Upgrqding to Sandy Bridge - advice needed

!TIMMY!

!TIMMY!

!TIMMY!

Associate
Joined
27 Aug 2007
Posts
580
I'm going to get a new mobo, CPU and ram that will last me as long as possible (in the tech world) as this will be my last upgrade for a long time. I mainly play games, edit HD video and photos.

I will be using my current OCZ Vetexx 2E, 5870, Enermax 625w, Forte 7.1. I plan to oc the cpu using just the multiplier and a max of 1.35v, so I guess it will run at around 4.5ghz. I need advice on what to buy:

Motherboard
I think I have decided on the ASUS P8P76 Pro (B3 Revision) as it has all the features I want such as EFI bios, 2 16x pci-e slots etc. Is this a good choice?

CPU
Is it worth getting the 2600k over the 2500k for video editing?

Ram (I want 1.5v ram)
Again is it worth getting 8gb over 4gb for video editing?
Is it worth getting faster than 1600mhz ram? Would faster ram run at full speed in the mobo with an oced CPU?
Do the timings make much of a difference these days with ddr3?

Cooler
Was thinking if getting the Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B and a 1850rpm Gentle Typhoon as I have a Gentle Typhoon already. Is this still the best cooler?
 
Last edited:
hi ya mate

board seems ok but people still having a few problems with them read up.

2600k more on chip memory clocks higher then 2500k from what i have read also 8 threads instead of 4

ram more is always better when editing hd vids and photos.

as to the cooler cant really say the sb i7 run cooler than the X58 i7 so if it was great before it will work a treat on the sb i7
 
Last edited:
I have the P8P67 PRO mobo, had it for a week or so now. no problems apart from that it doesnt seem to like the ASUS preformance auto overclock. it says its unstable every time but if your looking to OC manually like i have now then you wont have any problems.

fantastic board!

2600k is best if your going to be looking at a lot of hyperthreading while video editing. it just depends if the programs you use will make use of all the threads.

the cooler is still one of the best out there for air yes. (or so i think anyways)
 
hlennie said:
hi ya mate

board seems ok but people still having a few problems with them read up.

2600k more on chip memory clocks higher then 2500k from what i have read also 8 threads instead of 4

ram more is always better when editing hd vids and photos.

as to the cooler cant really say the sb i7 run cooler than the X58 i7 so if it was great before it will work a treat on the sb i7
Click to expand...

I will have a read up on the mobo, I wonder if there are any reviews on the B3 revision boards to see if the Intel fix has affected the performance at all?

metbandit1 said:
I have the P8P67 PRO mobo, had it for a week or so now. no problems apart from that it doesnt seem to like the ASUS preformance auto overclock. it says its unstable every time but if your looking to OC manually like i have now then you wont have any problems.

fantastic board!

2600k is best if your going to be looking at a lot of hyperthreading while video editing. it just depends if the programs you use will make use of all the threads.

the cooler is still one of the best out there for air yes. (or so i think anyways)
Click to expand...

I would manually oc, I like being in control and knowing what volts are being used.

Cheers for the replies so far looks like I am leaning towards the 2600k. Still need to decide if I should go for 1600mhz or 1866mhz ram.
 
I personally have had the same situation over the 2600k and 2500k (still undecided!) for video editing. What I am personally doing, is weighing up what programs I use that would benefit from hyperthreading and then look at the benchmarks for those particular programs with hyperthreading performance. For example, a lot of the Adobe products take advantage of hyperthreading and there does seem to be some benefit there in having a cpu that has it for certain things. Same goes for video converters, but not all benefit from hyperthreading though. Sony Vegas (which I use a lot) seems to benefit from hyperthreading but between the 2500k and 2600k I haven't seen a benchmark yet that compares them - AnandTech did a comparison with the older i7's and i5's but didn't bother with the 2500k and 2600k for some reason!

It's frustrating because I think some of the reviews for showing the performance difference between the 2500k and 2600k when you're looking at hyperthreading has been quite poor.
 
I haven't found any reviews that compares Sony Vegas either. I will be using Pro 9, but also trying to see if it is worth the £100 upgrading to Pro 10.

There is such a cost difference in the ram I don't know which to go for:

£37.99 - 4gb G.Skill 1600mhz 9-9-9-24
£64.99 - 4gb G.Skill 1600mhz 6-8-6-24

£77.99 - 8gb G.Skill 1600mhz 9-9-9-24
£115.99 - 8gb G.Skill 1600mhz 7-8-7-24

£74.99 - 4gb G.Skill 2133mhz 9-11-9-28
£104.99 - 4gb G.Skill 2133mhz 9-10-9-28

£139.99 - 8gb Corsair 1866mhz 9-11-9-27
 
Thanks for all the input guys, I am thinking of the 2600k, ASUS P8P67 Pro (but will read more reviews first), cheap 8gb of 1600Mhz and the Prolimatech Megahalems. Should last me a while. Got some HD footage that I really need to get on editing.
 
get a load of reviews read for the P8P67 Pro but from using i think its one of the best boards for the money!

looks like you have a good list of parts there though so keep us posted on when you get them etc :)
 
Update, I ordered and the components and put them together this weekend. Just installing everything now. So far the only problems were: the mobo not booting because I didnt have a fan connected (using a fan controller) so disabled that in the bios. Other issue is that I installed ATI Catalyst 11.2 and its totally different lol. If I enable Overdrive to OC my 5870, my second screen flickers whenever I do something on either screen. So for now no OCing on the 5870.

It is lighting, probably because I wasn't using the Vertexx 2E before. When I reboot I go off and do something forgetting how quick it gets back into Windows. Not OCed the CPU yet, going to wait a week to make sure everything is working as it should, then i will have a play.
 
I know, but I kinda forgot and its now in its place where I have to unplug everything just to pull it out. Managed to mange the cables alright and it looks pretty clean and tidy in there. The Mega Shadow almost touches the window its that tall lol; and the fan almost touches the ram.
 
Just an update, been having a problem where the pc would freeze for half a second every so often; and when playing songs, video or games would also freeze and the sound would stutter.

Tried uninstalling and reinstalling my sound card and other components but it didn't help.

So I opened it up late last night to move the sound card and noticed that the front part of the graphics card was not fully in the PCI-E slot. I can't push it down more because it rests on the case, so I guess the motherboard in sitting to low in the case.

Going to see if I can raise the height tonight, seems a weird problem and one I have not encountered before. I just used the same mounts that my last motherboard was sitting on.
 
Pants, the graphics card was seated properly. I am still have this stuttering issue, I have tried setting the ram to auto (1333mhz) and that didn't help. I am running out of ideas here :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom