Cadbury's Options - Finalise my spec

Derek W

Derek W

Derek W

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Following on from this topic http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18355476

I've been chopping and changing what I'm wanting to upgrade to but still sticking with the red / white theme mentioned in the previous topic.

I've already bought the following

Corsair 600T White Case
Crucial 128GB M4 SSD
Western Digital 2Tb Caviar Green (will buy another in the future)
Corsair H80 cpu cooler.

My main use will be for Photo processing with some minor gaming.

I'm looking at i7 chips but not sure whether there's any advantage of getting x79 over z68 mobos other than that I'm wanting at least 16gb of ram and a decent graphics card. I'm thinking as well of getting an internal tv card so not overly fussed about multiple gpus at this stage.

Could i get some advice on suitable gear :)

EDIT

Budget is fairly flexible so any ideas are welcomed
 
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GrimsbyLAD said:
Do you have a budget for us please?
Click to expand...

as stated in the edit, I'm fairly flexible. I have looked into the 3930k i7 with the top asus rampage x79 mobo with 32gb Gskillz ram. GPU wise I'd probably be looking at a 2 - 3gb card max at the moment. So with that in mind around the 1k mark for the upgrade. I'm still to buy windows 7 ultimate and reusing psu from previous build.
 
cmndr_andi said:
Hi there,

Considering your uses I would personally opt for a s1155 quad core over a s2011 hex core - since the s2011 hex bundle costs a LOT more and the performance advantage in photo editing software of a hex core isn't great (see here).

Instead I would suggest either going with a s1155 Sandy Bridge i7 and a Z68 board or waiting until the end of the month and picking up a next generation Ivy Bridge quad core i7 and Z77 board.

Also, I would strongly suggest you go for a good quality air cooler over the H80 liquid cooler. I say this because a decent air cooler like this one performs just as well as a H80 while costing less and being MUCH quieter.
Click to expand...


This is what im really needing the info for. If there was much of an advantage over the 'standard' i7 2700k chip but for the usage there's only a slight advantage with the 3930k chip when doing 3D work (I also use autocad / 3d studio)
It does appear that a high end socket 1155 cpu / mobo combo would work for my needs and there's always the overclocking ability should i need it.

As for the cooler, as stated in my OP I've already bought the H80 so doubt I'd sell it for a loss to go for an air cooler. I'm currently using the noctua c12p on my q9550 and it keeps things nice and cool, but just fancied a change to one of the closed water loops.

EDIT

Also going with a z68 board and compatible cpu would free up some cash for a GPU as well for the same budget allowance. So any suggestions are more than welcome.
 
Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £304.99
(£254.16) £304.99
(£254.16)
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD 2560MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD 2560MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £279.95
(£233.29) £279.95
(£233.29)
Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £251.99
(£209.99) £251.99
(£209.99)
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL ) £39.95
(£33.29) £79.90
(£66.58)
Sub Total : £764.02
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £152.80
Total : £916.82

Dropping down to the z68, I can lump in quite a decent GPU and still be under the 1k budget.

Sorry cant remember what to do to get the nice wee basket info stuff complete with pictures :p
 
cmndr_andi said:
May I ask why you went for that particular Z68 board? It is amazingly expensive for what it is. For comparison, this is a good Z68 board that overclocks well and comes with a lot of nice features. The main benefit of the Extreme-Z board is the ability to run three graphics cards, but if you don't plan on doing that then a much cheaper board would be just as good.

However, the new Z77 boards have just been released, so instead of a Z68 board I would go with one of these as they offer more features and work with Sandy Bridge CPUs, while costing the same. This one looks like a good board.

If you can wait then the new Ivy Bridge CPUs will be out as well at the end of the month and offer a bit of extra performance for the same money. The top-end ivy bridge CPU at lauch is expected to be the 3.5GHz i7 3770K.
Click to expand...

Not too much reasoning behind that mobo, other than I'm trying to keep with a similar colour scheme so the red / black on the mobo will be preferable. Didn't realise the z77 boards were released, thought it was the 8th? might be thinking of something else i read on the shop.
 
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