Need input on i5 upgrade

[solkku]

Hello,

I've endlessly searched the Internet these past few days and got to a component list (mostly for gaming) I feel happy about:

Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz S1155 Box (182,49 €)
ASRock Z77 Pro3 Z77 Sockel 1155 ATX DDR3 (89,90 €)
MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe (199,90 €)
TeamGroup Elite 8GB KIT DDR3-1333 PC3-10667U CL9 2x4GB (30,90 €)
XFX Core Edition PRO 750W 80+ Bronze ATX 2.3 (79,90 €)
Total: 583,09 €

585 € is really my upper limit for this upgrade project (shipping will be 15 €, so a total of 600 €). There's no budging there.

I will use my old Antec P180B as case. Also, will locally try to find a S775 bracket for my Thermalright TRUE Black 120 cooler I'm currently using in my AM2+ rig (so I don't have to use Intel stock cooler). Afaik, Asrock Z68 and Z77 motherboards allow S775 coolers installed on them (called C.C.O. or something).

Is that PSU overkill? Please remember that I have 6 x 3.5" hardrives in my current system. My current PSU is a 2-3 year old Enermax Modu82 525W (or 425W, can't remeber for sure). The old setup has been pretty much up and running 24/7 (I read that PSUs deteriorate over time).

PS. Will most definately try to do some overclocking on both CPU and graphics card to get more out of this "budget" rig.

 

[the great randini]

no not really power supplies degrade over time so its alway good to go bigger than you need, and allows headroom for possible upgrades.

whats the deal with some z77 mobo's pci-e slots 1 @ x16 1 @ x4 i dont know if i like that

 

[solkku]

Thanks for your reply. Here's the info from Asrock homepage:
- 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot (PCIE2: x16 mode)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE3: x4 mode)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot
- 2 x PCI slots
- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
( http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z77%20Pro3&cat=Specifications )

But multi-GPU isn't really an option in the very near future. Was thinking about an HD7850 also, but that exceeds my budget by quite a bit (Sapphire HD7850 = 219,90 €). That means that I would have to choose a 20 € cheaper PSU, which didn't really seem like a good solution.

For 59,90 € I could get one of these:
Corsair CX 600 V2 600W
OCZ ZS Series 650W

 

[clarkjd]

For 59,90 € I could get one of these:
Corsair CX 600 V2 600W
OCZ ZS Series 650W

I'd go with the Corsair.

 

[solkku]

I'd go with the Corsair.

So with that said, you recommend I get the HD 7850 instead? Will the PSU be able to run two of them in the future if I choose to buy one more?

 

[clarkjd]

So with that said, you recommend I get the HD 7850 instead? Will the PSU be able to run two of them in the future if I choose to buy one more?

I wouldn't try to run two graphics cards with anything less than a good 850watt PSU from Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, Antec, Enermax, or PCP&C.
As far as the choice of graphics cards, I have no preference.
according to this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
The 7850 and 560Ti are only 1 tier apart, so I don't know that there would be a NOTICEABLE difference between the two. The 7850 is probably less power hungry at load.

 

[RetiredChief]

You can probably rule out Xfire/SLI with that MB.
While it DOES say it supports it, it DOES NOT say how well.
Best is when Cards are in a x16, x16 configuration. BUT there is only a small Hit when run in x8/8x configuration. YOUR 2nd slot is a x4 which will have a performance from what I'v read - Not really a gamer.

next PSU. Your Power consumption w/single 560 and a modest OC will be UNDER 350 Watts.
Ref: http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-n560gtx-ti-twin-frozer-ii-review/7
Measured power consumption
.. Advertised TDP = 170W
.. System in IDLE = 173W
.. System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 321W

And, My system 350 Watts @ the wall - Backs up the above review.
i5-2500k OCed to 4.2 w/16 Gigs DDR3-1600, ATI 6870, 2 SSDs, One HDD, and one Blu-ray writer.

Required, Min 450W and Anything over 650W is overkill. ONLY consider quality PSUs. ADDED - Although I do not recomment 2 560's do to x16/x4 slots a corsair cs or TX 650 will be fine.
While I LOVE the corsir line (which most of my systems use!!), I do NOT recommend their CX line-up. only recommend their CS and TX series PSUs.

 

[solkku]

I wouldn't try to run two graphics cards with anything less than a good 850watt PSU from Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, Antec, Enermax, or PCP&C.
As far as the choice of graphics cards, I have no preference.
according to this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
The 7850 and 560Ti are only 1 tier apart, so I don't know that there would be a NOTICEABLE difference between the two. The 7850 is probably less power hungry at load.

Thanks for replying. I took a look at the list you provided and they indeed are wery close. I thought that when the HD 7850 was so much less power hungry I would be able to put 2 of them with that PSU if I chose to do so.

But I've come to the conclusion that maybe a GTX 560 Ti 448 core might be the best for me. Only 10 euros more expensive than the MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II I had in the original list. And with that change I had to choose a 10 euros cheaper PSU, so I went with Corsair TX650 V2 instead of the XFX 750W. These:
Cooler Master GX 550W
OCZ ZS Series 750W
Thermaltake SMART 650W
... would also have been within the new PSU budget. But I have heard good things about the Corsair. All these choices .....

