New PC advice please

moorlander · 3 Oct 2011 at 20:10

I intend to renew my existing PC which is getting a bit long in the tooth and was hoping for some advice with regard to spec.

I use my PC for CAD / graphics but not a lot of gaming. I recently purchased a Quadro FX580 in the hope that it would breathe a little life into my old system but to be honest I have not noticed any discernible difference between it and my old 9800GT.

Having read various posts on this forum with particular reference to the enigma that is "Stulid" and I have come to the conclusion that it is probably better to build, rather than buy, a pre over clocked system, that is if it is actually as easy to overclock these new CPU / MB's as has been indicated.

My budget is around the £700 mark and I like the idea of a Z68 MB / I5-2500K coupled with a small SSD+HDD using the smart response technology.

I do not need monitor, keyboard, mouse or OS.

Do people think the FX580 would work any better with the new set up or should I just replace it with something like a GTX560.

Your help and assistance would be appreciated.

Reaper 392 · 3 Oct 2011 at 20:15

do the programs you use specifically need a quadro card? if not then you'll save ridiculous amounts by choosing a GeForce one instead

moorlander · 3 Oct 2011 at 20:21

My CAD software suppliers always recommend a Quadro or Firepro and say that it would be beneficial. I think that it is really only when rendering (using the Lightworks Engine) that it would be particularly useful (which I do not do a lot of). I must admit that my gut reaction is to go for a Geforce.

beejjacobs · 3 Oct 2011 at 20:23

If you were to go Geforce, with a GTX560Ti, perhaps something like this:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £191.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £85.98
1 x OCZ Vertex 30GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX30G) £53.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £52.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.98
1 x Cooler Master Elite 330 Midi Tower Case - Black £29.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £713.89 (includes shipping : £12.50).

moorlander · 3 Oct 2011 at 20:58

Thanks for that.
Is it just a matter of changing the clock multiplier to OC the cpu or would I have to mess about with other settings to get to a 4.4 -4.6 OC?

Would the PSU be sufficient for overclocking?

olivier renault · 3 Oct 2011 at 21:22

you already have a GPU?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £148.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £124.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.98
1 x Thermalright MUX-120 Black CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA1366) £29.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £710.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

are you GPU or CPU limited with your current setup? Is your graphics card at 100% (try NvidiaInspector). BTW the Quadro FX is pretty weak. It mostly depends if you can use consumer cards with your software to an acceptable level of quality.

moorlander · 3 Oct 2011 at 21:49

Not quite sure whether its GPU or CPU - probably a bit of both. My software runs ok with consumer cards (been running with a 9800GT for over 12 months) To be honest I bought the Quadro FX just to see if it would make a difference - and it hasn't, so I think I will revert to a Geforce. I will try the Nvidia inspector though - thanks for that.

Would the 128GB SSD not be too big for the smart response setup or would you not recommend using the SSD+HDD combo?

olivier renault · 4 Oct 2011 at 00:20

If it was me, I would run a bog standard SSD as an OS / application drive. SRT is a nice thought, but it's not as quick as a real SSD. Else yeah, a 20-30GB SSD will be enough for SRT, although it involves a lot of mucking about (installing RAID drivers before OS, ect...).

The Gigabytes have an 'EZ Smart Response' utility that's suppose to make SRT easier to manage. I don't know how reliable it is though.

http://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/279/images/mb-z68-models.html

Oh and don't get blinded by their marketing BS

.

... Or, you could just do it manually