Best to Spec or buy a Bundle? (or spec me?)

GreenMint · 6 Nov 2012 at 11:56

Hi guys, wanting to upgrade my E8400 and I think its about time! I have my hard drives, 2 SSD's, NVidia GTX 460TI and I'm happy to keep all them for now, as well as my older (2007-8) Corsair Modular 550W PSU which I think should be enough?

Hoping to get an I5, with motherboard, good, and very quiet cooler, and 8gb RAM.

Ideally not wanting to spend over £350-£400, would this be doable, maybe even on a lower price without sacrificing performance?

stulid · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:00

A few questions please.

• Is an ATX sized board ok?
• Want SLI/Crossfire as an option?
• DVD drive etc SATA also?

GreenMint · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:09

Sorry mate, did miss a few points there

ATX is fine, I have an Akasa Eclipse and am buying some new fans and a controller for that!

SLI/Crossfire doesn't need to be an option, at most, gaming wise I'll probably just stick to MMO's, either way, I wouldn't be going too hardcore.

DVD drive is SATA and sitting in the cupboard (Realised my current board only has 4 SATA ports, all of which are in use, when I bought it!)

stulid · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:10

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 £89.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Xigmatek Achilles II SD1284 CPU-Cooler - 120mm (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366 AMD AM2/AM3/FM1) £23.98
Total : £340.34 (includes shipping : £9.50).

mickyflinn · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:11

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £75.98
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3/FM1) £49.2
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
Total : £352.16 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Idleman · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:12

Ignore, did`nt read op correctly.

GreenMint · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:15

Original cooler is a Noctua-UH12F (I believe F) from about 2008 which I think did have different mounting plates, but I think it'll be easier to sell that with the current system.

GreenMint · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:17

mickyflinn said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £75.98
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 2011/1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3/FM1) £49.2
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
Total : £352.16 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Bloody hell!! That CPU Cooler is bigger than the Fan under my car bonnet, 1kg too!!!

Specs look very good!!

mickyflinn · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:19

TimBrad said:
Bloody hell!! That CPU Cooler is bigger than the Fan under my car bonnet, 1kg too!!!

Specs look very good!!

That cooler is awsome and is on special till tomorrow.

Idleman · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:24

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 REV A CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
Total : £331.36 (includes shipping : £9.50).

stulid · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:46

Please remember that MSI have locked/limited voltage control on that board.

Idleman · 6 Nov 2012 at 12:57

stulid said:
Please remember that MSI have locked/limited voltage control on that board.

Yes, it seems 4.4Ghz is your max OC with this board.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2012/06/11/msi-z77a-g43-review/1

dunn2010 · 6 Nov 2012 at 13:00

stulid said:
Please remember that MSI have locked/limited voltage control on that board.

+1 make sure you get the gigabyte d3h over the g43

dunn2010 · 6 Nov 2012 at 14:14

on a side note i would wait until tomorrow before ordering. none of parts are on sale atm (apart from that one fan)

tomorrows deals could be the intel processors again (seem to be common past few weeks) which would drop i5 to 167, the gigabyte board also tends to go on sale a lot and some decent ram might also go on sale.

its all mights and maybes but for the sake of one day and your not losing anything. i think its worth waiting.

GreenMint · 6 Nov 2012 at 14:19

dunn2010 said:
on a side note i would wait until tomorrow before ordering. none of parts are on sale atm (apart from that one fan)

tomorrows deals could be the intel processors again (seem to be common past few weeks) which would drop i5 to 167, the gigabyte board also tends to go on sale a lot and some decent ram might also go on sale.

its all mights and maybes but for the sake of one day and your not losing anything. i think its worth waiting.

Definately a good call, its not as if I'm in a rush, will see what tomorrow brings, the current pc is working fine, but its almost just an itch to scratch, I may end up just doing a fan controller & new fans then the rest after christmas! Will see what happens!