Please Assist in Choosing a new High-End i7 + Mobo Combo

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invizo

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Sep 23, 2011
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Hello,
Before I go into what I am looking for:
I am trying to fix a problem that has plagued nearly all of my newer games. I get the most ridiculous stutters while my CPU and GPU usage sits at 60% or lower. My rig may already seem high-end but I believe the motherboard is the culprit; this problem became worse when I upgraded to 1440p.

Windows 8.1
Multiple Corsair SSDs
Intel i7 3770K ~ 4.4GHz stable overclock
Asus P8P67 Pro Motherboard (purchased years ago for ~$140 with an older i5 2500K CPU)
16GB DDR2 Corsair 2100+MHz (details escape me)
nVidia 780GTX 3GB Factory OC
Corsair 750Watt PSU
NZXT Closed Loop CPU Water Cooler ~ Stable 42C liquid temperature, max of 50C
Asus 27" 2560x1440p Monitor


As you can see, I upgraded an older 2500K i5 CPU to an i7 that shared the same socket type, which I think shot me in the foot as far as CPU throughput or something. Borderlands 2 on ultra settings right now gives me 35-45FPS in heavy action scenes with low CPU & GPU usage (yes the gpu is doing the physx).

Rather than spend $200 or so to fix the legacy motherboard, please recommend a Motherboard + CPU i7 Combo in the ballpark of $600. I don't mind spending more or less than this amount, but only if the $/performance is worth it. I have already accounted for the DDR3 upgrade price separately.

I had my eye on the newer i7s that were supposed to come out this last summer with the newest mobo chipsets from Asus.
 
Solution
Darkbreeze
This is a bit over your stated budget, but it should definitely solve your issues, and almost literally kick the sh@# out of almost all comers.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($338.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($238.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($183.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $761.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-24 23:25 EDT-0400

The selection can be pared down if it needs to be with a lower tier cpu and maybe less RAM. I'd keep the...
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This is a bit over your stated budget, but it should definitely solve your issues, and almost literally kick the sh@# out of almost all comers.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($338.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($238.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($183.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $761.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-24 23:25 EDT-0400

The selection can be pared down if it needs to be with a lower tier cpu and maybe less RAM. I'd keep the board as is though. You could go down to the Sabertooth Mark2 but it's not quite as good of a motherboard.
 
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Solution


Actually, I lost my thing, but I would suggest the new Devil's Canyon i5, a decent motherboard and a SSD, and upgrade when Skylake comes out.
 
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Supposedly, that Sabertooth Z97 board is supposed to support Broadwell LGA1150 models and I would think that with a probable BIOS update it would support similar socket models of Skylake too. Of course, what's probable and what's actual are not necessarily the same thing and I could be wrong but he didn't indicate he wanted to be able to upgrade to future architectures and besides, what I outlined for him should keep his rig relevant for a good long time.

Aside from possible overclocking configurations, which was not outlined, and TDP changes, neither Broadwell nor Skylake are likely to be hugely improved chips over the current Haswells. That being said, any of the Devil's Canyon CPU's would be good choices but again, the main difference is the upper clock limit and he didn't indicate he was interested in overclocking. I agree an SSD would improve EVERYTHING considerably, but again, the OP seemed fairly knowledgeable regarding his wants/needs and didn't mention storage drives at all.
 
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Huh. Ok, I didn't read yet that it was going to be a new socket. Thanks. As for the other recommendation above for the MSI board, don't, ever, use MSI. You will have nothing but troubles. They have terrible quality control with their motherboards and worse customer service. Ask pretty much any experienced geek or moderator around here and they're likely to tell you the same.
 
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Don't recommend MSI boards to people, unless you don't like them. Heh. Smile.
 
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This is the setup I have been kept my eye on.

I am using two of these SSDs http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Force-2-5-Inch-Solid-State/dp/B005IZ4IRS/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1408982458&sr=8-5&keywords=corsair+ssd
From what I understand they were the fastest SSDs Corsair makes, one is a 120GB the other is a 240GB, are these not fast enough? Should I replace one or buy another one to turn into a RAID 0?

Basic CPU overclocking would be nice, the old interface I had to deal with was a pain and more often than not gave me OC gains that took a terrible cost on reliability, I would like to re-approach this a year or two after this combo starts to fail on 2016/2017 games and not encounter these same headaches; the pictures Asus provides with their BIOS overclocking makes me excited.

In regards to the new socket type and Skylake; that approach did NOT pan out for me last time (2500K -> 3770K), so I feel that it is safer to simply buy the best board for the current/newest available socket type on the market today.

Lastly, could you give me some cons/tradeoffs on the motherboard you recommended versus the more expensive counterpart "Rampage" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132053&cm_re=asus_rampage-_-13-132-053-_-Product

If I am missing too many goodies it may just be worth waiting for an extra paycheck 😉

With all that being said is this recommendation still good?
 
