46 replies to this topic

[Mcgral18]

I'm beginning to wonder what it's like to play at more than 20 FPS, and starting to look at things to upgrade my aging tower.
In fact, I'm thinking of replacing everything but the PSU and the GPU; while not the greatest; a HD radeon 6850; it's the smallest bottleneck of the lot.

Current processor is a AMD Phenom 8850b 2.5 Tri core. Pretty sure it's the worst bottleneck on my system. Motherboard is also old; it only accepts DDR2. As such, I don't have an issue choosing between AMD or Intel; since nearly everything needs replacing.

I've got two selected, but I'm not really set on either.

Intel 3.5 quad core I5 4690K 230$
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16819117372

AMD 4.0 Eight core 195$
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16819113374

I've read some not so great things, as well as some good things about the AMD one, it benchmarks higher, but the single thread rating is less than the Intel.

In comparison to my current one...big improvement either way:
https://www.cpubench...compare.php?cmp[]=2347&cmp[]=296&cmp[]=2284

Research on the Intel has been pretty positive overall, and most are saying it's been worth it for the extra money. The 40$ isn't too significant, since both are on sale.


I've also heard AMD isn't the best for MWO because it doesn't make good use of the cores, so the higher single thread rating of the Intel gets better performance.

Forum opinions?

Edited by Mcgral18, 27 November 2014 - 02:24 PM.

[Flapdrol]

Yeah, performance with the i5 will be much better, in most games, and this one in particular.

Edited by Flapdrol, 27 November 2014 - 02:23 PM.

[ilKhan_OrHan]

Never purchase AMD for gaming. Devs almost always code with Intel in mind and AMD users are left with compatibility issues a majority of the time. Has been that way for years and it STILL is that way today. Same is true for AMD vs nVidia, almost always better off with nVidia for the same reason.

[Lord Letto]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 KILLER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($195.11 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($88.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Inwin G7 ATX Mid Tower Case ($81.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($121.33 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Total: $888.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 17:50 EST-0500

If You Want a New GPU and PSU instead while your at it:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 KILLER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($195.11 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($88.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($82.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 1GB ACX Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Inwin G7 ATX Mid Tower Case ($81.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Memory Express)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($121.33 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Total: $1083.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 17:49 EST-0500

I initially used the US PCPartPicker but than I noticed your Canadian so I'll go over it again and change stuff later.

Edited by Lord Letto, 27 November 2014 - 02:51 PM.

[Tiger 6]

Go for a Core i7 if you can afford it - this game is very CPU intensive and not optimised for lower cpus or expensive GFX cards

Edited by Tiger 6, 27 November 2014 - 02:43 PM.

[Lou3b]

Always Intel, just leaps and bounds ahead of AMD in terms of performance. You may pay more for Intel but sure is worth it.

[Flapdrol]

Tiger 6, on 27 November 2014 - 02:43 PM, said:

Go for a Core i7 if you can afford it - this game is very CPU intensive and not optimised for lower cpus or expensive GFX cards

It's not optimised for any hardware, i7 only adds hyperthreading, probably not of much use in this game, I'd just get the i5.

[xWiredx]

Flapdrol, on 27 November 2014 - 02:49 PM, said:

It's not optimised for any hardware, i7 only adds hyperthreading, probably not of much use in this game, I'd just get the i5.

The i7s also have more cache, not just hyperthreading, and the unlocked ones seems to OC a bit better (people on average get 100-300MhZ more out of the i7s, likely because of their binning process that determines i5-worthy from i7-worthy). When budget allows, an i7 is always a more valid choice than an i5. If the budget doesn't allow, then an i5 will still net you pretty much the same experience (~95% with most software, closer to ~99% with most games).

[Mcgral18]

Lord Letto, on 27 November 2014 - 02:41 PM, said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 KILLER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.49 @ OutletPC)
Case: Inwin G7 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.15 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $592.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 17:41 EST-0500

Thank you for the list, but since it's Canada it has to be NewEgg.ca(not .Com, other sites are available), with slightly inflated prices.

This is what I'm thinking of getting at the moment...but I think the Processor loses the 70$ discount tonight.

