New Hardware Recs coming from i7-4790K, GTX 770 El Capitain [Motherboard & Chip]

Built a hack quite long ago [Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5 TH, i7-4790K, GTX 770] on El Capitain and have been on it ever since. I've been looking for an excuse to upgrade this thing as it's been my primary machine since and I think it's time since my girlfriend managed to physically break it (only the case and PS but I digress; I want a new machine).

I've been in and out of threads poking around and come to the realization I don't need something as crazy some of you all need for video editing but want something powerful and "future-proof" enough because I hate windows and use to Macs now (I'm a RHEL engineer by day if that matters) and not interested in buying a real Mac from Apple. I also don't mind staying on Ventura if need be cause I know Intel is being deprecated soon enough. I'd say budget is plus or minus ~$2000 but I just want something powerful enough if I were to step game up. Specs I'm looking at are 11-14th generation i7-9, 32-64Gb DDR5 (is DDR6 possible yet?), also already looking at dGPU but nothing crazy.. maybe 6600 XT. My dilemma here is which mobo to go for or even if you want to talk me down, please do. Lol I'm leaning towards a Z690 but not exactly sure.. any recommendations is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Just to clarify, do not have a particular use case other than it to be powerful enough for me to delve into other things. I'd say graphics ($5-600+) is the least thing I'm worried about.

One of these B760 boards would give you DDR5 ram and PCIe 4.0 for some future proofing. Very affordable too.
You won't be spending anywhere close to 2K on the total build. Looking at current Amazon pricing you could keep the total cost around 1,500 USD and still get everything you want.


You could go with the 14th gen i7 and your 6600XT and most everything in this guide would still apply.


For your NVMe, go with the WD SN850X 2TB if you need that large of a boot drive. 1TB is fine too.
A build with these specs will be much faster than your ten year old Z87X system. Good time to upgrade.

With these parts it would come in right around $1550 when your local sales tax is added.
Did forget the CPU cooler. If you have a good one already that's re-usable.

trs96 said:

With these parts it would come in right around $1550 when your local sales tax is added.
Did forget the CPU cooler. If you have a good one already that's re-usable.

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Wow, you made it much easier.. thank you. That gives me good direction! Question: I pre-maturely ordered a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8B GDDR5 cause I saw it the last one on Amazon for $300... should I return that for the 6600 XT you linked?

Feel like it's slower..? Maybe? I was going based off "best GPUs" and jumped the gun. Was trying to be OOB as I can be but comfortable with tweaking too

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srodd14 said:

Feel like it's slower..? Maybe? I was going based off "best GPUs" and jumped the gun. Was trying to be OOB as I can be but comfortable with tweaking too

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6600XT is faster and more energy efficient too. Much better than a 580. It's also OOB compatible.

srodd14 said:

Wow, you made it much easier.. thank you. That gives me good direction! Question: I pre-maturely ordered a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8B GDDR5 cause I saw it the last one on Amazon for $300... should I return that for the 6600 XT you linked?

Feel like it's slower..? Maybe? I was going based off "best GPUs" and jumped the gun. Was trying to be OOB as I can be but comfortable with tweaking too

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Any RX 6600, 6600 XT, 6800, 6800 XT and 6900 XT card is OOB and belongs to the last generation compatible with macOS. You can select from more brands instead of Sapphire only.

For gaming powerful enough, it really depends on the resolution and quality you want.