# Upgrading i7 860 (Lynnfield) and Mobo



## LoneReaction (Mar 17, 2014)

Hello everyone, it's been some time since I've thought of upgrading my PC. It seems like CPU improvements has slowed down a little. I've been holding on my to i7 860 for almost 5 years now, and would like to switch to current gen CPU.

My main purpose of this cpu upgrade is to *improve performance in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 and the slight speedboost from Sata 3*.

I am thinking of only upgrading the Cpu and Mobo, and keep everything else. My PSU is getting old (bought in 2008) but still works fine.

The i7 4770 and i5 4760 seems like good choices. I will not be overclocking, so any entry level mobo would be fine.

Any comments or suggestions would really be appreciated, thank you for reading!





Processor: i7 860
Motherboard: Asus P7P55D-E
Cooling: Noctua U12P SE2
Memory: 2x 4GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s): MSI 580 GTX
Hard Disk(s): Crucial M500 240GB, 2TB, 2TB, 1.5TB
Optical Drive: Samsung Super Writemaster
LCD/CRT Model: Dell u3011 + Dell 2007fp
Case: CM HAF 932
Sound Card: Onboard + Logitech Z5500
Power Supply: Thermaltake 750w toughpower
Software: Win8 64bit


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## MustSeeMelons (Mar 17, 2014)

Have you considered waiting for a more meaningful upgrade?  Is your cooling solution even compatible with 1150?


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## LoneReaction (Mar 17, 2014)

I will not be overclocking, so the stock cooler that comes with the cpu would sufficient!


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## Durvelle27 (Mar 17, 2014)

I recommend a i7-4770 and my sweet Z87-A Motherboard


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## puma99dk| (Mar 17, 2014)

Durvelle27 said:


> I recommend a i7-4770 and my sweet Z87-A Motherboard



sounds solid ^^


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## Kissamies (Mar 17, 2014)

MustSeeMelons said:


> Have you considered waiting for a more meaningful upgrade?  Is your cooling solution even compatible with 1150?


1156/1155/1150 have identical mounting, so a cooler what has been bought in 1156 era, is still compatible with 1150. The stock would be noise as hell, so I don't recommend using that, even if running with stock clocks


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## Hood (Mar 17, 2014)

Durvelle27 said:


> I recommend a i7-4770 and my sweet Z87-A Motherboard


I second that recommendation.  I recently bought a Z87-K for an i3 build, and even though it's Asus' cheapest Z87 board, it installed without any issues and is running great.  I wanted the Z87-A, but couldn't really justify the extra $30 for running an i3-4130.  My last build was also an i3-4130, but with an MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ($140), and that board is nice, but it wouldn't boot with 2400 RAM on XMP setting, which the Z87-K does effortlessly (as well as my P8Z77-V).  So this bears out what I've always suspected; Asus boards have the best RAM compatibility, and the best BIOS, and even their AI Suite III software now works perfectly.  Z87-A is a great choice...


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## puma99dk| (Mar 17, 2014)

Hood said:


> I second that recommendation.  I recently bought a Z87-K for an i3 build, and even though it's Asus' cheapest Z87 board, it installed without any issues and is running great.  I wanted the Z87-A, but couldn't really justify the extra $30 for running an i3-4130.  My last build was also an i3-4130, but with an MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ($140), and that board is nice, but it wouldn't boot with 2400 RAM on XMP setting, which the Z87-K does effortlessly (as well as my P8Z77-V).  So this bears out what I've always suspected; Asus boards have the best RAM compatibility, and the best BIOS, and even their AI Suite III software now works perfectly.  Z87-A is a great choice...



you sure it wasn't the second i3 that couldn't handle 2400mhz memory?


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## thebluebumblebee (Mar 17, 2014)

LoneReaction said:


> *I will not be overclocking*, so the stock cooler that comes with the cpu would sufficient!


So you don't _need_ a "Z" motherboard.  An "H" would do just fine.  But, there's no problem going with a "Z" board, especially if others are highly recommending it.  I'd reuse the Noctua cooler though.


