Spec me..system refresh time

vcl_X1 · 4 Jun 2011 at 20:27

Hi,

It's time to refresh my system from an AMD phenom x4 940, Ga Ma 790 fx dq6

Who can improve on this spec for me without taking budget much over £450 please?

I need at least 1 pci-x16 + 1 x8 for my raid card and will recycle case, OS, power supply, GFX, SSD's & HDD's etc. Other than that pretty much anything goes.

Machine is used primarily for Photoshop/Lightroom and no gaming these days, so looking for processing power, traditionally built AMD sytems in the past and I prefer Gigabtye mobo's.

Cooling courtesy of an Antec 1200 case and Noctua Nh d14

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz @ 4.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £179.99
Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte Z68X-UD4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.99
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £65.99
IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound (4.8g) IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound (4.8g) £12.98

Sub Total : £357.46
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £73.59
Total : £441.55

stulid · 4 Jun 2011 at 20:31

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £227.99
(£189.99) £227.99
(£189.99)
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £144.98
(£120.82) £144.98
(£120.82)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £65.99
(£54.99) £65.99
(£54.99)
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (4g) £5.10
(£4.25) £5.10
(£4.25)
Sub Total : £370.05
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £75.61
Total : £453.66

vcl_X1 · 4 Jun 2011 at 21:15

Just the man I was hoping could reply, looks very good thank you.

How good are the Asrock boards?

I was mulling over the 2500k vs the 2600k, do you think I'll see much difference between them?

stulid · 4 Jun 2011 at 21:19

Well I just bought one if you look a few threads down, its so simple to use, setup and overclock its madness, lots of extras included with the board too.

You said you wanted max CPU power, and your programs may make good use iof the hyperthreading that the 2600K has plus the extra cache memory it has.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=288

vcl_X1 · 4 Jun 2011 at 21:40

Nice build, how does the 2500k compare to the 955be it replaced?

I should see more benefit going from 940be to 2600k given Photoshop is so multi thread optimised, might even throw 16 GB ram at it if the Noctua cooler allows it too and then not have to open the case for at least a year, in theory ;-)

2600k @ 4.8gHz with 16GB ram will be sweet if it's possible for me.

stulid · 4 Jun 2011 at 21:45

Its clearly much much faster even at stock.

vcl_X1 · 4 Jun 2011 at 21:49

Thank you.

stulid · 4 Jun 2011 at 21:52

Even the BIOS flash I did yesterday to the latest 1.4 version was painless and simple to do.