motherboard and CPU, what's best sub 200 bundle

[alferret]

Looking to upgrade my PC (nothing to do with other threads I have on the go :re in-laws htpc)
Anyway my aging PC, while still pretty good is in need of an upgrade, I'll be keeping the case, PSU, HDD,s boot drive is a 1tb 7200 Hitachi (ssd will come in later) memory is 2x4gb pc12800 1600mhz crucial and graphics card is an xfx7770.
Looking at a combo for my existing within a 200 quid (flexible,ish) budget.
Personally I'm an Intel person but willing to look at AMD.
What suggestions have you and links please

Been a while since I done a new build so current spec machines are all new to me.

Thanks

[MovedGoalPosts]

I don't know what spec CPU you have (you don;t say in that list), so no idea what would actually represent an upgrade. It's also not clear what you want your PC to do.

In practice if you are upping the motherboard / CPU combo, your RAM will also need to be changed. Rarely do these match up as the technologies change, if you reuse it might work, but often with reduced performance. That means your £200 budget could be quite restrictive.

For some ideas, many suppliers do bundle deals. At least you know the components are matched:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produc...833&catid=2836
http://3xs.scan.co.uk/custom/profess...locked-bundles

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Rob

In practice if you are upping the motherboard / CPU combo, your RAM will also need to be changed. Rarely do these match up as the technologies change, if you reuse it might work, but often with reduced performance.

Not in this case.

He's got DDR3 1600Mhz which is still the maximum speed Intel's latest-generation mainstream processors officially support.

---------- Post added at 12:54 ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 ----------

As for mobo/CPU combos, get a cheap mobo unless you actually need all the additional interfaces (like 12 SATA ports and 20 USB ports...). Motherboards are much the same these days and unless you're overclocking the performance difference between a £30 and a £300 motherboard is going to be less than 5% at most and usually closer to +/- 1-2%.

Since mainboards are just dumb bridges these days, get something cheap and basic like this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/553591-asrock-...rboard-h81m-gl
for £36 which leaves you over £160 to spend on a decent mid-range CPU, such as:
http://www.ebuyer.com/467637-intel-c...-bx80646i54670 (or even a 4690K for £199 total)

[alferret]

Originally Posted by Rob:35725954

I don't know what spec CPU you have (you don;t say in that list), so no idea what would actually represent an upgrade. It's also not clear what you want your PC to do.

In practice if you are upping the motherboard / CPU combo, your RAM will also need to be changed. Rarely do these match up as the technologies change, if you reuse it might work, but often with reduced performance. That means your £200 budget could be quite restrictive.

For some ideas, many suppliers do bundle deals. At least you know the components are matched:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produc...833&catid=2836
http://3xs.scan.co.uk/custom/profess...locked-bundles

Current spec in addition to my op is Asus p5g41t-m motherboard and a quad core 9550 CPU (2.83ghz)
The memory is brand new ddr3 pc12800 so should be compatible with any current i3/5/7 processors that require 1600mhz ram.

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:10 PM ----------

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq:35725983

Not in this case.

He's got DDR3 1600Mhz which is still the maximum speed Intel's latest-generation mainstream processors officially support.

---------- Post added at 12:54 ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 ----------

As for mobo/CPU combos, get a cheap mobo unless you actually need all the additional interfaces (like 12 SATA ports and 20 USB ports...). Motherboards are much the same these days and unless you're overclocking the performance difference between a £30 and a £300 motherboard is going to be less than 5% at most and usually closer to +/- 1-2%.

Since mainboards are just dumb bridges these days, get something cheap and basic like this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/553591-asrock-...rboard-h81m-gl
for £36 which leaves you over £160 to spend on a decent mid-range CPU, such as:
http://www.ebuyer.com/467637-intel-c...-bx80646i54670 (or even a 4690K for £199 total)

Looked at both those last night but couldn't find my memory on the QVL so was unsure, this is why I made the post as i have been out of the loop for new builds for a while and generally my builds stopped at skt 775.

As for PC usage it'll be some gaming, primarily DayZ, bit of media and general stuff, browsing and such.

[qasdfdsaq]

To be honest if you already have a Q9550 you're not going to see a huge difference with any CPU within your budget. There are no i7's below £200 for the CPU alone, so you're talking maybe 50-70% at most. ---------- Post added at 13:26 ---------- Previous post was at 13:26 ----------

Originally Posted by alferret

Looked at both those last night but couldn't find my memory on the QVL so was unsure, this is why I made the post as i have been out of the loop for new builds for a while and generally my builds stopped at skt 775.

