Help on upgrading my system

SF4AE1

SF4AE1

SF4AE1

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Hi Guys,

first post so guess im a Noob :p

I am looking to upgrade my system focusing on gaming and also looking to future proof it a bit if that makes sense but that isnt a must I suppose.

Currently have a PB Ipower X3.0

Windows 7 64 bit
Intel I7 870 LG1A156 Socket
6 GB DDR3 RAM
2.93 GHZ
1 TB Hard Disk
G5800 Motherboard
ATI Radeon HD5570 1GB

I have been pondering this for a while and there is so many routes to go I dont want to go breaking the bank if I dont need to but any advisorys is welcome.

I realise the board dosent have a lot of potential so will definitly be upgrading that as well as the PSU with keeping in mind I probably will want to go SLI or Quadfire later on as well as using an SSD Drive for primary and game files anything else will just be storage.

Any advise is welcome and thanks to anyone who does reply or takes the time to read :D
 
Doing it bit by bit i could use £2-300 a month but not looking to go more than 800 tbh but if it was worth investing in I would...sorry if that was a useless answer lol
 
Should have also said I am happy to ditch the current i7 I have for something better or more gamer freindly if need be i would like to have hte option to overclock later on
 
What PSU is in the system? I can't see it listed in the OP

A GPU would be the best place to start but we can't spec till we know what PSU you have at the moment.

If you want to Xfire/SLI once you have decided on one GPU we know how much juice you need from a new PSU (modular would be nice) to run a second.

I would suggest a mobo bundle next. Ivybridge i5 3570K would make sense. Personally I would sell your old kit off rather than "raid" the RAM from it. As you wont be on a tri-channel mobo anymore, makes sense to buy 8GB of RAM in matched pairs.

In regards to SSDs the larger the capacity the better the write speed. 64GB is really too small, 128GB offers better write speeds, the crucial M4 or intel SSDs are popular here.
 
Hi there,

Even if you can't overclock or run crossfire/SLI - that CPU is really rather good and 6GB RAM is plenty.

If you don't want to spend too much then I would certainly upgrade the PSU and graphics card first. Then if you have any money left I would spend that on an SSD. Only then should you consider a new motherboard - if you want to keep the current CPU then that will mean a second-hand P55 chipset motherboard, if you upgrade the motherboard you would also need to spend another ~£70 on a new copy of Windows - as the one that comes with the PB computer isn't licensed for a new board.

This HD 7850 2GB would be the graphics card I would get. That said this one is a lot cheaper and still performs well, so may be worth going for (so you can afford a GPU and many of the other parts in a single month).

As for the PSU, I would go with this one - it is a good quality PSU and will power your system and a high-end graphics card.

For the SSD, this one is excellent value, offers a decent capacity, it performs great and is reliable.

If you want to spend a lot more then I would recommend you buy a Z77 board, i5 Ivy Bridge CPU and sell on your i7 870 CPU. I say this because if you upgrade to another P55 motherboard you will get a bit of extra performance from overclocking (and SLI/CF compatibility would be nice) but you still have to buy a new copy of windows and P55 boards haven't been made for some time, so you will need to go for a second-hand one. This means you won't be covered by any warranty. Also, if you go for a Z77 board + Ivy Bridge CPU then you will not only get better CPU performance, but also new features like native USB, SATA3, PCIE gen3 and very simple unlocked-multiplier overclocking.
 
Sound advice from CM_Andi as always.....but I would say that when it echoes my own thoughts lol

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) £184.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT128M4SSD2) £94.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 700W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
Total : £361.97 (includes shipping : £10.00).



I would agree with his choice of GPU with 2GB of VRAM, I already mentioned the M4 SSD. ALthough make sure you have atleast a 500W PSU before you order that GPU! Unless you buy the whole basket in one obviously lol

I have used those CM modular PSUs and they are nice for the price. I added a 700W as you are atleast considering Xfire/SLI (it's only ever so slightly dearer too). To SLI/Xfire 560tis and 6950s you needed 650W, the 7850 does use less power but you may well find yourself overclocking it and the CPU so having a lil more "juice" would help put your mind at rest.

