Upgrading my sg05 build, advice pls

gizmo1990

gizmo1990

gizmo1990

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1 Aug 2003
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My zotac 9300 board has died (gutted) so I'm considering upgrading as the most cost effective way of getting it running again.

I've been checking the latest boards out and because of this sandybridge malarkey I can't wait around for the fixes. So the board I'm looking at is the Gigabyte H55N-USB3.

Could anyone here advise me on a suitable cooler for this board? One that will fit in the chassis ok and also allow for a video card to be used too considering the placement of the cpu socket. Alternative motherboard suggestion would be welcome too!

Any advice greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Tute, it needs to be workstation suitable really so in the gaming direction but nothing extreme. An i3 should be sufficient, 4gb ram and a geforce 9000 something card will be fine. Basically I'm looking for a good cost effective vs performance bundle of board+cpu+cooler. Something that gives me an upgrade path later down the line.

Boff_in, yes the h50 seems to be getting a lot of use doesn't it. It does interest me as all that space saving would be nice. Fitting the schyth low profile heatsink in my 9300+quadcore setup was a complete bitch. I've noticed too that people are reporting problems fitting the radiator but I can't work out why? Anyone know more on this?
 
I hadn't considered intel. Do you have any model recommendations? Quick look at the website brings up the DH57JG?

There's a DH67CF but I'm guessing that it suffers from the sata recall? One requirement is that I need this pc back up and running asap, like yesterday!

Regarding the video card, I can't spring for that I'm afraid, maybe later! lol The fanless gigabyte one I've been using will be plenty good enough for now.

Again all I'm looking for is a board+cpu+cooler combo, all to go in a sg05.
 
Well that board seems to either extremely new or in very very short supply because I can't find any mention of it anywhere..? Except for a well known place beginning with s which only lists it as tba.
Is there a reason for its un availability? One critical decision for me is time. I need the board asap, in a big way.
 
Stephen b, has the place you got your board still have them in stock? I know forum rules forbid mentioning other retailers (which I've always found daft in cases like this as oc don't even stock it) But at least then I'll know if I should persist in my search... Anyone, please?
 
Okay guys thanks for that. The problem is that I was searching for dh67cfb3 not dh67cf....! So sue me. ;)
Right so I can see some places but they all seem to be companies or individuals selling via other companies. When it comes to buy stuff like this I much prefer going by actual companies in case problems arise.. This place with 82 in stock sounds like a big place I rather deal with. Care to take pity on me give me a clue..?? :)
 
Stephen B said:
82 in stock as of this morning, not difficult to find online
Click to expand...
Sorted.;)

Bane, yes I'm up for giving it a go certainly. I didn't register the warranty at the time of purchase (will that make a difference?) and currently I'm trying to remember who I purchased it off too!!

Ok so I think going with the intel board makes sense. Given that, my attention turns to cpu.. my funds are stretched so I was going to go with i3 but I might spring for an i5. Could anyone give me their opinion on what's the current best buy in either category?

Also.. just been checking out intels spec page for the dh67cf it appears to only support a specific low power i5 and no i7 cpus at all.. is that correct? Sorry I'm not really up on my cpus now, I naturally thought that a board like this would be able to handle a broad range of i5 and i7 cpus, is this not the case? Help!
 
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Thanks for the reply Stephenb.

So will the board take the complete range of i5 sandybridge cpus? Because the intel website seems to suggest it doesn't??

Basically I was hoping that by doing this upgrade I'd be protecting myself a little ways into the future. I've got/had(!?) a core 2 quad so I'd want the cpu I put in to be at least equal to that but spend as little money as possible on it. I'd then pop a better cpu later down the line, least I'd like that option, hence the board upgrade.
 
Tbh I really don't want to mess with oc'ing my workstation anyway, this whole episode has left me shell shocked already! lol

Ok, given that I can go to a i7 later if I want and currently I need to keep my budget down as much as possible but still be at least comparable to my old core 2 quad (it's a mid range one I think, can't recall right now exactly) could you suggest to me a cpu?

To put it in perspective the i5-2500k is just too pricey for me. :(
 
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Ahhh! Thanks for that Skyboat, that's cleared a lot up.

Right ok so basically it's looking like I'm going to have to go with at least a i5 to get like for like performance regarding my old core 2 quad? The i5-2300 it seems for me then. I'll upgrade later when I get a new case. I've had my eye on the Define mini, god knows when I'll be able to afford one after this little lot though! :(

So my spec is,
i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge)
DH67CFB3
H50
4gb ram, probably corsair xms.

How does that sound to people?
 
I guess the reason for the h50 is ease of installation and troubleshooting later down the line? It's such a total pain in the ass gutting the machine or fiddling around inside, not to mention fitting those huge coolers in the first place.. What dya think? In this respect the h50 seems a breeze..
 
I'm very wary of OCZ ram since I had some that were very picky which board they worked in. Those ones are a very good price though.. maybe too good!

Again this comes down to it being my workstation pc and above all else this episode has taught me that I need stability.. Basically I'm prepared to pay the extra couple of quid if it means better reliability/quality but I'll happily save money if I can.

Can anyone give me a good shout out for this ram over corsair? It's damn cheap..

danewesley, yeah I was thinking about the need for the k model. Maybe it's just the old oc'er in me that thought perhaps I might.. Ok I think I'll go with the vanilla 2500 version
 
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