I have never bothered with QVLs. If it fits in the slot, it's supposed to work, if it does not work, it's faulty and gets returned.

Although I've heard of very rare cases where memory that is supposed to work doesn't, I have never come across any such situation myself.

[alferret]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

To be honest if you already have a Q9550 you're not going to see a huge difference with any CPU within your budget. There are no i7's below £200 for the CPU alone, so you're talking maybe 50-70% at most. ---------- Post added at 13:26 ---------- Previous post was at 13:26 ---------- I have never bothered with QVLs. If it fits in the slot, it's supposed to work, if it does not work, it's faulty and gets returned.

Although I've heard of very rare cases where memory that is supposed to work doesn't, I have never come across any such situation myself.

Thanks for taking the time to help with suggestions. I think I'm gonna go with the i5 4690k which as you know is the better/best i5 and will also go with the asrock H81M-GL which comes in at half a pint over 200 quid. That I can live with

[alferret]

Just a quick question, would it be worth getting a board with pci-e 3.0 or will 2.0 be just as fast with my card?

[qasdfdsaq]

Drat. I thought all 4th-gen i7 boards should be PCIe 3 because the PCIe controller is part of the CPU, not the motherboard, but Intel seem to have deliberately crippled that on the H81 chipset.

It doesn't make much difference anyway, but just for futureproofing I would look for a PCIe 3 board, yes. The board I linked earlier wasn't anything special, it was literally the first one I randomly came across that met your requirements. Something like this: http://www.ebuyer.com/579045-biostar...herboard-b85mg
or
http://www.ebuyer.com/630800-gigabyt...rd-ga-b85m-d2v
offers official PCIe 3 for only a few quid more.

[alferret]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Drat. I thought all 4th-gen i7 boards should be PCIe 3 because the PCIe controller is part of the CPU, not the motherboard, but Intel seem to have deliberately crippled that on the H81 chipset.

It doesn't make much difference anyway, but just for futureproofing I would look for a PCIe 3 board, yes. The board I linked earlier wasn't anything special, it was literally the first one I randomly came across that met your requirements. Something like this: http://www.ebuyer.com/579045-biostar...herboard-b85mg
or
http://www.ebuyer.com/630800-gigabyt...rd-ga-b85m-d2v
offers official PCIe 3 for only a few quid more.

Thanks once again for your help, went for the gigabyte board, 4690k and a cheap hs/fan which will do until I find the mounting fixings for my rev 2 freeze pro.

[alferret]

Received today, RMA,d today.
Oh what fun, board powered up but that's all it did then 10 second later it shut down and after a few seconds it would power up again then power down.
Phoned ebuyer, seems that this board needs a BIOS update to run 4690k so they are having it back to sort. Will be chasing them for a return of my next day delivery money.

[Gavin78]

I was selling mine off you could have bought the whole lot for £180

Only downside too it was that the cd drive doesn't work anymore not that I ever used it.

I think the CPU in it though is roughly about the same as the one you have now AMD 965 black edition quadcore 3.4ghz.

[alferret]

Originally Posted by Gavin78:35726614

I was selling mine off you could have bought the whole lot for £180

Only downside too it was that the cd drive doesn't work anymore not that I ever used it.

I think the CPU in it though is roughly about the same as the one you have now AMD 965 black edition quadcore 3.4ghz.

Yea I don't think there would have been any advantage with CPU other than the overclocking ability if the black edition.
This new 4690k should be at least 50% faster and a whole lot more thermally efficient.

[alferret]

Just to add I picked up a Samsung 840 evo ssd. All this kit and I still can't use it Lol.

[adzii_nufc]

Cheap AM3 board for around 50 quid and an 8350? With a decent cooler that thing can be pushed and pushed. Looking 250 with memory though

[alferret]

Just a quick update if anyone is interested.
After issues with ebuyer I'm in the process of getting a refund.
Popped out today and picked up the 4690k and an Asus B85-pro gamer motherboard from a local shop.
All boots up out of the box and works fine (not the same can be said from the crap I got from ebuyer)
Pretty pleased with this board/CPU combo added to that the SSD it should keep me going for a while.
Will look at a closed loop water cooler once I got my head around the new style (new to me anyway) BIOS and it's overclocking capabilities.
So my £200 budget turned into a £300 upgrade.