Small upgrade, advice?

phobic

phobic

phobic

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Joined
6 Sep 2010
Posts
66
Location
Belfast
Hey chaps!

So i just got a little gift from the tax man and figured i'd treat my computer to an upgrade. Been wanting to switch to Intel for a while now and figure this is probably a good time (or close to it) :)

My current specs are:
AMD 1055T @3.6Ghz
Asus M89GTD Pro
Corsair Vengeance 12GB
2x ATi/AMD 5850
Corsair HX850W PSU

So, i guess this is where i specify what i do on my machine. Mostly, playing games. Other times compiling stuff in linux. My current setup is fine for the most part, but i can't help feel my cpu is a bit naff in certain games, such as Skyrim/Civ 5. I know most people will suggest getting an SSD and or a gfx card upgrade. I'll be doing this too within the coming weeks/months :)

So my question. Will the 2600K be a better bet over the 2500K with its hyperthreading? Since i not only play games but rely quite heavily on the multitasking capabilities of my machine. Then the second part. 2600K or 2700K? Are there any significant advantages or is it just a simple difference in clockspeed? I will be overclocking anyway. Now onto motherboards...As far as i can make out, the main difference between Z68 and Z77 is pci-e 3, which would require another new cpu anyway...

Or is there a better chipset which i missed?

Ok, final part. I know the Ivy Bridge chips are out, but will there be any significant drop in the prices of sandybridge chips soon? From what i can tell too, there isn't much of a performance difference, so still set on SB (until somebody corrects me of course) ;)

Oh and my budget will be around £350 - £400. My main reason for wanting to upgrade cpu/mobo is so i can pass my current build down to a family member. I will be keeping my current ram, or 8GB of it anyway...

Thanks :D
 
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Ivybridge uses less power than sandybridge for a start and the IGP on the K CPUs is improved too. DO you really need an i7?

The Z77 mobo does indeed have PCI-E 3.0, you need an ivybridge CPU for it to operate. You are also forgetting lucid MVP. This uses the IGP to boost your GPUs performance and remember quick sync which uses the IGP to "turbo boost" video encoding if your software supports it.
 
Hmm, i haven't really looked into ivybridge much tbh. Just kind of assumed that sandybridge would drop in price, so never really bothered to check them out. But now you've got me intrigued...

That's the first i've heard of lucid MVP too tbh. Always kind of assumed IGP was mainly for laptops etc (been out of this stuff way too long). Wasn't aware it could be taken advantage of in conjunction with a gfx card...Definitely gonna research more now :)

So if you were to go with an ivy/Z77, what would you recommend? Also, i assume i wouldn't need to replace my ram? (i hope)

Nice sig btw, new album due soon i think :)
 
If you have DDR3 RAM all is well. 1600Mhz is the sweet spot on the 1155 socket, any higher doesn't really reap any real advantage.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £189.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £105.98
Total : £307.33 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Ivy i5K and a GB Z77 mobo. Both have a 3 year warranty, this Z77 mobo does SLI/xfire properly so you can still rock those 5850s in Xfire :)

It's definately worth discussing your options (and my fav band lol), if you get to 100 posts you lose the P&P ;) (just noticed you're in Belfast so I don't think you do get free P&P sadly)
 
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Yeah my current ram is 1600Mhz...

So i went for a Gigabyte Z77X-D3H, but on the processor side i went for a 3770K, cause, hell why not? I remember hyperthreading coming in useful when i had a P4 many moons ago :)

Yeah that's another reason i wanted out of the AMD ecosystem, more freedom on the gfx card side. Might just go with Nvidia again...

Meh, i'm used to it. Still works out being cheaper than buying from local shops anyway :)

Thanks for the advice dude!
 
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