Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 OR GigaByte GA-B85M-DS3H?

[TurtleTom100]

Hi all just after some expert opinions here

i am currently looking at these 2 boards and wonder what youguys or reomend or another motherboard?

i am going to do a whole new build as i think my current setup is getting old (Dual Core 3.20ghz chip, 4x2gb ddr2, 1gb radeon graphics card)

i will be making it a bit of a project over the next couple months as i don't have alot of money to inject into it at one hit.

i am thinking :

one of the motherboards (want to stick with gigabyte)
i7 4790 or 4790k
16gb+ ddr3
probably use my current graphics card for time being
corsair builder series 600/750w cabled psu

i already have a samsung 850 evo 250gb ssd
3 x 500gb wd green hdd which are being used

i may use my current psu to start with which is a EZcool 500w

also as i will obliviously need motherboard and ram together as ddr2 doesn't work in ddr3, is there an adapter i can use to use my dual core chip with a new motherboard until i get the chip as obviouly the chip is about £200

 

[rolli59]

Z97 if you go with the 4790K, B85 with 4790 but you can not use your old CP/ram in the new board. At minimum you will need board/CPU/ram when you upgrade.

 

[TurtleTom100]

Z97 if you go with the 4790K, B85 with 4790 but you can not use your old CP/ram in the new board. At minimum you will need board/CPU/ram when you upgrade.

what processor would be the better one to go for? and what would be the differences?

 

[rolli59]

Z97 if you go with the 4790K, B85 with 4790 but you can not use your old CP/ram in the new board. At minimum you will need board/CPU/ram when you upgrade.

what processor would be the better one to go for? and what would be the differences?

4790K is the fastest and can overclock as well as long as you have Z97 board!

 

[TurtleTom100]

So it would be better to go with the 4790k in other words.

I am not too fussed about overclocking as I have always being a bit nervous and feel this causes more stress to the internals.

But I have being looking at buying one of them boards £70, 2x8gb ddr3 dual channel memory £80, fan/heatsink £30 and the i7 4790k £270 so a total of £450

Surely there is a bundle cheaper as I can buy a pc for £100 more from ccl?

 

[synphul]

This might be better rounded out. Both those boards are pretty low end, paired with a top of the line cpu. Also 16gb of ram may be overkill depending what you plan to do. There's no adapter to use one chip in another motherboard, no. Includes a cpu cooler which will work much better than the stock cooler (especially if you plan to overclock) or just for maintaining good temps if the cpu will be under load even at stock for any amount of time (say gaming an hour or two).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£259.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler (£33.74 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£99.98 @ Novatech)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£46.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £440.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-04 20:57 BST+0100

The i7 build I see on ccl for 579 pounds really cuts corners. Pairing the locked i7 with a cheapy b85 motherboard, value ram, a poor quality psu, very low end 'gaming' video card etc. Speaking of psu's, I'd recommend something better quality than the corsair builder series as well. For about the same price as the cx 750 either of these would be better quality.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-s12ii620bronze
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-110b20750vr

Quality doesn't mean it has to be ridiculously expensive, but it's not worth going with complete bottom of the barrel to save a few coins either when there are similar priced components of better quality available. Even if you don't overclock the 4790k, it will still be 400mhz faster than the 4790. Unlike the i5 where the 4690k is the same base speed as the 4690 non k.

It may make more sense to drop to the 4790 or even the xeon 1231v3 or 1241v3 depending what you plan to use the computer for in order to bump the ram back to 16gb. Depending how long you'll be saving for and how soon skylake will be released and available in your region, skylake may be a better solution. Using the same integrated graphics as broadwell, the igpu's of broadwell have already shown to be nearly as strong as a dedicated gtx 750. Still a lower end gaming solution but better than the card included in the ccl i7 build already built into the cpu.

Trying to find cheaper bundles may be difficult. If it's purely about cost savings, some can be saved building your own over a prebuilt by just locating the cheapest stuff that will 'work'. Just keep in mind many prebuilt systems are able to keep prices lower because they have the advantage of buying in bulk and cutting corners. Typically the reason for building your own isn't just to save money but to get more for the money you do spend. The price may be roughly the same as a prebuilt but with a better quality case, power supply, motherboard etc.

 

[rolli59]

So it would be better to go with the 4790k in other words.

I am not too fussed about overclocking as I have always being a bit nervous and feel this causes more stress to the internals.

But I have being looking at buying one of them boards £70, 2x8gb ddr3 dual channel memory £80, fan/heatsink £30 and the i7 4790k £270 so a total of £450

Surely there is a bundle cheaper as I can buy a pc for £100 more from ccl?

