CPU Upgrade help

[kyleeer7]

Hello I'm planning on upgrading my current CPU which is an i5 4460 (Haswell Refresh) to an i7 4790 (Haswell Refresh) and I found a compatibility chart from Gigabyte for my motherboard and wanted to know will I need to update my BIOS version to support the i7 4790 ? It says Since BIOS version is F4 for both processors does that mean I wont need to update? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[liberty610]

What is your current BIOS version? If you have BIOS version 4 or higher, you will be good to go.

 

[kyleeer7]

Liberty610 I dont know I've never updated my bios never touched it but I guess Ill have a look and if its 4 or higher I'm sweet to just plug the i7 in and im good

 

[liberty610]

What is the eaxt make/model of the Gigabyte board?

 

[WildCard999]

If your motherboard supports the 4460 then it should be fine with the 4790.

 

[kyleeer7]

This is the exact one I have https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97-D3H-rev-10#ov

 

[liberty610]

If you don't feel cozy going into the BIOS itself to find the awnser, and you wanna see the BIOS version while using Windows, you could download the free app CPU-Z, install it, open it up, and click 'Mainboard'. Bios version will be under the BIOS section in the middle of that page.

You can get CPU-Z here:
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

Just make sure you get the 32 or 64bit version based on whatever you are running. I'm assuming it is a newer-ish PC so it will probably be 64bit.

 

[kyleeer7]

Yeah my PC is new built it last year just doing a CPU upgrade so I can get more out of bigger games like GTA V or Battlefield which are CPU intensive to my knowledge

 

[liberty610]

Yeah my PC is new built it last year just doing a CPU upgrade so I can get more out of bigger games like GTA V or Battlefield which are CPU intensive to my knowledge

GTA V is CPU intensive, yes. I am not sure about Battlefield. Never really got into it. What GPU are you running? I have been running GTA V on a NvIdia GTX 1080 8gb card with an Intel i7 6800k at 3440 x 1440 resolution (ultra wide monitor) and I am able to push an average of 60fps. I am not sure what the specs of your new CPU are off the top of my head.

 

[WildCard999]

So yea that motherboard will support it but personally if you can afford it go for the i7-4790K, not only is it clocked higher then the 4790 non K but you can actually overclock it further with that motherboard.

 

[kyleeer7]

Just downloaded CPU-Z and it says under the Mainboard tab and BIOS section that the version is F9 so I should be good to just upgrade without needing to update my bios

 

[liberty610]

Just downloaded CPU-Z and it says under the Mainboard tab and BIOS section that the version is F9 so I should be good to just upgrade without needing to update my bios

Yup. Your bios is way ahead of what's needed.

 

[kyleeer7]

Really ? lol Thanks for your help

 

[liberty610]

You bet. Have fun with the new CPU!