Spec help - i7 system

Kendo Nagasaki · 3 Dec 2015 at 21:04

Hey

My current i7-920 (Nehalem) system has done me proud :cool:

and I'm looking to upgrade to the new Skylake, so any help, hints, do's, don'ts would be greatly appreciated!

The system will primarily be used for photography work but I'm keen to get back into a bit of gaming!

My current key component build is:

- i7-920 CPU (upgrade)
- Asus P6T Intel X58 motherboard (upgrade)
- BeQuiet! Dark Power Pro 650W (upgrade)
- OCZ Gold 6gb DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) (upgrade)

- Samsung SpinPoint F1 750gb SATA-II (keep or upgrade)
- Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gbs SSD (keep or upgrade)
- MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 580 (keep or upgrade)

Upgrade to:

1 x Asus Z170 Maximus VIII Hero - Skylake Core i7 6700K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£30 Saving**= £489.98
1 x Corsair HX750i 750W '80 Plus Platinum Digital Modular Power Supply (CP-9020072-UK)= £119.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B30= £109.99
1 x Noctua NH-U14S Ultra-Quiet Slim CPU Cooler with NF-A15 Fan= £62.99

I tend to leave upgrading until it needs a full overhaul, so the cost can stretch if need be but I don't want to spend unnecessarily either. Will my existing SSD / HDD & GFX be ok?

Cheers

dacads · 3 Dec 2015 at 21:43

Well for starters you don't need to spend that much on a PSU, go with the following which comes with a 10 year warranty

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply= £104.99

Total: £115.49
(includes shipping: £10.50)

Graphics wise I think you are definitely due an upgrade too. I'd be looking along the lines of GTX 970 or R9 390

Also what case will this be all going into?

mickyflinn · 3 Dec 2015 at 21:46

You could also get a 5820k six core I7 motherboard bundle.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Gigabyte X99-SLI - Intel Core i7 5820K Six Core CPU & Motherboard Bundle ***£50 Saving***= £429.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M4B3000C1= £119.99

Threepwood · 3 Dec 2015 at 21:49

I would just go with an i5 Devil's Canyon CPU and MB upgrade and reuse everything else. (£250)

Except maybe the 580. It depends how much you want to game, use the change on a 4GB 380 or an 8GB 390. (£170/£280 respectively)

You could go for the CPU and MB first, and see if you are happy with performance or not... it depends what you are playing really)

Kendo Nagasaki · 3 Dec 2015 at 22:48

Thanks for the advice guys, definitely a few things to think about!

The case is a Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower, so plenty of room I would imagine!

I'm really just trying to get the best for the money and to create a system that will last for years to come!

Threepwood · 3 Dec 2015 at 23:27

Well, you have the cheap option that plays like, all of todays game's perfectly well and many, many, many of tomorrow's games too.

Or the expensive option of future proofing, which really would have to be the 5820k route (because or 6 real cores for DX12 Vs only 4 real cores in an i7.)

Today, I think I might well just go for the cheap cpu/mb upgrade and the cheap 4GB 380, then do a fuller refresh of the system in the actual future, when DX12 and new gen CPUS/GPUS are here.

lee32uk · 3 Dec 2015 at 23:58

Your current psu would be fine to reuse as well, unless there is something wrong with it ?

Kendo Nagasaki · 4 Dec 2015 at 14:15

No, nothing wrong with the PSU - its 5+ years old and thought that if I was upgrading the key components it might be wise to do so! Stick or twist?

mickyflinn · 4 Dec 2015 at 14:23

Kendo Nagasaki said:
No, nothing wrong with the PSU - its 5+ years old and thought that if I was upgrading the key components it might be wise to do so! Stick or twist?

I look at the review of your psu and its a fine unit, i would stick.