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Finally upgrading

866 views 24 replies 7 participants last post by  Indiegreg 
#1 ·
Yup, finally moving away from my 775 system. I've been out of the game for a while, so I need some recommendations on 1150 motherboards. I've been recommended the Asus Maximus VI Hero, but I was wondering if there was any good competition in that price range that might beat it out?

System specs:

CPU: Intel i5 4670k
Mobo: ???
RAM: 16GB of ???
GPU: Radeon HD6950 2GB (unlocked)
Cooler: CoolerMaster Glacer 240L
PSU: CoolerMaster V850
Case: CoolerMaster HAF XB
SSD: Crucial M4 256GB
HDD: Seagate 3TB + WD 500GB

Also I could use some recommendations on quality >1600MHz RAM. Looking for 16GB.
 
#2 ·
The Hero is a good, solid choice. At the same price you have the Gigabyte Z87X OC, Asus Z87 Pro (the regular version with wifi/bluetooth). The Gigabyte is designed with overclocking features in mind. It only has 6 intel sata ports and no fancy gaming features to speak of. The Asus Z87 Pro is an all around solution if you need to use wifi for your pc. Just below that price range you'll find the Asrock Z87 Extreme 6 a/c, MSI GD 65 gaming and Gigabyte Z87X UD4H. All pretty good in their own right so it's gonna come down to what you need and prioritize in your motherboard. You got some with wifi/bluetooth built in, some with better vrm than others, some have dual ethernet ports, it's all down to what you like. This mushkin set of ram will do the job: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226433 I see you still have that 6950. it holding up well?
 
#3 ·
I really like the look of this EVGA board especially because I've had better luck with EVGA customer service - ASUS's is usually great, but I had one horrific cluster that makes me favor EVGA - I do still use ASUS frequently. If you wan't to avoid having to upgrade for a long time again, the Sabertooth boards are also worth the money in my experience (5 year warranty to back it up): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131976 they don't OC the best, they don't look the best, but they tend to last forever.

For RAM, do: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231619 it's 2133MHz (since socket 1366 higher frequency at a 1T command rate is more important to performance than lower CAS latency) and G.Skill RAM works great. I've been using it in computers for years, I haven't gotten a bad stick yet and I haven't had a single stick fail on me yet **knock on wood**

I'll also suggest you switch to the Samsung 840 as it's much faster write speed for less money, with a better warranty. And if you haven't bought that HDD already, pick up a WD Red 3TB instead as they are excellent.
 
#4 ·
I already have the Crucial M4 now, I picked it up in early 2012 (two weeks before they dropped from $320 to $220
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). The 830 at that time was more expensive, and I don't think the 840 was out.

The 6950 is holding up for now, my main bottleneck currently is the CPU. I'll upgrade the GPU later this year maybe.

Hm, I'm not wedded to a given hard drive yet. I want something in the 2-3TB range that won't break the bank. I don't need server class reliability, just a 3 year warranty or so.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by soulwrath View Post

Could not find out what your current CPU was - i have a i5-750 matched with a 7970 - there is some bottleneck but at 4.0 ghz its running pretty fine
I have a Core 2 Quad Q9550 OC'd to 3.7GHz. It's a good chip, but she's showing her age.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PureBlackFire View Post

that 6950 was my baby at one time. my brother sold it to you some time before I made this account on here. for a hard drive I usually recommend the Toshiba PH3200U-1I72 (2TB) or PH3300U-1I72 (3TB). they are well reviewed, reliable, come with a 3 year warranty and are generally competitively priced.
Ah, yeah, I remember now. Yeah, it's been running smooth. I had to do some tweaking of the fan curve to make the noise manageable, but that's only because I have a crappy Antec Lanboy Air that's 100% mesh. Thanks for the hard drive recommendations!
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phaedrus2129 View Post

I already have the Crucial M4 now, I picked it up in early 2012 (two weeks before they dropped from $320 to $220
frown.gif
). The 830 at that time was more expensive, and I don't think the 840 was out.

The 6950 is holding up for now, my main bottleneck currently is the CPU. I'll upgrade the GPU later this year maybe.

