It's not just the number of power phases, though that is one difference. There is also the quality of power phases, as they look substantially different between the two motherboards. The MSI Z97-G55 uses the power phases that MSI tends to use in its higher end motherboards, and the Z97 Guard-Pro the ones it uses in its lower end motherboards; I'm betting that the former are better than the latter.
There are also differences in expansion slots (e.g., the Z97-G55 has three PCI Express x16 3.0 slots, which allows for proper CrossFire/SLI support, while the Guard-Pro only has one), USB ports, and heatsinks (not all of the power phases on the Guard-Pro have a heatsink, and keeping them cool allows better performance; compare also the heatsinks covering the chipsets).
The Z97-G55 is also a substantially larger motherboard, which allows more space to spread things out. It also allows the Z97-G55 to be mounted using the full 9 screws, while the Guard-Pro is only held on by six. While both are ATX size rather than Micro ATX, the Guard-Pro doesn't use the full width of the ATX specification. You're not required to use the full size of a motherboard form factor; the form factor basically means you can go "up to" this large; smaller will still fit in cases, while larger may not.
So in terms of longevity, he would be not only on a more reliable board, but one that would do a better job, if his expandability includes multiple cards, ...nice. Little more durable from more mounting points,,, win win.
See the world and all within it. Live a lifetime in every minute.
Investing in another AMD at this point for gaming is silly. (and im an amd person).
I have a 965be clocked at 4 ghz with a 7950 and i dont have issues running most games at 1920x1080 high or ultra settings (im not a big fps fan so i cant comment on those).
In my research on cpu upgrades the other AMD offerings are only slightly better over my overclocked Phenom with the only true upgrade path being to jump over to the intel side of things.
Get a better quality MOBO your video card and overclock that little workhorse you have. (or go all out for an intel build).
Originally posted by yaminsux I still have a first gen sata hdd still working fine. SSD is much overrated, as long as you keep your system disk/partition tidy you can have SSD-ish performance.
Great that it's still working. You have an outlier though, and i wouldn't be making recommendations based on that.
And no, you can't get SSD-like performance from a HDD, I don't care if they are tidy or empty or if you have 15k RPM drives in RAID0. As to if they are overrated or not is a matter of opinion. Personally, I won't build or buy a computer without one, even if that means cutting back on the CPU or GPU to make it fit in a budget.
I said SSD-ish not SSD-like. Big diffence. For one, you cant replicate that double R/W speed, but with less program at startup or running in bavkground (aka keeping it tidy). You can have a speedy pc.
I said SSD-ish not SSD-like. Big diffence. For one, you cant replicate that double R/W speed, but with less program at startup or running in bavkground (aka keeping it tidy). You can have a speedy pc.
I had n o idea there was a big difference between -ish and -like.
Ok, so after fiddling with what I am going to buy, which is basically what quizz mentioned, I decided I will get a new case. I am really having a difficult time deciding which case to get. There just are so many options. Price range would be around 125 bucks. Though Im willing to go higher. Looks are a major plus
Thanks Quizz! Hits the right price range and I love msi.
The single question I had was about the Windows 8.1. Would using Windows 7 severely impact the systems performance? Ive really avoided 8.1 up until now due to all the issues Ive seen it have on other peoples systems. If there is a substantial reason to use it I would. Just isnt something Id do if I didnt have to.
They're not terribly different. The two reasons I'd recommend Windows 8.1 are:
1) It's $12 cheaper at the moment, and
2) It has about 9 years of support left, while Windows 7 only has about 5. The whole "Windows XP is no longer supported even though millions of people use it" is going to happen to Windows 7 in a little over 5 years, and your computer could easily have a longer useful lifetime than that.
I would have to say go with windows 7 myself. Windows 8.1 was created with touch screen computer in mind. They did change a lot under the hood per say. I tried it and went back to 7 because a lot of the games I was playing started having random bugs here or there. After I reinstalled 7 the bugs stopped.
Originally posted by Techleo Ok, so after fiddling with what I am going to buy, which is basically what quizz mentioned, I decided I will get a new case. I am really having a difficult time deciding which case to get. There just are so many options. Price range would be around 125 bucks. Though Im willing to go higher. Looks are a major plus
Be warned that prices bounce around a lot. The stuff that I linked for $653 before a $20 rebate two weeks ago is now $681 with no rebate.
Not much of a issue Quizz. I found other sources for your parts for less actually. My budget is sitting nicely at 850 bucks now. Give or take 50. Which is why I wanted a new case. Cable management is a definitely plus since most of my systems aren't really designed for maximized airflow However with all the bells and whistled on the newest crop it was really hard to select one.
Given the adjustment in the budget and the fact I'll be wanting a new case do you have any new suggestions Quizz?
Also as far as cases go , I really liked these two, any comments?
They both look like nice cases to me. In the budget that you're looking at, it's not hard to build a case that can do everything you'll need and do it well, especially since you're not looking for outlandish stuff like Quad SLI or a $300 water cooling setup. It's when you want to spend $50 on a case that you have to be warier about which corners were cut to fit that budget.
Comments
So in terms of longevity, he would be not only on a more reliable board, but one that would do a better job, if his expandability includes multiple cards, ...nice. Little more durable from more mounting points,,, win win.
See the world and all within it.
Live a lifetime in every minute.
Your CPU upgrade would be to an i-5 +
Investing in another AMD at this point for gaming is silly. (and im an amd person).
I have a 965be clocked at 4 ghz with a 7950 and i dont have issues running most games at 1920x1080 high or ultra settings (im not a big fps fan so i cant comment on those).
In my research on cpu upgrades the other AMD offerings are only slightly better over my overclocked Phenom with the only true upgrade path being to jump over to the intel side of things.
Get a better quality MOBO your video card and overclock that little workhorse you have. (or go all out for an intel build).
Cheers!
Great that it's still working. You have an outlier though, and i wouldn't be making recommendations based on that.
And no, you can't get SSD-like performance from a HDD, I don't care if they are tidy or empty or if you have 15k RPM drives in RAID0. As to if they are overrated or not is a matter of opinion. Personally, I won't build or buy a computer without one, even if that means cutting back on the CPU or GPU to make it fit in a budget.
I said SSD-ish not SSD-like. Big diffence. For one, you cant replicate that double R/W speed, but with less program at startup or running in bavkground (aka keeping it tidy). You can have a speedy pc.I had n o idea there was a big difference between -ish and -like.
My mistake.
Carry on.
I would have to say go with windows 7 myself. Windows 8.1 was created with touch screen computer in mind. They did change a lot under the hood per say. I tried it and went back to 7 because a lot of the games I was playing started having random bugs here or there. After I reinstalled 7 the bugs stopped.
Be warned that prices bounce around a lot. The stuff that I linked for $653 before a $20 rebate two weeks ago is now $681 with no rebate.
Not much of a issue Quizz. I found other sources for your parts for less actually. My budget is sitting nicely at 850 bucks now. Give or take 50. Which is why I wanted a new case. Cable management is a definitely plus since most of my systems aren't really designed for maximized airflow However with all the bells and whistled on the newest crop it was really hard to select one.
Given the adjustment in the budget and the fact I'll be wanting a new case do you have any new suggestions Quizz?
Also as far as cases go , I really liked these two, any comments?
Sentey® Computer Gaming Case Burton Plus Gs-6510
Corsair Carbide Series Air 540