Upgrade Time

[Lathais]

Well, I was thinking of an upgrade towards the end of last year and posted here for advice but did not get around to it. I should be able to get to it in the next couple months though so just want some updated advice as it seems a lot has happened with CPUs since then with haswell and Haswell Refresh coming out.

I'll start with what I have currently:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
MoBo: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 500GB
GPU: XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-Bit DDR5
PSU: CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-650TX 650W
OS: Vista(Don't kill me)

Now the CPU is the main thing I want to Upgrade, so new MoBo with that as well. I think the RAM is fine, I have removed the stupid fins from it though. My HDD is pretty new as the one I put in when I built it crapped out on me, so that's fine.

The GPU is my first major question. I think that one will still be decent enough for a little while, so thinking of keeping it for now. Thoughts on that GPU and how quickly I should upgrade it are appreciated.

The PSU is overkill, I am aware. I was not as aware when I bought it obviously. I think I'll be ok keeping it, however it is near 4 years old now. Not entirely sure on the life span of PSU so advice here appreciated as well.

As for what I use the PC for, it's my primary source of entertainment. I have it hooked up to my TV via HDMI and switch to that to watch movies and TV as I got rid of cable a while back, using Netflix or Hulu+ to watch shows and movies. Games I play are mostly WoW/Rift though looking at Wildstar and some of the newer Single Player games. I want it to handle everything I can throw at it on at least High. Current one has not given me any problems with that recently, though this is one area I am unsure.

Budget is as little as I can get away with while still being a sizeable upgrade. Want to keep it under $1,000 but $600-700 would be ideal as whatever I do to mine must also be done to my gfs which is identical sans the HDD as hers did not crap out.

Here is what I am considering:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($94.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $629.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Comes in right around the price I want, without a video card. If I put something like an nVidia GTX770 in there it is at about $1000 which is max i want to spend.

Any Input?

[IRunSoFarAway]

Looks good to me, though I would replace the GPU for sure, even something around the $200 mark will be a sizable upgrade. What do you plan on doing with the old parts you're not transferring over? You could get a couple hundred for the cpu/mobo/gpu, which would recoup you the cost of a 200-300$ GPU, just a thought.

[Deleted]

Since you are going for a Z97 mobo then get the new i5 4690k. Unless the corsair ram is low profile it won't fit below the Noctua cpu cooler. If you are upgrading after +2months then its better to look at it then when you are ready to go for it. Enough time for prices to change.

[Lathais]

The parts from my old PC will be going to a friend of mine who is in desperate need of an upgrade. He's always been a good friend and helped me out when I needed it so I will not be charging him for them. The parts from my gfs PC will likely be going into a PC for my daughter. So won;t really have anything left over to sell.


What is the main difference between the 4670 and 4690, besides about $20?

I fixed the RAM link in OP: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233147
It was not low profile, but the fins have been removed, not sure if it will fit or not. Rather then buying new RAM is there another good air cooler that they would fit under or should I maybe go to something like the Corsair H80i or H100i?

It will likely be middle of next month when/if I make these purchases, I don't think new processors are coming out until early next year so even if the prices change, I'll likely be getting this same set of parts no matter the price. The case may change if there is a good deal on one at the time though. Vid Card I am still up in the air on. I will likely buy this set of parts for now and then another month or 2 after that get new ones, just to spread the cost out a bit.

[IRunSoFarAway]

What is the main difference between the 4670 and 4690, besides about $20?

The 4670k was released last year, the 4690k was released last month. Minimal difference in terms stock speed, slightly lower temperatures because they improved the TIM(Thermal Interface Material), which basically makes it easier to overclock. So if you're planning on overclocking, get the 4690k, if you're not, then it's really up to you to decide if having the latest one is worth $20, as you're likely not going to see much of a difference running them at stock.

I fixed the RAM link in OP: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233147
It was not low profile, but the fins have been removed, not sure if it will fit or not. Rather then buying new RAM is there another good air cooler that they would fit under or should I maybe go to something like the Corsair H80i or H100i?

You should be able to just put both sticks in slots 2 and 4, instead of 1 and 3, that's how mine is set up with the hyper 212 evo, anyway. There are better, and if you plan on getting something that extends over slot 2+, like the NH-D14, then you're going to need low profile RAM of some kind. If you care about how loud it is, I think the h100i fans are still really loud, so you'll probably have to replace them, that, and there's the whole water thing involved. What kind of cooler you should get is going to heavily depend on what you're doing.

http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/noctua/nh-d15/8 Pay no attention to the d15, look for the d14 compared to the h100i/80i.

[Lathais]

The 4670k was released last year, the 4690k was released last month. Minimal difference in terms stock speed, slightly lower temperatures because they improved the TIM(Thermal Interface Material), which basically makes it easier to overclock. So if you're planning on overclocking, get the 4690k, if you're not, then it's really up to you to decide if having the latest one is worth $20, as you're likely not going to see much of a difference running them at stock.

I am going to OC, but just a mild one, not going for leader boards or anything. If I was not going to OC wouldnot get the Noctua . I guess it's only $20, not that big of a deal breaker. How big of a difference are we talking with that Cooler?