Criticise my build please!

[narz]

I'm in the process of researching bits for a new mid-range build and need some help/pointers to finalise my bits

Core uses will be, Gaming (1 game, Counter strike GO @ 1080p), Alot of virtualisation, photoshop (large files!), occasional Video editing/encoding.

No plan to overclock..

CPU:
i5 4690 (£160) (amazon link) vs Xeon E3 1230 v3 £176 (Aria link)

(The Xeon is a i7 4770 equivalent, without gpu so I heard on another thread!)

So shall I go for the I5 4690 which is newer and slighter higher clock speeds, or pay £18 more for the Xeon which has lower clock speed but hyper threading..? (assuming it helps in any of my applications)

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE H97-HD3 - £63.13 (Amazon link)

Memory:
2 x Corsair Memory Vengeance Blue 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 10-10-10-27 - £58.56 x 2 Inc VAT (Scan link)

Storage
Samsung 840 EVO 256GB - £92.99 (Amazon link) I also have a few 1TB and 500GB mechanical drives I will reuse..

PSU
Antec TruPower 550w (taken from existing rig)

GPU
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (448 core) (taken from existing rig)

Case
Corsair 230T £52 from amazon I will consider any good quality mid tower case to save some money, looks aren't important..

Thoughts? Changes? can I get away with a i5 4430 for my usage?

Total: £484ish budget is about £400-£500 (the lower the better!)

TIA

[Jtl2877]

With CPU the i5 4690 is one of the new refresh series, the motherboard may need a bios flash. (Just checked and it supports the newer CPUs)

You could always get an i5 4670. Personally I don't you would notice the difference.

If you are going to be encoding and editing I would have thought the Xeon would be the better CPU for you. As you said its 4 cores 8 threads, it is slightly slower than the i7 but I think it's only by about .100GHZ again not a massive difference to really notice.

The lack of an IGP doesn't matter as you have a gfx card. For an extra £20 you are getting near enough the performance of an i7 for a little more than the i5, I think it's a good choice.

I love the case you have picked, for me it's a nice looking case and I nearly bought one, couldn't really justify it as my current case is ok really

How old is PSU? Someone once told me they can lose around 5% of their power over a year just from use, now I'm not sure how true this is though, if you've had it 6 years could be time for a new one?

[kalniel]

If you are going to be encoding and editing I would have thought the Xeon would be the better CPU for you.

Well it depends if you can leverage quicksync or not. If you can, then the Xeon will be much slower.

[cptwhite_uk]

It's slow, noisy and has a poor attitude to CPU utilisation. (sorry)

[Revvvhead]

I'd go for an Asus Mobo for similar price.
Tweeking features are very easy to use and well supported on the forums.

[narz]

How old is PSU? Someone once told me they can lose around 5% of their power over a year just from use, now I'm not sure how true this is though, if you've had it 6 years could be time for a new one?

Its rather old! about 3-4 years, but hasn't had a hiccup yet. Worth replacing?

Well it depends if you can leverage quicksync or not. If you can, then the Xeon will be much slower.

It's slow, noisy and has a poor attitude to CPU utilisation. (sorry)

lol

I'd go for an Asus Mobo for similar price.
Tweeking features are very easy to use and well supported on the forums.

Do you have an ASUS board in mind? or link?


Thanks for the replies so far, I guess what I am concluding is both CPU's are good and my decision will be made on

If I intend to overclock get the 4690K@3.5Ghz (£182) releasing this month - if I don't Xeon E3 @3.3ghz and more L3 cache + HT will be the better bet at £176?

Have I almost got it right? :d .. Is the Haswell refresh more future proof?

[kalniel]

Thanks for the replies so far, I guess what I am concluding is both CPU's are good and my decision will be made on

If I intend to overclock get the 4690K@3.5Ghz (£182) releasing this month - if I don't Xeon E3 @3.3ghz and more L3 cache + HT will be the better bet at £176?

Have I almost got it right? :d .. Is the Haswell refresh more future proof?

Well like I said, it depends if you're going to be able to leverage quicksync (not present on the Xeon) or not IMHO. If not, and not overclocking, then I'd go Xeon.

Haswell refresh is not any more future proof.

[narz]

Well like I said, it depends if you're going to be able to leverage quicksync (not present on the Xeon) or not IMHO. If not, and not overclocking, then I'd go Xeon.

Haswell refresh is not any more future proof.

I probably won't make leverage of quicksync as I don't do enough encoding to benefit from it and the fact haswell isn't anymore future proof makes me lean towards the Xeon too.


Ok my last question before I make a decision on the cpu! promise...

Pound for Pound (without OC) whats the faster/better CPU for Gaming/ heavy photoshopping? 3690K@3.5ghz or the Xeon@3.3ghz

Cheers

[kalniel]

Pound for Pound (without OC) whats the faster/better CPU for Gaming/ heavy photoshopping? 3690K@3.5ghz or the Xeon@3.3ghz

On which game? For CS:Go the 3690k will probably be a smidge faster.

For heavy photoshoping the Xeon will probably be a smidge faster, depending on the action.

[Xlucine]

For gaming the difference will be not noticeable compared to the difference a more powerful graphics card makes - with a 750ti hexus can only find about 2fps or 4% between an OC'd 4690K (at 4.4GHz) and a stock clocked 4770K (at 3.6)

[narz]

On which game? For CS:Go the 3690k will probably be a smidge faster.

For heavy photoshoping the Xeon will probably be a smidge faster, depending on the action.

Only a smidge, was hoping it might be more than smidge. In this case the 3690K would probably be better, due to resell value. Dahhhh, i've been dragged back to the i5.

For gaming the difference will be not noticeable compared to the difference a more powerful graphics card makes - with a 750ti hexus can only find about 2fps or 4% between an OC'd 4690K (at 4.4GHz) and a stock clocked 4770K (at 3.6)

at 4.4Ghz that is heavily clocked vs stock i7, so not a fair comparison, no?

[kalniel]

at 4.4Ghz that is heavily clocked vs stock i7, so not a fair comparison, no?

That's the point - despite the difference in speeds, there's little resulting gain in gaming (though I don't know what game that was).

[narz]

That's the point - despite the difference in speeds, there's little resulting gain in gaming (though I don't know what game that was).

I get it now - would have been interesting to see the jump in FPS (or lack of) from stock 3690K to OC'd

Xlucine - can you link the review?

[dacads]

Sure, your build is ****

On a serious note, only weak point I see is GPU but I'm sure that'll be your next upgrade

[Xlucine]

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/71...aswell/?page=7
Bottom of the page - it's tested on bioshock infinite, grid 2 and total war: rome 2

[narz]

Thanks for the link Xlucine.

Can anyone advise..

I been looking more and more into Xeon CPUs as a cheap temporary upgrade. If I can get a Xeon E5520 for free (its cheaper than my Q6600!) and free memory, then buy a cheap x58 (1366) borad, will this give me a big/small advantage over a Q6600?

It seems to get better Passmark and geekbench scores @ http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-E...re2-Quad-Q6600