Upgrading z97

XenonBlu

New member
Hi, i have some questions for you!
I have a z97 motherboard and i would like to know if it is possible to install DDR4 ram on it.
Same thing for the CPU, i think you can not, but i want to be sure about it, can you install a 6th or 5th gen?
The socket i have is 1150. You can check the model of my motherboard in the signature.
Or if i have to upgrade the motherboard to x99 or z170, you can install on it a 4th gen cpu like i have?
I'm not so well informed on this things, usually when i build a pc, i just select a cpu and then a motherboard that will fit.
Thanks for your time!
 
You can't upgrade to a Skylake CPU or DDR4 with your Z97 board and definitely can't fit your Haswell CPU if you buy a Z170 board. If you want to go to Skylake, you have to change the CPU, RAM and mobo at the same time.
 
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Can or can't? :huh:

:D

EDIT: Thanks for your answer! So i think i will upgrade my z97 with his own stuff. More ram and better GPU. Ah and i have to change SSD, that 64Gb SanDisk is a waste of money.
 
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Just a question, why do you want to upgrade? IMO you won't get real benefit to upgrade from Haswell to Skylake, depending on what you want to do with your computer.
 
I feel very well with this setup. I just wanted to ask because if i want to upgrade in the future, now i know that i will have to change everything.
 
Yep you'll have to. If you have the money, you'd better spend it buying a new GPU, SSD and mostly a better power supply :)
 
Sure. I planning to buy a 970 and of course a better PSU.
I had an ASUS P5Q with q6600 and i upgraded it from a 9500GT to 650GTX with that power supply. Then i bought the new components for building this new setup but i didn't have enough money for upgrading the graphic card and the PSU so i kept them. I know it's not a good choice but i couldn't do anything more.
 
I know what you mean, been spending near 1 year to build my last pc, buying parts after parts, same goes for my wife's pc :p
 
As above post said there really is no point upgrading from Haswell to skylake and the Z97 board only supports DDR3 ram so spend the money you have spare upgrading your psu ssd and gpu
 
For future reference;

- Motherboards based on the Z87/Z97 chipsets are socket 1150
- CPUs of the Core iX 4xxx series are socket 1150
- The memory controllers on these CPUs do not support DDR4
'-> Therefore: Z87/Z97 motherboards with DDR4 slots do not exist (as they'd be useless)

- Motherboards based on the Z170 chipset are socket 1151
'-> Therefore: Core iX 4xxx CPUs do not fit in them
- The Core iX 6xxx CPUs are socket 1151
- The memory controllers in those CPUs support both DDR3 and DDR4 RAM.

So when you make the jump to Skylake and DDR4, make sure to buy a motherboard that actually has DDR4 slots on it. Out of ~190 ish boards, there are still an odd 60 that feature either DDR3 slots only, or a mix of 2x DDR3 slots and 2x DDR4 slots. If you buy one of those you can only use either DDR3, or DDR4.
 
Hi, i have some questions for you!
I have a z97 motherboard and i would like to know if it is possible to install DDR4 ram on it.
Same thing for the CPU, i think you can not, but i want to be sure about it, can you install a 6th or 5th gen?
The socket i have is 1150. You can check the model of my motherboard in the signature.
Or if i have to upgrade the motherboard to x99 or z170, you can install on it a 4th gen cpu like i have?
I'm not so well informed on this things, usually when i build a pc, i just select a cpu and then a motherboard that will fit.
Thanks for your time!

1. Z97 does not support DDR4 RAM, only DDR3.
2. Z97 only supports 4th gen processors (LGA 1150)

If you want DDR4 then you will have to upgrade to either Z170 or X99. But there is no point of upgrading from Haswell to Skylake, like people have said above ^^
 
Moving from Haswell to Skylake will make zero amount of difference to games and only a very small difference to applications i.e complete waste of money.
 
It was just for asking about compatibility, maybe for future upgrade, i understand now! Thanks for your answers!
 
It was just for asking about compatibility, maybe for future upgrade, i understand now! Thanks for your answers!

If in the near future you want to upgrade then your best path would be something along the X99 path as even going for Cannonlake which will be yet another quad core in 2017 from Z97 probably won't net you noticeable performance gains in games, Production type apps yes but again not much.
 
I was just thinking of my next upgrade and I find this post. I was thinking of going ASUS Z97 something and CPU but wasn't sure if it would "last" like the build I have now. 7 years+ and still doing everything I want. Think I will start saving my pennies and do it a piece at a time.

Thanks again for the post and the info =)
 
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