150-processor-retail-cp-533-in.html#


Thanks Ethan.
 
Buying a Ryzen Motherboard is no good unless you buy a Ryzen CPU and also buy new faster RAM. Also you will need DDR4 RAM too IIRC. That will set you back £500-£700
You really need to specify a budget and what your brother uses the PC for and what resolution the monitor is. Also what you want to do with it, ie overclock the CPU ?

Buying the two components listed will give your brother a big boost. Overclocking the CPU will be out of the question though.

Really you would be looking at

Intel i7-7700k
LGA 1151 Z270 Motherboard
16gb DDR4 RAM
Nvidia GTX 1070
Decent 750W+ PSU

or same as above change mobo/cpu for something like
Ryzen 1700x/1700 CPU
AM4 Motherboard
 
His plan is sound, however if it were me then I would be looking at the 4790K which is 400MHz faster, and I would probably also be looking at used prices, which for a CPU which was released 3+ years ago will be very competitive compared to brand new.
 
It doesn't matter if he can't overclock it as it's a faster cpu. I would not be looking at brand new though. I would rather build a new pc than spend £300+ on a cpu for that motherboard. Haswell/DC is already two generations old and the prices are massively higher than when they were mainstream. I can remember the 4770k costing £225!!
 
THis moment and next 2 months are THE worse time to buy 2tier CPU and videocard. After 2 months AMD will release their new top video - so prices will move down less or more. Also intel will release new platform. Also AMD will mature their Ryzen ... so CPUs will also get down, both sides.
If the brother of yours is so eager to upgrade, buy something 2nd hand.
 
The GPU upgrade is fine. Unless your brother is doing computationally intensive work, I'm not sure that the CPU upgrade is worth it. Look at the i5-4460 instead at £187.99.
 
pastymuncher said:
So why is there no point in getting a 4790k then? If anything it is more relevant to him as it's the fastest cpu for the socket.
Click to expand...

The tech is old, so if he's going to be spending money it may as well be on up to date tech that he can use, rather than spending £300+ on a CPU that he will never get the best out of, unless he spends £100+ and some luck getting a Z87 or Z97 type motherboard. You've even said this yourself.

So, er, that's why.
 
You are twisting things a little there. What I said was not to pay new prices. Nobody should be buying brand new Haswell cpu's at the current rip off prices. They have been going in the MM for around £150 and would make a big difference to his performance. Although the op won't have MM access there are other sources and even Ebay would be cheaper than brand new. It doesn't matter that he doesn't have a Z series board as the stock speed is 4Ghz/4.4Ghz turbo and that would be a very boost over his i3. It is also a cost effective upgrade rather than spending a fortune on a new build.
 
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Because you called me out on my advice and won't entertain the fact that it is far cheaper for him to drop in a better cpu (not new) and get a good performance boost rather than go down the much more expensive route of a new build. What a drama queen you are!!
 
Agree with Uber and Pasty - used 4790K. They are clocked high enough already at 4.4GHz, and will work with the board (even though the Haswell i3-4150 came out at around the same time as the Devil's Canyon i7-4790K, I'd still update the BIOS with the existing i3, to make absolutely sure it's Devil's Canyon compatible/has the best BIOS for it).
 
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