Need spec suggestions (₤500)

threedee

threedee

threedee

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Looking to buy an i7 bundle (not OCd). Have to spend ₤500.

What should i get AND WHY ?

Too much choice, need to decide in two days.
Need CPU(has to be i7), mobo and ram. The rest is already sorted.
Overclockability is of importance, will try pushing 4.4-4.6hgz

I'm specifically requesting it in parts and not a "bundle", that saves a little bit of money.

Any way to squeeze in a decent 120gb ssd ? (my current OS disk is 10 year old 120gb :D i want to retire it before it retires on me unexpectedly)
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £239.99
(£199.99) £239.99
(£199.99)
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £73.98
(£61.65) £73.98
(£61.65)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £45.59
(£37.99) £45.59
(£37.99)
Sub Total : £407.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £83.49
Total : £500.94

You need to order soon for the motherboard price - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=20541337#post20541337


Reviews
http://www.kitguru.net/components/m...-z68ap-d3-z68-review-bargain-buy-of-the-year/
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/gigabyte_ga_z68ap_d3_review,1.html
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...herboards/gigabyte-ga-z68ap-d3-1026263/review
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2011/10/11/gigabyte-ga-z68ap-d3-review/1

Your case does take a ATX board?


 
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Aaaaand i forgot a cooler... I guess i'll have to go overboard. Suggestions ?
Case i use is Antec900 so its well ventilated, dont need anything noisy...
 
Well the intel cooler supplied with a Retail chip is good for say 4GHz, but as you are wanting higher, I would suggest a Gelid Tranquillo.

Another fact to alert you to is that the motherboard despite having two physical 16X slots, doesnt support SLI, it also only runs Crossfire at 16X/4X bandwidth, it really is a "single card" only type board.
 
Need it to be sli, for future proofing.

At the mo i have one 480gtx, and an old 8800gts512 is kicking about want to use it for physx, and maybe later when prices go town on 480s i'll stick another one of these in...
 
Lucid allows the switching between a discrete GFX card and the onboard GFX core built in to the CPU core, helps save power/heat.

Quicksync allows some programs (video/audio editing etc) to use the onboard GFX core to speed up rendering times compared to just using the CPU (you will need to check if a program is supported)

If you are using Nvidia cards then you may find CUDA is better than Quicksync anyways and better supported.
 
So whats your suggestion for mobo ? I WILL be using nVidia cards.

Of the last two MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 looks better, why should i choose it over Gigabyte Z68X-UD5 apart from Virtu ?
 
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threedee said:
Of the last two MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 looks better, why should i choose it over Gigabyte Z68X-UD5 apart from Virtu ?
Click to expand...

Umm,

It has Gen3 for both PCi-E 16X slots, the Gigabyte will be Gen3 for the top 16X slot.

The MSI has UEFI style BIOS, the Gigabyte is a HybridEFI that looks like the older style you maybe use too.

Because the MSI has Lucid etc, it has display output ports at the rear, these can be used if you have a problem with your Nvidia cards to keep you using the PC for basic tasks.


**for this Gen3 malarkey you need to fit a ivybridge CPU (due next year) as that has the PCI-E controller built-in to it, you also need one of the next Gen cards***
 
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So any way to fit into 500 quid by using
MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 (decided)
i7 2600 (decided)
ssd ?
still have to get ram and a cooler.

#edit# well a little over 500..
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £239.99
(£199.99) £239.99
(£199.99)
MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £124.99
(£104.16) £124.99
(£104.16)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £83.99
(£69.99) £83.99
(£69.99)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £45.59
(£37.99) £45.59
(£37.99)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sub Total : £433.79
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £88.66
Total : £531.95

Cut the SSD back to 64GB, you can claim roughly £20 back - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18338613
 
no, 64 is not good enough, i do some graphics work apart from messing in games.
My current 120gb drive is about 110gb full only in software and no games.
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
(£139.99) £167.99
(£139.99)
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £124.99
(£104.16) £124.99
(£104.16)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £45.59
(£37.99) £45.59
(£37.99)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sub Total : £412.12
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £84.32
Total : £505.94

use a i5 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287 - you lose Hyperthreading, 100mHz core speed and 2MB LvL3 cache.
 
I guess i'll have to compromise somewhere, i need i7 for work, ps/coreldraw/cad/max. Good OC motherboard for games. I may have to let the ssd go. Really hurts this one, i really wanted an ssd as a toy i suppose :D

Also i would rather futureproof core of the system (mobo/cpu+cooler/ram)...
 
Exactly.

What C8, C9, C10 at the end of the RAM is ? (didnt follow much into ddr3 development).
And which is better ?

Ah, CL, got it....
 
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