£600-£700 Gaming Rig Upgrade Advice

Vysey

Vysey

Vysey

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Joined
17 Oct 2010
Posts
55
Location
S.Wales, UK
Hey all I know I've posted recently but I'm still really stuck on this upgrade. I got a long weekend coming up in work (3 days) and I would really like to order everything this evening to arrive tomorrow so I got all weekend to play around with it!

Budget for the new parts is around £600 (£700 max)

Current spec is (items in red I'm keeping):
  • Case: Coolermaster HAF-932
  • CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-790FXTA-UD5
  • RAM: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz TwinX Dual Channel
  • GFX: Sapphire HD 5870 1GB GDDR5
  • PSU: Corsair 850W HX Modular PSU
  • Primary HDD: Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB

So bearing that in mind that I'm keeping some parts these are the parts i'm wanting to upgrade and what I've been looking at. Orange items I'm considering/open to suggestion and normal text items I've already got or purchased :D:

  • Case: Coolermaster HAF-932
  • CPU: i7 2700k[SB], it 3770k[IB] or 3930k[SB-E]
  • CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H60
  • Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH [Z77], Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H [Z77] or Asus MAXIMUS V GENE [Z77]. Asrock X79 EXTREME7[X79] or Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 [X79
  • RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit
  • GFX: Sapphire HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 (upgrading to HD7970 in near future)
  • PSU: Corsair 850W HX Modular PSU
  • Primary HDD: Crucial 128GB M4 SSD
  • Secondary HDD: Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB

I would like to have USB3 and PCI 3.0 as a must have kinda thing but everything else is a bonus :).

Considering power performance between the SB-E and SB processors is a factor, not so much cause of the cost of running but the limited amount of better performance you get from SB-E over SB when SB-E uses a fair bit more juice than the SB or IB processors.

I know this is a long post but cheers for the help all I really appreciate it. Hopefully with your help I will be system building on the weekend :)

[EDIT] **** forgot to include what I would be using it for LOL! Heavy Gaming, lots of DVDISO [using DVDFAB] Video encoding (digitizing my DVD collection) along with usual Email, Internet, HD video and Office programs etc...
 
Last edited:
Looks good. If you're gaming, and i5 2500K [or IB equivalent] is ideal, as games can't use the extra threads yet. Of course you can afford an i7 so go for that if you want to - though the i5 is on offer :)


YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10) £89.99
Total : £433.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).



2x8GB sticks give you room for more RAM later [not that 16GB won't be enough for a while :p]
 
I'm trying to go for a Hyperthreaded processor for the video encoding part of my build, I still got around 200 DVD's to go hehe.

2 x 8GB sticks would leave space but I can't see me needing 32GB :P
 
Vysey said:
I'm trying to go for a Hyperthreaded processor for the video encoding part of my build, I still got around 200 DVD's to go hehe.

2 x 8GB sticks would leave space but I can't see me needing 32GB :P
Click to expand...

Ah I see - in that case a 2600K is a good idea :)

Nor can I, but when it's on offer for the same price... why not?
 
beejjacobs said:
Ah I see - in that case a 2600K is a good idea :)

Nor can I, but when it's on offer for the same price... why not?
Click to expand...

True indeed! As for the motherboard choice what do you think of the Sniper G1. 3?

Also 2600k over the 2700k? What's the difference :P

Also how come you didn't recommend X79?
 
Vysey said:
True indeed! As for the motherboard choice what do you think of the Sniper G1. 3?

Also 2600k over the 2700k? What's the difference :P
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the 2700K is 100Mhz faster for £20 more :p

Green one? Looks awesome - I wouldn't spend that much on a motherboard, but I'm sure it's very good!
 
Sorry yeah got distracted was gunna do a X79 option - if editing is serious and it needs to be as fast as possible, then X79 is a good option. If you're sticking to 1/2 GPUs and gaming is the main use, I'd stick with Z77!


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £431.99
1 x MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) Intel X79 (Socket LGA2011) DDR3 Motherboard with FREE Thermaltake Frio Advanced Cooler £229.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX) £89.99
Total : £763.96 (includes shipping : £10.00).




YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) Intel X79 (Socket LGA2011) DDR3 Motherboard with FREE Thermaltake Frio Advanced Cooler £229.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX) £89.99
Total : £561.96 (includes shipping : £10.00).



3820 vs 2600k
3820 vs 3930K
 
beejjacobs said:
Sorry yeah got distracted was gunna do a X79 option - if editing is serious and it needs to be as fast as possible, then X79 is a good option. If you're sticking to 1/2 GPUs and gaming is the main use, I'd stick with Z77!


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £431.99
1 x MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) Intel X79 (Socket LGA2011) DDR3 Motherboard with FREE Thermaltake Frio Advanced Cooler £229.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX) £89.99
Total : £763.96 (includes shipping : £10.00).




YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £229.99
1 x MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) Intel X79 (Socket LGA2011) DDR3 Motherboard with FREE Thermaltake Frio Advanced Cooler £229.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3K4/16GX) £89.99
Total : £561.96 (includes shipping : £10.00).



3820 vs 2600k
3820 vs 3930K
Click to expand...

In that case I'll stick with Z77 :)

Any other tips or help? I might order this in about 20 mins =]
 
beejjacobs said:
lol

Well I'd choose Gigabyte, they make quality boards that get good reviews. They have a UK RMA base should anything go wrong too!

But it's your call :)
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan then :). Is there really a point in splashing out on a G1. Sniper 3 board or just stick with a standard board (like the one you listed :))
 
Looking good. I've heard Asrock's build quality isn't as good, Asus make good baords.

Is the 2700K worth the extra for 100Mhz!? You can overclock it way past that anyway :)
 
beejjacobs said:
Looking good. I've heard Asrock's build quality isn't as good, Asus make good baords.

Is the 2700K worth the extra for 100Mhz!? You can overclock it way past that anyway :)
Click to expand...

Yup right I've ordered it now with the Gigabyte board. Not giving myself any time to change my motherboard choice lol. Yeah I went with the 2600k :)

Appreciate the help! :D
 
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