£600 to spend.

Sycho · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:07

I have £600 to spend which i can use on my current pc, it doesn't have to be done now but i am wondering if it be worth it basically i have several options:

1.Should i get a 2nd GTX680 ready for Ivybridge upgrade in the future and to use my 120hz fully in games such as BF3?
2.Large 512GB SSD and use it for my games?
3.Get a Socket 2011 cpu+X79 board+16gb memory+good air/liquid cooler?(though this probably will not be much of an upgrade?)
4.Keep cash and wait put towards Ivybridge?

I am leaning towards option 1 unless people have other ideas? maybe i should just save it for a holiday lol.

Thanks.

beejjacobs · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:11

As you already have an SSD and decent CPU, I'd be tempted by option 1

IvanDobskey · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:17

I'd just keep the cash, you have a top system as it is

derv · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:19

Option 1 is good. Or perhaps go fully watercooled..... or a 2nd screen.

Sycho · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:25

I tell you one thing though, i am not that impressed with my Megahalems since my idle temps are 48-50c!(i have speedstep disabled and voltage is constantly 1.30v) on the cores but load is 68-72c with HT enabled....the vipers are quite noisy too.Might switch it to the Noctua cooler that Ivan has above or go for an Antec Kuhler 920.

Watercooled i am not too keen on to be honest, i like the idea but it seems a pain to clean it? thanks for input so far people.

stulid · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:30

IvanDobskey said:
I'd just keep the cash, you have a top system as it is

This is the sensible thing to do.

Sycho · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:32

stulid said:
This is the sensible thing to do.

Do you think it's worth changing my cooler though? i do not understand why my idle temps are so high. :confused:

Yeah think i'll save it for a holiday, thanks guys.

stulid · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:34

is it seated ok?

with speed step off you can expect highish temps especially with the good weather lately.

Sycho · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:36

Yeah i even re-seated it....it's done very very tight.

Is it because Speedstep and voltage changing isn't enabled in Bios? i heard though that this cpu can't have voltage alteration during a overclock...like if i use default settings it will switch from 0.93v to 1.2v on the cpu depending on what i am doing.

stulid · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:39

double post.

stulid · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:40

I've never used one, but as its running at 4ghz all the time you should expect higher temps.

but then you also have a great air cooling case, perhaps RJC who use to have one and a gigabyte board might know better.

Sycho · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:46

Yeah my 680 has really really good temps....but i think it's Speedstep ah well it never crashes though and i heard 70c on the cores max during hot weather is fine for intensive cpu games.Wish i was better at overclocking.

Antony101 · 31 Mar 2012 at 00:46

In this nice weather with no extra fans at all in my PC case my i7 at 3.8Ghz struggles to go over 50 at full load. H100 is a pretty good cooler for the money.