# which is better upgrade?



## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

hello for a gamming rig uprade I am guessing option1 is the better buy ....Z97x chip better than Z87X ??
DO you agree?
many thanks
Son WILL have his pc upgraded(been promising for long enough)

OPTION 1.

Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 3
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 3 - Avancerat ATX-moderkort från GIGABYTE

Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB 1866Mhz
Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB 1866Mhz - 8GB RAM-minne med livstids garanti

Above two are a package at 1590 kronor
plus Intel Core i5-4670K at 1699 kronor 
Total 
1699 + 1590 = 3289 kronor.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
ALTERNATIVE
OPTION 2.
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H 
Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H - moderkort - ATX - LGA1150 Socket - Z87Â*(GA-Z87X-D3H) 
995 kronor
Crucial DDR3 BallistiX Sport 1600MHz 8GB
https://www.komplett.se/crucial-ddr3-ballistix-sport-1600mhz-8gb/744179
749 kronor
plus Intel Core i5-4670K at 1699 kronor 

total 3443

Oh! And is artic silver 5 still regarded as one of the beat TIM's ?


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

I would choose option number two as it has better memory.

What are the other parts inside the PC?


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

I agree 2 is more desirable as I would much rather have Crucial ram than Kingston.
Yes Arctic Silver is still regarded by most as the best though the new hsfs generally have an acceptable paste already on the hsf...


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

hej corsair tx750 psu and Radeon 7870 gpu ...win7 64 bit
The Kingston Ram got a good reviews and I have Kingston in my build and have had no problems...plus their customer support actually answer emails...

I could choice other RAM but my main concern was the mobo's

thanks


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Kingston RAM has compatibility issues. You may do as you please with your money, but our recommendation is option number two. You also have the incorrect speeds in option number one.

The motherboard is a perfect one, no need to worry about that.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

> Kingston RAM has compatibility issues.


Explain please. HyperX doesn't always like to play nice with memory by other manufacturers, but that may be said of most high performance memory.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> Kingston RAM has compatibility issues. You may do as you please with your money, but our recommendation is option number two. You also have the incorrect speeds in option number one.
> 
> The motherboard is a perfect one, no need to worry about that.


Thanks for the reply ---appreciated ...The speeds on the Kingston Ram is correct at 1866mhz

I've had problems with Corair RAM but not with Kingston...luck of the draw...both make acceptable RAM IMHO.

The test is the techsupport when things don't work....I don't know with Kingston(haven't needed them) BUT they have always answered my queries quickly and helpfully.

I was hoping for more info on the boards....pros vs cons or are they about equal...I am right in that the Z97 is the newer chip?


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

gcavan said:


> Explain please. HyperX doesn't always like to play nice with memory by other manufacturers, but that may be said of most high performance memory.


 I have seen Kingston memory give off issues with motherboards that may have different memory BIOS settings.

I never said they were bad, but that Crucial would be the better option.



REMA1 said:


> Thanks for the reply ---appreciated ...The speeds on the Kingston Ram is correct at 1866mhz
> 
> I've had problems with Corair RAM but not with Kingston...luck of the draw...both make acceptable RAM IMHO.
> 
> ...


 You don't want 1866Mhz memory for an Intel CPU. The extra speed will be placed on the motherboard's chipset adding extra draw to the motherboard.

Like I said, you asked us for our recommendation. If you like Kingston RAM then go ahead, but I would recommend the Crucial, Corsair or G.Skill branded memory.

The Z97 is the newest chipset that is correct. In terms of which is better? Well the GA-Z97X in option one is the newest, but for what your getting isn't much. I doubt your son will be overclocking along with extreme gaming. Hence my reason for option number two. Same performance at a lower cost.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

quote"You don't want 1866Mhz memory for an Intel CPU. The extra speed will be placed on the motherboard's chipset adding extra draw to the motherboard.
Unquote

WIth all due respect that is a much better answer....it's for this type of info I seek advice here...knowledge that I just don't have---- Easy for us novices to assume quicker/newer is better...thanks

so is it 1600mhz cl 9 I need?


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

My apologies on the lack of an answer then for the first time.

Yes you need 1600Mhz 8GB ( 2 x 4GB) memory. The timings don't matter since you won't be changing them and running stock settings.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

apologies are not needed I come here and get great advice...BUt I guess it's easy to forget that we have limited knowledge and understanding when you work in this field every day

thanks for the help!


