should I stay with a 970 or a 980

[Gewibrown]

So I'm not sure whether to get a 970 with more decent other parts and an i7 or a 980 with generally worse other parts. This is for gaming BTW.

The budget is £1000 with a razor deathadder 2013 and windows 7.

 

[arlemedra]

Go with the 970. It's better to have a more balanced build and you can always add in another 970 later if you for some reason need to.

 

[Havo_k]

Stay with 970. 980 isn't worth the extra $200 for 15% gain. i7 with 970 is a beastly combo and you can multitask with that processor much better than an i5.

 

[koolrambo]

i would get the 970 and i7 with 32gb of ram DDR3 OR if you can afford it and your mobo take it this is go DDR4 THAT WOULD MAKE A GREAT MACHINE

 

[MuchResearch]

970 is awesome, I agree with everyone above me, and most likely everyone below me who will likely also suggest going with the 970.

 

[Gewibrown]

OK, thank you guys. Just to mention to save money, would it just be better to go with the i5 rather than the i7 with the 970. Also I do love the realm of the PC community as a newcomer.

 

[Gewibrown]

Do you you think this is a nice build? -http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/qwGfRB

 

[Havo_k]

Do you you think this is a nice build? -http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/qwGfRB

Yes that's a solid build. I would change the HDD to seagate or western digital. Toshiba's arent reliable in my experience.

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Total: £35.94

 

[koolrambo]

yea it is good but i would look for better Ram like Ripjaw or predatorX and as for cpu the i5 and i7 is good there are little difference in speed but the i7 will process information smother.

 

[Havo_k]

I would definitely change the HDD and RAM (as suggessted by koolrambo as well)
After swapping those parts in, your build is still at the same price but slightly better:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£244.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£46.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-P ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£67.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.44 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£79.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£259.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£56.27 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£54.12 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.46 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£35.00)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse (£44.00)
Total: £993.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-18 23:47 GMT+0000

 

[Joe Newbie]

Why not go with an i5, as most games really don't use hyperthreading yet, and keep the 970, save money on both fronts because the FPS isn't that much different between an i5 and an i7 unless you've got multiple programs open at the same time.

If you're going to do a youtube channel and need to record your playing sessons, or like to have a lot of other things open at the same time, then yes, the i7 is worth the extra bucks, but if not, it's a waste. Kinda the same way running 2 cards at the same time isn't optimal either, don't believe the marketing hype, it's not worth the extra bucks and a lot of people try and compromise by instead of getting 1 really good GPU settle for 2 not so good ones but perform slightly better in tandem than the 1 good one, but they forget 1 thing, they now have 2 points of possible failure rather than just 1. If either card burns out in a week, yes it'll get replaced, but it will take time... and having 2 doubles your chances of that happening.

I'm keen on the idea of thrift, save money and energy where you can, an i7 runs hotter as well, which means you have to effort that little more heat out of your box.

I just revised my build this morning that I would do if I were doing it today.... converted it to UK for you as well.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/joenewbie/saved/xHTzK8

^^^ EDIT #2 Changed things up again. ^^^ 4:24PST.

Just something to consider.

EDIT: also as far as the optical drive goes, I say go for external, one less thing in the box to collect heat and constrict airflow, I'm also keen on external HD or a NAS for larger storage needs that an SSD can't handle, the performance is just too good from an SSD to not use it as the main/boot drive, also, ditto for cables/heat with a HDD. If you're not overclocking there is little reason to use a watercooling solution. Noctua makes great silent air cooling solutions if the stock fan is too noisy. *grin*

Just my thoughts.

 

[MuchResearch]

Why not go with an i5, as most games really don't use hyperthreading yet, and keep the 970, save money on both fronts because the FPS isn't that much different between an i5 and an i7 unless you've got multiple programs open at the same time.

If you're going to do a youtube channel and need to record your playing sessons, or like to have a lot of other things open at the same time, then yes, the i7 is worth the extra bucks, but if not, it's a waste. Kinda the same way running 2 cards at the same time isn't optimal either, don't believe the marketing hype, it's not worth the extra bucks and a lot of people try and compromise by instead of getting 1 really good GPU settle for 2 not so good ones but perform slightly better in tandem than the 1 good one, but they forget 1 thing, they now have 2 points of possible failure rather than just 1. If either card burns out in a week, yes it'll get replaced, but it will take time... and having 2 doubles your chances of that happening.

I'm keen on the idea of thrift, save money and energy where you can, an i7 runs hotter as well, which means you have to effort that little more heat out of your box.

I just revised my build this morning that I would do if I were doing it today.... converted it to UK for you as well.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/joenewbie/saved/xHTzK8

^^^ EDIT #2 Changed things up again. ^^^ 4:24PST.

Just something to consider.

