Help - advice/comments on my upgrade/new build

Nighthaunt

Nighthaunt

Nighthaunt

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1 Apr 2011
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19
Hi Guys,

Would appreciate any advice/comments on my upgrade/new build.

Components:

radon intel core i5 760 2.80ghz @ 3.80ghz overclocked bundle - gigabyte

msi geforce gtx 560ti oc twin frozr ii 1024mb gddr5 pci-express graphics card

asus xonar dx 7.1 pci-express sound card

tp-link 300mbps wireless-n pci adapter

kingston 128gb ssdnow v series drive

samsung spinpoint f3 1tb sata-ii 32mb cache

OCZ 500W ModXStream Pro Power Supply

Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Case

Coolermaster MegaFlow 200 Red LED Silent Fan for the top of the HAF 912.

Generic DVD-RW from old pc - running on a 26" Samsung TFT monitor and through Creative 7.1 speakers.

Case and Fan arrive tomorrow :) so going to start the build then - Please Note I went with the I5-760 rather than an I5-2500 as this was to a tight budget - if I had gone with the Sandy Bridge chip the extra cost would have meant being stuck with a 460 GPU - so I went for the better graphics card.

Also I'm currently using a set of Creative 1200 wireless headphones for gaming - any suggestions that will bring a big improvement to sound:confused: - happy to have wired with the Xonar going to the front panel.

Let me know what you think guys.
 
are you happy to overclock the rig yourself, because you could save a huge amount of money if you do so. probably enough to get yourself a sandybridge processor

*edit*
as i suspected, your paying a hell of a lot more. for £50 less you could get similar parts. the ram they have supplied costs a frankly ridiculous £72, when for £38 you could get some RAM that performs exactly the same
 
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Have you bought that setup already? You could get an i5 2500k for the same price as that bundle.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE Shogun 2 Game £167.99

Asus P8P67 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £134.98

OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £35.99

Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99

Total: £370

The 2500k is superior.
Benchmarks between 760 and 2500k: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/191?vs=288
 
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or, you could go for a much cheaper motherboard, which hasnt had so many problems like the asus ones have. it also saves you about £45 over the original bundle


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x MSI P67A-C45 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £104.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £38.39
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £29.99
Total : £346.75 (includes shipping : £9.50).

with this part build, you save £45 over the bundle you chose
 
Already got the MB and Processor - I know Sandy Bridge is a big step up but had to make a decision at the time - I'm not comfortable OCing really myself as also use it for work/union/university so the benefit of guarantee and all sorted is worth the hit in power - I tend to play strategy Games so absolute power isnt a big issue.
 
Hi there,

Ah, so if you already have the MB and CPU, does that mean you have already bought the OCUK bundle and it's up and running?

Also, have you already ordered/recieved the other parts or are you still deciding on some of them?

Assuming you haven't bought any others then I would recommend you get this PSU instead of the OCZ - it is much better quality. It also gives you the power headroom to get a more powerful (but not much more expensive graphics card) like this Gigabyte GTX 480. This chart shows how the two cards compare at stock speeds.

The Kingston SSD is Okay, but the Vertex 2E 120GB is much faster (have a look at this review and here is a direct comparison) and a really nice price these days (£168 on this week's offer).

As for the 760 vs 2500K debate - I know where you are coming from. It does seem a lot easier getting someone to do it for you. However, I really should empasise how easy it is to overclock these Sandy Bridge CPUs yourself. They have an unlocked CPU multiplier - so overclocking with them is a relative doodle (no worrying about hitting a stable upper BCLK and making sure the memory is playing ball, like with nahalem). Also, the sandy bridge chips achieve higher overclocks (aim for 4.4-4.5GHz) and clock-for-clock they are 10-20% faster in CPU heavy applications compared to nahalem chips like the i5 760. You mention that you like playing strategy games - these games tend to be much more CPU-heavy than FPSs and RPGs, so going for a much faster CPU sounds like a good plan from where i'm standing.
 
