Thinking of upgrading mobo and cpu...

Bazzo

Have had the PC for a good few years but pretty much everything besides the mobo and CPU has been replaced, so it's pretty up to date. The old CPU is starting to annoy me a little now though, so I'm thinking of getting a new mobo & cpu altogether.

The tower is an Antec P160 midi-tower with a mobo tray that fits micro-atx and standard atx. Besides that I don't know much on which type of mobos fit which type of cpus.

PC is mostly used for gaming, a fairly wide variety of games, so if anybody has any suggestions on mobos & cpus in the mid-high end category I'd appreciate it.

Tij da feen

Bazzo wrote: »

Have had the PC for a good few years but pretty much everything besides the mobo and CPU has been replaced, so it's pretty up to date. The old CPU is starting to annoy me a little now though, so I'm thinking of getting a new mobo & cpu altogether.

The tower is an Antec P160 midi-tower with a mobo tray that fits micro-atx and standard atx. Besides that I don't know much on which type of mobos fit which type of cpus.

PC is mostly used for gaming, a fairly wide variety of games, so if anybody has any suggestions on mobos & cpus in the mid-high end category I'd appreciate it.

Depending on how old it is you might need new RAM as well. What's your budget and are all your drives SATA?

uncle_sam_ie

What MB and CPU do you have now?

Bazzo

Tij da feen wrote: »

Depending on how old it is you might need new RAM as well. What's your budget and are all your drives SATA?

I upgraded the RAM about 4-5 months ago so I'm not worried about that.

Eh, I suppose we could set a budget at about €300, with the ability to stretch a little further if it's really worth it

uncle_sam_ie wrote: »

What MB and CPU do you have now?

Running an Asus M2N 1394 mobo with an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+ processor.

EDIT: oh, and one of the drives is SATA and one not, if it's an issue I can ditch the one that isn't and eventually just pick up a new secondary SATA drive.

Tij da feen

Your RAM isn't compatible with new motherboards as they are DDR3.

Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€33.65
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€82.61
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€189.79
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€325.04

This is €25 over budget but you could sell your ram on adverts to make that back depending on how much DDR2 RAM you have.

Bazzo

Tij da feen wrote: »

Your RAM isn't compatible with new motherboards as they are DDR3.

Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€33.65
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€82.61
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€189.79
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€325.04

This is €25 over budget but you could sell your ram on adverts to make that back depending on how much DDR2 RAM you have.

Ah, fair enough.

Looks like something similar to what I was thinking myself, cheers.

One question though, is the intel really worth it for the price you pay over an AMD?

Tij da feen

Yes, the Bulldozer line was sub-par at best. The i5-2500k/i5-3570k are what you want for gaming right now. In benchmarks the 2500k performs the in and around the same as AMD's 8-core processor in gaming. Not to mention that the 2500k overclocks very easily, it could be pushed to 4.0-4.2Ghz on the stock cooler and to 4.6-4.8Ghz on an aftermarket cooler.

Bazzo

Fair enough. On the topic of stock coolers v aftermarket coolers, is it worth it to pick up an aftermarket one? I've always used the stock ones up until now but have heard good things about picking up an aftermarket one for overclocking purposes.

Skylinehead

Bazzo wrote: »

Fair enough. On the topic of stock coolers v aftermarket coolers, is it worth it to pick up an aftermarket one? I've always used the stock ones up until now but have heard good things about picking up an aftermarket one for overclocking purposes.

Pick up something like this if you want to OC.

Bazzo

Hey guys, sorry to resurrect an ooold thread but didn't see the point in starting a new one never git around to upgrading in the last couple months but on Friday my gpu blew up and that decided me.

I have/will very shortly have around €500-€550 to play around with and for that cash I'm currently hoping to more.or less gut my machine. Anyone have suggestions for the following:

Graphics card
CPU
Mobo
RAM
PSU

For the same purposes as before. Some work, mostly gaming, movies etc. Everything else I need I have already. If the budget is too constricting or it's really worth my while to go.that little bit further let me know and I'll (hopefully) be able to put aside a little more.

Thanks guys.

