New CPU + Mobo + RAM

Darkninja462

Darkninja462

Darkninja462

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Joined
5 Feb 2009
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405
It has come that time again when I wan't to upgrade my system as it has been a few years now.

Current Q9550/Evga 780i Mobo/4Gb Dominators

What system would be best to suit my EVGA GTX570 Classified as that will be the only thing I'm keeping besides HDD's etc.

How much ram would people suggest BF3 definitely max's out my 4gb?

Running two screens if that makes any difference (1 at 1920 x 1200 and 1 at 1680 x 1050).

Regards
-Ninja
 
CPU was for an HTPC/Gaming rig so Hyperthreading would be wasted.

Was cheaper than a 2600k?

Also will be happy with a do-able 4.4(ish)Ghz overclock, which with Ivy is equivalent to higher Ghz than with Sandybridge.
Dont anticipate any heat problems (he says hopefully...)

PCI-3 futureproofing

Also nice to have the backup of better on-board graphics chip.
 
Why not Gigabyte? :)
As I said I researched forums and online a fair bit before buying these parts.

This particular Motherboard was coming up in a lot of "Spec me" threads and in a lot of peoples signatures.

Read a few reviews on line getting Editors Choice, Gold/Silver awards etc.
Good enough for me!
Also my last 3 motherboards have been Gigabyte which have never let me down, good OC potential etc.

Whats the deal with Asus boards, am I missing out on something?
 
No wasn't meaning to discredit your reseach I thought I read somewhere people are having some stability problems with the gigabyte boards and with the Asus there are too many options and not definitive differences between them.
 
GB has UK based RMA (returns) and 3 year warranty. I do believe MSI does too. Asus isn't well known for their customer service, hence people recommending GB.

If you are gaming you don't need an i7 CPU, the i5 is more than sufficient. Ivybridge consumes less power than sandybridge, has a better IGP which is used to help boost your GPU with lucid MVP and is also used by quick sync to help "turbo boost" video encoding tasks by supporting software.

The mobo gazgam picked allows for SLI/xfire (dual GPUs). Nice to have as an upgrade path but I don't know what PSU you have so you might be better offer with the cheaper non SLI/Xfire mobos.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £77.38
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £38.39
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
Total : £329.70 (includes shipping : FREE).



There are some threads with people complaining about the budget GB mobo paired with ivybridge. So i've used the MSI mobo which happens to be cheaper too :)

8GB of RAM at a good price and because the mobo is cheaper you can use that saved cash for an aftermarket heatsink to help keep temps down for your overclocking. When you overclock the CPU you only really need raise the multiplier, i'm not saying the samsung RAM isn't good just that you don't need to pay that much for RAM to get the CPU overclocked (4.4ghz is a sound estimate).
 
The Samsung ram is more expensive, but it overclocks like nothing else. 2000+Mhz clocks are achievable according to reviews?
£30 extra worth it I'd say.

read here:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-017-SA&tool=7

I went for the SLI capable board as later I'd probably get another 560ti and pair them up for a graphics upgrade.
Can save a bit of money going for a non SLI board which is just as good. :)
 
Last edited:
gazjam said:
The Samsung ram is more expensive, but it overclocks like nothing else. 2000+Mhz clocks are achievable according to reviews?
£30 extra worth it I'd say.

read here:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-017-SA&tool=7

I went for the SLI capable board as later I'd probably get another 560ti and pair them up for a graphics upgrade.
Can save a bit of money going for a non SLI board which is just as good. :)
Click to expand...

It's not worth the extra £30 on the RAM. That would be better spent giving him a better mobo. I have spec'd a budget Z77 mobo under £80, £110 will get him SLI/Xfire (your mobo for example), pay a lil more and you can get onboard wifi.

On this 1155 socket 1600Mhz RAM is absolutely fine. The OC of the CPU is done via the multiplier, running RAM faster than 1600mhz doesn't make a massive difference to performance.

Yes the samsung RAM is good, if you wanted it that's cool. For most users 8GB of 1600mhz RAM is ideal
 
Fair do's guys. :)
Better spend on the Mboard I guess.

I got the Samsung as my overclocks have been held back with ram being the first thing to kop out.
This way I've extra headroom and I shouldn't need to change this ram any time soon.

Also I seem to be going through a "fit n forget" phase with my tech, not just PC stuff.
Maybe I'm getting older and cant be faffed anymore? :)
 
Okay sorry taken so long to reply been a busy few days with a new puppy.

I have a Zalman 850watt PSU and have a dual water cooling loops so this would be purely parts upgrades I think my psu would be more than enough to OC the CPU and have SLI 570's correct me if I'm wrong, so would need a SLI mobo.

Regards
Ninja
 
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