Itchy trigger finger, but what to do?!

[moose82]

Hi Guys,

Looking for some expert guidance!!

Current system:

C2Q8300 at stock
8GB DDR2 RAM
GTX460 1GB
250GB HDD
MSI P35 middle of the road board
24" TFT at 1980x1200 (1080P, 1050 resolutions depending on game)

Current uses:

Gaming - WAR, STO, LOTRO, DDO, DA1+2, DOW1+2 (and so on and so forth)
VMware Workstation driving a virtual environment for learning (VCP4->5 upgrade, MS Enterprise Administrator, etc etc)

That's about all it gets used for these days, main storage is on NAS, HTPC in lounge for media presentation to TV and AMP

What I'm looking for:

The ability to play the latest games being released (Diablo III, GW2, TES:5 Skyrim, BF3, etc) at 1980x1200 (1080p minimum) with all the tickboxes and sliders to maximum!
(I'll be continuing to use VMware Workstation on the thing but perhaps increase it's capabilities further in this area)

Some questions:

With Ivybridge due out early next year (I hope!) I think I should wait for the 7-series motherboards and what ever the equivalent i7-2600k Ivybridge turns out to be. Is this sensible? Or if not what would you suggest? Z68 + i7 2600K?

Memory - 16GB DDR3 1600Mhz Kingston, Corsair? I figure this will do nicely!

Graphics - GTX570? 580? 6950 2GB? 6970 2GB? I'm on a single monitor (will be buying a new 24" though but still only gaming on one) I'm well out of touch here

Harddrives - Pretty much set on an M4 128GB with a 1TB WD Black mechanical for capacity (doubt I'll need it all but you never know)

Case and PSU will likely get a swap up too and a HAF912+ and a 750W PSU (suggest me a good'un) will be in the shopping cart. Depth on case needs to be Sub 50cm due to the location of the unit and I'm not sure there is a better option with that restriction? Happy to be proved wrong.

I'm going to take a look at Cat-The-Fifth's Monitor list in his latest build guide to and see which one take my fancy.

Budget roughly £14-1500 I suppose. I'm not going to argue with a few pounds over and a few pounds under is always welcome down the pub!

OS not included.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

[EvanJackPenn]

With Ivybridge due out early next year (I hope!) I think I should wait for the 7-series motherboards and what ever the equivalent i7-2600k Ivybridge turns out to be. Is this sensible? Or if not what would you suggest? Z68 + i7 2600K?

Ivy is rumoured for March 2012. They are just shifting the 2 to a 3 for naming - the 2600k equivalent will be the 3600k. Chipset wise, Z77 is the Z68 equivalent and Z75 to P67. Also, Radeon 7000s and NVIDIA Kepler should be out this sort of time.

I'm having the same kind of dillema in this regard. However, I personally think it's quite a while to wait and prices on release will be high. I think buying a Sandy Bridge and a Radeon 6000 now ( mid/late cycle) will make the most economical sense - the key improvement with Ivy is the greatly improved IGP which I'm personally interested in.

It's up to you though - play the games near to release with SB, or wait and play later with Ivy.



Sources:
Chipsets
Release Date

[SUMMONER]

While you wait, get yourself a Crucial M4 SSD (128GB or 256GB) to run Windows, Apps and Games off. That will give your current PC a proper speed boost and will be worth moving into a new PC next year.