Upgrade options

[headhunter234]

Hi all,

http://www.technextday.co.uk/m4n?seid=etailer-basket&qb=964842

Am in process of upgrading in a couple of jumps at the moment, I have just got myself a nice 250gb ssd drive that already gave me a system boost, next bottleneck that I want to upgrade is the processor, but I am already close to max performance of current socket and it not worth the price for the limited gains which means I need motherboard too, which also means need ram as current ram is old size.

Am looking at getting the i7 3770k, don't know if I really need the k edition didn't overclock my last CPU until recently, I tend to air on the cautious side and hope it lasts longer rather than eeking out every last drop of power but thought If I was buying it will give me more options later, I selected aftermarket cooler also just in hope it would run quieter and with less effort than a stock would.

Motherboards I have no idea what I want here, case supports atx form, I have 1 ssd drive may have a second smaller (120gb ssd from work) and 1 500gb hdd that would need to go in I presume that's pretty standard.
have 2 usb plugs on front of case think (not sure how these work if it just depends what you plug them into asto what speed they are) and audio jack that I would also like to be able connect inside as I use it frequently to switch between speakers and headphones. ( plug headphones in and it cuts the speakers automatically)

Have a hd4870 that I would like to be able to use for now but am looking to upgrade to a 7870 or something similar in a month or 2.

Other things to keep at this stage would also be my Tagan 800W TG800-BZ powersupply not looking to upgrade this yet unless recomended otherwise.

Ram isnt important anything that fits well with the system will do running 4gb at moment no problems so 8gb should be plenty.

PC is mainly used for playing Battlefield 3 at the moment, with odd bit of CS6. Everything else dosn't require much performance.

So the link shows initial thoughts on parts at this stage, (being cpu, motherboard and ram) soft bugget is around £400 in that I would like to get these parts for around that figure but if bang for buck is good, for another £50 or so I would consider it.

Dosnt have to be from this site in particular but parts do need to be available in the uk, so please dont provide newegg links, because I cant get the parts from there, so prices are irrelevant.

Thanks for any input,

Regards
Leon

 

[JRyder3891]

All computers I own are AMD; but, the Asus P8Z is a bad ass motherboard. and the Asus P9X Pro.

http://www.premone.net/asus-p8z77-v-pro.html

http://www.premone.net/asus-p9x79-pro.html

And as for memory both boards support up to 32GB
Corsair Dominator Memory is the greatest.

http://www.jamdup.com/corsair-16gb-2x-8gb-ddr3-dominator.html

 

[headhunter234]

It dosn't have to be intel, I used to have amd and was happy but generally people seem to be saying that intel is the better option at the moment? What amd processor and boards would you recommend in the budget range.

what advanatages are there of getting the more expensive boards over the cheaper ones other than overclock ability? I don't mind paying the price of them but I don't want to over buy something that's not going to benefit me much.

Regards
Leon

 

[JRyder3891]

That is why I hate people Intel is not "Better" its more expensive an their MB's can run 3.0 Slots for VGA and AMD cant.


The build quality, heat plates stop from over heating. If you arent Playing hardcore games like BF then it doesnt matter about the super high quality really.


As for AMD, the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX and the ASUS Crosshair V Formula Z are the ONLY two I have fallen in deep love with. and the AMD 8350 Piledriver is half the price of the i7 and runs slightly better with no bugs or anything.


http://www.premone.net/asus-sabertooth-990fx-r2-0.html

http://www.premone.net/asus-crosshair-v-formula-z.html

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/processors/amdpiledriverfx/AMD/ADUFD8350FRHKBOX.html#utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=products

 

[Swordkd]

If gaming is your primary concern, Intel is the only way to go. I'm not familiar with the other program you want to run, so I don't know if you would actually gain any better performance from using an I7 vs. an I5.

Right now, unless you are using a program that takes full advantage of all a cpu's cores, there is no reason to suggest using Amd over Intel. If the program does, then the 8350 performs near as well or better in some cases than the I7, while being 50+ cheaper.

Are you able to use http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/ to plan out your parts?

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/vsBP
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/vsBP/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/vsBP/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LE ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£121.91 @ Dabs)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£36.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £352.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-13 23:40 GMT+0000)

I believe you said 400 was your budget for cpu/motherboard/ram and cpu cooler.

 

[headhunter234]

Sorry the other program is Creative Suite 6. I.E Indesign, photoshop and Illustrator. I use these programs at work primarily but occasionally bring home jobs to finish. The main priority is gaming that being equal the other program would be a bonus but not essential, I manage on a core 2 duo at the moment takes forever but I live with it.

Must admit im still swayed by the Intel chips as being better for gaming, I swapped out the I5 for the I7 on your parts picker ( thanks for that didn't know that site existed very helpful) and it was £424.33 would you consider the chip worth the extra cost?

Im mainly thinking that whatever chip I buy chances are I wont be able to upgrade it until i do another motherboard/cpu/ram combo because they tend to go to a new socket rather than give significant boosts in the current ones.

Regards
Leon

 

[Swordkd]

The gains for using an i7 over an i5 don't justify the extra cost for gaming. If you deal with your work software on a core 2 duo, then I'd doubt that any gain with the i7 over the i5 would be worth the extra money.

If you wanted to, you could save money on the motherboard and bring the entire build under budget with the i7 however. Such as with a http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/part/asus-motherboard-p8z77vlk . I'd recommend using an Asus brand motherboard, very solid boards.

 

[JRyder3891]

The Sabertooth and the Crosshair are the only two AMD motherboards I have found that execute full power and performance from the 8350. That is mainly why i suggested them. I personally think since hes not just using Microsoft office that the AMD is a better deal with the same performance and cheaper.

 

[blake1243]

Its not just because Intel has less cores, lower clocks. Intel has a higher IPC. Single Threaded applications (1-4 cores, just about every game) just aren't very good with AMD. Sandy/Ivy are just faster than any architecture AMD has ever constructed.

 

[Swordkd]

The Sabertooth and the Crosshair are the only two AMD motherboards I have found that execute full power and performance from the 8350. That is mainly why i suggested them. I personally think since hes not just using Microsoft office that the AMD is a better deal with the same performance and cheaper.

If the programs he was using took full advantage of ALL of a cpu's cores, the 8350 would be my recommendation. If, as he has stated, gaming is the number one concern, then I see no reason to recommend Amd if an Intel build will fall within his budget. His secondary concern is a program that he's currently running on a Core 2 Duo, so, upgrading to even an I5 is going to benefit him greatly. I believe that the 8350 would actually perform better for him for that program, but it's not worth the performance hit on games to go with an Amd cpu.

 

[headhunter234]

Thanks for all your help I went with the parts you selected with the exception I got the pro version of the motherboard because I managed to get it for only a few pounds more.

 

[blake1243]

He said its for playing BF3. The Intel wins by a landslide in BF3.

 

[JRyder3891]

For BF3 he will need a better Video. The Intel and AMD would basically preform the same. Its just less $$$ for AMD. The Video Card he would need at least an 680 VGA to get even close to the video performance needed for BF3.