Procrastastudy

Item|Price
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9|€45.66
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€53.55
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€91.34
Sapphire Radeon HD 7850, 1GB GDDR5, lite retail|€222.22
Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155|€111.95
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€543.71

Ideally if you can push the budget for a 2500K - I would you'd have a best of a setup then. What GPU do you currently have?

Bazzo

Don't have any GPU at the moment, or may as well not. It died on Friday and I replaced it with the cheapest one I could find in Currys(still €60...) which is useless but good enough to get me up and running again at least.

Oh and for some reason the 2550k is cheaper than the 2500k on HVS at the moment:

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Socket+1155/55601/Intel+Core+i5-2550K+Box%2C+LGA1155%2C+ohne+integrierte+Grafik.article

is there any significant reason for this or should I just go for that?

Procrastastudy

its the same thing just with the iGPU turned off - I'd personally go for the 2500K in case you need to RMA a GPU card.

Bazzo

I meant to mention this before, sorry.

The other issue is whether I really need a new PSU or not. My current one is a smidge on the lower wattage side for a gaming setup(or the one I will be building at least) and it's 5 or 6 years old at this point, giving me the feeling it's time to put it out to pasture, but it's still running perfectly, no hiccups.

It's a Tagan TG420-U02 iXeye.

Suggestions/ideas?

Thanks

Procrastastudy

My Tagan exploded so I'm biased.

420W should be okay - I'd look to be replacing it soonish but I don't know if I would if it meant loosing out on an i5. Bear in mind its not just the cost of the CPU though - you need a decent cooler.

I have no idea about the quality of those PSUs - other than did I mention - mine exploded! :eek:

Bazzo

Really? I always got the impression they were a solid build with very few problems.

Procrastastudy

Bazzo wrote: »

Really? I always got the impression they were a solid build with very few problems.

So was the Titanic...

doesn't matter how good a product line is the odd one will go bang. Not knowing myself I cant advise you. What I will say is; 420W, if its a decent PSU, would do an i5 at stock with a reasonably power efficient GPU (like a 7850).

I will also say that while I would make do with a 8 year old design of PSU - I would look and giving it a replacement in my main machine when I could afford it.

I know its totally OT but you can only avail of statutory product liability rights for ten years after market introduction. That just sticks in my mind

Bazzo

I'll see where I stand with funds in a couple of weeks, if I'm short €55 I'll pick up the PSU another time, if not then I'll just get it now .

BTW, as I'm not the greatest with these sorts of things, what's the difference:

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Socket+1155/41225/Intel+Core+i5-2500+Box%2C+LGA1155.article

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Socket+1155/41224/Intel+Core+i5-2500K+Box%2C+LGA1155.article

?

Thanks

Procrastastudy

K = unlocked for overclocking - this is the CPU you want
No K = locked can't over clock

Box = comes with a cooler (such as it is) and a three year guarantee
Tray = no cooler and a back to seller (1 - 2 years depending on the seller) warranty.

For overclocking you'd also need a cooler.

This would be what I'd buy. http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Socket+1155/43193/Intel+Core+i5-2500K+Tray%2C+LGA1155.article

Procrastastudy

Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€36.16
Club 3D Radeon HD 7850 royalQueen, 1GB GDDR5|€201.97
Intel Core i5-2500K Tray, LGA1155|€188.00
Thermalright HR-02 Macho|€37.79
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€91.34
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€574.25

1GB version of the 7850 - not ideal - but not to much of an issue at 1080p

Bazzo

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€36.16
Club 3D Radeon HD 7850 royalQueen, 1GB GDDR5|€201.97
Intel Core i5-2500K Tray, LGA1155|€188.00
Thermalright HR-02 Macho|€37.79
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€91.34
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€574.25

1GB version of the 7850 - not ideal - but not to much of an issue at 1080p

Thanks for the help, that's a solid build. It'll be a few weeks before I can get the cash together so I'll post an update if anything changes. When I do get round to it I may even post some pics of the build

Bazzo

Btw guys, there's no point including this in the same build, as it stands at the moment I'll probably go for the above build, but (hopefully)shortly after I gut the machine and upgrade it I will want to get an SSD and PSU to complete the process, I just probably won't have the cash to get them all at once.

