Upgrade to a 4770K

bignev72

bignev72

bignev72

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22 Mar 2012
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My friend is selling me his 4770k so i'm looking to do an upgrade using this.

My current PC is
i7 950
8GB 1600Mhz RAM
Nvidia 460GTX

So obviously I need a new motherboard and graphics card. I have also heard that to get the best out of the 4770K's you need fast RAM. Is this true?

So ideally I want to spend about £500 max and I was thinking of the below components.

Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 Motherboard with FREE COOLERMASTER SEIDON 120V COOLER

Asus GeForce GTX 770 DirectCU OC 2048MB Graphics Card

TeamGroup Xtreem LV 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit

I do have a few questions which hopefully you guys can help me with?

Will I see a performance increase if I get some 2400Mhz RAM? Or should I just re-use my 1600Mhz RAM?

I've had bad experiences with AMD cards in the past but is it worth now going back for a 290X and spending a bit extra? The one below is £40 more but should be much better performance than the Nvidia 770 right?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-017-VX&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

With the free Seidon cooler, am I right in thinking this is a self contained water loop? I won't have to water cool the rest of my system will I? Is this a good cooler?

Thanks guys
 
Will this be used for gaming? If so, you can drop down to 8gb RAM and spend the savings upgrading the GPU to a 290.

You're correct about the Seidon. It is an entry level water cooler, but it will do a decent job and you're getting a great motherboard with it.

Which PSU do you have?
 
Fast RAM with Haswell will make a difference, but only in a few situations. If you are rendering, photo/video editing, you'll benefit from faster RAM. However, day to day situations, you'll see almost no benefit.

The parts you have chosen are spot on. While Haswell likes faster RAM, you can re-use your current RAM and overclock if you wish. This would leave you room for a better motherboard/graphics card.

The cooler which comes with the board is a closed loop water cooler. No further water cooling will be required & there is no maintenance needed.
 
I have a Corsair 600W CX PSU. I've recently had a 780ti and 690GTX in my machine and it ran both of these with no issues despite Nvidia saying you need a 650W PSU minimum for the 690.

The machine will mainly be used for gaming although the other half does use Photoshop quite regularly.

So you guys think I should just stick with the 8GB 1600Mhz I have? This is Corsair XMS RAM if that makes a difference?

I'm presuming that in terms of performance the 290 is a big step over the 770? I do have an Nvidia 3D monitor but tbh I never use it so wouldn't be heartbroken to lose this. Is the VTX3D 290 I linked too a good model to get?
 
As long as your RAM is DDR3 you can stick with it. There would be a minor performance boost from getting the 2400/2666mhz kit, but new RAM and a 770 versus old RAM and a 290 is a pretty easy choice.

VTX3D are something of a budget brand. OcUK didn't even stock them before the huge demand for, and low supply of, AMD cards during the mining boom. I would happily pay the extra £30 for the MSI 290 Gaming or £20 for the Sapphire Tri-X on offer this weekend. Note that the Sapphire card is not overclocked out of the box.
 
Fulax said:
As long as your RAM is DDR3 you can stick with it. There would be a minor performance boost from getting the 2400/2666mhz kit, but new RAM and a 770 versus old RAM and a 290 is a pretty easy choice.

VTX3D are something of a budget brand. OcUK didn't even stock them before the huge demand for, and low supply of, AMD cards during the mining boom. I would happily pay the extra £30 for the MSI 290 Gaming or £20 for the Sapphire Tri-X on offer this weekend. Note that the Sapphire card is not overclocked out of the box.
Click to expand...

I think I'll go with the MSI. My current Nvidia is an MSI and it's been a real trooper of a card :)
 
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