Needing A Few System Parts

Hioncc

Hioncc

Hioncc

Associate
Joined
6 Apr 2009
Posts
46
Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I currently looking to upgrade my 2-3 year old machine as well as another family PC.

In mine, I'm looking for fully replace almost every part, been looking at the new Sandy Bridge CPU's. The i5-2500k, how much difference would there be between this and i3/i7 versions. I also need recommendations on motherboard, GPU, CPU Fan, all the normal stuff. Not looking to spend a great deal on this, but would like to be able to run games steadily.

Now, the family PC is a newer system running:
- i3 720
- Some MSI Motherboard (Only 1 PCI Express Slot though)
- 850W PSU
- 5770HD XXX Overclocked
- 4GB DDR3 1066Mhz RAM

What would be the best way to upgrade this for highish end gaming; replace CPU/Motherboard/RAM? Replace Motherboard and buy a 2nd 5770HD in crossfire?
Looking really for the biggest performance gains in relation to money spent.

Thank you for your help!

Regards
 
What're your budgets for upgrading your PC and the family PC and what resolution are they both using?

As for difference between i5 and i3/i7, the i5 is just as fast as the i7 for gaming (as most games can't make use of the hyperthreading in the i7). I personally wouldn't bother with a dual core (i3) for gaming these days, although their performance is still quite respectable.
 
Family PC
Do you mean an i3-720? if you have an i3-530/540 then those things can hit 4Ghz nicely with a decent cooler.
Then the only thing you would need to do is replace the graphics card, sell the 5770 and look for something with a bit more power. What resolution is the monitor that you run off it?

Full PC
If you want to see comparisons of the new i5's Vs old i3/i7's have a look on this website:
i5-760 Vs i5-2500k
Will you need a new monitor with your new build? because that will then all you to chose a suitable graphics card.
 
Ahh, it may be i3-530, got confused sorry.

Budgets are around £400 for Full PC and £250-300ish for Family PC. (Although extra parts will be sold, so there prices can be added).

No new monitors, Full PC is on an 19" LCD, Family PC is on a 42" plasma at 1080p if that helps?

Regards
 
Full PC:

Asus GeForce GTX 460 Direct CU TOP 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £106.99
(£89.16) £106.99
(£89.16)
Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.33
(£53.61) £64.33
(£53.61)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £33.59
(£27.99) £33.59
(£27.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £27.98
(£23.32) £27.98
(£23.32)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
(£9.99) £11.99
(£9.99)

Sub Total : £340.72
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £70.24
Total : £421.46

As you can't really do a Sandy Bridge gaming PC on £400 budget.

Family PC upgrade:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Asus P8P67 PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770 ICEQ 5 TURBO 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £95.99
(£79.99) £95.99
(£79.99)
Sub Total : £346.64
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £71.23
Total : £427.37

Should come to about £300 once you've sold the i3 + motherboard.
 
Sandy Bridge option then if you can stretch the budget slightly:

Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £154.99
(£129.16) £154.99
(£129.16)
Asus GeForce GTX 460 Direct CU TOP 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
Foxconn H67A-S Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) £79.98
(£66.65) £79.98
(£66.65)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £33.59
(£27.99) £33.59
(£27.99)

Sub Total : £359.61
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £73.92
Total : £443.53
 
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