Would this be a good I5 setup?

liamcrane

liamcrane

liamcrane

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Hi everyone

Im thinking of upgrading my AMD system to an Intel I5 setup and was just wondering having been away from Intel setup for so long now if i had picked the right choices. I am more than happy to listen to alternate suggestions, i am not really looking to cross fire or anything like that, im playing games such as GTA, BF3 and they run on high settings pretty well on my current setup but cant help feel im getting a bit dated. My current spec is im my sig im going to use the same PSU & GPU so im only really looking for CPU, Motherboard, Ram and CPU cooler.

Here's what i have come up with

CPU

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-360-IN

Motherboard

Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-GI

RAM

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS

CPU cooler

Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-005-AN

I am thinking of getting an M4 SSD as well but not to sure what size at the mo

What do you think, would it be classed as a good upgrade?
 
Spec looking ok, I did have a 60gb SSD and now upgraded to a 120gb. Both were plenty big enough for windows install and a few program's.
 
SSD's are becoming a popular upgrade, and the performance they bring is well worth it.

The spec looks good. Are you wanting to stick with a closed-loop water cooler then?
 
Thanks for that matey, I was a bit unsure on the board at first i must admit but i have read a lot of reviews and its been highly rated and i just thought to myself what do i really need.....a couple of sata 6gb ports a couple of 3gb ports for my other mechnical drives and a decent up to date chipset which it has. The only real draw back on the board for me is the lack of a VGA connector which is very strange indeed especially as it has an hdmi output! The printer port also made me laugh i must say :p I dont see the point in paying for high end boards if you dont really need what it has. As long as it overclocks to around 4 - 4.2ghz i'll be well happy

As for the SSD its a tough one, i know thinking future proof a 120gb would be best but im thinking maybe a 64gb one for now to install the OS and say BF3 and hopefully GTA then maybe down the line i could just get another 64gb for my other games.


EDIT

Sorry doomedspeed you must have posted as i was typing :) as for the cooler i was just looking to try something different if im honest. I currently use a megahalems and its been great, i would have used it with this setup but when i bought it it didnt come with a 1155 bracket and i cant seem to find them anywhere anyhow. I am not interested in water cooling at all really i just saw the postive reviews that the Antec Kúhler H2O 620 had and thought why not try it. The one thing with big air coolers tho that annoys me is when it comes to installing something new or just wanting to clean out my machine it just gets in the dam way!
 
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The H20 620, does look good and i have heard positive things about it. I Think it is worth a try.

I think a 64GB SSD would be fine and (like you say) you can always add another one at a later date. :)
 
RJC said:
The Gigabyte does have a strange array of ports, but does get good reviews and has had a couple of awards. Another good motherboard is the Gigbayte one below, this offers the ability to run Sli & xfire in the future (if needed) larger heatsink and a few other options :)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-368-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link mate no you have got me thinking!! dam you :D I can definatly see the larger room between the cpu socket and the ram slots for a big air cooler. I might actually go check out the reviews on this board from a couple of sites and see what it comes up like compared to the other giga one.

Doomedspeed said:
The H20 620, does look good and i have heard positive things about it. I Think it is worth a try.

I think a 64GB SSD would be fine and (like you say) you can always add another one at a later date. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks matey thats what i have been thinking, i know in reality buying to 64gb ones works out more expensive but if i buy one now and say one in 2-3 months time at least i could afford it i dont wanna wait :D
 
liamcrane said:
EDIT

Sorry doomedspeed you must have posted as i was typing :) as for the cooler i was just looking to try something different if im honest. I currently use a megahalems and its been great, i would have used it with this setup but when i bought it it didnt come with a 1155 bracket and i cant seem to find them anywhere anyhow. I am not interested in water cooling at all really i just saw the postive reviews that the Antec Kúhler H2O 620 had and thought why not try it. The one thing with big air coolers tho that annoys me is when it comes to installing something new or just wanting to clean out my machine it just gets in the dam way!
Click to expand...

Know what you mean about big air coolers, thats why I try to opt for these closed watercoolers nowadays though I'm looking into WC now!

Saying that though, what revision is your Megahalems? If its Rev.B then it should come with the Intel LGA1156 mount, the one in this:
http://www.prolimatech.com/en/products/detail.asp?id=155&subid=413#showtab (I hope its alright to link to the Prolimatech sites, if not, MODS, please remove, thanks and sorry).

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to use it on the Gigabyte? I've used a few coolers that stated LGA1156 compatibility but fitted fine on my LGA1155 boards.
 
consider getting a Gen3 motherboard, so you can upgrade to either Ivybridge CPU's or PCI-E 3.0 graphics cards if you want to in 2012.
 
If you get a 60Gb SSD you will only regret it. It really isn't big enough for much more than the OS, essential software and 2 games. That is all I have on my 128Gb M4 at the moment and I only have 58Gb left.
 
I know what you mean with regards to space, the thing is i dont really have that much installed on my machine at all at the mo. i have set aside 110gb for my OS and application on my mechnical drive and i have only used 35gb of it. Other than that i have BF3 GTA and saints row 3 installed on another games drive so i reckon i could maybe get away with a 64gb one for now if i disable hibernation as well. I am going to put all my none graphical games and lesser games like football manager on a spare mechnical drive which should see me through to when hopefully ssd's drop in price and i'll throw another 64gb m4 in and move all my main games to that and keep the older ssd for just the os
 
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I have a 90Gb Force 3 SSD with only essentials installed and have 28Gb left.

I have installed..

Windows 7 Ultimate
Office 2010 (Only Word, Excel and Powerpoint)
Firefox
Skyrim
Battlefield 3

and a few other small apps, monitoring temps and testing etc

I would have regretted going for 60-64Gb personally.
 
liamcrane said:
I know what you mean with regards to space, the thing is i dont really have that much installed on my machine at all at the mo. i have set aside 110gb for my OS and application on my mechnical drive and i have only used 35gb of it. Other than that i have BF3 GTA and saints row 3 installed on another games drive so i reckon i could maybe get away with a 64gb one for now if i disable hibernation as well. I am going to put all my none graphical games and lesser games like football manager on a spare mechnical drive which should see me through to when hopefully ssd's drop in price and i'll throw another 64gb m4 in and move all my main games to that and keep the older ssd for just the os
Click to expand...

Remember the 110Gb you have is 110Gb if the drive is partitioned but with a 60Gb SSD after format you will only have 55-56Gb to play with.
 
If you get a Z68 board with Intel® Smart Response Technology

For users who are tempted to connect the SSD and HDD on motherboard, the Intel® Smart Response Technology can make the SSD become the "Cache of the HDD" to boost up the HDD access speed.
Gives you about 350% boost to your mechanical drive :D
 
Davefran said:
If you get a Z68 board with Intel® Smart Response Technology

For users who are tempted to connect the SSD and HDD on motherboard, the Intel® Smart Response Technology can make the SSD become the "Cache of the HDD" to boost up the HDD access speed.
Gives you about 350% boost to your mechanical drive :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for this i had looked into it and this gigabyte board im looking to get does support the intel smart cache you mention. The board has an msata port in the middle of it so i was looking for a small msata ssd to maybe do exactly what you said but they seem to be hard to find and rather pricey for such a small space approx 20gb
 
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