Another Upgrade Advice Thread (Cheers)

Vysey · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:34

Hey all I posted a few months ago regarding an upgrade which I didn't get around to doing and now that we have some IB reviews and stats (which Is what I've been waiting for) I am now interested in upgrading within the next week.

I already have a few components I intend to keep:
Coolermaster HAF-932 Case
Corsair 850W HX Modular PSU
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm (as secondary)
AMD Radeon HD5870 (upgrading to 7970 in near future)

I've already purchased these parts:
Crucial 128GB 2.5
Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

I'm looking to buy these parts to complete the build:
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz

I'm open to suggestions regarding the CPU and motherboard as I can't decide either way! (Also to the RAM if there is a better option)

I intend to use the PC for a lot of gaming, video encoding, some photo editing and general day to day things such as Word, Excel, Email, Internet and watching HD video etc..

I got a budget for the RAM, CPU and Mobo of around £500-£600 (max)

Appreciate the help guys, I know I'm in the right place for advice!

beejjacobs · 24 Apr 2012 at 00:57

Nicely priced 2600K + Z77 board:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £209.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £134.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B) £71.99
Total : £428.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Splash out on a 3820:

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 Corsair Vengeance Blue 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B) £71.99
Total : £543.96 (includes shipping : £10.00).

I picked that motherboard [sell the cooler] as it has 8 RAM slots - if having 16GB of RAM is going to be plenty for you, get this Gigabyte board instead.

Here's a comparison of the two CPUs - to help you make the decision!

Bare in mind the X79 platform has 6-core CPUs available [3930K and 3960K at the moment] - so if video editing is something you require the very best CPU for, then this perhaps provides a better upgrade path.

Vysey · 24 Apr 2012 at 18:59

No recommendations for Ivy bridge? guess it was a bit disappointing?

beejjacobs · 24 Apr 2012 at 19:07

Vysey said:
No recommendations for Ivy bridge? guess it was a bit disappointing?

Well although reviews are out, its not for sale yet!

Vysey · 24 Apr 2012 at 19:14

True but I can wait until the end of the week if it's worth it

beejjacobs · 24 Apr 2012 at 19:33

Vysey said:
True but I can wait until the end of the week if it's worth it

Well, that's up to you. I'm not too clued up on the prices yet [not convinced anyone really knows]. But it's probably worth waiting, even if for a hopefully cheaper SB!

Vysey · 24 Apr 2012 at 19:39

Might be worth waiting a few days for then to see how it is. I'm sure IB will be cheaper than a SB-E system with a k processor =]