Hope we have been of some help :)
 
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Hi guys,

Thanks for all the advise guys and apologies for not putting the PSU up I knew I was missing somehting I cant remember exactly but it's nothing special 350/450W @ 12V - I have tried running a GTX280 in the past and the MOBO refused to boot just gave an error signal and that was all she wrote I reverted back to the HD5570 with no issues - The 5570 does not require the 2 connectors from the PSU as i directs it power from the MOBO so im assuming the GTX280 sufferd because of the PSU maybe?

The HD7850 looks a cracker is this one of the new gen I am very temped to just make myself skint over the next 2 month :) in future I would like to run 2 of these.

Honosuseri - How would I go about selling my current processor? Just Ebay

i am taking from this that I can go for the basics at the moment then when funds allow go for a new mobo and CPU? Should I get a bigger PSU to support maybe 2 of these 7850's in the future or will the one suggested be suffice?

I hear you one the i7 being good I really dont think it that bad but in games like Skyrim being the prime example is very CPU driven as far as I am led to below do you think this may be down to the oldder GPU I am running and not the CPU? Ram I would happily buy 16gb of quad channel memory as I am led to believe again it will run in my mobo only it will be dual channel?

Possibly a stupid question as well but to run an SSD in my MOBO do I require additional cables or do they come with the drive itself?

Sorry for all the questiones guys but you have been a great help -Salute-:D:p;)
 
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SF4AE1 said:
Sorry for all the questiones guys but you have been a great help -Salute-:D:p;)
Click to expand...

Don't apologise it's why we are here. After all there are no stupid questions....only stupid people who don't ask questions ;)

First off welcome to the forum. If you stay with us your options will expand over time. After 3 months and 250 posts (you see questions ARE good ;)) you will qualify for free delivery. At 1000 you gain access to our members market (MM) where us loyal forum users can "hock" our unneeded goods.

Obviously getting 1000 posts may take some time. Unfortunately we can't value the price of your kit, this is done in the MM under forum rules. You'll have to do some research yourself. That system maybe old tech but still has a fair bit of grunt and someone on a tight budget will snap it up no doubt. Auction makes sense, obviously set a reserve you are happy with so you don't cut your own throat.

The 7850 is a great mid to high range GPU, which you can overclock to get even better performance. Cm_andi suggested a 600W PSU, the ivybridge CPUs consume less power than sandybridge and the 7850 uses less power than the 6950. THe 600W would most likely run the i5 3570K and 2 7850s i just suggested the 700W as it was only marginally more and removed the worry over power for that setup.

SSDs are usually 2.5 inch (can your case mount one ok without a bracket?) and use sata cables, you will get some in the mobo box, how many varies on the quality/price of the mobo. Hopefully that's covered what you asked, any more Q's or problems post back :)
 
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honosuseri said:
Don't apologise it's why we are here. After all there are no stupid questions....only stupid people who don't ask questions ;)
Click to expand...

Epic Quote :cool:

Thanks for the welcome and I will definitley keep the Q's coming - Quite good rules to adhere to at least there is a good return to make sure this site keeps its loyalist's.

Yeah I will be able to mount an SSD I may need a bracket but im handy with tools and making things like that so no worries.

So I will be abe to use my current Mobo with an SSD? I have another slot there for another harddisk or am i getting the wrong end of the stick here :D

This is what my current tower looks like but you have probs all ready saw it >> http://gdgt.com/packard-bell/ipower-x3-0/

Thinking about creating a large square hole on the side with some mesh or something to give a little better airflow after all is done - Well maye before actually that way its done before the build comences lol

If I wanted to transfer my current Windows system to an SSD would I be able to back up and transfer to the SSD or would it be a case of recovery disk nd instal directly freshly?

Lastly I was looking at the new 2011 LGA socket ASROCK MOBO M..something I cant remember the rest if I went for that would I be able to run the IVY BRIDGE or is there no backward compatiblity only 2011 socket? I may even be wrong the AS Rock might not be good enough for a gaming platform.

I am defo going to be purchasing a graphics card PSU and SSD hopefully tomorrow but if its worth waiting I will just wait and get the lot next month so at least im geting plenty prep questiones in first.

Why does this feel like my car all over again - getting expensive but worth it lol

Maybe im being childish but the box of the GTX570 Warecast suggested looks awesome lol does it hold any key advantages?
 
