upgrade Help with upgrade

[Odom Member]

Hi,

 

I want to upgrade my a few components of my machine but I haven't been following the hardware world quite closely the past couple of years, so I was hoping that you could help me with "will this fit" and some recommendations of yours.

 

My current rig is in the signature, and I was looking to upgrading my mainboard, CPU and RAM. I wanted to get the PC to be quieter and was thinking if water cooling would help with that? In addition, I would like to overclock the machine. I remember reading somewhere that with the "K" models you can do this, and depending on the motherboard this could be easy. Easy is nice, as I am a complete noob when it comes to overclocking. (the reason I would like to overclock is that I mainly play FSX and it runs smoother on higher MHz, unfortunately this game is still following the rule "the more MHz the better")

 

I remember reading a few reviews about some mainboards where overclocking can be easily done, but I don't quite remember which mainboards they were. As to the budget, I don't have a limit I want to impose, I just want good quality components.

 

• CPU wise I was looking at the Intel Core i7-4770k 3,5GHz. I keep reading this CPU can be overclocked to 4GHz without too much effort. What would you suggest for cooling? Water cooling or heatsink&fan? I recently read this article on Techspot, where the Silverstone TD02 looks like a winner, an all-in-one and easy to install. Does anyone have any experience with it?

• RAM: I don't really have any idea on what to look for. I would like to have 16GBs, as I also often run multiple VM's on my machine for work. Is it better to fill the four lanes or are just two enough? The CPU supports up to 1600MHz but the motherboards I've seen support a lot more. Should I just look for And what about the latency, how relevant is it? Would the Corsair Vengeance Pro Blue 16GB be fine? Would you recommend something else?

• Mainboard: Also a bit lost. I read some great reviews on ASRock Z87 Fatal1ty Killer motherboard. On the other hand I also have a magazine here with a review for the ASUS MAximus VI Extreme (C2) making it sound like the best thing after sliced bread. Would these be good for overclocking? Would you rather recommend something else? I would be using the on-board sound and one NIC is enough for me. I need at least 4 SATA 3 ports, but all the motherboards I've seen have that much, so this shouldn't be an issue.

• Cooling: An all-in-one water cooling or fan&heatsink?

• PSU: I am still considering whether or not I upgrade this part, probably will, as I think right now this is the loudest component I have. At the time I built my current rig I though that due to the GTX680 and the other components I'd need a lot of wattage, turns out I don't. Do you recommend any PSU that are good and quiet? I keep reading people recommending Seasonic constantly in this forum. What about BeQuiet? Are they actually quiet?

 

Many thanks for your help!!

 

Odom

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

I'm not an OCer so I'll refrain from making suggestions on that part of the equation (so no cooling, PSU, motherboard).

 

You also got me before I even started down the path of 'don't get an i7 for gaming' since you threw FSX into the mix: http://www.jetlinesystems.com/performance.php. That being said, the CPU choices look cut-and-dry because of that. You'll need a K model for overclocking as you said.

 

Your ram selection looks perfectly fine. It won't matter if you get 2 or 4 DIMMs because your motherboard is going to be dual channel anyway. You'll either have 1 dimm per channel or 2 dimms per channel. Some people buy higher clocked RAM and you can certainly run the RAM at higher clocks regardless of what the CPU specifications say (it's just the standard supported rate listed).

[+PeterUK MVC]

PSU: I am still considering whether or not I upgrade this part, probably will, as I think right now this is the loudest component I have.

 

Are you sure its making the most noise? Is the PSU fan mounted in the case up or down?

 

For Mainboard the Asus ROG Maximus VI HERO or Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC would do.

[spikey_richie]

I have a Gigabyte motherboard with a UEFI BIOS, and overclocking is a breeze. It's an older model, as I'm running a 2700K but it's clocked at 4.6GHz but it illustrates the point that over clocking doesn't have to be a science. That's not to say you can just slam your multiplier up and expect it to be stable, there is still some fiddling to do but that's part of the fun.

 

In terms of cooling, I swapped by BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2 out for a Corsair H80, and will be doing back to the Dark Rock Pro 2 when I put my kit into my new case next week. The non i variants of the Corsair coolers have no support for PWM, so you can only set the pump & fans to low, medium or high; ergo if you want some effective cooling it's quite noisy. The Dark Rock Pro 2 is more efficient as dissipating the heat, and is quieter IMHO.