My only issue is the Motherboard, which I might select another. It doesn't have a PS/2 port, while my keyboard still uses that.

Case with some cooling power:
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16811129021

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16813130777

I5 processor:
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16819117372

8 Gigs of DDR3 RAM:
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820233170

With some thermal paste, headset and mouse.

Is there anything obvious I'm missing? Going to reuse the 550W PSU and the GPU. I have a HHD and a SSD which will be reused as well.

Edited by Mcgral18, 27 November 2014 - 02:56 PM.

[xWiredx]

If you're not reusing the HDD, you're missing that on your list. If you are, well, then you're not. If you've got the pennies, a Samsung SSD or at least new WD black drive wouldn't hurt.

[Mcgral18]

xWiredx, on 27 November 2014 - 02:58 PM, said:

If you're not reusing the HDD, you're missing that on your list. If you are, well, then you're not. If you've got the pennies, a Samsung SSD or at least new WD black drive wouldn't hurt.

Yes, I edited those in afterwards. 120 gig SSD and 400 gig HDD.

I'm thinking of a 1TB drive...but price will start being an issue. Perhaps along with a PSU and GPU next year.

[SomersetStriker]

Master OrHan, on 27 November 2014 - 02:32 PM, said:

Never purchase AMD for gaming. Devs almost always code with Intel in mind and AMD users are left with compatibility issues a majority of the time. Has been that way for years and it STILL is that way today. Same is true for AMD vs nVidia, almost always better off with nVidia for the same reason.

lol. What? APUs are what get people into trouble, not AMD CPUs. That and the garbage Intel graphics more often than not.

For instance, pc perspective has a gaming build back in April with AMD APU that has the graphics part disabled:
http://www.pcper.com...1080p-Under-550

Tiger 6, on 27 November 2014 - 02:43 PM, said:

Go for a Core i7 if you can afford it - this game is very CPU intensive and not optimised for lower cpus or expensive GFX cards

So my old Phenom II X4 945 released in 2009 doesn't work well with the game when I can play it on the highest settings possible including dx11 and 1080p? Sorry, but I didn't notice at all.
http://www.cpubenchm...henom+II+X4+945

Should have nothing lower than quad core today regardless of what you do. Core i7 shouldn't be necessary. lol. That's overkill for this game unless your gonna attempt gaming at a higher resolution.

Edited by SomersetStriker, 27 November 2014 - 05:10 PM.

[Comrademig]

Isn't the 4690k at $200 ($175 if you use VISA checkout)?

http://www.tigerdire...No=9085223&Sku=

Either way the 4690k is a much better choice.

[Mcgral18]

Comrademig, on 27 November 2014 - 03:43 PM, said:

Isn't the 4690k at $200 ($175 if you use VISA checkout)?

http://www.tigerdire...No=9085223&Sku=

Either way the 4690k is a much better choice.

For Americans perhaps, but not up North. Going price seems ~230, and that 70$ off seems to be a marketing gimmick. Still, I won't complain. It's the going Canadian price, according to 3 retailers.

But thanks for the opinions. Intel is by far the winner so far.


Now, another question for all of you. Motherboards...

What do I look for in one? Enough Sata slots, at least one PS/2 port (for my current stuff), 4 slots for RAM. Aside from those features...I have no idea what I'm looking at or for.

This one seems promising. It has the proper CPU socket, 4 RAM slots, PS/2 ports, SATA slots.
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16813128710

Anything to avoid in motherboards?

[Lord Letto]

Comrademig, on 27 November 2014 - 03:43 PM, said:

Isn't the 4690k at $200 ($175 if you use VISA checkout)?

http://www.tigerdire...No=9085223&Sku=

Either way the 4690k is a much better choice.

that's american, not Canadian

Mcgral18, on 27 November 2014 - 02:55 PM, said:

Thank you for the list, but since it's Canada it has to be NewEgg.ca(not .Com, other sites are available), with slightly inflated prices.

This is what I'm thinking of getting at the moment...but I think the Processor loses the 70$ discount tonight.

