Spec check for upgrade

heman · 29 Mar 2010 at 22:30

Hi,

Have been wanting to upgrade my PC for a few weeks now, and yesterday my PSU blew which has focused my efforts somewhat!
PC will be used for gaming primarily (at 1900x1200), possibly some 3D modelling. Will be overclocking whatever I get.
Already have HDD's, monitor, OS, case and keyboard & mouse (current spec in sig). I need:

PSU, CPU, HSF mobo, RAM and GPU

Have narrowed PSU, HSF and GPU to:
Corsair HX 850 (like the stable rails and 7yr warranty)
Powercolor PCS+ 5850 with MW2
Corsair H50-1

Not yet decided on whether to go AMD or Intel.
Toss up between:

i5 750
Gigabyte P55A UD4
OR
Phenom 2 X4 965 BE
Not sure which mobo

Not sure on RAM but need 4gb.

Need opinions on AMD/Intel and mobo's and RAM. Want quality parts as will be overclocking. Aiming to spend around 700. Also whether anyone has any other recommendations about my chosen parts.

Sorry about the long thread!

stulid · 29 Mar 2010 at 23:04

Is that £700 for the CPU, mobo and ram? Or your intire system?

If its the former, then i7 is easily affordable.

heman · 29 Mar 2010 at 23:06

Around £700 for all the required components.

stulid · 29 Mar 2010 at 23:21

So this?

Intel i7 930 OEM £229.99
Asus p6X58D premium £239.99
OCZ obsidian 6gb £139.99

Total is £609.97

heman · 29 Mar 2010 at 23:30

Thanks for the spec, but all the components includes the GPU, PSU and HSF. So the above spec would be too expensive.
Sorry if this is not clear from my previous post.

stulid · 29 Mar 2010 at 23:47

The graphics card, psu and cooler come too £445.

Which leaves £255 for the CPU, mobo and ram.

That's not a lot to get what you want, how about a cheaper psu that is still good and powerful?

heman · 30 Mar 2010 at 00:19

Have shopped around and managed to source the GPU, PSU and H50-1 for just over £400. This leaves around £300 which I agree, is not enough!
I'm happy to up the budget for the CPU, RAM and mobo to around £400?

Thanks

stulid · 30 Mar 2010 at 00:26

Came up with this.

Powercolor 5850(with MW2) £234.99
Corsair H50-1 £66.99
Asus M4A79XTD £88.99
Gskill Ripjaw 4gb £99.99
AMD PhenomX4 955be £135.99
ANTEC new truepower 650W £88.99

That lot makes £716

For an extra £6, the 750W version of the ANTEC is more than enough for that lot, and will easily manage a second graphics card for crossfire.

heman · 30 Mar 2010 at 10:01

Above spec looks good for the price. I presume that mobo has good overclocking features and capability?

stulid · 30 Mar 2010 at 10:09

The motherboard is good, it does a proper crossfire compatibility too.

With one card installed you get the normal 16x pci express.

When two cards are installed it does the correct 2 X 8 pci express.

Not all the AMD motherboards do this, some only provide 4 pci express lanes to the second slot.

And being ASUS it will overclock very well.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 30 Mar 2010 at 13:15

The components list in post 8 is very good value for money IMHO. The PSU is made by Seasonic and uses Japanese made capacitors,the motherboard has VRM cooling and the graphics card has an aftermarket cooler.