 

For the RAM, if you get a big heatsink, you may have to get low-profile RAM like I did. In terms of what's better 4GB sticks x 4 or 8GB sticks time 2? You'll find 4x4GB is cheaper than 2x8GB but if price isn't an issue get 2x8GB so you can add some more at a later date.

[+shift. MVC]

Never heard anything about BeQuiet - but generally you can't go wrong with Seasonic (and any PSU that is based off of a Seasonic platform) or Corsair. With your system about 600W should be okay - then add 100W or so on top of that just in case and a 700-750W power supply will be more than enough. 

 

All in one cooling (I'm assuming you mean all in one liquid) is not bad, after using the H70 for about 2 years I can't say that I'm not happy with it but if I had to replace it I would definitely choose air cooling. 

[Odom Member]

Thanks very much for getting back to me !!

 

 

I'm not an OCer so I'll refrain from making suggestions on that part of the equation (so no cooling, PSU, motherboard).

 

You also got me before I even started down the path of 'don't get an i7 for gaming' since you threw FSX into the mix: http://www.jetlinesystems.com/performance.php. That being said, the CPU choices look cut-and-dry because of that. You'll need a K model for overclocking as you said.

 

Your ram selection looks perfectly fine. It won't matter if you get 2 or 4 DIMMs because your motherboard is going to be dual channel anyway. You'll either have 1 dimm per channel or 2 dimms per channel. Some people buy higher clocked RAM and you can certainly run the RAM at higher clocks regardless of what the CPU specifications say (it's just the standard supported rate listed).

 

Thanks for that link, I wasn't aware that someone out there built PC's just for Flight Sims. I'll check out their rig setups.

 

 

Are you sure its making the most noise? Is the PSU fan mounted in the case up or down?

 

For Mainboard the Asus ROG Maximus VI HERO or Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC would do.

 

 

I'm pretty sure my PSU is the loudest part. I tried stopping my CPU and GPU fans to find out where the soundcame from. My PSU is mounted at the bottom of the case with the fan facing downwards. There is a mesh at the bottom of the case to filter the dust. I'll compare those two motherboards, thank you for the suggestion.

 

I have a Gigabyte motherboard with a UEFI BIOS, and overclocking is a breeze. It's an older model, as I'm running a 2700K but it's clocked at 4.6GHz but it illustrates the point that over clocking doesn't have to be a science. That's not to say you can just slam your multiplier up and expect it to be stable, there is still some fiddling to do but that's part of the fun.

 

In terms of cooling, I swapped by BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2 out for a Corsair H80, and will be doing back to the Dark Rock Pro 2 when I put my kit into my new case next week. The non i variants of the Corsair coolers have no support for PWM, so you can only set the pump & fans to low, medium or high; ergo if you want some effective cooling it's quite noisy. The Dark Rock Pro 2 is more efficient as dissipating the heat, and is quieter IMHO.

 

For the RAM, if you get a big heatsink, you may have to get low-profile RAM like I did. In terms of what's better 4GB sticks x 4 or 8GB sticks time 2? You'll find 4x4GB is cheaper than 2x8GB but if price isn't an issue get 2x8GB so you can add some more at a later date.

 

I read an article yesterday about the best CPU coolers on Techspot, and it looks like the Noctua is the second best. Considering all your feedback and this article, I think I will stick to my Noctua. I'll just clean it up and put it back in, though I need to check if the brackets will fit.

As to the RAM heatsinks, that is no problem with the Noctua. I had that prpblem with my current RAM sticks. I just move one fan 1cm higher on the heatsink and it clears the RAM heatsinks.

I think I will stick to the 2x 8GB sticks, as when I check the prices I hardly see any difference. I'd rather get only 2 sticks, that way I can upgrade later, if I want to, and don't have to replace the RAM sticks again.

 

Never heard anything about BeQuiet - but generally you can't go wrong with Seasonic (and any PSU that is based off of a Seasonic platform) or Corsair. With your system about 600W should be okay - then add 100W or so on top of that just in case and a 700-750W power supply will be more than enough. 

 

All in one cooling (I'm assuming you mean all in one liquid) is not bad, after using the H70 for about 2 years I can't say that I'm not happy with it but if I had to replace it I would definitely choose air cooling. 

 

Yes, sorry, I meant an all-in-one cooling solution like the H70. Like I said above, I think I will stick to my Noctua solution. I just have to check whether it is compatible with the new CPU format/motherboard. Worst case, I try and get the adapters, or I'll get another Noctua.