Any suggestions? Budget-wise think of something that fits with the above build.

Or am I just better off waiting the extra few weeks and picking them all up together to save me on having to go back and sort cable management etc. again with new components?

Procrastastudy

Delivery charges would be your biggest issue.

As long as you partition your HDD accordingly you could image your install of Windows and stick it onto the SSD when you get it. I'd personally go for the 128GB Samsung 830. 64GB is enough for the OS but nothing else, 256GB is too expensive.

If you are buying very shortly I would drop the GPU and buy the SSD. Build that and then buy the GPU. There isn't much happening in the work of SSDs - GPUs however are going though a bit of market flux.

Bazzo

I would agree with you, except as I said my GPU blew up last friday and had to be replaced, so my current GPU is only a stop-gap. I picked up the cheapest one possible to keep me going until I replaced it. It won't run any games or anything, though.

Procrastastudy

Assuming you're going to go for a 128GB SSD - Partition your hard drive to 100GB and install windows on that. Then use Macrium Reflect to make an image of that 100GB partition when the SSD arrives.

Copy the 100GB image on to the SSD - use the tools to make it bootable and bobs your uncle. Just make sure AHCI is enable in the BIOS before you do your first install. Also make sure you set the SSD as the boot drive when doing this.

Once you're back into Windows you can go to the Disk Management console and extent the 100GB partition on the SSD to whatever size you have left on the SSD.

Oh don't forget to also image that stupid 100MB partition that windows creates.

Bazzo

I've been caught by that 100mb partition before... :pac:

I don't have any issues with wiping my drive, there's nothing vastly important on it, and certainly nothing that can't be replaced easily enough. I can borrow an external HD for my media, and everything else is easily replaced.

By the way, since it just occured to me. What's the difference between the latest intel generation(Ivybridge was it?) and the 2nd gen one you've suggested for me? Is it significant or just a tick?

Procrastastudy

Ivybridge is faster and supports PCIe 3.0 - It also runs hotter and is more expensive. When you look at the systems overclocked to 'average' setting the fact that Sandybridge can get to higher clock speeds negates the speed advantage of Ivybridge.

PCIe3.0 is only useful in SLI/Xfire setups.

Bazzo

Oh, one more thing. If I go for the tray + aftermarket cooler, does the cooler come with compound or do I need to pick up my own? Don't particularly feel like wandering to maplin/pc world and shelling out €15-20 for the privilege :pac:

If I do have to pick up my own, is there any rule of thumb brand/price-wise, or is it all the same really?

Edit: Err... and by compound I of course mean thermal compound.

Also, and I'll try hard this time to make this the last time :P

Is it worth the extra €20 or so shelling out for:

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/2048+MB/57535/Club+3D+Radeon+HD+7850+Coolstream+Edition%2C+2GB+GDDR5.article

over

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=59766&agid=1004

?

If so my final build is a little something like this:

Item|Price
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€54.51
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€35.68
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€91.34
Club 3D Radeon HD 7850 Coolstream Edition, 2GB GDDR5|€222.00
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€204.50
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€627.02

A fair bit over my original budget, but worth it all in all I think. I can throw in a Samsung SSD for another €101 if I have the cash to spare:

Samsung SSD 830 128GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box

Anyone got any opinions on this, or anything to add/suggestions?

I know I didn't go for the tray CPU + aftermarket cooler, despite the fact that it's only marginally more expensive, but I figure for now the stock cooler will do fine, and if(more like when) I want to overclock, I can always just pick up a cooler for myself, after all, piece by piece upgrades are part of the fun .

Procrastastudy

I actually dont know the answer to that myself - normally they have some per-applied or come with some in the box. I'm going to be busy for a couple of days so try looking at unboxings on youtube - or until someone else comes along

If not I'll come back to you shortlyish.

Bazzo

Hey, so another brief question.

Just outta curiosity, is it worth it to shell out an extra €15 for

Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155

rather than

Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155

?

Procrastastudy

the 2500K used to come in a tray SKU for 188 - they've run out

Go for the 3570K imo but be prepared for the higher temps.