CPU / Motherboad Question

laxie

I have been thinking about upgrading my CPU and motherboard.

I currently have a Z87-G45 motherboard, with i7-4790k.

How important is spending money on a motherboard? I have noticed they often come in different "versions", some of which are several times more expensive than the more basic editions. Do the more expensive ones offer some important features?

Also, it is a bad time to upgrade a CPU? With the recent Ryzen release, is there a competing product from Intel coming?

Gdemami

laxie said:

How important is spending money on a motherboard?

Pretty much not at all, just like "K" CPUs, it is merely investment out of enthusiasm - lots of money spend for very little gain.



AMD still needs to competive CPU to Intel...your 4790k is more than fine.

Higher resolutions(and faster GPUs) is what is comming next in gaming.

Vrika

Why do you need to upgrade your processor? Even I7 7700K is like only 14% faster than your current processor:
 http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790K/3647vs2384

If you do something that scales exceptionally well to multiple cores, then there are good upgrade options available. Like Ryzen 1800x, which is almost twice as fast in some multi-core situations:
 http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-1800X/2384vs3916

But gaming is not one of those situations. Normal gaming, web browsing, etc. do not scale that well to multiple cores, and even the best Ryzen would only be about even with your current processor. For gaming your upgrade options are that I7 7700K. It would be a huge sum of money for upgrade of only about 14%.

Do you really need to upgrade?

Ridelynn

Motherboards have different tiers, for certain. The difference is mainly is ancillary features (RAID controllers, M2 slots, extra PCI lanes, built in WiFi, etc), and in power delivery (higher tiers are often more robust, often called "phases"). Oh, and aesthetics - designer chipset heat sinks, colors, programmable LEDs, etc. Sometimes higher end motherboards come with additional software to allow you to do some things without having to drop into the BIOS.

Your basic motherboard will perform fine. If you are looking for bleeding edge overclockability, the extra power delivery may get you a bit on the extreme side, but for most people using off-the-shelf CPU coolers, you aren't going to be able to push your CPU hard enough to be able to tell a difference between "12+ digi-phases" and whatever is standard.

As far as upgrading goes: 4790K is only second to the 7700K, and only by a very slim margin if you consider overclocking. The only thing you'll really gain by upgrading would be DDR4 RAM, which isn't really going to net you all that much. Anything else your missing out on (USB C, whatever) you could add in on what you have currently.

Quizzical

A motherboard that doesn't have what you need is a complete failure.  And I'd avoid some of the really low end cheap junk.  But once a motherboard works reliably and has all the features you need, adding more features doesn't benefit you but only increases the price tag.