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Build advice - upgrading cpu/gpu

lilrayray69

lilrayray69

Senior member
Hey all,

I'm considering upgrading my PC to an i5 and a better GPU. Right now I'm looking at:

i5-4690k ~$220
GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-SLI motherboard, ~$115
EVGA 970 4GB, ~$340
Seasonic M12II EVO 620W, ~$80

(I'm figuring I'll need a new PSU as my current is nearly 5 years old)

Totals around ~$800.

I've got a Hyper 212 EVO which should fit the i5 and I plan to try OC'ing it some - though nothing crazy. I figure I'll keep my current RAM for now (DDR3-1600, 8GB).

Any suggestions/advice/tips? Thanks!
 
Looks good to me, but unless your PSU is giving you trouble, just keep using it. 650W is easily enough for a GTX 970, even with some capacitor aging.

I'd buy the CPU in a combo. Currently, 4690K + Z97X-SLI + Zotac GTX 970 looks pretty sharp at $660 -$20 rebate = $640. If you must have an EVGA card (not necessarily better quality, just better CS and warranty), you can get 4690K + Z97X-SLI for $350 -$20 rebate = $330, then buy the card you want separately.

Finally... XFX R9 290 is a pretty good deal right now, there's this: 4690K + Z97X-SLI + XFX R9 290 DD $605 -$50 rebate = $555
 
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lehtv said:
Looks good to me. Why not reuse the Antec 650W though? Should be plenty of watts for a GTX 970.
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Yeah I was just told that around 4 years or so a PSU should be replaced? It's nearly 5 years old - never had any problems but thought maybe to play it safe and get a new one.
 
Is it the original 80+ rated EA-650, or the newer EA-650 Green with 80+ bronze? The older unit has a weaker +12V line, I'd replace that.

But if it's the newer one, you should be just fine. EA-650 Green has two 38A +12V rails (equal to 456W each), and the overall +12V capacity is around 650W (overpower protection kicks in at that point). 4690K + GTX 970 will only be using around 350W from the +12V in the worst case scenario; nowhere near enough to make the unit sweat even if it's a few years old. In KitGuru's review, the unit shut down safely at 713W load, way above what it's rated for.
 
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M12II 620W is a good unit but a bit expensive at $80. Antec HCG-620M is practically the same unit for $68 after promo, $48 after MIR.

EDIT: If you don't mind the fully fixed cables, Antec TP-750C is a great unit for just $50 after rebate. Gold rated, SLI compatible.
 
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That Antec looks good, thanks!

Also, is there any reason to worry about the 970 with this 3.5GB controversy going around? I noticed some had low ratings and was reading through and came upon the 3.5GB good RAM / .5GB 'slow' RAM controversy going on.

Initially that had me wary and swaying towards the R9 290X, but then I looked at actual in-game benchmarks and the 970 consistently outperformed the 290X and drew lower wattage.

I only have a 1080p monitor and seriously doubt I'll be upgrading to anything higher until those higher res monitors become *much* more affordable. The only worry I have is that with the 970 having somewhat unique structure with the divided VRAM, that it won't scale in performance as time goes on - to where maybe in a year or two the 290X starts to outperform it as Nvidia neglects the 970 architecture in future driver updates...
 
Also, is there any reason to worry about the 970 with this 3.5GB controversy going around? I noticed some had low ratings and was reading through and came upon the 3.5GB good RAM / .5GB 'slow' RAM controversy going on.
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For 1080p gaming with a single GPU, no reason to worry. 3.5GB is so much VRAM that there's no way a single GTX 970 will sustain smoothly playable framerates on settings that actually use that much VRAM, never mind even encountering a game where using 3.5GB of VRAM on 1080p is possible without extensive modding or nonstandard settings like 4K downsampling (for which you'd need 970 SLI to run smoothly anyway, and in most games you still wouldn't break 3.5GB VRAM).

Initially that had me wary and swaying towards the R9 290X, but then I looked at actual in-game benchmarks and the 970 consistently outperformed the 290X and drew lower wattage.
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Yep. And the VRAM controversy doesn't change that fact. 🙂
 
Thanks

I went with that 750W Antec PSU, a superclocked EVGA 970 4GB with their ACX 2.0 heatsink, and the GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-SLI and an Intel i5-4690k.

I'll slap this Hyper 212 EVO on that i5 and see how it OC's - then maybe see about OC'ing the 970 just to see how it handles. Will update with some results

Thanks for all your help!
 
lilrayray69 said:
I'll slap this Hyper 212 EVO on that i5 and see how it OC's
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If you have the Hyper 212 EVO from your last build it will require a different mounting than your AMD board did, if you dont have the original intel socket mounting pieces which came with the Hyper 212 EVO you may need to contact Coolermaster for a replacement, or you could try and find it on ebay or something, I am sure they aren't too hard to find.
 
mnewsham said:
If you have the Hyper 212 EVO from your last build it will require a different mounting than your AMD board did, if you dont have the original intel socket mounting pieces which came with the Hyper 212 EVO you may need to contact Coolermaster for a replacement, or you could try and find it on ebay or something, I am sure they aren't too hard to find.
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I actually kept the original box which also came with the Intel mounting set for just this very reason!
 
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