New spec help

[JoeBurn]

The motherboards should be fine but TBH if you need a smaller PC later in the year I would wait until then to do an upgrade.

I assume this is your motherboard:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2077

It maybe worth checking if with a BIOS update you can get a new processor.

I see your point but I'd rather get this over and done with, I've got a few expensive holidays and that which I'm saving up for so by getting this done then it's one less thing to worry about

Yup that's mine, it can support AM2+ processors with a BIOS update, I don't think it supports AM3 as this board is coming up to 5 years old. Let alone a retailer that still sells AM2+ chips

[JoeBurn]

Right on the hunt for a CPU cooler now, though I'm looking for something that'll fit in an mATX case such as the PC-A04, PC-V354, or the new Fractal cases coming out. I'm quite undecided which one it'll be since I've still got my Antec 1200 to last but still I'd like this cooler to last me a while.

I've heard the Antec Kuhler 620 is a good performer but I'm not sure whether to wait a bit longer and see if the Corsair H60 is going to be a challenger. But if you guys think I should get a heatsink+fan for cooling the CPU then the maximum price I'm looking at is £40 for it. Also I heard that most heatsinks won't fit in an mATX case because the heatsinks are too tall?

Cheers

[ehhhhhhh]

I would suspect that the 650W PSU would be enough in most cases. With a single card setup it would be more than enough and even a decent 500W to 600W would do the job too as mentioned earlier.
However,with a pair of unlocked and overclocked HD6950 2GB cards and an overclocked CPU I am not sure.

My system (see on the left) draws 500W under the metro2033 benchmark (very heavy on everything, 70-100% GPU load).

Both cards are unlocked 6950s (6970 clocks and shader count), the CPU gets 1.45V and runs on 3.8Ghz.


I measured it at the socket and it includes only the PC.

EDIT: hmm, it seems too low.....I'll double-check this with an other device tomorrow

[JoeBurn]

Sounds good, good thing I went for the 650W then

Still on the hunt for a good cooler - might screw this search and just buy an Antec 620 and get it over and done with.