Christmas upgrade check please?

Jarrastafari · 3 Nov 2012 at 20:22

Getting an early Christmas present;

Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99

MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III OC V2 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £251.99

Intel 520 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £119.99

Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £75.98

GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £23.99

Total : £753.94

Existing system is;

Phenom X2 550 Black Edition @ 3.3GHz (third core also unlocked)

4GB nameless 1333MHz RAM

Sapphire 5770 1GB

Western Digital 150GB 10,000-RPM HDD (windows, programs, games)

Western Digital 500GB 7,200-RPM HDD (files)

OCZ GXS 600 Watt PSU

Thermaltake Shark (ATX, full tower case)

I'm going to be mainly gaming (Battlefield Sundays) but I'm also enrolling to a Computer Games Design course and will be using programs like Zbrush, Unreal Engine 3, etc.

I know this should be a substantial upgrade and I've done a lot of research but please point out anything I could have missed.

Thanks, Dan

stulid · 3 Nov 2012 at 20:24

Get the D3H board as it has Lucid support.

1600Mhz RAM.

For gaming a 3570K is as fast, depends who much you think you need the i7 for your other uses?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99
1 x Sapphire HD 7950 OC 3072MB PCI-Express Graphics Card (11196-01-20G) with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £239.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128N/EU) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £29.99
Total : £725.94 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Jarrastafari · 3 Nov 2012 at 20:27

Thanks stulid; I was thinking 3770K simply for the Hyptethreading support which I *think* is useful for Zbrush, Unreal, etc.?

stulid · 3 Nov 2012 at 20:28

Added an updated basket above.

I think you are right about the i7.

Jarrastafari · 3 Nov 2012 at 20:38

What a star, cheers!

stulid · 3 Nov 2012 at 20:40

The retail CPU includes a stock intel heatsink, but with the £25 saving you could add a better aftermarket cooler,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-021-XG&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2354

Jarrastafari · 3 Nov 2012 at 20:45

What a guy

The Sapphire should clock as well as the MSI? I know MSI has a better RMA but hopefully I shouldn't need it.

Also, trading the three year warranty for a better cooler sounds ok with me.

Have a good'n mate~!