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If your case doesn't have any native slots for 2.5in drives then a cheap bracket like this will work in a standard 3.5in HDD mount. Though you could also make your own mount if you like, SSDs are small, light and don't have any moving parts - so mounting it isn't too difficult. In fact quite a few users have it connected to the inside wall of their case using velcro :)

Yes, your current system will work fine with an SSD. I would go into the BIOS and make sure the SATA mode is set to "AHCI" before you install windows onto it (though even if it forces you to use it in "IDE" mode it will still run fine - just not as fast).

If you are finding that your current case is restricting you then you may want to consider upgrading the case and carry over the old and new components to it. For example, this is a nice case and it should keep your system cooler and easier to maintain while also offering your more flexibility for future upgrades.

When installing windows onto an SSD you are really best off doing a fresh install of windows. That said, you should be able to run the old primary hard drive a secondary hard drive - so all your data will still be on the other disk (just transfer over whatever you need). Also, I personally wouldn't use the recovery disk as it is usually packed with bloatware. Instead I would recommend downloading a legal .iso copy of your windows version and use the windows product key (which should be on a sticker on the PC itself) to install/activate.

As for the new board - the LGA2011 X79 boards are the top-end enthusiast platform and currently don't have any Ivy Bridge CPUs that work with them (the Ivy Bridge E CPUs that will work with them are expected at the end of the year or start of 2013). However, unless you really need a hex core CPU or support for three or more graphics cards I wouldn't go with this platform - since it costs so much to set up. Instead I would suggest going for a LGA1155 system with a Z77 board and an i5 3570K Ivy Bridge CPU. This setup is just as good as a LGA2011 Sandy bridge E system for gaming, while costing a lot less.

The PSU and SSD are unlikely to change massively in price in the next month (the SSD just had a massive price cut - so if anything it may go up if the cut is only temporary and the PSU is a pretty great price for a 700W unit)- so I would just buy those now and get running. As for the graphics card - it is somewhat unclear - but it is fair to say that £185 for a HD 7850 is a good deal and if you do wait a month then that is a month without a decent gaming graphics card. Therefore, I would personally buy the graphics card ASAP too.
 
haha the velcro sounds a good idea as well actually :D I will be sure to remember that about the BIOS.

That is a smart case and looks similiar to inside of mine but outside has a lot more cooling potential - one for me to think about and the legal copy of OS7 has bin favorite'd

I think I am defo going to order the card and PSU will resume my thoughts tomorrow now need sleep :D

Cheers for the help so far guys
 
SF4AE1 said:
haha the velcro sounds a good idea as well actually :D I will be sure to remember that about the BIOS.

That is a smart case and looks similiar to inside of mine but outside has a lot more cooling potential - one for me to think about and the legal copy of OS7 has bin favorite'd

I think I am defo going to order the card and PSU will resume my thoughts tomorrow now need sleep :D

Cheers for the help so far guys
Click to expand...

I remember seeing a youtube vid where the guy suggested using double sided sticky tape....well it works i can't fault him for it lol

I couldn't agree more with CM_Andi, even his choice of case is a firm favourite of mine for building (i even use one myself). It comes with 4 120mm fans, a digital temp display with fan controller and cable management. Downside is no USB3 port, i add a card reader which has USB3 port for £10ish to get round it.

The Z9 can mount 2 SSDs, one behind the mobo although my card reader is taking up the other slot at the front of the case. In short you get a lot for your cash, obviously you can spend more if you wish.

I just want to point out that if you install the SSD to your current mobo you WILL have to do another reinstall if and when you change to the new socket type Z77 mobo.

The SSD will make a noticable difference to your current setup along side the GPU and PSU you might find that you are quite happy as it is ;)
 
honosuseri said:
I remember seeing a youtube vid where the guy suggested using double sided sticky tape....well it works i can't fault him for it lol

I couldn't agree more with CM_Andi, even his choice of case is a firm favourite of mine for building (i even use one myself). It comes with 4 120mm fans, a digital temp display with fan controller and cable management. Downside is no USB3 port, i add a card reader which has USB3 port for £10ish to get round it.

The Z9 can mount 2 SSDs, one behind the mobo although my card reader is taking up the other slot at the front of the case. In short you get a lot for your cash, obviously you can spend more if you wish.

I just want to point out that if you install the SSD to your current mobo you WILL have to do another reinstall if and when you change to the new socket type Z77 mobo.

The SSD will make a noticable difference to your current setup along side the GPU and PSU you might find that you are quite happy as it is ;)
Click to expand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox6DHlPQI-w
 
Hey guys

At work at the mo so havent had a chance to check out the vid yet will do when i finish thanks for the education warecast.

