So is it the wrong time to upgrade cpu?

DublinDude · 31 Dec 2011 at 12:12

I'm considering upgrading my Q6600 to an i5 2500k but I am hearing about new cpu's coming out in April.

So is it a bad time, should we wait for them?
Will the current gen prices reduce accordingly?

I presume it is the same with the video cards. Is there a new selection due out shortly that will bring prices down on the current gen?

I also want to upgrade my HD4870 to something that can handle games better.

Any thoughts?

DublinDude · 31 Dec 2011 at 21:44

This is what I am looking at getting (before midnight maybe) haha

HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo
i5-2500
Asus P8P67 PRO
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (slight overkill but mem is cheap at mo)

DublinDude · 31 Dec 2011 at 22:23

Surveyor said:
You want to get the i5-2500K if you want to fully overclock.

The i5-2500 can only be tweaked a little.

No Z68 motherboard?

What CPU cooler will you be using? The tall Corsair Vengeance will interfere with the larger ones.

Yea, I am concerned about a cooler taking up too much room. Any recommendations cooler wise?

DublinDude · 31 Dec 2011 at 22:54

Well my case, ATCS 840, is nearly as big as myself so there shouldn't be a problem there. The memory itself is 2*8gb so I could use the 2nd and 4th slot as you suggest.

DublinDude · 31 Dec 2011 at 23:20

Surveyor said:
Just having a quick browse through the OcUK site it seems a lot of the usually recommended coolers are out of stock.

Mid range, the Gelid Tranquillo and the Corsair A50.

High end, the Thermalright Silver Arrow and the Noctua NH-D14.

All out of stock so I'm not sure which one to recommend to replace them

Did you give any thought to the motherboard?

A Z68 board adds SSD caching, video encoding using the onboard GPU (with specific software) and video output using the onboard GPU (always handy for troubleshooting if nothing else).

Hmmm,

Well this Asrock motherboard was recommended. Its cheaper but does the trick apparently.

I was also looking at this cooler

DublinDude · 31 Dec 2011 at 23:55

Ok, went with:

HIS ATI Radeon HD 6970
Intel Core i5-2500k
Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB)
Xigmatek Red Scorpion CPU Cooler

EDIT: Crap, do I need paste?

DublinDude · 1 Jan 2012 at 00:06

Surveyor said:
It seems to come with a sachet of thermal paste.

With the exposed heatpipe coolers you're best spreading a thin layer over the CPU rather than using the blob in the middle method.

If you use the blob method it'll just disappear between the heatpipes.

Phew thanks!! Happy New Year all!!

Now the agonising wait for it all..