It is faster at stock speed as well with 4GHz vs 3.6GHz on the regular 4790.

 

[TurtleTom100]

Thanks for the detailed reply

i will be using the pc for video/photo editing and on line browsing. not going to be used for gaming but still need a bit of power. that is why i was looking at 2 x 8gb dual channel ram (i have read dual channel is alot better/faster than the equivalent in single channel.

i am definitely going to be using a upgraded cooler not the stock but dont really have any intention of overclocking as like i mentioned above i have never really delved into it as always bit nervous that this will cause more stress on the pc and the internals, i may be wrong as i have never done it.

i was looking at the evga but firstly it is semi modular and i have never used one of these types. (are they better?)
and secondly i read some stuff on here about the evga works fine but struggles if using alot of the power and is noisy. the builder corsair i thought was a descent psu. but again i may be wrong. and i never heard of seasonic so up till now i hadnt even looked at it.

and with regards to the memory you linked if i was to go for that or go for the 2x8gb sticks G.skill produce have they being tried and tested as again i haven't herd of them. i suppose im a bit old school and used to the likes of kingston and corsair lol. i dont mind change, change is good.

nowi would like to stay withthe 4790k chip purely because if i can get the better one now it will last that tiny bit longer before need upgrading again lol

i don't really want to buy a whole pc set up i would rather build my own but don't want it to be a money pit where i am for ever throwing money into it. its a shame i cant find a bundle as this means buying them separately. which is why i asked about the whole pc build.

 

[TurtleTom100]

have had a little read of some reviews on this Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard and obviously it is aimed alot at gaming with the crossfire and sli compatibility, gold plated audio connections etc

but if it can handle the games it should handle what i want it to do. one thingi did read is there is no status lights. just want to check is this an led on the motherboard (that is just on when theres power to the machine not switched on) or is it the power led and busy led on the front of my pc?

also there are headers for usb 3.0 connection on front now i believe the case which i have got is only usb 2.0 on the front, can i change that without changing the case? its no biggie as it comes with alot of rear usb ports and i only have 1 usb pen which is usb 3.0 lol

 

[TurtleTom100]

im also reading alot of bad reviews with the evga psu and complaints about noise these are just some i have copied from amazon:

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Please - Do not buy it
By Pen Name on 24 Jan. 2015
Verified Purchase
Do not buy it by any means. My unit failed immediately.Components inside burned straight after switching it on. THE "BRAIDED CABLES" are not fully braided , ends of every cable show their colorful insides. Personally I would go for corsair as it never failed on me. The only good experience I had with this product was the amazon customer service witch gave me refund for this PSU. This is my second product from EVGA that failed. Look at the photo to see the cables.

Comment Was this review helpful to you?
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SuperNOVA 750W B1 - Why is it poop?
By Adam Ainsworth on 1 April 2015
The cables on this PSU are very stiff and hard to bend. This created difficultly when trying to cable manage in my system, despite my case having optimal room. Wires connecting directly into the PSU are blacked out and rubber sleeved, but the end of the 24 pin connector shows all of the colors: A strange way to configure them. The fan is unnecessarily loud, producing a rattling sound whenever in operation. You can ignore it at first, but that sound gets really annoying. I recommend at PSU from corsair!
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now that was a great psu. so now I cannot use my pc ...
By batsman on 16 Mar. 2015
well I got mine though ebay, and to be honest it worked well had no issues with it at all, well until now when I tried to install it on my new z97 ws motherboard, and all it did was light up the psu failure light on the motherboard, god I wish I had not sold my corsair cx600m, now that was a great psu. so now I cannot use my pc until I buy another psu from either amazon or pc world which I don't want todo as they are rubbish. so take my adivice and don't buy evga, go to corsair or even seasonic .
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EVGA SuperNOVA 750W B1 Bronze Power supply
By S R Edkins on 26 May 2015
Verified Purchase
Worked great. Very simple to install and getting the right connections was really easy. Good length on all the leads meant there was no tightening of the leads which made them simple to install and hide away. All in all I would recommend this to anyone suffering from a computer with a power problem. 750W certainly helped solve all my power needs and after 4 weeks is still running silent in the cooler master tower.
Steve
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Dead after 5 mins.
By Mr D. on 20 Feb. 2015
Verified Purchase
Giving it two stars as it feels solid, plenty of extra cables in the box, and I felt the braiding of them was ok. Problem though, straight away when turning it on you could hear that crackling sound that comes with short circuits/loose connections. I didn't even get the finish altering my initial bios settings before it completely died. Replacement is on its way, if that fails will alter the review to zero stars.

 

[TurtleTom100]

also your pricing is without the psu which is another £80 so works out to be £520