Help me update my system please.

wez130

wez130

wez130

Soldato
Joined
31 Jan 2004
Posts
11,328
Location
Matakana New Zealand
I'm pretty out of touch with what's about now, my last build was based on a Asus P5Q pro / Q6600 / HD4850 platform about 6 years ago and it's starting to BSOD and stuff now so i think i need to bring my comp into the modern day.

Although i'm not a big gamer, i still want the possibility so i've sourced a Powercolor PCS+ HD7870 Tahiti LE off MM here so need to base the rest of the system around that. Main use for comp will be photo editing, media streaming and basic browsing and the odd game, the latest game i do have is far cry 3 lol, that said, with a half decent gfx card i may buy newer games.

So what components would be best matched to the HD7870, i'd rather go Intel (i7?) but will consider AMD if they are a good match these days.

Not bothered about overclocking so don't worry about a good clocking board.

budget up to £100 for the board and sensible price for CPU (not sure on going rate atm)

Thx, Wez
 
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RJC, that RAM and that cooler MAY not work together.. Me and Stu discussed this the other day and are still unsure. While the Matterhorn will fit some outside mounted RAM, the Beast Heatsinks are wider (at the top) than most so there may be some interference.

As for the OP, it seems AMD may be a decent option (only an option mind you).
Apart from games, the other programs you stated are happy with Piledrivers architecture and while i normally don't recommend AMD for high-end gaming with you're (still awesome) 7870 the 8320 seems a good match.

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £103.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-UD3P AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £45.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £330.90 (includes shipping : ).

 
RJC said:
Will you require a case, hard drives and a new psu?
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I want a new case (got a Thermaltake opera from years ago and it looks a mess.) I'd like something a little smaller if possible with clean lines and not looking like a transformer. was looking at the Corsair Carbide 300 today which is apparently well dampened for noise reduction, which i'd like.

Also just looked at the Zalman Z3 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-082-ZA&groupid=2362&catid=736. Is it cheap for a reason?

I have a thermaltake 500w PSU too which has always run perfectly fine for me, but with a beefier GPU will i need more? What kind of power will the CPU be pulling (Probably go for the AMD FX8 i think)

Edit:

Done a spec anyway, I have included a overclocking cpu.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £233.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K2/8X) £45.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £475.90 (includes shipping : ).

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Is 8gb RAM enough these days, i've 8 gig of DDR 2 atm. I realise i'll need DDR3 though lol

I'm going to go for a SSD boot disc (128gb enough) Then a couple of 2tb HDDs eventually, but for now i'll use what i've got (1x500gb, 1x320gb and a 2tb networked HDD). I can't say i've ever struggled for space.
 
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Doomedspeed said:
As for the OP, it seems AMD may be a decent option (only an option mind you).
Apart from games, the other programs you stated are happy with Piledrivers architecture and while i normally don't recommend AMD for high-end gaming with you're (still awesome) 7870 the 8320 seems a good match.

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £103.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £67.99
1 x Gigabyte 970A-UD3P AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £45.95
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler £29.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £330.90 (includes shipping : ).

Click to expand...

Can you elaborate on the 'apart from games' bit of that?
 
wez130 said:
I want a new case (got a Thermaltake opera from years ago and it looks a mess.) I'd like something a little smaller if possible with clean lines and not looking like a transformer. was looking at the Corsair Carbide 300 today which is apparently well dampened for noise reduction, which i'd like.

Also just looked at the Zalman Z3 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-082-ZA&groupid=2362&catid=736. Is it cheap for a reason?
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If you're looking on the budget side there are a lot of good option, but if you don't mind the looks (this one is actually starting to grow on me), you should look no further than corsair new offerings, the Spec01 and Spec03. For the money the have an INSANE range of features:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-03 Mid Tower Gaming Case (CC-9011052-WW) £45.95
1 x Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-01 Mid Tower Gaming Case (CC-9011050-WW) £37.99
Total : £83.94 (includes shipping : ).