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## puma99dk| (Mar 17, 2014)

thebluebumblebee said:


> So you don't _need_ a "Z" motherboard.  An "H" would do just fine.  But, there's no problem going with a "Z" board, especially if others are highly recommending it.  I'd reuse the Noctua cooler though.



can H chipset do X.M.P ?


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## thebluebumblebee (Mar 17, 2014)

puma99dk| said:


> can H chipset do X.M.P ?


Yes.  I'm not saying all, but it can.
OP, I'm pointing to the H87 motherboards, not the H81's.


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## LoneReaction (Mar 17, 2014)

Thanks for the replies guys. It's awesome that I can use the Noctua again, great bang for buck


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 17, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> 1156/1155/1150 have identical mounting, so a cooler what has been bought in 1156 era, is still compatible with 1150. The stock would be noise as hell, so I don't recommend using that, even if running with stock clocks



Stock isnt all that loud. No stock cooler i have ever used, had forced me to change coolers from noise.


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## Durvelle27 (Mar 17, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> Stock isnt all that loud. No stock cooler i have ever used, had forced me to change coolers from noise.


Same


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## v12dock (Mar 17, 2014)

I like my MSI-Z87-GD65 would recommend anytime


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## Hood (Mar 17, 2014)

puma99dk| said:


> you sure it wasn't the second i3 that couldn't handle 2400mhz memory?


Positive - I was surprised the MSI board wouldn't POST with XMP set, or even when I manually loosened timings, since the board claims to run 3000 MHz RAM.  It does run fine at 2133 MHz, so I left it there.  Maybe the MSI board just didn't like the HyperX Beast 2400, all boards have incompatibility with a few kits now and then.  I prefer Asus because I've never had any issues with RAM on their boards, or anything else for that matter.  Of the 3 MSI boards I've owned, all had issues, mostly minor annoyances, but one had a bad overheating problem with the chipset.  I was otherwise impressed with the Z87-G45 Gaming board, MSI has really stepped up their game lately, but there's still room for improvement.  They really need to quit harping on the so-called "military class" hardware (marketing hype of the worst kind) and concentrate on making the damn thing work properly.


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## kn00tcn (Mar 17, 2014)

what kind of boost are we talking about here if it's just for lightroom? would cinebench be a good way to tell or does lightroom not use all cores? why no OC?


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## LoneReaction (Mar 18, 2014)

kn00tcn said:


> what kind of boost are we talking about here if it's just for lightroom? would cinebench be a good way to tell or does lightroom not use all cores? why no OC?



http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/108?vs=836

In the link above, the 6th results (Photoshop CS4) shows in improvement of about 38%. I would hope that Lightroom would have similar improvements. That extra time saved really adds up when you're editing thousands of images a year. In my own unscientific monitoring, when I opened up task manager and looked at individual cores, often single cores would hit 100% for some moments. So even though Lightroom was using around 30% of the CPU, it was maxing out single cores.

I will probably not OC at the beginning, unless it is really easy. Will definitely try out those fancy Asus OC software. During the Core2Duo era, I overclocked my chip from 2.5ghz to 3.8ghz. On air. It was fun. When I switched to the i7 860, I fiddled with overclocking for a while, but gave up because it was hard to get a good overclock and rock solid stability. Guess I'm just turning into an old man, haha!

Thinking of i5 4670 or i7 4770 with ASUS H87M-E.


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## XSI (Mar 18, 2014)

strange, you want to switch to new cpu for productivity and yet dont plan to overclock whats in my book is pure productivity out of the box.
more so, you tried it before. if you do care for power consumption just use how it called, when clock is variable like from 2.0 to 4ghz

edit by the way does hyperthreading helps that application? or higher ghz have more impact?


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 18, 2014)

XSI said:


> strange, you want to switch to new cpu for productivity and yet dont plan to overclock whats in my book is pure productivity out of the box.
> more so, you tried it before. if you do care for power consumption just use how it called, when clock is variable like from 2.0 to 4ghz
> 
> edit by the way does hyperthreading helps that application? or higher ghz have more impact?



