Spec me an upgrade

Khrest · 6 Dec 2011 at 22:21

So I have the option to pass the core of my system (see sig) on to my Dad who wants a media PC, and get a contribution towards the upgrade that I would then need (much better deal than flogging my kit for next to nothing on MM

).

I'm happy with my case, drives and disks so I was thinking of keeping the 2x4gb sticks I currently have of Corsair XMS3 1600 DDR3 ram and passing the 2x2gb, motherboard, processor, cooler over as a bundle into his system with a cheap 5450 card for the video playback.

So I'm looking for nice upgrade from my existing original i5 @ 3.8Ghz setup, perhaps a Sandybridge i7 with a nice overclock, motherboard and cooler to go with my SSD and 8gb ram. That should see me through the next 2 years hopefully.

I'm in two minds about the 5850, because it still does the job and I don't think I would see that much improvement going to a 6950 or similar. Maybe waiting for the next gen in the Spring makes more sense?

What would you do?

Doomedspeed · 6 Dec 2011 at 23:26

What are your main uses? You may not need an i7, the i5 2500k is a great chip.

I think you should keep the 5850 for now, as you are not noticing any problem and wait for the new batch to appear.

Spec:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £265.99
1 x MSI Z68A-GD55-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £124.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/LGA2011/AM2/AM3) £84.98
Total : £487.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Any budget in mind or does this hit it?

EDIT: Just update the spec with a H80, the 2700k's run hot!

Just read a comment saying that paired with a H100 it can go to 4.8Ghz and beyond.

BTW: Im from Loughborough too, just at university in Nottingham

fowler002 · 7 Dec 2011 at 01:56

go antec kuhler 920 and save £10, similar performance to the h80. or even go 620 and save even more money if not aiming for record breaking oc results.

no need to wait for spring for the new graphics cards, the low end are due in the coming weeks. The mid and higher end are due in the first couple of 2012. either way we should know more soon enough as 2011 has only a few more weeks left.

Khrest · 7 Dec 2011 at 08:03

Sorry, I should have added that my uses are mostly gaming oriented and that I would like, one day, to be able to run FSX at a decent framerate :-)

So the MSI is a decent choice? I've tended towards Gigabyte and Asus previously. Budget wise that's probably at the top end.

Doomedspeed · 7 Dec 2011 at 08:58

Khrest said:
Sorry, I should have added that my uses are mostly gaming oriented and that I would like, one day, to be able to run FSX at a decent framerate

So the MSI is a decent choice? I've tended towards Gigabyte and Asus previously. Budget wise that's probably at the top end.

The MSI board is good quality. The reason MSI used to be prefer to other brands is they offered x8 x8 Xfire/SLi on most boards, now other companies do that too.

The board is also gen3 ready, so can fully utilise the new GPU's which will appear soon.

Gigabyte are a good company to, This is the board id suggest if you wanted to stay with them.