Final Spec ?

Karateyid · 11 Oct 2011 at 12:51

Finally thought bu**er it and have decided to lump an upgrade on a Credit card rather than wait til after xmas (when I'll have the spare cash) to sort this out...

Currently have E6600 dual core with 4gb Ram, 650W psu and an asus 5850EAH 1gb gfx card, 1 70gb raptor drive and a 500gb sataII Hdd.

Plan is as follows :-

1. Upgrade Motherboard to ASrock Extreme 4 Gen 3.
2. Cpu upgrade to i5 2500K retail (does it come with a CPU cooler these days ??)
3. RAM 8GB XMS3 1600mhz.
4. Windows 64bit..

Possible add ons over the next couple of months would be a better cooler (silver arrow when its back in stock or antec 920(any thoughts??)) and probably a crucial 128gb M4 SSD.

Plan is to then upgrade the cpu to Ivybridge and get a new PCi 3 GFX card when they are released..

I'm not a hardcore overclocker so overclocking isn't going to be much of an issue at the moment.. Looking to get this kit in and running before the launch of BF3... with that in mind should i get another 5850 to xfire??

Reaper 392 · 11 Oct 2011 at 12:53

wait till tomorrow because thats when the NDA for bulldozer ends by the sound of things

Karateyid · 11 Oct 2011 at 12:56

From the posts that I have seen kicking about regarding bulldozer its looking to be a bit of a dud compared to the I5... I'll probably be ordering this by end of next week so I'll see what other news comes out about it..

shadow_boxer · 11 Oct 2011 at 14:04

Yeah wait until tomorrow to see how Bulldozer performs. Yeah, it probably won't wipe the floor with Sandy Bridge or anything close but if priced competitively it may well be another viable option for those wanting a high end system on a budget.

Re. your components they all look fine and yes retail CPUs will come with the stock cooler. As for an aftermarket cooler, if your not interested much in overclocking you could consider a Gelid Tranquillo for £25 rather than such a high end cooler that would largely be wasted if your not trying to push 4.7GHz+.

Regarding a second 5850, that'd be decent move, should be able to get one second hand for around £75-80 and it'll nicely boost gaming performance. What make and model is your 650W PSU? Dual 5850s consume around 450-500W (total system power consumption) so if you have a decent 650W PSU you will be fine.