Upgrade: Well Overdue

Wipster

Wipster

Wipster

Associate
Joined
22 Dec 2006
Posts
118
Hey all,
Finally deciding to pull the trigger on an upgrade that's well overdue, its like running through treacle. I am mostly decided on what I should get but I need a bit of a hand from the pro's choosing the right modules to give the best results, also going water which is something I haven't tried before... about time I did!
So without further adoo here is my list with a little bit of justification so you know where I'm coming from.

Edit:- Updated due to feedback
Proposed setup:
Intel Core i7 2600K
Asus P8Z68-V PRO <-- Dont need multiple LAN ports
G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM <-- Scaled back from CL7
XFX ATI Radeon 6970
Intel 510 250GB <-- Changed from OCZ due to possible BSOD issues with Vertex3
Got a soundcard, X-Fi jobbie.
Modular Corsair HX 620W <-- Reusing.

Cooling:
Swiftech Apogee XT <-- Changed from EK Nickel due to possible flaking issues.
ThermoChill TA120.3
EK-DDC X-RES 100
12V Laing DDC-1T 10W <-- Or go for the 18W? I think the block is low enough restriction.
Koolance VID-AR697
8x (1/2") 13mm ID Barbed Fittings <-- Longer?
3x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm - 1150 RPM <-- For the radiator.
 
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Assuming you're gaming- is this correct?

If that's the case, downgrade to the i5 2500K (identical performance for far less money), consider the MSI P67A-GD53 motherboard (it's cheaper with the same features and a personal favourite of mine), and have a think about how badass graphics you need. What res are you playing at? Are you overclocking it? Do you particularly need AMD or NVidia for whatever reason?

The SSD is a great idea, although I'd be tempted to go for Crucial over OCZ, and the PSU should be perfectly fine, as long as you bought it fairly recently- if it's 4-5 or more years old, it's not going to be configured correctly for current cards.

I have absolutely no idea about water cooling so you may be better off waiting for somebody more expert or checking the water cooling section, but bear in mind that there is a lot of expense and maintenance with water cooling that you do not have with air cooling, and you can replicate similar performance for a lot less money.
 
Well I do a fair amount of gaming but I also do quite a bit of computationally intensive tasks with maths software.
I have two 1920x1200 but will only be using one for gaming at a time.... well apart from the odd exception with two clients ;) and I do intend on overclocking it, maybe some softvolt work too but falling short of hardmods. I would prefer ATI because I am able to run my OpenCL programs a damn sight faster that's the main drive on that choice, hoping they have fixed multi-monitor issues...
The PSU is relatively recent, bought in about 98 and is in my current rig... so its been run pretty hard.
 
I would switch the OCZ SSD to either intel or crucial as they are unreliable right now. A high number of returns, myself included.
 
Crucial M4 128GB, £175. Should do nicely.

The HX620 will power any single card setup. the power requirements haven't changed that much since the Fermi days, in fact they are slightly lower than older generation, so the HX will do. If you planning on SLI / XFire, then you'll need 750W / 850W.

I would get a 6970 / 570 instead of attempting a flash.

The ripjaws are high profile. That will limit your choice of air cooler. Take a low profile set, 12800C9, there is little difference in performance between rams (you don't overclock the BCLK, but the CPU multiplier with sandybridge).
If you go with water cooling, then high profile ram is irrelevant. The ram speed still stands, you wont get as much benefits going with expensive rams as on other platforms (1155, AM3....).

Good mobos are the Asus Z68 (pro and non pro), the Asrock Z68 Extreme 4. The Asus P67 are known to have had problems and glitches in the past. Dunno what's the current state of them at the moment.

If you go water cooling and extreme overclocking, maybe a good idea to go for a 'golden sample' CPU.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=6&subid=2020 Although no 2600K, maybe somewhere else. Most 2500K are good for 4.6GHz.

HAF-X is a good case for water cooling, loads of room and not too expensive (at least used to be).

ATC S840 is good too for that kind of job. Probably others as well, maybe a Corsair 650D.
 
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