Spec check for upgrade

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Joined
29 Dec 2005
Posts
145
Hi,

Got the following at the moment:

Asus P5N-E sli plus
Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz
2GB DDR2 533mhz RAM (4x512mb)
Nvidia 8800GTS 512mb
Coolermaster Extreme Power 650w
WD Caviar Blue 500gb
LG DVD-RW drive
Sound Blaster X-treme
Windows 7 home

Looking to upgrade....thinking something along the lines of:

Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98 inc VAT
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99 inc VAT
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (Already purchased)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £131.99

~£400 upgrade, keeping the PSU, HD, DVD, soundcard.

This would be my first build, as such, and was wondering whether I would just be able to change the mobo and plug everything in (old and new) and it should just work....dont need to reformat or reinstall windows or anything like that?

Also would a stock cooler for a Q9550 fit/work with the i5 to save a few pennies? :D
 
Is the DVD sata? As that mobo doesn't have an IDE port.

I don't think lga 775 heatsinks work on that motherboard either.
 
Hi,

Got the following at the moment:

Asus P5N-E sli plus
Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz
2GB DDR2 533mhz RAM (4x512mb)
Nvidia 8800GTS 512mb
Coolermaster Extreme Power 650w
WD Caviar Blue 500gb
LG DVD-RW drive
Sound Blaster X-treme
Windows 7 home

Looking to upgrade....thinking something along the lines of:

Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £81.98 inc VAT
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £167.99 inc VAT
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (Already purchased)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £131.99

~£400 upgrade, keeping the PSU, HD, DVD, soundcard.

This would be my first build, as such, and was wondering whether I would just be able to change the mobo and plug everything in (old and new) and it should just work....dont need to reformat or reinstall windows or anything like that?

Also would a stock cooler for a Q9550 fit/work with the i5 to save a few pennies? :D

You may have trouble with the change and play situation. I have heard it can be done but you may need to do some BIOs updates along the way.

It would be better to start from fresh if you can, easily.

You won't be to use the Q9550 stock cooler, as the CPU you linked is Retail. I do see what you mean though. I wouldn't risk it. Id spend a few pennies and not run the risk. I don't think its compatible anyway.

Looks great though. A 6950 would make it better, it is out of budget though. Couldn't even squeeze a GTX 560ti? If you can't you still have a great build.
 
Yeh DVD and HD are both SATA.

Yeh was origianlly thinking of a 560ti, might upgrade that soon after the mobo, cpu, ram upgrade.

So what processes would be involved with doing the upgrade?? I mean I've read most of the sticked system build guide, but it only really talks about building a whole new system.
 
Read this!

It basically says you cannot go wrong with either. The GTX 560ti has better overclocking performance but the 6950 has a little better standard perfromance. Though the 6950 runs hotter and louder than the 560ti.
Its just personal choice at the end of the day.
 
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