EDIT: also as far as the optical drive goes, I say go for external, one less thing in the box to collect heat and constrict airflow, I'm also keen on external HD or a NAS for larger storage needs that an SSD can't handle, the performance is just too good from an SSD to not use it as the main/boot drive, also, ditto for cables/heat with a HDD. If you're not overclocking there is little reason to use a watercooling solution. Noctua makes great silent air cooling solutions if the stock fan is too noisy. *grin*

Just my thoughts.

He said if he goes with a 970 he would want an i7, most likely to put the extra cash to good use. He will just be prepared in the future with the better CPU, just because it doesn't do much for him now doesn't mean it wont later. I don't see how getting an i7 when you can afford one can ever be a poor choice.

Also 2 gpus isn't always a bad choice at all. Say you buy two 970s, and one does burn out because of "two points of failure". Well you still have a 970 and can play games while RMAing the second or replacing it. I don't see how having 2 points of failure rather than one is a bad thing. Even if you got cheap cards and one goes, you only need to replace one card and still have the second. If your single GPU dies, you SOL with no gpu, and in need of much more money than it costs to replace one lower grade card.

I'd say either way you go you can't lose, be it 2 way sli, a single card, or an i5 or i7. All good options for their own reasons.

 

[Havo_k]

He said if he goes with a 970 he would want an i7, most likely to put the extra cash to good use. He will just be prepared in the future with the better CPU, just because it doesn't do much for him now doesn't mean it wont later. I don't see how getting an i7 when you can afford one can ever be a poor choice.

Also 2 gpus isn't always a bad choice at all. Say you buy two 970s, and one does burn out because of "two points of failure". Well you still have a 970 and can play games while RMAing the second or replacing it. I don't see how having 2 points of failure rather than one is a bad thing. Even if you got cheap cards and one goes, you only need to replace one card and still have the second. If your single GPU dies, you SOL with no gpu, and in need of much more money than it costs to replace one lower grade card.

I'd say either way you go you can't lose, be it 2 way sli, a single card, or an i5 or i7. All good options for their own reasons.

THIS.

Most people on forums here discourage builders from getting i7. I've always strongly disagreed with them specially when the OP can afford and he can be more future proofed.

 

[MuchResearch]

Yepp

OP, you can't go wrong with the I7 or I5. If you do go with an I5 I suggest, if you want to put the extra cash to good use rather than keep it in your pocket, invest in a more expensive mobo. Nothing wrong with the one you chose, just a suggestion. I'm going with the z97 saber tooth mark 2 for that 5 year warranty, and server grade build quality. Only downside is it only supports ram speeds up to 1866. It's a great build either way tho, there's no real need for a better mobo.

 

[Gewibrown]

What do you think about this? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/xYwzGX

 

[MuchResearch]

Looks great, only thing with the mobo choice is that it only supports crossfire. If you don't plan on ever using SLI thats no problem tho, its a good board It'll look really nice since your case has a window as well.

If you think you'll need SLI the gaming 5 MOBO by MSI is only about £15 more than the 3.

Couple of options if you want SLI but don't want to pay more than what you have there. The one you chose has better features than these boards IMO, but I couldn't find anything that had sli, and all of the extras the MSI gaming 3 had. Tried to stick with the red color scheme but some of these are blue also.


http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97g55sli

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z97extreme3

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97xgaming3

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97xsli

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97sslikraitedition (The white and black for this one I think is pretty sexeh)

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97ssliplus

If you don't care about SLI disregard the mobos I posted!!!! MSI gaming 3 is great and has better features. If your only going to be using one video card its a better choice than these boards.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-hx318c10fwk28

if you do go with a blue board or the white, memory to match a bit better. couldn't find blue ram thats similar in price to your ram choice.

 

[Joe Newbie]

He said if he goes with a 970 he would want an i7, most likely to put the extra cash to good use. He will just be prepared in the future with the better CPU, just because it doesn't do much for him now doesn't mean it wont later. I don't see how getting an i7 when you can afford one can ever be a poor choice.

Also 2 gpus isn't always a bad choice at all. Say you buy two 970s, and one does burn out because of "two points of failure". Well you still have a 970 and can play games while RMAing the second or replacing it. I don't see how having 2 points of failure rather than one is a bad thing. Even if you got cheap cards and one goes, you only need to replace one card and still have the second. If your single GPU dies, you SOL with no gpu, and in need of much more money than it costs to replace one lower grade card.

I'd say either way you go you can't lose, be it 2 way sli, a single card, or an i5 or i7. All good options for their own reasons.

THIS.

Most people on forums here discourage builders from getting i7. I've always strongly disagreed with them specially when the OP can afford and he can be more future proofed.

I was just offering my opinion on it. Personally I think going from 8 gigs of memory to 16 improves performance more when you create a Ramdisk so the money for more memory is more important than the processor going from i5 to i7. I mean in the end we're all right, and we're all wrong because there are so many options and so many different priorities there is no single right solution.

That's the beauty of asking other people's opinions, it maybe makes you consider things you hadn't before. At the end of the day it's your choice what you want to prioritize.