Haswell build - H87 vs Z87

What's maybe interesting is the i7 4770R. It's like it behaves as it had a 128MB L4 cache. I wonder how that would compare with an overclocked 4770K? and bench it with the GPU disabled. I know, it's ridiculous (I expect it to be bloody expensive) but it seems better than "extreme" ddr3 if you're a memory speed junkie.

 

Ah, well the 2133mhz memory I had wasn't the fastest available. For comparison I had 1600mhz at 9-9-9-24 before, and the current 2133mhz I'm using is 11-11-11-30. For those curious, my video encoding test with those two memories was a 28mbps 1920x1080 one minute long video source encoded to 5 different formats with these resultant times (1600 MHz first, then 2133mhz after):

1920x1080 60fps MP4: 4:05 / 4:02
1920x1080 30fps MP4: 2:20 / 2:19
1280x720 MP4: 1:13 / 1:12
1280x720 WMV: 0:57 / 0:55
368x208 MP4: 0:21 / 0:20

So not much difference. The fastest 2133mhz ram I've seen is 9-11-10-27, I wonder if that would yield a bigger difference.

 

On ASUS boards using the ASUSUpdate Windows software, this has been trivial for about 12 years.

 

Old horror story I once read somewhere.
One user had a fancy Toshiba laptop with software that allowed to change the BIOS password from Windows. So he/she did just that, entering password and confirming. On the next power on, well there was no way to enter these non QWERTY symbols that were in the password. BIOS doesn't understand anything else than QWERTY lol. And it's not like you can remove a coin battery or short a "jumper 1" on a laptop to rid of it. (Nor you wouldn't want to disassemble it just after buying it). So it went shipped to technical service, so it's not the most horrorful thing but it's a funny blunder. Did they actually test that thing?

It would be nice nowadays that Windows BIOS flashers warn you about the AHCI/IDE thing, you know, just a couple lines of text.

 

Intel to block Haswell overclocking on non-Z87 chipsets with new microcode update
Read more at :

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/31971...chipsets-with-new-microcode-update/index.html

 

Big oil needs to fund AMD more so they can compete and Intel doesn't have the x86 world by the balls so thoroughly and the evil Intel masterminds are forced to lay off with the extreme market segmentation.

Probably all systems can indeed be flashed in Windows. But there are plenty of horror stories when it comes to Windows flashing. Windows has loads of processes running and you never know if something you've installed could cause a problem. Today with most boards having a built in flash utility it's not so inconvenient to stay out of Windows.

 

Would be nice

 

Just purchased some new hardware, I7-4770K, gigabyte Z87X-UD3H, 16 gig of Crucial Ballistix memory, and a Samsung 840 pro 512 gigs. plan on putting it together tomorrow.

Already had a panic attack over it, realized my DVD drive was IDE, but was able to burn the disk to a boot-able flash drive. I love building a new system, but also get stressed out in the process.

Oh, this is the first Gigabyte board that I have ever owned.

 

I've used Gigabyte boards for years. Always treated me well.

 

Normally I prefer Asus motherboards, but the layout of the Pci-e slots on the motherboards the local shop carries sucks. I will be using two graphics cards and need at least one pci-e slot for a tuner card.

 

This post may help
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=49502&highlight=Drive

 

Same here and I've noticed the same problem on their Z87 boards. I've been speccing out parts for my first upgrade in 5 years (16GB, i7 4770, asus z87-k mobo, Dell u3011 display, etc.) and I'll probably buy a ASUS Xonar 7.1 PCIe sound card and with only two slots for it, the one farthest from the CPU socket looks like it'll be easily occluded by any decent cooler on a GPU sitting in that main x16 slot. Which leaves squeezing the sound card between the back of the GPU and whatever cooler I end up using on the CPU.

 

See that big PCIe 16x slot, fifth slot from top on that Asus Z87-K?, at 2.0 4x. You can fit that sound card there
Also the PCI versions of the cards can be considered, they're the same. PCIe Xonar actually are PCI card with a bridge chip.

 

Heh, I did say it backwards. That PCIe slot closer to the CPU is the one most likely to be blocked by a large graphics board.

I've been trying to keep costs down (says the guy with the U3011 on his wishlist) while ginning up parts, but I think I'll splurge on a better board and get at least the z87 Plus and the 4770k. I don't o/c at all, haven't for years, but for another $30ish dollars why not get the unlocked multiplier? I think 16GB (4x4) of memory is enough for my usage, which consists entirely of games and web surfage these days. Getting a new case (nzxt h2) and PSU (pc power and cooling silencer mkiii) too so I can throw my x58/i7 965 system at the kids and let them abuse it for however much longer it lasts. But that x58 mobo has no onboard graphics and I'm currently running a GTX 670, which is overkill for them; so I'm tempted to buy something really cheap and move the 670 over to the new system, or put the entire upgrade on hold until AMD/NV put out their next gen offerings (though I have no idea the expected timeframe is on either).

 

Overclocking is so easy nowadays why not do it? You don't even need an aftermarket cooler, though of course you get better results with one. I got a cheap but fantastic Arctic Freezer 13 and have my 3.4Ghz 3570k running at 4.4Ghz and peaking at 60deg without any voltage tweaks, just changing multiplier.

 

Both Asus and Intel have their own utilities that will do all the work for you and will give you a good basic overclock at the push of a button.

 

Yeah, I have the Cool Master 212 Plus on my wishlist, not a big fan of those stock Intel retail fans. Any reason I should go with one over the other? I'm trying to build a fairly quite system without going liquid cooling so if anyone knows of a really quiet CPU cooler that's roughly $50-, let me know.

 

Get anything big with a large (and therefore quiet) fan. I really like the Noctua stuff, but they are a bit more expensive than your budget. Their oil bearing fans are very quiet, and their coolers good quality.

I use a NH-U14 with 140mm fan, and you never hear it except when the system is working hard due to the motherboard controlling the fan speeds. Asus have some very nice custom controls for the fans. Just make sure you have a big enough case and clearance with your RAM (if you have high ram heatsinks) for any large aircoolers.

 

For $50 I would recommend the Thermalright HR-02 Macho. The fan is very quiet, and you can also just take it off and go passive if you want. It's pretty amazing bang for buck actually.

 

Out of curiosity, why the U3011 and not the U3014 JR?