Updating older PC - > Spec me please?

white43

white43

white43

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12 Jul 2011
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Dorset, England
At present, I'm running an Intel 2 Extreme X8600 system with 4GB Ram and a 7800GT card. Yea, it's about 4 yrs old....:D

What I'd ideally like is an Intel i7 2600k system.

I just don't earn enough for an expensive system, but I have a budget of about £450 where I was hoping to upgrade the CPU/Ram/MB/HSF. I'm quite happy putting the components together myself. My existing PSU/HDD are all fairly new anyway and I'm happy to continue to use existing case/DVD drive.

I'm not an extreme game player, but I do like to play an hour or so a day. So a new graphics card on top of the £450 will be necessary, but not necessarily straight away.

I was looking at:
Intel Core i7-2600 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)
(£397.96)

But I'm reading that the Mobo might be a bit hasty.

I'm not too bothered about it being overclocked right now.

Any advice?
 
Thanks for the replies.

I was hoping someone would comment on the mobo.

Would those same components be OK to work with that mobo?

I can afford i7, I think, but I'd kinda like to stay somewhat ahead in the CPU market(rather than go i5). SO what about this:

Intel Core i7-2600 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
Asrock Z68 PRO3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX)
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366)

£405.97

I MIGHT want to go SSD somewhere in the future. I'm unlikely to ever want more than one graphics card.

Graphics card? Let's say around the £100 mark.
 
white43 said:
I can afford i7, I think, but I'd kinda like to stay somewhat ahead in the CPU market(rather than go i5).
Click to expand...

the only real reason to consider the 2600 over the 2500 would be if you intend to use the system for video editing, and always get the K version, as you might not want to currently overclock, but in future it will give you the ability to and give you a bit of extra speed for nothing.

not quite sure what you consider "staying ahead" in the cpu market, the i7/i5 difference isn't like the previous versions where they had different socket types.

gfx card wise have a look at the nvidia 460gtx 1gb or the ati 6850.
 
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mp260767 said:
the only real reason to consider the 2600 over the 2500 would be if you intend to use the system for video editing, and always get the K version, as you might not want to currently overclock, but in future it will give you the ability to and give you a bit of extra speed for nothing.

not quite sure what you consider "staying ahead" in the cpu market, the i7/i5 difference isn't like the previous versions where they had different socket types.

gfx card wise have a look at the nvidia 460gtx 1gb or the ati 6850.
Click to expand...

Funny you mention video editing. Yes, I fanedit occassionally as well. So a 2600k it would be. "Staying ahead" - I think I meant the cliche 'future-proof'.

That graphics card is a little out of my price range TBH.

Can anyone confirm that the components I have selected are OK/compatible?

EDIT - updated list with 'K' 2600 processer:

Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £239.99
Asrock Z68 PRO3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £99.98
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £47.99
Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
£411.95
 
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white43 said:
Funny you mention video editing. Yes, I fanedit occassionally as well. So a 2600k it would be. "Staying ahead" - I think I meant the cliche 'future-proof'.
Click to expand...

future proof wise, don't really think there is that much between the 2500K/2600K, really depends if you'd make use of the video editing to make the 2600K (and the extra £60 cost) worthwhile.

list you provided looks fine and should do nicely :D.

funny how times change, now you can get 8gb of ddr3 for the price of 4gb ddr2.
 
I see what you mean. An i5 brings the price down by a good 90 quid, which could be better spent on say perhaps a "nvidia 460gtx 1gb" :p

Thanks for the help mate.
 
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I went for this in the end:

Item: Intel Core i7 2600k 3.4GHz Socket 1155 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Item: Corsair A50 Socket Intel 775, 1156,1155, 1366 AMD AM2 AM3 Performance CPU Cooler
Item: Asrock Z68 PRO3 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
Item: G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V
Item: ASUS HD 6850 Direct CU 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI Display Port Out Graphics Card

From ******, as they deliver tomorrow and it came in at £525.93 inc Saturday delivery.

Someone please don't tell me I've screwed up somewhere.....:eek:
 
white43 said:
Oh balls. Really?????
Click to expand...

It may not be the end of the world.

You always have the Intel heatsink supplied to fall back on.

As for the A50 cooler,

http://www.corsair.com/cooling/air-series/air-series-a50.html
The fan/cooling fin structure is elevated 43mm (1.69") from the motherboard. Some motherboards outfitted with six pieces (6GB or 12GB) of Corsair Dominator and Dominator GT memory may not provide enough clearance between the CPU and the closest memory slot. Motherboards with standard height memory do not present a potential compatibility issue.
Click to expand...

You could always put the RAM in the 2nd and 4th slot from the CPU socket.

Or maybe turn the heatsink from south to north or east to west.
 
Thanks for the suggestions Stulid - I guess I won't know until tomorrow. I work in IT, you'd think that by now I'd know that nothing ever usually goes smoothly ;-)
your best bet is probably to point the fan/heatsink towards the top.
Click to expand...

Cheers Jony.

The stock HSF is not really up to much though is it? Well, I guess a temp fix if the Corsair is simply no good. Mind you, I don't plan on upgrading to 12/16GB anytime soon. Ah we'll just av to see.
 
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the stock cooler is still good for a mild overclock upto 4GHz, you can but try and see if the A50 fits with the RAM,
 
Jony27 said:
the stock cooler is still good for a mild overclock upto 4GHz, you can but try and see if the A50 fits with the RAM,
Click to expand...

Ah now you see, I don't plan to overclock - yet. I'm coming up from :
Intel 2 Extreme X8600 system with 4GB Ram and a 7800GT card

This will feel like greased lightning to start with! If I could just get Black Ops to play I'd be chuffed.

Also moving to 64bit Windows 7.

Also, guys, while I think about it - what are acceptable core temps for the 2600K?
 
oh i see, it should play BO no problem.
well at stock you should be getting around 40C idle and around 60C load.
 
I've just thought of my first oversight.

My DVD Drives are IDE.

No IDE connections on the PRO3!!!!

Can you get IDE-SATA adaptors?
 
And are the HDD's IDE too?

Honestly, its easier to walk to a shop tomorrow and spend £15 on a new SATA burner.
 
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