Motherboard and CPU combo under $350-450?

Well, as the title suggests, I am on the hunt for the absolute best value proposition currently available for my budget—I really want to make sure I’m getting the most bang for my buck here! It honestly doesn't matter to me whether I go with an AMD or an Intel build; I am certainly no hardware fanboy, so I don't feel the need to pick a side just for the sake of it. The primary goal is gaming. One specific detail to keep in mind—and please bear with me as I ramble a bit—is that I am planning to repurpose some DDR3 RAM from my old machine, so the motherboard really needs to support that specific standard. Also, if it isn't too much trouble, I would love to find a board that allows for some overclocking—just a little something extra to play with, you know? As for the power supply, I already have a Corsair 500W 80 Plus unit ready to go. Thanks so much for the help! 👍

Kenneth Hayes60 said:Well, as the title suggests, I am on the hunt for the absolute best value proposition currently available for my budget—I really want to make sure I’m getting the most bang for my buck here! It honestly doesn't matter to me whether I go with an AMD or an Intel build; I am certainly no hardware fanboy, so I don't feel the need to pick a side just for the sake of it. The primary goal is gaming. One specific detail to keep in mind—and please bear with me as I ramble a bit—is that I am planning to repurpose some DDR3 RAM from my old machine, so the motherboard really needs to support that specific standard. Also, if it isn't too much trouble, I would love to find a board that allows for some overclocking—just a little something extra to play with, you know? As for the power supply, I already have a Corsair 500W 80 Plus unit ready to go. Thanks so much for the help! 👍

You can't upgrade a motherboard. You can only swap out the CPU, the GPU, or the RAM. 😁

😬

ovako nesto:
One ASUS Z97-P motherboard. It’s an ATX board running the LGA 1150 socket with DDR3 support. Comes with USB 3.0, SATA III, LAN, and standard DVI/VGA/HDMI outputs. Also has a USB 3.0 header.
Just an Intel Core i5-4690K (3.50GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 88W, 1150) box and some Intel HD Graphics 4600.
One LC POWER LC-CC-120 liquid cooler. Fits both Intel and AMD setups. 120mm with PWM.
Total: $1054

Look, Futura, if you can't pull that off, you might as well just throw the fridge out the window too.

Source: Edigital.com (Intel)
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Source: magazine RS (AMD)
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Honestly, you couldn't ask for anything better than this setup. We're talking about enough staying power to crank up all your favorite games for at least another 5 to 7 years! 🙂

None of your points hold water compared to what I already laid out above...

Robert Rodriguez2 said:None of your points hold water compared to what I already laid out above...

Setting aside what jadebison17 posted, how much overclocking headroom are we actually looking at with an LC-CC-120?☕

analogtiger19 said:Setting aside what jadebison17 posted, how much overclocking headroom are we actually looking at with an LC-CC-120?☕

The i5 4690k is solid. I'd say hitting 4.2 or 4.3 GHz shouldn't be an issue.

We need to figure out what this guy actually wants. Is he aiming for the absolute max overclock this processor can handle, or is he just looking for a measly 15% bump in performance?

There’s no point in going overkill anyway—certainly not when you're dealing with those kinds of perversions. $267 You’re better off just putting that money toward Skylake.

P.S.

It depends on what kind of GPU they're running. If someone's dropping that much cash on a CPU, they probably have—or are planning to get—a serious graphics card. You also need to think about power supply limits, especially if you're looking at overclocking or any future upgrades. (PSU is a Corsair 500W, but which specific model?)
What’s even the point? Why sink a ton of cash into an overclocking setup if it’s just going to be unstable? Total waste of money.

analogtiger19 said:Setting aside what jadebison17 posted, how much overclocking headroom are we actually looking at with an LC-CC-120?☕

It's plenty if you aren't trying to set a world record. Like the other guy mentioned, hitting 4.2-4.3 GHz should be easy enough.

My bad, I think my coffee-fueled rambling confused things... I wasn't trying to nitpick, just wondering because I'm still running a stock cooler myself. I'm planning to upgrade to a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo soon, so I wanted to see how this thing holds up since it's basically half the price. 🍿

sry for the slow reply, my GPU is an R9 270X 4GB GDDR5, and I'm running a CX600 power supply—anyway, what I really want is to start streaming on something like Twitch, and since I have three monitors set up, I'm hoping this rig can handle recording and gaming at the same time without falling apart.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:You can't upgrade a motherboard. You can only swap out the CPU, the GPU, or the RAM. 😁

😬

ovako nesto:
One ASUS Z97-P motherboard. It’s an ATX board running the LGA 1150 socket with DDR3 support. Comes with USB 3.0, SATA III, LAN, and standard DVI/VGA/HDMI outputs. Also has a USB 3.0 header.
Just an Intel Core i5-4690K (3.50GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 88W, 1150) box and some Intel HD Graphics 4600.
One LC POWER LC-CC-120 liquid cooler. Fits both Intel and AMD setups. 120mm with PWM.
Total: $1054

Look, Futura, if you can't pull that off, you might as well just throw the fridge out the window too.

I didn't mean overclocking the board itself—I meant a board that actually supports decent overclocking capabilities.

Grab an E3-1231 v3 paired with a decent B85 or H97 motherboard. You could even go for the LC-CC-120 setup; everything should fit perfectly within your budget.

