What would u do spec wise?

Gast

Gast

Gast

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24 Mar 2010
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OK so as per previous post I just wanted to check if this is worth doing before I go ahead and spend some hard cash. My current spec is i7 920, ATI 5850, 6GB RAM, X58A UD3R, Samsung F3.

Due to mother board issues I am going to scrap my current choice and replace it. I have around £400 to spend but not sure what route I should go.

Go for the i5 2500k, new motherboard and new RAM and keep with the current GFX card etc.

Or would I be best taking the £400, spending it on a mobo for my i7 and then look at upgrading my gfx card and getting a SSD drive? Perhaps look at a new case as well since the ATCS 840 is a little bit to big.

Im leaning towards the i5, with 8gb RAM and a new Mobo.

What would you suggest is the best route?

(PC is used mostly for gaming, with everything as close to max settings as possible)

Thanks!

PS - PSU is a Corsair 750 modular so not needing to change that.
 
Are you RMAing your board to gigabyte again?

Your not really going to notice the change between the i7-920 and the i5-2500K. apart from the fact the new tech produces less heat. You'd notice more difference with a change of graphics card. If your getting another motherboard from gigabye then your best bet would be new graphics card + SSD. imo.
 
Well I was going to RMA the board and then look at selling it on. The fact that its had another failure which looks to be for the exact same reason as the first time Im wondering if its an actual fault with the board. Trying to convince Gigabyte of this without them just fixing the BIOS all over again would be hard tho.

I dont want to have to go down the RMA route again months down the line. I mean I like building PC's but not for this hehe
 
The other thing I should add is this -
I plan to keep adding updates to the PC every few months. Down the line I will be looking at adding SSD/new GFX cards etc to the system. Thing is I dont want to keep flinging money at the PC on a 1366 motherboard which isnt going to get any real updates. Isnt most intel stuff going to be 1155 based now? If so I was thinking it might make sense to go that route now whilst I have the money so I can upgrade it a year or so later if required?

Or still a waste of time ?
 
with new graphics cards out in 3-6months no point in getting a amd6xxx/nvidia5xx card now, if the 5850 is struugling just grab a 2nd one for under £100 pre-owned(justt need to post a bit more to get mm access) and xfire it.

either get a new 1366 mb or can move to i2500k etc if you wish, what model/speed/volts are the current ram? you maybe able to use 4gb of the 6g(2 sticks) for the time being, then swap them out for new ram in the future.

possible upgrade if you go i2500k:

cpu: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1275

mb: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-054-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

thats ~£330, can add cooler if you current one doesn't support 1156(will also work on 1155), ram if you wish, 64gb crucial m4, case whatever.
 
Aaaa thank you :)

Pretty convinced of going down the i5 route now. Not to much of a loss really since I can sell parts on to this friend, which is a vast improvement on what he currently has.

A few questions if I may.

I see a lot of people on the forum recommend the ASrock Z68 board to go with the i5 2500k. A couple of reviews I have read have scored the board OK but not fantastic. Is there any real difference between Z68/P67 motherboards? Why go ASrock rather than say Asus or MSI?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517
This was the RAM I was going to go for. Was going to buy 2 sets to get 8gb. Any 1 have any suggestions to RAM that would be better?

What CPU cooler would people recommend? I am currently using the H50 but may sell that with my motherboard etc to my friend, so any suggestions on what cooler would be good to go with this setup?

A new case - Currently using the ATCS 840...its a fair bit bigger than I expected (stupid me read the dimensions wrong at time). I may end up selling the case as well, so looking to downgrade the size of the case slightly but have something that has very good airflow and still decent space inside of the case.

I will stick with the 5850 for the time being. A lot of ppl have said that new gfx cards will be out in 3-6 months, so will hold off till then to upgrade this part of the pc (can upgrade other stuff in the meantime)

Cheers :)
 
The Z series basically is the overclocking features of the P series combined with the IGP feature of the H series.

The XMS RAM is good, there are other alternatives, it depends whats on offer really. We look for RAM that is not fitted with aggressive heatspreaders, these can cause issues with some heatsinks. You will probably get a better deal on 2X4GB and you'll still have RAM slots left for more, like I said keep an eye on the daily as well as weekly offers.

The gelid tranquillo is a reasonably priced Air cooled heatsink with good performance considering the price. Case is pretty much down to personal preference really fella.

*edit*

I do believe asrock is now owned by asus. Incase you were concerned by the brand name.
 
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Ak!ta said:
I agree, as you already have the i7 cpu. Also you would have to change your triple channel ram aswell... I would go with a good gpu and a shiney ssd !!!


YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 TOXIC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex Games £244.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £73.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £66.98
Total : £400.07 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Click to expand...

Why would he need to change his ram. Couldn't he just sell a stick :confused:
 
Im planning to sell the memory to my friend as well to help fund this new build now.

Now I need to decide how much an i7 920/6gb patriot ram/h50 cpu cooler, atcs 840 case and x58a ud3r motherboard is worth to sell to him. Dont want to rip him off, but dont want to sell for total peanuts either. Considering all he would need is a psu and hd and a new gfx card then hes getting a huge upgrade compared to his current build.
 
aaaa I see. no worries :) Ill try to negotiate with him and see what we can agree to.

Quite excited now. Nothing better than getting your teeth into a new build :) All I need to sort out is my case choice and Im ready to order.

I always struggle with cases tho. I end up seeing 5 or 6 that I like. I spent ages deciding on the atcs 840, So I know Ill spend ages on this 1 lol.
 
Well then start some threads asking peoples opinions. I did this for when my bro wanted a new one. The guys on here were very helpful, this will help increase your posts to get access to the MM too ;)

If you time this right even AMDs bulldozer could be released and then you have even more to decide on lol
 
1 other question :)

Tis regarding the ASrock Z68 Gen 3 board. Whats it like for the possibility of going SLI/Crossfire in the future? Can it do this? Any1 doing this just now have any opinions on it?

Theres a definite possibility of me going 2 x gfx cards a few months down the line. No point getting a mobo now that cant handle that!
 
Gast said:
1 other question :)

Tis regarding the ASrock Z68 Gen 3 board. Whats it like for the possibility of going SLI/Crossfire in the future? Can it do this? Any1 doing this just now have any opinions on it?

Theres a definite possibility of me going 2 x gfx cards a few months down the line. No point getting a mobo now that cant handle that!
Click to expand...

yeah it can do SLI and crossfire (with 3 cards). google some reviews, all the ones i have read, along with people's feedback on these forums, indicate it's the best bang per buck sandy bridge mobo around. looks shiny too :D
 
ram currently on offer http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS

if you keep the h50 then http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-060-GS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

choose a case you like

everyone has suggested the gellid but if you fancy pushing the cpu further than 4.5ghz you'll need a better cooler, the 2 best are

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-060-GS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-078-TR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=

i'm guessing as you're selling the mobo, cpu, ram and cooler you'll have more than your original budget to spend?
 
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Cheers for the help so far :)

So far this is what I have decided on -


I like the look of the white case. Seems to have a lot of space. I was tempted by the Silverstone cases as well but....well I decided to go with the 600t!

I am keeping my 750w Corsair PSU from current build, along with the 5850 GFX card for a few more months. Already have mouse/HD/Keyboard/Monitor/DVD Drive.

So last couple of questions. Is my RAM choice OK? Didnt want anything with huge spreaders etc so I went with above.

Just need to decide on a CPU cooler and Im good to go. Also wondering if I should change the case fans round and buy extra fans for the case? Any ideas you can give would be appreciated :)
 
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