The 200R and Ronin are other good options. :)

wez130 said:
I have a thermaltake 500w PSU too which has always run perfectly fine for me, but with a beefier GPU will i need more? What kind of power will the CPU be pulling (Probably go for the AMD FX8 i think)
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Should be fine.

wez130 said:
Is 8gb RAM enough these days, i've 8 gig of DDR 2 atm. I realise i'll need DDR3 though lol
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8Gb is still plenty, especially 2400mhz. :)

wez130 said:
I'm going to go for a SSD boot disc (128gb enough) Then a couple of 2tb HDDs eventually, but for now i'll use what i've got (1x500gb, 1x320gb and a 2tb networked HDD). I can't say i've ever struggled for space.
Click to expand...

Id say 120Gb is enough for an SSD, i just use mine (64gb) for OS and office. :)

wez130 said:
Can you elaborate on the 'apart from games' bit of that?
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Basically what i meant is the intel chip is a better gaming chip as it has more 'core strength'. While the 4770k and the 8320 have the same amount of virtual cores (with HT on) the cores in the 4770k can produce 'more power'.

This is very simplified but its the reason the 8320 are so cheap. If you paired a 8320 with a 780ti (for example) the CPu would (eventually) bottleneck the GPU (in paralell tasks, where the same 'power' is needed for both CPU and GPU). Whereas the 4770k may be the one being bottlenecked by the GPU.

Considering you're using a 7870, i see no issue with the use of the 8320 what-so-ever.
 
I've just sourced some Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 (2x4gb) RAM and a samsung 128gb SSD from MM, so now i need to find the MOBO and CPU so now i have to find a mobo and cpu which is compatible with what i have now.

I still haven't decided whether i'm sticking with intel or switching to AMD yet, though for the money, AMD is looking more likely. Will the already suggested Mobo + CPU still be compatible with what i already have?

Thx
 
wez130 said:
I've just sourced some Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 (2x4gb) RAM and a samsung 128gb SSD from MM, so now i need to find the MOBO and CPU so now i have to find a mobo and cpu which is compatible with what i have now.

I still haven't decided whether i'm sticking with intel or switching to AMD yet, though for the money, AMD is looking more likely. Will the already suggested Mobo + CPU still be compatible with what i already have?

Thx
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Some good purchases :)

Either of the specs above will work. :)
 
Hi again lol

I'm still pondering CPU's and no closer to a decision. My options are an i5, i7 or FX8. Will an i5 be enough for me as i'm not going to be benching etc, probably the most strenuous work the cpu is likely to do is rendering panoramas / photoshop, a bit of gaming or maybe creating mix sets in Ableton live. The rest of the time it'll be basically an HTPC
 
An i5 will be plenty, my father still uses an i3 in a 2 year old imac and his profession is graphic designer with heavy use of photoshop, illustrator and the like, He has no performance issues at all.

As for gaming an i5 is plenty, I am running a 2500k in my gaming htpc and a 4670k in my office pc which is for android development and gaming when the kids monopolize the living room.

Both are very fast.

Having been down the AMD route before (love their graphics cards BTW) I would just be done and get an i5 K chip of some variety.
 
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Yea that's what i was thinking myself. I know AMD are reputable but for some unknown reason, after athlon 64 i went Intel and have stuck there. I have an i5 2430M in my laptop and it still seems fine.
 
wez130 said:
Yea that's what i was thinking myself. I know AMD are reputable but for some unknown reason, after athlon 64 i went Intel and have stuck there. I have an i5 2430M in my laptop and it still seems fine.
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The 2430M in your laptop has actually only got 2 cores (4 threads) and half the cache of the k series i5s, the desktop chips will be considerably faster than the mobile ones, even more so when overclocked.

I have a mobile i7 in my macbook pro at work (need it for IOS dev but despise it :-) and both my i5s walk all over it.
 
wez130 said:
Lol you saw. I'm torn now though between that or the B grade Asus P9X79 on OcUK for £110. Anyone ever bought a B grade from here? Is it safe lol?
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I only ever bought one board via the clearance section. Had to send it back because the top PCIE slot would'nt work with a single card. You buy hoping everything is OK, but you don't know if it is an unwanted or a refurbished item. I don't think they all get tested.If it is refurbished, it only comes with a 90 day warranty. Ocuk are not very clear on what these clearance items are.
I have the Asus P9X79 PRO and think it is a great board. Bought it bundled with a 3820 in the MM.
 
I've just found a third option, the MSI Z87-G45. found an offer bringing it under £100 from a competitor. Reviews seem pretty good too.
 
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