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Just to join in I agree that Kingston Hyper-X ram can be troublesome and I also agree with you that Corsair ram is also. Neither Kingston nor Corsair make anything so the model numbers are unreliable for being the same product as well. Crucial and GSkill use Micron Ram amongst the best quality out there. Kingston and Corsair can be anything under the hood, much of which is quite undesirable for quality IMHO.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

Ok I wll be getting Gskill
G.SKILL 8GB 1600MHZ DDR3 CL9 DIMM (2X4GB) RIPJAWSX ram

The motherboard we've decided on because it comes as a package is the
GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1150 - GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0)

The PCB ATX Form Factor measures 30.5cm x 22.5cm which i believe is approx 1" inch smaller than normal...
Is there likely to be a problem installing this in a mid-tower case with concern for mounting points??

thanks


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

No, the ATX form factor means the mounting holes are in the correct places.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

Great thanks for the help 
and thanks to everyone elses advice-

I thought that would be the case but read ONE user review that said 
he'd had to drill and tap a hole in his case


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Good choice on the G.Skill RAM.
The Mid-Tower case should have no problems with the Mobo. They commonly have mount points for all Mobo sizes.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

Last question----We were going to use the Corsair Hydro H100i closed loop Cpu cooler...but these things seem to fail,,,water pump, software or least desirable they leak. Corsair will not guarantee to replace damage parts from leaked coolant though it appears they will treat each claim on an individual basis. 
This process seems a very long and fustrating one from what I have read.

*So we decided to get an aftermarket cpu air heatsink as he (my son )will probably overclock especially when I am not looking....
Any recommendations? It can't be so big that the weight of the heatsink will damage the mobo ,(such as Noctua NH-D15 OR PHANTEKS PH-TC14PE both of which I assume would put quiet a bit of stress on the mobo)if the the PC is moved...he goes to 2-3 local lans per year and occassionally takes it to friends.*


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

both of those air coolers are the best air coolers you can get, I would get the noctua myself since I have the NH-D14 and its an excellent cooler.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

thanks greenbrucelee ....I would need to move his PC a few times a year and it was suggseted these heavy heatsink coolers weren't really designed to be in pc's that were going to be moved...(I believe the Noctua NH-D15 has larger fans and avoids Ram problems....my RAm measures 40mm )
So my concern with these was the weight..
Do you think that is an issue?


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

If it is properly secure then it wont move but as with all heatsinks regardless of size you just need to be careful.

On the noctua website it actually has a section that shows what RAM will not cause a problem with the cooler. Some RAM such as mine which is corsair has to be the low profile version i.e doesn't have heatspreader on the RAM but here is a tip if you have RAM that has a heatspreader you can pull it off making the RAM low profle.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

hello that's good news...
my Ram is 40mm high but the case appears to accept up to 180 mm

H440 - NZXT

so if I move one fan up on either heatsink I should be ok..I think


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

Just thought I'd take a photo of my system showing how tight the Noctua D-14 is above the RAM. Note that I don't have any heat spreaders, which I consider more of a marketing gimmick than actually necessary because much of the heat generated by memory travels through the metallic contacts and is dissipated by the motherboard itself.

Noctua D-14s (and similar) CPU coolers are great; however, it's a pain to remove or add RAM while they are in place (it can be done though, at least with lower-profile RAM).


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

agreed the heatspreaders are just a gimmick.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

greenbrucelee said:


> agreed the heatspreaders are just a gimmick.


Ditto ^


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

Thanks for the picture MPR ....I was fooled then by headspreader gimmick the last 5 years....WHO can you trust ...Tut!


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

And one unrelated question (not wanting to start a new topic) 
Are HDD still formatted in NFTS with system running these new "BIOS" UEFI?

I was too late to edit above message and add this question


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

REMA1 said:


> Are HDD still formatted in NFTS with system running these new "BIOS" UEFI?





> When you deploy Windows® to a UEFI-based PC, you must format the hard drive that includes the Windows partition by using a GUID partition table (GPT) file system. Additional drives may use either the GPT or the master boot record (MBR) file format.


Configure UEFI/GPT-Based Hard Drive Partitions


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

thanks MPR,,,,,I'am getting too old for this.....
The link indicates win 8...my son will be using win 7 64bit ...does this still apply?

He will be using it mostly for gaming...
reading the article it seems that it's best to do his hdd (has a 640GB and a 1TB )
I guess I just need GUID GPT though I am far from savy on these matters....


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

the windows disk will format the drive correctly and you can set the partitions there or you can use disk managment if you install hard drives after that.

remember if you are using an SSD for the windows install disconnect the mechanical hard drives before doing so as windows by default may install onto the mechanical drives and not the ssd.

Also remember to set AHCI in the BIOS for the SSD.


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## REMA1 (Feb 3, 2010)

thanks greenbrucelee...no sdd so I'll leave AHCI alone ....


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