Wait what? Overclocking might help a bit, but might be more hassel than he is willing to deal with. Then again, overclocking only does do much these days. Processors are already so fast for everything out there. Threads will definitely help him more than ghz. You seem to have a much different "book" then a lot of people. Not everything needs to be overclocked. Hell, i have a 4770k, and for months i didnt bother clocking it. Didnt really need too.


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## LoneReaction (Mar 18, 2014)

XSI said:


> strange, you want to switch to new cpu for productivity and yet dont plan to overclock whats in my book is pure productivity out of the box.
> more so, you tried it before. if you do care for power consumption just use how it called, when clock is variable like from 2.0 to 4ghz
> 
> edit by the way does hyperthreading helps that application? or higher ghz have more impact?



It is because of my experience with overclocking that I know raw increases in ghz does not really translate to equal performance increase unless it is for CPU intensive tasks that max out the cpu no matter what (like video rendering or converting video files!). Also, in order to overclock one must normally spend another $100-200 to get a better motherboard, better heatsink. Right now CPUs are so fast that I would rather save that money and put it into my next GPU upgrade!


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## XSI (Mar 18, 2014)

got it. my cpu is almost 7 years old and  its enough for my daily tasks. so why do you need 4770 then? save more money.


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## thebluebumblebee (Mar 18, 2014)

OP, you may want to wait for "Haswell refresh"???????  You've gone this long.....


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 18, 2014)

thebluebumblebee said:


> OP, you may want to wait for "Haswell refresh"???????  You've gone this long.....



I agree. Wait for a 4790.


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Mar 19, 2014)

Depends whether LoneReaction-san wants to wait for the newly released Haswell Refresh or just... u know... purchase a Haswell based build as replacement for the time being... so, here's my suggestion of a build. He also mentioned he do not want to OC his CPU so a non-K CPU should be ok.
- Intel Core i5-4670 CPU
- any Intel H87 Chipset boards (vary by vendors)
- Storage, PSU, Optical Drive etc will be re-used.

@LoneReaction For the graphics card, you can either keep the current GTX580 or get a Leadtek Winfast GTX760 OC 2GD5 VGA Card... but it's your preferences. Hope this helps.


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## Kissamies (Mar 19, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> Stock isnt all that loud. No stock cooler i have ever used, had forced me to change coolers from noise.


Well at least Haswell i5/i7/Xeon's run hot as hell with stock coolers.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 19, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Well at least Haswell i5/i7/Xeon's run hot as hell with stock coolers.



The run hot with any damn cooler.


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## Kissamies (Mar 19, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> The run hot with any damn cooler.


Well yes until delid. Everyone doesn't delid because they are afraid losing warranty. I bought a Sandy Bridge CPU instead Ivy Bridge (3570K) because Sandys are soldered instead of that crappy paste between core and IHS. If I remember correctly, Haswells have a 0.06mm empty space between core and IHS?


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## MxPhenom 216 (Mar 19, 2014)

9700 Pro said:


> Well yes until delid. Everyone doesn't delid because they are afraid losing warranty. I bought a Sandy Bridge CPU instead Ivy Bridge (3570K) because Sandys are soldered instead of that crappy paste between core and IHS. If I remember correctly, Haswells have a 0.06mm empty space between core and IHS?



Yep, and after a while theres been cases that the chips are dying. And its not really from chips being pushed to hard.


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## Kissamies (Mar 19, 2014)

Maybe Intel knows that and puts a "time bomb" on their CPUs so they break fast so consumer have to buy new CPUs frequently..?


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Mar 20, 2014)

my Ivy Bridge Core i5 cooled with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO on both idle & load temperatures (while playing games) are ok... no overheat whatsoever... frequencies on the other hand, are on stock settings since they're already fast on it's own. For the stock coolers, I'm not sure if they're good at keeping the temps down unless the casing has positive airflow with no heat pockets whatsoever...