So, I was sitting here thinking—and please bear with me if my train of thought wanders a bit—but what are your honest thoughts on the i7-4690K?

Honestly, it’s not even worth losing your cool over. I think paying two grand for a chip like that is way too much, especially if you’re planning on streaming and stuff. In reality, your graphics card is going to be your biggest bottleneck here.

Why bother with a graphics card right now? In the meantime, I actually went ahead and picked up an SSD 240, so if it’s possible, I’d rather put that money toward a cheaper CPU cooler around $167. To be perfectly honest—and I say this with some hesitation—I find myself being quite drawn to the Intel lineup lately. I've been an AMD loyalist my entire life—seriously, always—and I'm currently running an FX-4100 which has served me well enough, truly—but I feel like it’s finally time to step up to something a bit more substantial. It just feels like the right moment to make the switch.

Kenneth Hayes60 said:Why bother with a graphics card right now? In the meantime, I actually went ahead and picked up an SSD 240, so if it’s possible, I’d rather put that money toward a cheaper CPU cooler around $167. To be perfectly honest—and I say this with some hesitation—I find myself being quite drawn to the Intel lineup lately. I've been an AMD loyalist my entire life—seriously, always—and I'm currently running an FX-4100 which has served me well enough, truly—but I feel like it’s finally time to step up to something a bit more substantial. It just feels like the right moment to make the switch.

Because your graphics card is mid-range. No point overspending on a high-end processor and expensive motherboards or coolers when your GPU is basically what you'd find in a build costing $1167

A "cheap" cooler for $167? That's an oxymoron.

Kenneth Hayes60 said:Why bother with a graphics card right now? In the meantime, I actually went ahead and picked up an SSD 240, so if it’s possible, I’d rather put that money toward a cheaper CPU cooler around $167. To be perfectly honest—and I say this with some hesitation—I find myself being quite drawn to the Intel lineup lately. I've been an AMD loyalist my entire life—seriously, always—and I'm currently running an FX-4100 which has served me well enough, truly—but I feel like it’s finally time to step up to something a bit more substantial. It just feels like the right moment to make the switch.

What kind of motherboard are you running? If it supports Piledriver processors—which I guess it probably does—you could just toss an FX-8320e on there with a decent cooler, bump it up to 4-4.2GHz, and call it a day. That should do the trick.

A buddy of mine jumped from an FX-4130 to an FX-8320, pushed it to 4.3GHz, and says the jump in performance is massive. He’s mainly using it for video editing and streaming/gaming.

wiredotter14 said:Because your graphics card is mid-range. No point overspending on a high-end processor and expensive motherboards or coolers when your GPU is basically what you'd find in a build costing $1167

A "cheap" cooler for $167? That's an oxymoron.

I actually paid for the GPU entirely by myself $667 maybe six months ago... Well, thanks anyway!

jadebison17 said:

Source: Edigital.com (Intel)
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Source: magazine RS (AMD)
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Honestly, you couldn't ask for anything better than this setup. We're talking about enough staying power to crank up all your favorite games for at least another 5 to 7 years! 🙂

Also, I've been wondering—finally—which of these two setups would be better for gaming and streaming? Thanks!

crimsonstag84 said:What kind of motherboard are you running? If it supports Piledriver processors—which I guess it probably does—you could just toss an FX-8320e on there with a decent cooler, bump it up to 4-4.2GHz, and call it a day. That should do the trick.

A buddy of mine jumped from an FX-4130 to an FX-8320, pushed it to 4.3GHz, and says the jump in performance is massive. He’s mainly using it for video editing and streaming/gaming.

The motherboard is a 970A-DS3P rev 1.1

In that case, you could always jump up to an FX 8xxx... That board is the ds3p model without the passive VRM heatsink, but honestly, it's a pretty solid board.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=4297

You’ll probably need to flash the BIOS to version F7d first.

https://www.newegg.com/amd-processors...6mb-35ghz.html
https://www.amazon.com/coolers-for-cpu-slim.html

Just make sure your case actually has enough clearance for a 161mm tall cooler, like the one I linked here.

crimsonstag84 said:In that case, you could always jump up to an FX 8xxx... That board is the ds3p model without the passive VRM heatsink, but honestly, it's a pretty solid board.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=4297

You’ll probably need to flash the BIOS to version F7d first.

https://www.newegg.com/amd-processors...6mb-35ghz.html
https://www.amazon.com/coolers-for-cpu-slim.html

Just make sure your case actually has enough clearance for a 161mm tall cooler, like the one I linked here.

I’ve got a Zalman Z3+ sitting here—if that's the motherboard we're talking about, hmm... is it actually worth grabbing that CPU? How long before I’m looking at another upgrade? And honestly, can it even hold its own against an i5?

Intel might actually be the better play if you're heavy into overclocking (more physical cores), though it really just depends on what kind of content you're streaming.
But honestly, dropping that much cash on a motherboard and a cooler? Not a great value. That’s likely the best processor you'll ever pair with that board, so there's no point overspending on that tier.

+1 to crimsonstag84, $633 whatever you save from that, just put it toward a new GPU instead.
Or go out for a nice dinner.
Or toss it into a 401(k).
Whatever makes you happy.