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Those anandtech CPU comparisons are really annoying - they mix "higher is better" with "lower is better" benchmarks, making it a nightmare to read easily. It's a great feature in theory (or if you've got half an hour to go through it individually), but some pattern or colour-coding could make it perfect.
 
i'd probabyl ditch the 560Ti and get a 480 for around the same price I think the 480 is more powerfull ? I could be wrong though

I believe the 480 is a better clocker also from what i have read on these forums
 
Thanks Guys,

The Kingston SSD I've had for a year or 2, and I've had the PSU for just under a year as well.

I went with the 560 ti as it should run cooler, and I hate to say it but having recieved my electricity bill for winter its a miracle I can afford to splash out on any components:D and if I went with the 480 I've then got to upgrade power supply for another £70 or thereabouts - ends up being a domino effect :)

I must admit I read about Sandy Bridge processors and the 2500 - and had a hard decision - ordered the I5 760 when it was looking like that and the graphics card were all I would be able to afford - since then got a little extra unexpected money which has enabled me to splash out on the sound card, HDD and case.

In some ways I wish I was sensible/brave/sane enough to OC a Sandy Bridge CPU myself but my main worry was blowing the whole thing - left over from an old 486 - dx66 build many many years ago :) But I've recieved the set from OCUK last week so just been waiting for the case to arrive to install, and swap everything over.
Its unlikely I will be able to afford anything major pc component wise for 3 or more years - which is why I went with the slightly slower CPU but faster GPU on the packages available - on balance I believe it will offer me more over over those 3 years than a worse graphics card and better CPU. It's me trying to hedge my bets, and tbh its a tactic I've used in the past with PC's and not been dissapointed.

I don't think I'm going to be dissapointed tbh - I'm not a great FPS on the PC (use Xbox 360 and PS3 for that) and the game that it will probably be spending most of its time running, if the first edition is any guide, will be Sword of the Stars II, with a bit of Starcraft 2 and a lot of Eve Online thrown in. I don't know many games that are even pushing my little old Pentium Dual Core 2 even today that I play, although got treated to Crisis 2 for my birthday so not even tried that yet :) and Shogun 2 works smooth on my current setup with everything maxed out - so hopefully shouldn't encounter anything in next 3 years which is going to really push processor (fingers crossed) :)

And apparently my case is due to be delivered between 16:58-17:58! its about 50 miles to the depot so I will believe it when I see the DPD man knock at the door - so looking like I'm not going to be able to do anything till Thursday minimum as out tomorrow :(
 
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Well guys got the system built and running smooth :) use the X3 Terran demo set as run as benchmark and seen a massive increase - (previous was Dual Core @ 4GHZ, 4GB DDR 2 Ram and ATI 4870 1GB. Almost double the FPS :) Installing Crisis 2 as I type to give the system a good workout :eek: and will see how it does.

Must say the HAF 912 case was a pleasure to build in, and I'm glad I went with the extra 200mm fan on top - although realistically with the Coolermaster MegaFlow 200mm the fans the wrong way round to show off the red LED effect to match the front 200mm identical fan.

Had some fun and games with the old IDE DVD RW I moved across - worked to install Win7 but then died and wont read any disks - checked everything I can think of in BIOS and can't see what would have caused it so assuming its died after 4 years of sterling service.

So ordered another Sony 24 DVD RW as been really pleased with the life of my old one, and since like many people I didn't have enough cable length to feed the motherboard 24 and 8 pin cables behind the tray I ordered some extenders (BitFenix Alchemy cables ) - the individual braided cable ones similar to the NXZT ones are out of stock on OCUK, along with 3 red SATA cables to keep the cable theme inside the case black braid or red smooth. sadly since OCUK don't stock the cables had to go elsewhere :(

Once I get the cable management done tomorrow will post some pics :D
 
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