Hi all,
Planning a new build, hopefully to be based on the new LGA2011 Mobo's/Sandy Bridge-E processors.
Approximate Purchase Date: Shortly after release of the LGA2011 Hardware
Budget Range: ~ £1000+ (1600USD)
System Usage :Gaming
Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, Case
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Any, though UK sites preferred (e.g.
www.scan.co.uk,
http://www.microdirect.co.uk Micro-direct is especially good as I can negate shipping costs from them)
Country of Origin: UK
Parts Preferences: by brand or type : See Below
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: Yes
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
Additional Comments:
My CURRENT build is as follows:
Mobo: msi dka790gx platinum
CPU: AMD Phenom II 940
RAM: 2x2gb Corsair DDR2 1066
GPU: 2 Radeon HD4870 512mb's in Crossfire
HDD: 160gb SATA
Case: Coolermaster HAF 932.
And I was planning to upgrade to something with the following approx specs
Mobo: Looking at the ASRock X79 Extreme7 (£225/360USD) Though may stretch to the Extreme9 depending on the price.
CPU: The i7 3930k looks to be the best of the SB-E CPU's I'll be able to stretch to at first, at ~£360 (based on a 583$ price I've seen quoted in several places, though I have seen some reports of it retailing for about £100 more than that, not sure who to believe)
RAM: 4x4gb at first, not yet decided on specific brand, though the corsair vengeance kit looks decent at ~£90 (~160usd)
Corsair Vengeance 16GB kit
GPU: This is where I'm stumbling. My first thought was to get a Radeon HD 6950, and in a few months buy a second one as a nice upgrade. Then I read this:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-graphics-card-gaming...
and became unsure as to whether this would be good decision, as it appears to be ranked a tier below my current set-up of 2 4870's. Should I just stick with my current GPU's until I can afford to get 2 6xxx series cards? or perhaps even just wait until the 7xxx series ones are released, supposedly early next year?
I'll need a new PSU, and I'll probably be looking in the £100-150 region for that, recommendations here would be great.
I'll likely also be getting an SSD to replace my current, frustratingly slow HDD. Reccomendations here would also be useful,
Case, disc drives, etc. will be remaining the same, so no worries there.
Total Cost ~£990 if I should get a 2gb Radeon 6950 to go with it (excluding the SSD from the price here, as I can probably strongly hint that as an Xmas present from family
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So yeah, ideally I'm looking for advice on the situation with graphics cards at the moment - best bang-for-buck, worth replacing my dual 4870's? etc., advice on good PSU's and SSD's (Is the cost of a PCIe SSD worth it over a SATA for example?)
and also, general comments on things I may not have thought of wrt the SB-E Mobo's/CPUs.
I've not actually built a computer myself in around a decade now, so my knowledge/tech savvy is both horribly rusty and woefully outdated. As such I'm terrified there's some compatability issue or performance bottleneck I'm unaware of which will make some of the more expensive components pointless. (The hidden price of lazily ordering custom-made systems!)