next upgrade spec?

helpimcrap · 18 Mar 2012 at 17:34

Currently have:
Athlon II propus 630 (2.8) @ 3.5ghz
2x 4gb skill 2133mhz DDR3
500gb hard drive
Biostar motherboard
LG Blu ray writer
650w PSU not a named brand
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939/AM2/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366)
1gb Radeon 4350

thinking go the intel route -
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM
Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

Seems a bit pricey though...

So was thinking AMD - change motherboard for below and keep current CPU and OC it more so i can use the RAM?
Then get an SSD drive?

I don't really game tbh - play C&C occasionally?

helpimcrap · 18 Mar 2012 at 18:06

stulid said:
Lets ask some questions first

• Is the HDD a SATA interface?
• What case do you have? does it take a ATX motherboard?

500Gb Samsung Spinpoint F3 5400rpm S-ATAII 16MB Hard Drive.
Iris Black ATX Case - good case for £20!!

helpimcrap · 18 Mar 2012 at 18:53

would 450w be sufficient though?

helpimcrap · 18 Mar 2012 at 18:56

stulid said:
For that spec with your GFX card yes

what if i was to upgrade the card? wouldn't be going SLI/Xfire but what about these cards with 2 GPUs on them?

helpimcrap · 18 Mar 2012 at 19:17

cool cheers. current psu has taken everything i can throw at it.

Think its an ezcool one?

without taking side of case off....

GTX460 would be the next logical upgrade if i wanted to.

helpimcrap · 18 Mar 2012 at 21:15

ok - noted (previous sysyems i've always sworn by enermax.

with regards to the 1155 - is this worth getting as 2011 is the newer one i gather?

helpimcrap · 19 Mar 2012 at 07:16

Ah thanks for advice - was wondering if Sandybridge was all that why was the Sandybridge-E 4 times the price!? lol

helpimcrap · 21 Mar 2012 at 17:21

How do AMD compare realistically though? Had a look at benchmarks and OC ability and the bulldozer chips seem better value?

Is this the case?

I was thinking:-
AMD Bulldozer FX-4 Quad Core 4170 Black Edition 4.20Ghz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail
£103.19
Asus M5A99X EVO AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 PCI-Express ATX Motherboard
£96.00
Shipping :
£9.50
Total :
£210.5

as the intel 2500k would cost....

1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £175.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £84.98
Shipping
£9.50
£270.47.

helpimcrap · 21 Mar 2012 at 20:31

interesting to know. isn't the 2500K a 4 core processor too?

the bulldozer runs nearly a ghz quicker at stock and will OC well acording to bit of limited research.

just when i thought i was understanding this lol.

helpimcrap · 22 Mar 2012 at 20:18

So ivbridge will be 1155?

Seems like a bit of a no brainer then really. AMD used to be the ones for OCing and getting performance but it's been years since i really tried....

Cheers all.

I5 2500K it is!

Is the gigabyte board the best for OCing or is it the best value?

helpimcrap · 22 Mar 2012 at 20:26

and is the M4 the best SSD out there? :confused:

Write speeds don't look too hot - not as hot as say an Intel or a corsair?