I asked in /r/buildapc but I didn't get much of a response so I thought I'd try here.


Right now I have this running Mavericks:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks






























































TypeItemPrice
CPU Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor $193.93 @ Microcenter
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler $29.83 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard Biostar TZ77XE3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard $140.05 @ OutletPC
Memory Kingston Blu 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory $171.04 @ Amazon
Storage Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive $106.61 @ Amazon
Storage Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $91.57 @ Mac Mall
Case NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case $54.46 @ Newegg
Total
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.$787.49
Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-18 01:22 EST-0500

Surprisingly it works pretty well. It was perfect in ML, but in Mavericks I get crackly audio (probably fixable). The main problem is the thing is too damn big. I'm hoping to downsize to mITX.


I was basically wondering if it's worth upgrading to Haswell if I'm already going to be getting a new board.


I think I'd have to pay a premium to get an older board that I know would work well (link). But at least it's still available. H77 board is cheaper, but I'd definitely want to overclock if I'm sticking with Ivy Bridge.




I see two options:


First option is to stick with ivy bridge, get that z77 mobo and a closed loop water cooler that'll fit inside a node 304 and overclock it. I tested how it overclocks and it seems to go up to around 4.2ghz without any voltage changes so I'll probably just keep it there.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks






























































TypeItemPrice
CPU Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor Purchased For $0.00
CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken X40 98.3 CFM CPU Cooler $95.88 @ Amazon
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard $164.36
Memory Kingston Blu 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory Purchased For $0.00
Storage Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive Purchased For $0.00
Storage Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive Purchased For $0.00
Case Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case $96.96 @ NCIX US
Total
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.$357.20
Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-18 01:37 EST-0500

Second option is to build a haswell mITX computer almost from scratch. I'll use my memory, hard drives and PSU.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks






























































TypeItemPrice
CPU Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor $344.78 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler Purchased For $0.00
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard $113.89 @ Newegg
Memory Kingston Blu 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory Purchased For $0.00
Storage Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive Purchased For $0.00
Storage Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive Purchased For $0.00
Case Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case $96.96 @ NCIX US
Total
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.$555.63
Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-18 02:00 EST-0500

I might be able to sell my ATX board and 3570k as well to make a bit of cash. I know the typical advice is that you shouldn't upgrade to haswell from sandy or ivy bridge, but I'm not seeing it. If I made even 150 from both my CPU and board I'd be money-ahead with the haswell build. I could even get that same cooler and overclock that to get even better performance.


Nevermind, the i7 is out of stock at the CA microcenter. So much for getting that cheap. I've updated the prices. Still interested in opinions. Again, I could probably sell my current CPU+mobo for around 200, which would basically make up the price difference.


What do you folks think?


TL;DR: If you had the first build listed in this post and wanted to go to mITX, what would you do?



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