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s1xtyn1n3

s1xtyn1n3

s1xtyn1n3

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Joined
22 Jun 2013
Posts
210
Location
Norwich
I've had my PC for a year or so now and am feeling an itch to change something. Problem is, it's a mini-itx build (which I love) but it does mean replacing stuff rather than just adding.

My current spec is:
  • ASRock H87M-ITX Intel H87
  • Intel i5 4460 @ 3.2ghz
  • EVGA GTX 770 2GB SC
  • 8GB RAM (2 x 4GB) - can't remember exactly what
  • Samsung 840 256GB SSD
  • Corsair 600W PSU

My thoughts are maybe to upgrade the CPU to a Core i7-4790K but would I notice much difference? The PC is used for a pretty wide variety of games, web browsing and the occasional bit of Visual Studio work (I mostly do that on another machine).

A graphics card update seems pointless as I'm not really struggling with my current 770.

Maybe going to 16GB of RAM but that would mean buying 2x8GB and then having to get shot of the 2x4GB I have now.

Suggestions?
 
I cant see anything you could do, a change of CPU to a K series will still mean you are limited by your boards lack of overclocking ability.
 
Yeah, I'm not really fussed about overclocking but the stock 4.0ghz and hyper-threading seems nice on paper, but not sure if it'd actually give me any real world benefit.
 
Failing finding anything to spend money on now, is there anything I should be looking at in the next 6 months or so? Sounds like the GTX 800 series have been pushed into 2014 and couldn't really find any news about Broadwell besides that it too is arriving later than expected.
 
I've just bought a pair of Razer Krazen Neon Pro's so good for headphones/headsets. I have a fairly cheap Microsoft keyboard right now, but I'm holding out until the Corsair K70 RGB comes out before upgrading that. My mouse is a fairly old Microsoft Habu. I have often thought about changing that, but can never decide which to get.
 
Even if you're happy with the 770, it can't max out every game at 1080p so you could get a 290/x. I don't think any other upgrade would have noticeable effects.
 
Not a big fan of AMD cards due to the heat they kick out. That was based on a couple of generations ago though so may not be the case now. I am pretty happy with the 770 but may wait for the 800 series to come out and either get an 880 or see if the 780 ti's get reduced.

As for monitor, I have a couple of 22" Dell 1080p monitors that only cost £60 each. I bought these as a stop gap before higher dpi screens became the norm and more affordable which still seems at least 12 months away.
 
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Depite the board not being a Z series board you may still be able to overclock on it. Bios 1.40 introduced overclocking for K series cpu's although you would need to flash to the latest bios before sticking a 4790K in there and they may have stopped clocking by now.
 
Good to know! I'm just trying to figure out how much of a performance gain I'd see from going from the 4460 to the 4790K. I suspect it would make encoding video quicker which isn't something I currently do, but may consider in the future when I finally get round to archiving off my DVD's (non-DRM ones of course!) so the boxes can go in the loft ;)
 
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