Old PC damaged and died - need help with new PC Spec!

[cocksy_boy]

Hi All,

I have just moved house and during the transit the shippers managed to kill my PC (current broken specs in sig). I think its the mobo & CPU that are dead, but either way its time to build a new one!

My plan is to keep as much as possible from my existing tower, which means I should be able to get away with just 3 new components: Mobo, CPU, and Memory.

I'm going to be using it for a bit of gaming, browsing, editing photos, bit of video editing, music, watching / streaming TV & films etc - all round general use! I tend to have at least 3 or 4 applications open at any one time so am looking for something that multi tasks well. I'll be probably running win 8 when it comes out, and will be hopefully be upgrading to an SSD for the operating system at some point in the near future too. I always have great plans to overclock my chips, not to some major level, but just to eak that little bit extra out, so that's a big pull for me. I'm also aware that I'll need an adaptor for my SI-120 Ultra to fit the mobo (this should do it, i think) but that's not a major expense.

Initially I had planned to go for a i5-3570K, but now I'm having second thoughts, and possibly going with an i7-3770k, or even holding back on the cpu and going with a i7-2700k and possibly getting a new graphics card.

I'm looking at a Z77 board to make the most of the Ivy Bridge (but not required if I go for the 2700k), but then that brings in a whole bunch of dilemas:

1. If I'm going to get an SSD and a newer graphics card in the near future, then is there any point in going for the Ivy Bridge at all? Is it going to be that much better than a Sandy Bridge (toms hardware reckons only about 4% overall, and negligible in gaming, i would have thought)?!!
2. If I go for another 8800gt (if I can find one) and connect them with SLI is the IvyBridge going to make any difference at all over the SandyBridge chips?!!
3. Is my current graphics card (8800GT) on its own going to negate the iGP on the 2nd / 3rd gen chips, or ?
4. Is there any way to SLI my 8800GT with another model of nvidia card, or is that a complete lost cause?!
5. I don't think Virtu MVP is able to tap into 3 graphics chips, so if I do end up going SLi then the on board iGP becomes pretty useless as far as I can tell?
6. What does mSATA bring to the party if I've got a full proper SSD running in the system - nothing as far as i can tell, but just want to be sure?

So, any pointers in the right directions would be greatly appreciated. Also, any tips on mobo & memory to join it all up? I'm looking at 2 x 4GB (or 2 x 8GB if its not too much more) sticks which need to be suitable for a mild overclock, and probably looking at something like the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H - but I probably don't need all the bells and whistles that something like this comes with.

Grateful for any help or pointers!

[c12038]

Whats your budget

[najiro]

depends on your budget,

processor:
Sandy processors are getting cheaper with ivy processors out. Stock speeds, ivy have the upperhand. in overclocking, sandy is said to be better due to cooler temperatures.

sli:
That's an option, it would bump up gpu wattage to 200+ watts which is equivalent to a single gtx 560ti. 8800GT sli is said to be equal to a single GTS 450. Consider getting a single card, better and less wattage like a gtx 550ti|gtx 650 or 7750|7770

[deejayburnout]

First of all,make sure you get every penny you can from the movers for damaging your rig.

i am a AMD guy so i know nowt about Intel Chips. one of the other guys will help you there. all i know is get a quad core.

As for the graphics card, i would ditch the 8800GT and get something a bit newer, thats an old card with Direct X9 and newer games will struggle with this card. it may still run but the settings will be low. a HD 6850 or a GTX 560 would be good options for a budget.

8GB of ram should be enough but with DDR3 being so cheap, 16GB may be an option as well.

hope that is of help to you.

[cocksy_boy]

Budget. Hmmm. I've not really set myself a tight budget - I'm looking at around $500-600 (now based in the USA), which should go quite far, I'm hoping. I'm happy to get the main rig up and running with the current graphics then upgrading later on. Same with the SSD.

I am in the middle of getting the movers to cough up, but its proving slightly complicated. I'll hopefully get something back though!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Are you overclocking?? Do you have a copy of Windows??

[cocksy_boy]

Yeah - I'll be doing a bit of over clicking but nothing major.

I have a copy of win 7 that is currently installed on the broken system so I'll boot up with that initially to pull some data I want off it. It won't run properly, but I'm hoping it will be stable enough to copy the data. Medium term, I'll probably do a clean install of 7 until windows 8 proper comes out. Unless I can still get hold of the RTM beta thing? Not tried to use that yet.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I mean do you need a copy of Windows 7 for the new build?? You will need to consider that in the budget too.

What parts can you re-use from your current system??

[cocksy_boy]

Ah yes, I see what you mean about windows licences. Can you still run it for 30 days without activating it? I might do that until win 8 comes out in a couple of weeks.

The bits I'll be keeping from my rig (in sig) are case, Heatsink (120 ultra) amd fans, PSU, hard drives (until I can get an SSD) graphics (unless I get a new one), monitors, mouse, keyboard, etc!! I think the memory is probably ok, but won't be compatible with a new setup so will probably sell that when I'm all sorted.

[cocksy_boy]

Just thought of another minor issue: my DVD-RW is IDE. And most new boards don't have IDE so will probably have to get a new one of those too. Possibly a Blu-ray player too, but neither of those are too important as I have a laptop I can copy anything off DVD if required.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I can up with the following components list off Newegg.



With the rebates it should come to around $600. The HIS HD7870 is 11.25" long but should fit in a P180,although you might need to remove some drive bays.

[cocksy_boy]

Thanks Cat - that's pretty much about what I was looking at originally!!

What do you think about going up to an i7 IB, or down to an i7 SB? I should think I'll have to leave the graphics card out to remain within budget, and upgrade that at a later date.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks Cat - that's pretty much about what I was looking at originally!!

What do you think about going up to an i7 IB, or down to an i7 SB? I should think I'll have to leave the graphics card out to remain within budget, and upgrade that at a later date.

Its another $60 for a Core i7 2600K. I am not sure if it is worth it for gaming or image editing. For video encoding it would be faster,but OTH you can use the OpenCL accelerated of HandBrake when it is released and stick with the Core i5.

I would probably put it towards an SSD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148530

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147164

Does your cooler have socket 1156 or socket 1155 mounting adaptors??

Edit!!

There is the Xeon E3 1230 V2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819117286

It is basically a lower clocked Core i7 3770(not the K version),but cannot be overclocked much.

OTH,if you drop the overclocking requirement you could get a cheaper H77 based motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157302

Then you could put the rest into a new graphics card.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Do you have a Micro Center nearby??

They are much cheaper for the CPUs:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/3...1155_Processor

http://www.microcenter.com/product/3...1155_Processor

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...oxed_Processor

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...oxed_Processor

http://www.microcenter.com/product/3...1155_Processor

[cocksy_boy]

yeah - there is a microcentre not too far away, so will take a look at that!

My Thermalright 120 Ultra should be able to use this adaptor.

Decisions, decisions!! I'll take a look at all those options and get back to you with my plan!!

[cocksy_boy]

I just saw this SSD on offer:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...bles-_-na-_-na

Which is the same price as the M4 you recommended above. Any ideas what is better in the '2' version over the '1'?