Intel "Haswell" - i7 4770k / i5 4560k

[BoilerDown]

I don't know what you mean by 'bad.' The only things I have seen published are early reviews which are based on nothing other than advertising photos. I don't believe anyone has had hands on yet. Still, if you have a source for an actual published review I'm willing to read it!

I'm not referring to Haswell motherboards by EVGA, but their reputation from their past motherboard efforts.  For example, I just did a Google search for "evga motherboards", and the top-most hit that is neither from www.evga.com nor a re-print of a press release, happens to be a listing at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188065

Not exactly inspiring customer comments.

[numb1]

I personally would never buy a EVGA mobo..

[gyrene81]

I personally would never buy a EVGA mobo..

a lot of people seem to have problems with them, especially the first gen's. i bought 2 evga mobos socket 478 and socket 775, and never had a single issue. and the guy i share my office with just got his socket 775 mobo swapped out for a brand new socket 1155 z77 mobo under a lifetime warranty, that was 5 years after the original purchase (and it blew because of something he did).

[Chalenge]

I'm not referring to Haswell motherboards by EVGA, but their reputation from their past motherboard efforts.  For example, I just did a Google search for "evga motherboards", and the top-most hit that is neither from www.evga.com nor a re-print of a press release, happens to be a listing at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188065

Not exactly inspiring customer comments.

I think what you guys are confusing with hardware efficiency is customer loyalty. Many people buy EVGA and continue to buy EVGA. It's also human nature to complain at the slightest fault, and always blame the hardware even when it was the user that caused the problem. My experience goes opposite to everything you have stated. When I order ASUS I have to go through three boards to find one good one. Yet, every EVGA board I buy is superb! Gigabyte has been problematic as well, so I stick to what works, yet I know there is one company that puts all of these boards together for the parent companies. Literally, they are all made in the same building. So, for me it isn't that I am particularly loyal to EVGA, but that I have seen a higher rate of success when I order boards with that label.

[numb1]

I think what you guys are confusing with hardware efficiency is customer loyalty. Many people buy EVGA and continue to buy EVGA. It's also human nature to complain at the slightest fault, and always blame the hardware even when it was the user that caused the problem. My experience goes opposite to everything you have stated. When I order ASUS I have to go through three boards to find one good one. Yet, every EVGA board I buy is superb! Gigabyte has been problematic as well, so I stick to what works, yet I know there is one company that puts all of these boards together for the parent companies. Literally, they are all made in the same building. So, for me it isn't that I am particularly loyal to EVGA, but that I have seen a higher rate of success when I order boards with that label.

I have been through 2 Asus and 1 Gigabyte board in the last 8 years and never has any issues...My Z77 Sabertooth now is an amazing board..

[BaldEagl]

I've got an Evga 780i LGA 775 mobo and it's been great... once the early BIOS bugs were worked out.

[BoilerDown]

It looks like besides the Gigabyte Sniper 5 and M5, and the EVGA ones, some of the ASRock motherboards have the Creative Sound Core3D sound chips on them: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty%20Z87%20Professional/index.us.asp .  But that's all I could find.

But I think I'm going to go with the Asus Maximus VI Hero.  Its actually (going to be) less expensive than a lot of other Haswell MBs I'm considering, should overclock like a beast, and doesn't include a lot of features I don't want, like the PCIe bridge or wireless nic.

Downside?  They don't even arrive in the States until later this week, won't be available for sale for another week or so beyond that.

If I can't wait I'll probably just say screw it and get the middle-of-the-road Asus Z87 Plus.

[numb1]

It looks like besides the Gigabyte Sniper 5 and M5, and the EVGA ones, some of the ASRock motherboards have the Creative Sound Core3D sound chips on them: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty%20Z87%20Professional/index.us.asp .  But that's all I could find.

But I think I'm going to go with the Asus Maximus VI Hero.  Its actually (going to be) less expensive than a lot of other Haswell MBs I'm considering, should overclock like a beast, and doesn't include a lot of features I don't want, like the PCIe bridge or wireless nic.

Downside?  They don't even arrive in the States until later this week, won't be available for sale for another week or so beyond that.

If I can't wait I'll probably just say screw it and get the middle-of-the-road Asus Z87 Plus.

Get the Z87 Sabertooth...

[BoilerDown]

I found the Asus Maximus VI Hero in stock finally Friday afternoon, got it and a 4770k ordered up.

The early results on Haswell is that Intel really cheaped out on the thermal compound between the CPU die and the heat spreader.  Possibly even worse than for Ivy Bridge.  De-lidding is necessary for most people to reach beyond 4.2 GHz, even with water cooling.  So I'll probably go stock for a day, OC for a couple weeks, then delid a CPU for the first time ever.  Should be... interesting.

[Bino]

I found the Asus Maximus VI Hero in stock finally Friday afternoon, got it and a 4770k ordered up.

The early results on Haswell is that Intel really cheaped out on the thermal compound between the CPU die and the heat spreader.  Possibly even worse than for Ivy Bridge.  De-lidding is necessary for most people to reach beyond 4.2 GHz, even with water cooling.  So I'll probably go stock for a day, OC for a couple weeks, then delid a CPU for the first time ever.  Should be... interesting.

Interesting... I read here that the problem is not the thermal paste, but rather the adhesive that secures the lid.  To account for manufacturing tolerances, Intel uses a bit too much adhesive, which places the lid a bit too far away from the actual chip, which in turn requires a layer of thermal paste that is a bit too thick. Confirmed, plausible, or busted?

Anyway, over the weekend I ordered a 4770K, an ASUS Z87-Pro mobo, and a Corsair H80i all-in-one water cooling unit.  All hands, brace for impact! 

[numb1]

Just Delid your chip..As we had to do on our Ivy Brides to get a high OC..The paste intel uses is like cement..

[Bino]

Right now I have my i7-4770K running at stock speed - 3.5GHz - until the thermal compound under the heatsink cures.  The liquid-cooling unit does a very nice job. As a quick test to get a baseline, I ran prime95 for about an hour while I had the push/pull fans on the radiator cranked up to top speed.  The CPU temp never went over 55 C, far short of the 72 C that Intel lists on the i7-4770K data sheet.

I re-used most of my old machine. Here's the updated parts list:  kenshelby.us/docs/pc-parts.htm