Hm, I'm not wedded to a given hard drive yet. I want something in the 2-3TB range that won't break the bank. I don't need server class reliability, just a 3 year warranty or so.
I wasn't sure what-all hardware you had already, so I figured I'd throw a few other things out there. The WD Red is supposed to be a NAS/Data drive. 3 year warranty, more reliable than a green, RAID capable like an RE4, and about as fast as the run-of-the-mill seagate. I've had so many SeaGate drives fail on me that it's not even funny, and since I swapped over to WD the pace I was going through HDDs at has declined substantially. I think I've used 6 or so WD Red drives in various builds to date and everybody (my self, and my two 3TB Reds included) has been issue free.

I NEVER recommend Toshiba or Fujitsu drives because of one simple issue - no dedicated repair utility. SeaGate SeaTools, Western Digital DLG and Hitachi's DFT all allow the drive to fix most read-errors and continue to use the drive (you'll just lose whatever part of a file was on the sectors that were mapped out). There is no such utility for Toshiba or Fujitsu AFAIK; if there's any error, you have to get it replaced. All drives fail - some you're able to fix yourself.
 
#10 ·
I'll be honest. I've never had an HDD failure occur within the lifetime of the drive. I've got a cheap-ass OEM WD 320GB that I've been running since 2007 with no issues. My mechanical hard drives only ever seem to fail after I stop using them and throw them in a box. So mostly just my old IDE drives. In fact, so far I don't think I've had a single SATA based HDD fail on me yet.

Oh, one exception. My OCZ Agility 60GB SSD failed a month out of warranty. But that's OCZ SSDs for you.

Maybe I'm just lucky.
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phaedrus2129 View Post

I'll be honest. I've never had an HDD failure occur within the lifetime of the drive. I've got a cheap-ass OEM WD 320GB that I've been running since 2007 with no issues. My mechanical hard drives only ever seem to fail after I stop using them and throw them in a box. So mostly just my old IDE drives. In fact, so far I don't think I've had a single SATA based HDD fail on me yet.

Oh, one exception. My OCZ Agility 60GB SSD failed a month out of warranty. But that's OCZ SSDs for you.

Maybe I'm just lucky.
I'm not lucky with storage, and I know I'm not so everything is always backed up. I currently have running 3x2TB drives in my HTPC/Media Server, 2x3TB Reds and a 1TB RE4 in my desktop, and a 13" MacBook Pro with a 1TB 5400rpm drive and a 750GB 7200rpm drive in it. They all have images to a 3TB external drive, and super-important documents are on a portable drive I keep with me.

And those are just the drives I'm using now (there's probably 4 more in drawers in my closet) - you should see my HDD purchase history... it's a horror show.
 
#12 ·
I'm thinking about dropping down to the Gigabyte Z78X-UD3H to save some dollars, since the Hero has some features I don't need. How's its VRM quality?
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phaedrus2129 View Post

I'm thinking about dropping down to the Gigabyte Z78X-UD3H to save some dollars, since the Hero has some features I don't need. How's its VRM quality?
that's a good move if you need to save some cash. the Hero and the UD3H use a true 8 phase vrm. both the Z87X series (UD3H and up) and the ROG series use the best quality mosfets on Z87 so there's nothing to worry about there. basically it's a tie between the UD3H and Hero as far as vrm quality. the hero has better on board audio and those ROG features.
 
#14 ·
Cool. I have a sound card, and most of the other ROG features aren't that important to me, so I figure I'll save $40 there.

So, my shopping list:

HAF XB (Bought. $35 after employee discount
smile.gif
)

Intel i5 4670k
Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H
Mushkin Blackline 16GB 2133MHz

Next month:

Glacer 240L
V850 or V1000
2x Toshiba PH3200U

Maybe a new monitor the month after... Catleap maybe. Then I should be set.
smile.gif
 
#16 ·
Not from what I've read. There are differences in quality of the stand, and some of them overclock better than others. I don't remember the details though. Your warranty will be through the Ebay seller.

There's a huge thread on it down in the monitor section.
 
#19 ·
Thanks for the link
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I might do Crossfire R9 290s down the road, and considering they're ~300W cards, they should have a minimum 850W PSU for Crossfire (300Wx2 + 125W OCd CPU + 20W mobo + 50W fans, pumps & drives = 795W, round up to 850W)

Currently I have an Antec HCG-750, which is more than suitable for Crossfire HD6950s. But not for Crossfire R9 290s, and I also want to increase efficiency to offset the higher power consumption somewhat.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phaedrus2129 View Post

Parts ordered!
biggrin.gif
congrats and good luck.
 
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