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## Leothelesser (Mar 20, 2014)

Xeon 1230v3  -  H87
Reliable, Powerful, best value for money on a single card setup that uses multi-threading.


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Mar 20, 2014)

But to the folks in SEA, getting a Xeon CPU isn't easy as demands for it is low & the variants is very limited. I myself staying in Malaysia find that a Xeon is not much of a good buy since I don't use those CPU-heavy applications. If you want to build those server PCs for performing complex task, then it's a good investment.


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## Leothelesser (Mar 20, 2014)

The Xeon E3 v3 Family has 14 variants, 7 without graphic.
http://ark.intel.com/products/family/78581/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-v3-Family

The 1230 v3 is a 4 core, 8 threads, 8 MB, 3.30 to 3.70 GHz, Haswell that’s cheaper than a 4770.
Great for gaming and multi-threaded tasks.  Uses 1150 Motherboards. No overclocking.


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Mar 20, 2014)

still prefer the i5-4670K since it's more suited towards normal users & gamers who don't want to spend too much for a CPU on their builds. Availability here in the SEA region is plenty, so most local system builders prefer to use this to keep their gaming rigs price tag down so that it stays affordable for those who aren't accustomed of building their own rigs. That said, most Xeon variants sold here are too expensive even for a base-line quad-core model. Your end maybe cheaper, but to the SEA region gamers & DIY builders, they still prefer the more consumer-friendly 3rd Gen/4th Gen Core Series CPUs.


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## kn00tcn (Mar 21, 2014)

hold on... how many threads does lightroom even use? overclocking isnt just about max cpu usage rendering apps, everything singlethreaded is entirely bottlenecked by the clock instead of the amount of cores, so the performance that comes with an OC will be quite linear

if lightroom is well threaded, could go for a 4core8thread cpu & not bother overclocking (same choice as someone looking to do 3d cpu based rendering)

but if lightroom is only 4 threads or even 2, an overclock would be important, a 4core4thread cpu would be $100 cheaper & faster when overclocked

(speaking of OP's story, pretty sure core2 days were harder to tweak/stabalize than now)


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## LoneReaction (Mar 21, 2014)

Okay, I upgraded to i5 4670 and ASUS H87M-E. Did a lot of googling and it seems Lightroom doesn't benefit much from hyperthreading. I don't do video, so hyper threading is wasted on me. Figured the extra money saved from geting a K cpu and Z87 motherboard can be put into my next GFX sometime later this year or next year. The i7 860 will replace my aging Core 2 Duo Family rig.

The upgrade was worth it for what I paid. Lightroom was at least 30-50% more responsive, and I can actually watch 4K youtube videos now!


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## LoneReaction (Mar 21, 2014)

Some Photos:








Awesome that the heatsink can be reused. Totally overkill though. The board looks tiny!


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## thebluebumblebee (Mar 21, 2014)

You just need an extension for your CPU power cable so you don't have to run it over the motherboard.  That, or a smaller case.


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Mar 21, 2014)

LoneReaction said:


> Some Photos:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



totally looked overkill. =O That's what you expect for using a full-tower casing..


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## LoneReaction (Mar 21, 2014)

thebluebumblebee said:


> You just need an extension for your CPU power cable so you don't have to run it over the motherboard.  That, or a smaller case.



Haha, Having a big case is nice because it is easier to vacuum out dust every few months and things are nicely spread apart. I also have 3 hard drives in front that have plenty of space in between them. If I had to buy a new case I would probably get a mid sized tower though.


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## kn00tcn (Mar 21, 2014)

hah i just remembered the AMD demo when the APUs were first coming out... they put a laptop inside a midtower case to make a point about how powerful the laptop was


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## Tsukiyomi91 (Mar 21, 2014)

for me, I'm getting a mini-ITX board & a Bitfenix Prodigy/Phenom SFF casing since my setup isn't all that crazy... watercooling is possible but it won't be those over-the-top kind of liquid coolers, just those affordable AIO kits would do.


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