My only issue is the Motherboard, which I might select another. It doesn't have a PS/2 port, while my keyboard still uses that.

Case with some cooling power:
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16811129021

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16813130777

I5 processor:
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16819117372

8 Gigs of DDR3 RAM:
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820233170

With some thermal paste, headset and mouse.

Is there anything obvious I'm missing? Going to reuse the 550W PSU and the GPU. I have a HHD and a SSD which will be reused as well.

I initially used the US PCPartPicker but than I noticed your Canadian so I switched it to Canadian PCPartPicker and edited that post. do you need a OS or do you still have the Discs and Licence Key from your last Build? (Retail OS, not OEM)

Edited by Lord Letto, 27 November 2014 - 03:59 PM.

[Mcgral18]

Lord Letto, on 27 November 2014 - 03:58 PM, said:

I initially used the US PCPartPicker but than I noticed your Canadian so I switched it to Canadian PCPartPicker and edited that post. do you need a OS or do you still have the Discs and Licence Key from your last Build? (Retail OS, not OEM)

I was planning on using the same hard-drive, and assumed it would be plug and play...will that not be the case?
I'm a tad new to this...

[Flapdrol]

Mcgral18, on 27 November 2014 - 04:03 PM, said:

I was planning on using the same hard-drive, and assumed it would be plug and play...will that not be the case?
I'm a tad new to this...

It's generally recommended to do a fresh install of windows with such a rebuild, that said I've switched boards 5 or 6 times and windows always detected the new hardware and worked fine.

It will need to be validated online though, if you have a separate oem version it'll probably work, not sure if it will if you bought a premade system from a big oem dealer like dell or something.

Edited by Flapdrol, 27 November 2014 - 04:12 PM.

[Lord Letto]

Flapdrol, on 27 November 2014 - 04:11 PM, said:

It's generally recommended to do a fresh install of windows with such a rebuild, that said I've switched boards 5 or 6 times and windows always detected the new hardware and worked fine.

It will need to be validated online though, if you have a separate oem version it'll probably work, not sure if it will if you bought a premade system from a big oem dealer like dell or something.

yeah, you likely can't use the windows on your HDD, it needs to be a Fresh install: http://www.tomshardw...y-computer.html

Quote

Pre-installed Windows is almost always OEM and cannot be transferred to another computer.

in other words if you buy a prebuilt computer like a Dell, Acer, HP, ETC., you can't use that windows with another computer and you have to buy a copy of windows to use, if you went out and bought a Retail copy of windows though, you could uninstall it from your old computer before installing it on your new computer as long as you still have the Licence Key.

if you were to just take the old HDD with windows out and just plug it in your new computer, it might not work cause of a different MOBO and Drivers, so you would need to wipe the drive and do a fresh install or buy a new HDD/SDD to install windows on. also depending on how old it is, it might be PATA/IDE, not SATA, it would need to be SATA for it to work:


I revised the build I came up with first:
No HDD,SSD,OS:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($83.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 Tri-Linear 25g Thermal Paste ($9.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 U3 Plus ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($123.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($82.98 @ NCIX)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H23 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.75 @ Vuugo)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling AFACO-120P2-GBA01 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.99 @ Memory Express)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling AFACO-120P2-GBA01 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.99 @ Memory Express)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse ($44.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Headphones: Corsair Raptor HS40 7.1 Channel Headset ($49.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $689.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 19:33 EST-0500

With HDD,SSD and OS:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($83.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 Tri-Linear 25g Thermal Paste ($9.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 U3 Plus ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($123.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($82.98 @ NCIX)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H23 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.75 @ Vuugo)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($104.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling AFACO-120P2-GBA01 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.99 @ Memory Express)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling AFACO-120P2-GBA01 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.99 @ Memory Express)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse ($44.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Headphones: Corsair Raptor HS40 7.1 Channel Headset ($49.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $939.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 19:35 EST-0500

Edited by Lord Letto, 27 November 2014 - 04:36 PM.

[Mcgral18]

OS shouldn't be an issue then.

[Summon3r]

i am envious what i wouldnt do for a 4690k, enjoy your new rig