The tower is rather smart I am trying to think logicaly here as I am still paying for this comp i have at the moment - damm being young and seeing a good finance deal lol its not that bad though only one payment a month.

Honos. I think what you are saying is right if i go for an SSD, Good GPU,PSU and possibly upgrade my ram not sure if that will be worth it at least I can still use my current board and CPU so im not still paying for nothing every month.

Do you think this system will be sound enough for say Skyrim at max with decent FPSProbably also for any new games which are going to come out this year? I am quite graphics oriantated so the GPu suggested looks ace but am i worth just biting the bullet and going for a new 79 series or Nvidia equvilient?

Sorry about my dodgy spelling today on an iphone lol
 
Warecast has found the vid i was refering to.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=518

That's the 7850 vs the 570. Considering you can OC the 7850 and it's cheaper with more VRAM it's a better bargain and it needs a lot less power to run. This makes a real difference if you are thinking about putting in an extra GPU for xfire. The 570 will need a much higher rated PSU to SLI.

Even a 6850 or a 460 would be a vast improvement over what you have already. Games like BF3 are starting to ask for more than 1GB of VRAM so in my eyes paying the lil extra for the 7850 over the budget £100 gaming GPUs makes sense.

6GB of RAM is ample for gaming. PSU and GPU first in my opinion. If you like that case you could order it along with the SSD later.
 
If you do an upgrade with a new SSD, GPU and PSU then you will get a really nice upgrade for playing games. The i7 870 is actually still a really good CPU (even if you don't overclock it) - since it s a 2.93GHz nahalem design quad core CPU.

This review compares the gaming performance of more modern quad cores like the Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge i5 and i7 CPUs against the i7 920 (which in terms of performance is effectively an i7 870 with a 2.66GHz clockspeed) - and as you can see the i7 920 holds up really well in gaming tests when coupled with a good graphics card (that test uses a GTX 580), so you can expect the i7 870 to do even better.

Therefore, depending on your resolution it will be the graphics card, not your i7 870 CPU that will limit performance in modern games (though with a HD 7850 or similar that limit will be nice and high).

As for going for an even more powerful graphics card - it really depends on the resolution you are playing at. But generally if your resolution is 1080p or less then a HD 7850 graphics card will make all modern games look great (if not maxing them out). Going for a more expensive card will get you more performance - however these cards are worse value in term of performance/cost and again depending on your resolution the extra performance of the graphics card may not translate to a better gaming experience (since the 7850 is already very good).

Also, I wouldn't recommend changing your RAM. So long as your current kit it is running in dual channel mode (you can check using CPU-Z, memory tab) then there really isn't any extra gaming performance to be had by adding more RAM or using faster RAM.
 
Yea that was quite a good vid - Checked my MOBO config and it seems to be running AHCI already so no worries there.

That review on the GPU's the 7850 kills the GTX in Skyrim :) I like

Going to get the GPU and PSU posibly the SSD as well as I think it will be worth it. The i7 does seem to hold its own and as I am sticking with my current MOBO at the moment it would be pointless considering anyhting else so I am happy with that decision thanks cmdr_andi

I do want to be able to max out textures and shadows all the basics - AF I would like to get away with as well but dosent need to be X16 & Anti Aliasiang just seems to kill any game I turn it on in would I get away with X2 at least with this card?

Checked RAM and its running in dual channel - 3 slots used with 2GB each Kingstone at 677MHZ I think - Will that be suffice or should I get 8gb 2x4 so that it is only running one pair do you think?

LOL my resoulution well I use to run it on my TV all the time in HD - Recently got a 3d TV and havent had any games on it yet although I do like the multi monitor set ups I have one at my work and you get use to it you know would I be best going for a monitor with the chance of getting another later or just use the TV and 3D setings later if I get the ATI kit - Or is this for only use on monitors?

Monitor right now is a lot older and only runs 1280 X 1024 max....(I KNOW) :p
 
Oh nice! Don't thank me then lol

Some games natively support stereo 3D, the games that don't you have to PAY for a driver. Also via HDMI 1.4 your FPS are locked to the refresh rate. At 1080P in 3D my tv is 24hz (so no more than 24FPS) to get around it I had to drop the res to 720P @60hz
 
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