Potential upgrade advise

MoNkEyMiKeY

MoNkEyMiKeY

MoNkEyMiKeY

Soldato
Joined
17 May 2004
Posts
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Hello peeps, I am hopefully going to upgrade over the next month and wanted to know if this little lot is any good? Anything I should swap out for anything else?

Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £269.99
(£224.99) £269.99
(£224.99)
MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
(£124.99) £149.99
(£124.99)
Seasonic X-Series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £124.99
(£104.16) £124.99
(£104.16)
Lian Li PC-7HX Midi-Tower Case - All Black £82.99
(£69.16) £82.99
(£69.16)
Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) HDD £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G213C1K) £53.99
(£44.99) £53.99
(£44.99)
 
 
Would prefer to stick with 3770k for the little future proofing it could give.

Apart from cost any reasons for using different mobo and psu. I've read that xfx are terrible for customer service. Also from what I can find out the msi board is one of the best z77's.
 
MoNkEyMiKeY said:
Would prefer to stick with 3770k for the little future proofing it could give.

Apart from cost any reasons for using different mobo and psu. I've read that xfx are terrible for customer service. Also from what I can find out the msi board is one of the best z77's.
Click to expand...

I picked them mainly for price saving, the XFX PSU is made by Seasonic also.

The MSI Z77 I know is missing offset voltage if you want to OC that way.

The Gigabyte has it all, great customer support also.
 
Some nice stuff there. You do realise that intel has a new socket on the Horizon though don't you? I don't know what you have already obviously but for that price range I personally might balance it like so......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) HDD £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black £69.98
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel kit (PV316G160C9K) £59.99
Total : £747.88 (includes shipping : FREE).



Considering what you get with the Mpower for the price and the performance available it is a nice mobo. 16GB of RAM which although isn't low profile isn't exactly tall. Higher than 1600mhz makes little odds on the 1155 socket. I used the i5K to help fund getting an SSD as Hyperthreading has been around for donkeys and games don't really benefit from it. I've changed the case to something a little cheaper with a window but that's a personal preference.

OEM CPUs don't come with a heatsink, I'm assuming you have one or will buy something suitable for overclocking with it?
 
honosuseri said:
Some nice stuff there. You do realise that intel has a new socket on the Horizon though don't you? I don't know what you have already obviously but for that price range I personally might balance it like so......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARX) HDD £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Windowed Case - Black £69.98
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel kit (PV316G160C9K) £59.99
Total : £747.88 (includes shipping : FREE).



Considering what you get with the Mpower for the price and the performance available it is a nice mobo. 16GB of RAM which although isn't low profile isn't exactly tall. Higher than 1600mhz makes little odds on the 1155 socket. I used the i5K to help fund getting an SSD as Hyperthreading has been around for donkeys and games don't really benefit from it. I've changed the case to something a little cheaper with a window but that's a personal preference.

OEM CPUs don't come with a heatsink, I'm assuming you have one or will buy something suitable for overclocking with it?
Click to expand...

I currently run a Q6600 at 3ghz on a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 with 4gb of Corsair Dominator. So really anything I get will be better :) I also have a OCZ Vertex 3 SSD (be nice to actually plug it into a 6gb/s sata). Just got my self a 7950 to replace my 560 ti. The carbide case is nice but on Saturday I helped a friend build his new PC and that's what he was using. Very nice for the money but a little too much plastic for me and the top was too open letting in dust. The Lian Li however seems to have all its open areas covered with filters that are reasonably easy to remove and clean. Also it is made of aluminium and it looks really nice.

Are there going to be any major differences with the new socket?

stulid said:
Faster spin speed.
Click to expand...

Good spot, I had noticed it had a lower spin speed and forgot to check for a higher one.

My current setup has done me well over the last 6 years until recent releases like Farcry 3 and Crysis 3. Theres been a few gfx card changes and the addition of the SSD but apart from that its done a pretty decent job, probably helped by the fact its a quad core. Are there any major advances expected in the next year that I haven't heard about that I should hold out for?

This is all dependent on my work bonus which I get this month and if I have sweet talked the wife enough lol
 
To cut costs a little might go with this.



Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
£199.99

MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure
£149.99

XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply
£99.98

Lian Li PC-7HX Midi-Tower Case - All Black
£82.99

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM ST2000DM001) HDD
£79.99

Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G213C1K)
£53.99

Total :
£666.94
 
Nice spec, if you do want to save a little more the Gigabyte board I suggested will do it all, its just missing Bluetooth/WiFi.
 
MoNkEyMiKeY said:
To cut costs a little might go with this.



Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
£199.99

MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure
£149.99

XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply
£99.98

Lian Li PC-7HX Midi-Tower Case - All Black
£82.99

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM ST2000DM001) HDD
£79.99

Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G213C1K)
£53.99

Total :
£666.94
Click to expand...

Looks good..

MoNkEyMiKeY said:
Thanks for the help guys I think I will go with the one above but with a 3770K.
Click to expand...

Huh, Why?
 
Haswell should be more power efficient and also have a better IGP to help counter AMD and it's Trinity platform. How much of an increase clock for clock it is against ivybridge we can't say till its benchmarked. Just wanted to mention it as if you buy this lot at the end of the month and then a new socket is launched a month or two later you might have been a bit peeved.

Fair point about the case, as I say it's personal preference and you can't copy your mate obviously ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Lian Li PC-7HX Midi-Tower Case - All Black £82.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £79.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
Total : £678.92 (includes shipping : FREE).



As I said the 2133mhz RAM is OTT for this socket, so can save a few quid there and using the OEM CPU you can look at adding a good value heatsink to OC. That case can take upto 170mm tall heatsinks so you have plenty to choose from. If you are thinking of upping to the i7 you could certainly get the i5K and a topend heatsink.

Any who it's a lovely spec you have there, of course it might be wise to pop back before you order just incase there are any amazing deals on offer at the time :)
 
MoNkEyMiKeY said:
Well it will be depending on the amount of bonus I get. But that hyperthreading might be useful one day.
Click to expand...

Well from the quick look at Crysis3 CPU benchmarks online, its one game that seems to enjoy more cores/threads.

MoNkEyMiKeY said:
Yeah I am still contemplating that, I have till the end the end of march.
Click to expand...

Well check back then and we will see whats available :)
 
Last edited:
honosuseri said:
Haswell should be more power efficient and also have a better IGP to help counter AMD and it's Trinity platform. How much of an increase clock for clock it is against ivybridge we can't say till its benchmarked. Just wanted to mention it as if you buy this lot at the end of the month and then a new socket is launched a month or two later you might have been a bit peeved.

Fair point about the case, as I say it's personal preference and you can't copy your mate obviously ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £187.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £99.98
1 x Lian Li PC-7HX Midi-Tower Case - All Black £82.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £79.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £32.99
Total : £678.92 (includes shipping : FREE).



As I said the 2133mhz RAM is OTT for this socket, so can save a few quid there and using the OEM CPU you can look at adding a good value heatsink to OC. That case can take upto 170mm tall heatsinks so you have plenty to choose from. If you are thinking of upping to the i7 you could certainly get the i5K and a topend heatsink.

Any who it's a lovely spec you have there, of course it might be wise to pop back before you order just incase there are any amazing deals on offer at the time :)
Click to expand...

I've got an antec kuhler h2o 620 for cooling already. But if it doesn't work out for the time being I could use the stock cooler till I get something better. Also the warranty is much longer which is definitely worth that little extra you pay. Plus I like the box!
 
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