With that said, the shopping list will look like this:
Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz S1155 Box (182,49 €)
ASRock Z77 Pro3 Z77 Sockel 1155 ATX DDR3 (89,90 €)
Gainward GeForce GTX560 Ti-448 1280MB GDDR5 PCIe (209,90 €)
TeamGroup Elite 8GB KIT DDR3-1333 PC3-10667U CL9 2x4GB (30,90 €)
Corsair Enthusiast TX650 V2 650W ATX 2.31 80+ Bronze (69,90 €)
Total: 583,09 €

The next upgrade for this system will probably be CPU (-> Ivy bridge) and videocard (a PCI-E 3.0 card) if the PCI-E 3.0 bandwidth isn't just hype like the in the good old days with AGP4X -> AGP8X for example. Also, will wait until their prices drop a bit.

 

[RetiredChief]

^ as you can see from my post, the Corsair TX650 would be an excellent choice. The CS600 would also be a good choice and may be cheaper.

 

[solkku]

You can probably rule out Xfire/SLI with that MB.
While it DOES say it supports it, it DOES NOT say how well.
Best is when Cards are in a x16, x16 configuration. BUT there is only a small Hit when run in x8/8x configuration. YOUR 2nd slot is a x4 which will have a performance from what I'v read - Not really a gamer.

next PSU. Your Power consumption w/single 560 and a modest OC will be UNDER 350 Watts.
Ref: http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-n560gtx-ti-twin-frozer-ii-review/7
Measured power consumption
.. Advertised TDP = 170W
.. System in IDLE = 173W
.. System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 321W

And, My system 350 Watts @ the wall - Backs up the above review.
i5-2500k OCed to 4.2 w/16 Gigs DDR3-1600, ATI 6870, 2 SSDs, One HDD, and one Blu-ray writer.

Required, Min 450W and Anything over 650W is overkill. ONLY consider quality PSUs. ADDED - Although I do not recomment 2 560's do to x16/x4 slots a corsair cs or TX 650 will be fine.
While I LOVE the corsir line (which most of my systems use!!), I do NOT recommend their CX line-up. only recommend their CS and TX series PSUs.

Thank you for this informative reply. So I'll rule out multi-gpu setups then. Didn't know the other was only 4x.. That's just something the MB manufacturers seem to "forget" to mention.. Being as these were the specs for the slots on the MB on Asrock site:

- 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot (PCIE2: x16 mode)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE3: x4 mode)

Indicating 2 x PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots.

I actually updated my "shopping list" before I read your post and changed to a GTX 560 Ti 448 cores and a Corsair TX650, just as you recommended on the PSU.

 

[solkku]

^ as you can see from my post, the Corsair TX650 would be an excellent choice. The CS600 would also be a good choice and may be cheaper.

The CS600 isn't listed in this shop. But I also somehow forgot to mention that I have 6 x 3.5" SATA hardrives in my current rig, so I don't think 650W is that overkill in the end, right?

 

[RetiredChief]

Quote from the Manuf MB Manual
"1. In single VGA card mode, it is recommended to install a PCI Express
x16 graphics card on PCIE2 slot.
2. In CrossFireXTM mode, please install the PCI Express x16 graphics
cards on PCIE2 and PCIE3 slots. Therefore, PCIE2 will work at x16
bandwidth, while PCIE3 works at x4 bandwidth.
3. Please connect a chassis fan to the motherboard’s"

They are allowed to say it suppors two GPUs, but are NOT required to specify "Poor" performance when compared to an x8/x8 configuration.

 

[solkku]

Quote from the Manuf MB Manual
"1. In single VGA card mode, it is recommended to install a PCI Express
x16 graphics card on PCIE2 slot.
2. In CrossFireXTM mode, please install the PCI Express x16 graphics
cards on PCIE2 and PCIE3 slots. Therefore, PCIE2 will work at x16
bandwidth, while PCIE3 works at x4 bandwidth.
3. Please connect a chassis fan to the motherboard’s"

They are allowed to say it suppors two GPUs, but are NOT required to specify "Poor" performance when compared to an x8/x8 configuration.

Gotcha! Thanks for this info, just shows how much I know about these multi-GPU setups.. I just thought that if you plug one or several graphics cards to a PCI-E slot they would get the speed of that particular slot. I think if nothing unsuspected happens, the list above will be my final one. Looking at some GTX 560 Ti 448 reviews, it proves to be a heck of a performer.

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[azeem40]

CX and GS Corsair PSUs are of low-quality and should be avoided at all costs. The only two companies that have 100% reliable and high-quality PSUs are XFX and Seasonic.

 

[solkku]

CX and GS Corsair PSUs are of low-quality and should be avoided at all costs. The only two companies that have 100% reliable and high-quality PSUs are XFX and Seasonic.

The PSU currently on my list is the Corsair TX650 V2 (which is made by Seasonic). So that should be ok, right?

 

[azeem40]

Yes, that is fine. Only those Corsair PSUs I mentioned are to be avoided.

 

[solkku]

Best answer selected by solkku.