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Personally, I think the Sabertooth is a better board for a lot less money. The only benefits I see, and to me they are not worth the extra, is the external overclock unit (How lame. What's wrong with OC in the BIOS or using a Windows utility. I guess it's convenient but I wouldn't pay an extra $200.00 for it.),

a better audio chipset, dual X16 PCIe slots capable of x16(x2) so both cards run at that speed if you go SLI with a second card. (The sabertooth would be X16 on the first card and X8 on the second card. You would probably never notice the difference and if you want or need this feature you can go with the ASUS Z97-WS that has the dual X16 for a similar price as the Sabertooth. http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97WS/overview/ )

I just don't see that there is enough there to justify that board unless you just want to be able to say you have that board or want to try and use the much more expensive DDR3 2800 memory in OC mode.

If you wanted an even better board and some measure of future proofing within the same socket family you would want something with the SATAe ports or the PCIe M.2 for the very fast PCIe hard drives that are beginning to hit the market at more realistic prices. The Maximus VII here has those and it's only a 200.00 board, but it's not as good as the Sabertooth and you can add a PCIe SSD via one of the PCIe slots on the board anyhow if you wanted that.
 
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I like the Gigabyte Ultra Durable Series personally, but I think the ones suggested by Darkbreeze may be better in terms of specs and future proofing.

Just for sake of all thats good and just... Dont buy a MSI. As stated their QC is horrid and their customer support is inept at best.
 
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I wont argue with that statement, It was a real pleasure working on all the ROG boards ive built for friends and customers. The Sabretooth board produced the lowest temps ive seen on a motherboard as well. I dont remeber what chipset it was, i wanna say it was an 880 could have been a z67 though as well
 
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Yeah, it's crazy that my FX-8320 OC to 4.3 never gets past 61c on core or package running Prime95 small's and I'm only running a Noctua NH-U14S cooler on the Sabertooth 990FX. I've just done two other builds using the Z97 Sabertooth for two clients who are actually friends and they're rigs rock with R9 280x GPU's installed That series of board just gets it done. BTW, thanks to SR71Blackbird for his recommendation of the board to begin with prior to having used it for any builds.
 
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Shit im jealous of those temps.. My i5 at 4ghz gets to 65-68 during gaming, im using a pretty basic Zalman cooler, and before that a Corsair h60, (Pump pooped out) Still waiting to get it back from corsair, i'll just throw it into the next build for someone. I think i just got a bad overclocker i5 saddly. Cant always get a gem.. But its treated me well and I think 4ghz is probably overkill anyway.
 
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Yeah, but I'd rather have a Corvette that will go 160mph when I only need 65mph, than a Chevette than can't make 55. And that temps is for surely that Zalman cooler. I'm sure your H60 beats out my entry level Noctua, especially since your TDP is likely lot's lower than mine.

Anyhow, to the OP, hope your build goes well and let us know if you need any help at all. Good luck.
 
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I managed to get these parts at my local microcenter for $100 cheaper. I ended up purchasing a Kraken X61 and new Ultra/Full size case to fit it all (big motherboard and big cooler was a bad idea lol).

Happy to report most games that had FPS dips into the 35-45 range are generally 10FPS higher now, and my 780GTX 3GB is at 100% often. I am surprised how easily new games chew up a $450 card. What is the best method to overclock the GPU? I am familiar with using MSI Afterburner but that usually gets me no more than 10%, should I ditch that program and focus on using the Sabertooth BIOS to overclock?

Great build overall though, impressed with the quality.
 
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What brand is your GPU? I'd probably visit their website and use their overclocking utility. Using a utility from a competitor often results in problems. I've seen an awful lot of people use the MSI utility on non-MSI cards and have a terrible time with it. If it is an MSI, it should be fine. Also, if I knew the brand it would make it easier to determine how best to burn it up. Kidding.
 
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Haha, its a PNY 780GTX 3GB Factory Overclocked (not the super clocked one).

At 100% load that card usually stays in the low 70s or high 60s.

Update: After looking at NZXT CAM history my new case actually keeps this card in the low to mid 60s C at 100% load
 
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I tinkered around with both my motherboard and Afterburner (noticed other PNY owners have used this with some success), and have come to the conclusion that even a 15% overclock on a card like this will only give me a maximum of 5 fps. I was hoping for 15 additional FPS to reach 60FPS @ 2560x1400.

So I did this the right way and just bought another PNY 780GTX 3GB.

PC Parts Picker says my entire build requires 721W. I have a higher-end 750W made by Corsair, so hopefully it can handle it. The upgrade put both cards at 70% usage and gave me the extra 15fps I needed.

I remember that you mentioned this board wasn't as good for SLI, I think that only applies for cards faster than the 780GTX, because even at the slower PCI Express speed I did not lose performance on Metro Redux; a game that doesn't support SLI.

May have blew the budget a little, but my old 3770K sold for almost $300 :)
 
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Even if that SLI setup runs at x16 and x8 you should probably see a significant increase in frame rates so that's probably ok. Plus it sounds like you did ok in recovering some of the costs of the upgrade so budget wise you might not feel too bad about it.

Sometimes if we have to have what we have to have, we have to shell out a bit more than we'd like to. Keep in mind that some games require different settings than others so when changing between games you might need to tinker a bit to achieve optimal results. After installing the second card you might want to perform an optimal settings reset in the BIOS just to make sure everything is optimized, at least as far as default settings are concerned and then tweak your settings from there.
 
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