Mobo, CPU and 16gb mem – budget ~£450

Skunkworks · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:31

Starting to think about an upgrade for my main gaming rig. I’m thinking Z77 probably represents the best bang for my buck.

If you were buying, what would you go for?

Mei · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:31

case?

Skunkworks · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:34

Oops, ATX.

triggerthat · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:38

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI316G160C9K) £71.99
1 x Antec 302 Three Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £52.99
1 x Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 High Performance Quiet CPU Cooler (Socket 775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3) £29.99
Total : £436.94 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Skunkworks · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:41

My mistake, I don't actually need a case or cooler, just mobo, CPU and RAM. When you said "case?", I thought you were asking for the form factor.

eddyr · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:43

Although realife minimal perf diff, same price this week only offer 2x8 kit, slightly faster

Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI316G186C0K) £71.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-074-PA

Idleman · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:46

Skunkworks said:
My mistake, I don't actually need a case or cooler, just mobo, CPU and RAM. When you said "case?", I thought you were asking for the form factor.

Do you have a cooler? Will you be using single or dual card?
8gb ram is enough for gaming.

triggerthat · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:46

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI316G186C0K) £71.99
Total : £381.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).

stulid · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:47

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £127.99
1 x Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G213C1K) £38.39
Total : £362.77 (includes shipping : £9.50).

8GB is enough for gaming.

Skunkworks · 3 Oct 2012 at 14:49

Idleman said:
Do you have a cooler? Will you be using single or dual card?
8gb ram is enough for gaming.

I have a NH-D14 cooler, and I'll be using 1 card.

BrianB · 3 Oct 2012 at 15:00

Imo this, I have the same with the D14, but 8GB and it's plenty for me for gaming with 1GB as RAMDISK for pagefile and caches. Getting the 8GB version of this ram save you nearly £40 and can upgrade later if needed. Great ram, great motherboard! Mobo power phases run very cool, 60c max with 1.29v under load. Also has thunderbolt.

You can go much cheaper on the motherboard and ram if you want to save money, but you asked what I would buy, and this is what I bought!

The ram is also a great height as it's so bloody small, doesn't even go over the ram slot clips so perfect for D-14.

Mei · 3 Oct 2012 at 15:07

whats ur spec atm?
just wondering

Skunkworks · 3 Oct 2012 at 16:55

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

Mei said:
whats ur spec atm?
just wondering

Asus P6T
i7 920
12gb RAM

BrianB · 3 Oct 2012 at 17:00

I would wait for Haswell if I already had an i7! Can't see much of an upgrade coming from a new CPU and motherboard. Maybe you should look for another GPU if you want gaming improvements?

Idleman · 3 Oct 2012 at 17:17

What Gpu do have?

Skunkworks · 3 Oct 2012 at 17:20

I just won a 7970 Lightning - I wanted to upgrade the rest of my kit to roughly the same level.

EDIT

Quick question: Will I lose my RAID0 when I change mobo's?

Idleman · 3 Oct 2012 at 17:32

Skunkworks said:
I just won a 7970 Lightning - I wanted to upgrade the rest of my kit to roughly the same level.

EDIT

Quick question: Will I lose my RAID0 when I change mobo's?

Of course you did, thought i recognised the name. Lucky so and so.

Don`t know about Raid0, can`t answer that one.

stulid · 3 Oct 2012 at 17:35

Yes he will.

Even if the controller is the same, I think it loses it moving to another.

Thejay · 3 Oct 2012 at 17:45

The problem is most onboard solutions will only allow you to create a raid array and not import one.... I'm currently pulling nearly 1TB off my machine to upgrade it lol

BrianB · 3 Oct 2012 at 17:52

Oh you lucky...

congratulations!

If you must then the kit I linked is more than adequate.

I have the same cpu cooler as you, same GPU except my 7970 is a cheap one with an Accelero 7970 cooler on it.

Kudos for not bragging in the original post. I would be all over that.