Perhaps time for an upgrade? Spec in thread.

Linken · 21 Jul 2011 at 10:18

So basically, I've been running out of hard drive space recently and had to keep deleting TV shows all the time that I've just watched and then a few days ago I had the urge to buy some new parts.

My current spec is in my siggy; so I was going to buy a bigger hard drive and was thinking it's time for a SSD as well. And since I've been a bit out of the loop the last year 1/2 or so about the latest technologies I came across the Z68 motherboard that makes SSDs a lot more efficient/faster, which basically made me want to build a new PC entirely

So I started looking around in the forums seeing what's what in PC parts today and started building a new spec and this is what I came up with:

But then I think I might just be having an urge to upgrade since I haven't in a while and I should I should just get the 2TB HDD with a SSD and be done with it, what do you guys think? Was also toying with the idea of an external HDD as well.

Note: I don't tend to play the current released games I'm pretty much just playing Counter Strike, maybe some WoW although the new Battlefield looks pretty interesting but I think it would tear up my PC a new one atm. And the reason for the amount of memory in the spec is because there's an old MMO that I play you can load unlimited clients of on the same machine and it completely takes up all the memory when I go over like 12, so pretty much the more ram the better for me.

Marine-RX179 · 21 Jul 2011 at 10:51

5 things I think you should have a reconsider:

Motherboard:
Unless you are going to 3-Way SLI/Crossfire, a sub-£150 Z68 board would be just as good, and can still do 2-Way SLI/Crossfire. (Save £150)

2TB HDD:
Speed of this drive don't really matter, as you are using your SSD for applications and stuffs. As a storage drive, you can easily get some 5,400rpm/5,900rpm 2TB HDD for around £50 these days. (Save £50)

Memory:
24GB or RAM is WAY overkill, even 4GB is still plenty for a gaming PC at the moment. But the threads seems to be heading toward getting a pair of dual-channel 1,600MHz 4GB (2x4GB) ram though, and you can get it at around £50. (Save £100)

CPU:
For gaming and general usage, the 2500K is just as good as the 2600K but cost less. The only real benefit of 2600K has over 2500K is that it has Hyperthread, but it doesn't help in anyway in any applications/programs that use no more than 4 threads (Save £70)

Graphic card:
With the money you saved, you could consider getting a GTX580 3GB instead.

What monitor/res you on by the way?

TFC · 21 Jul 2011 at 10:57

There are many here who will advise you better than me.. however the only problem I can see is that the ram you have chosen is not compatable with that MB, you need dual channel not triple channel, the MB has only 4 dimm slots.
these would do http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Linken · 21 Jul 2011 at 11:30

Thanks for the advice guys!

I'm on a 19" CRT for the 120HZ and I haven't decided to get a LCD 120HZ just yet, typically on newer games I would game at 1280x1024 or so. So perhaps I don't need a super graphics card, but like I said I would like to play BF3 when it comes out and be as smooth as possible for competitive play!

R088ieS86 · 21 Jul 2011 at 11:37

Yeah you could get a lot more for your money than that.
Twice the HDD space, new 24" 120Hz monitor, same price:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Benq XL2410T 24" TRUE 120Hz 3D Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £269.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £254.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £173.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £122.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF 922 Case - Black £82.99
2 x Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI) £54.98 (£109.96)
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £53.99
1 x Thermalright Archon CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/AM2/AM3) £44.99
1 x OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Thermalright TY-140mm Silent Fan (Fits 120mm fittings) £10.99
Total : £1,473.48 (includes shipping : £22.20).

shadow_boxer · 21 Jul 2011 at 11:39

Massive overkill for gaming at 1280x1024, spec is well off what I'd consider decent value for money for your needs. You need 4GB of Dual Channel RAM, 8GB if you do editing/rendering etc. Very very few games uses more than 4GB of RAM.

kristmace · 21 Jul 2011 at 11:41

+1 to everything Marine said.

Also as TFC pointed out, you need dual channel ram. 4gb is enough, but 8gb is so cheap these days.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

570GTX is a superb card at 1920x1080 so if you do go with that, upgrade your monitor asap.

Also, have you considered a watercooler? Comes in at about the same price as the air cooler you've picked.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-002-CS&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

shadow_boxer · 21 Jul 2011 at 11:43

The Silver Arrow is better that the Corsair H50.

Marine-RX179 · 21 Jul 2011 at 12:33

The Corsair Watercoolings are not only not as effective as the Silver Arrow, but their fans are noisy as well.

Moothead2 · 21 Jul 2011 at 12:37

R088ie - the Silver Arrow works out cheaper and is better than the Archon.

kristmace · 21 Jul 2011 at 12:39

Marine-RX179 said:
The Corsair Watercoolings are not only not as effective as the Silver Arrow, but their fans are noisy as well.

Not ever having had a watercooler, my suggestion is unqualified, so thanks for the info

Jony27 · 21 Jul 2011 at 13:35

Moothead2 said:
R088ie - the Silver Arrow works out cheaper and is better than the Archon.

but it dissapeared from OCUK shelves

Moothead2 · 21 Jul 2011 at 13:36

Jony27 said:
but it dissapeared from OCUK shelves

Linken · 21 Jul 2011 at 13:52

Thanks for the advice guys, this is what I have now:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £254.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £173.99
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
1 x XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply £122.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD2002FAEX) £109.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF 922 Case - Black £82.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £53.99
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £50.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,191.59 (includes shipping : £14.75).

I decided I don't mind paying the extra £40 or so for a 7200RPM WD, as opposed to 5400.

But I'm still not sure if I should bother getting a whole new PC. If I was to get the WD HDD and the Crucial SSD, would they run crappy in comparison to on the Z68? Pretty sure my mobo doesn't even support SATA3 atm

Jony27 · 21 Jul 2011 at 14:09

i still wouldnt bother with the caviar black, waste of money, the F4 should run quieter too.
just save the £40.

R088ieS86 · 21 Jul 2011 at 14:24

Moothead2 said:
R088ie - the Silver Arrow works out cheaper and is better than the Archon.

Jony27 said:
but it dissapeared from OCUK shelves

Yup it has vanished. The archon does work out more expensive yes, it is a lot smaller though, so no RAM heatsink issues and doesn't perform as bad as you think: linky

Edit:

The WD won't run any faster or slower on a Sata 2 interface because the drive can't read/write quick enough.
The SSD how ever will suffer. You will only get max of around 285MB/s read speeds.
Your current mobo does not support SATA3 (6GB/s)