Upgrade MB & CPU advice

[oldgrayraider]

Hi Folks,
Here is my considered "upgrade build" and setup ideas.

Any constructive input; alternative ideas, notes or precautions to pass along would be appreciated.
Have always built my own systems and always find TECH community input/experiences valuable to consider. As you will see, outside the CPU & MB I already own most of it.

USES: General home office with some light to medium photo and video work. Games examples are Rome/Empire Total War, Madden, Co of Hero’s, CIV-5. Over clocking well frankly I am lazy and don't like to see how far it "can" go so want to just go with BIOS XMP-OD profile for the CPU/RAM combo listed below.

- SPECS -

CPU = Intel Core i5-2550K or i5-2500K
(Not yet decided on CPU but I always run a GPU so no real need for processor graphics. ALso, should I wate for IVY Bridge to go retail with their built in DDR-3 1600, USB-3 and 3D support?)

CPU COOLER = Corsair H50 Hydro <Already own> (will add a 2nd 120mm fan)

RAM = G.SKILL Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800) XMP Revision 1.2 (4-pcs for 16GB total (Already own) Site reference: http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=355

GPU = AMD Radeon HD 6870 - (XFX model HD-687A-ZHFC) (FYI Sweet Card!)

Drives:
<own> SATA-6gb 1 (AHCI) = SSD Samsung MZ - 830 series #7PC128 (Boot /some Apps)
<own> SATA-6gb 2 (AHCI) = HDD WD 1TB Caviar Black WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 05.0
(Split: PART-0 250GB Stripe/ mount into empty folder under Programs (X86) for large Apps to save SDD space. PART-1 <assign drive letter> move all User Data folders there.

<new> mSATA = Kingston SSDNow mS100 32 GB Solid State Drive SMS100S2/32G
May be over the top I know but the above MB has a slot so why not?
Figured I could find use for TEMP/SWAP DVD-CD building as well as Intel caching the HDD)

<own> SATA-3gb (IDE-mode) Standard ASUS CD/DVD combo

<Additional Devices>
USB-devices: Mouse, Keyboard, WD 1TB "Green" External USB 2 (for backups),
Creative CAM, Andrea Headset, USB thumb drives, card reader for my CF photo cards, MP3 Player sync.

PSU = Rosewill HIVE 650 (Already Own bought as a set with the case below)
CASE = Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX Mid Tower 3- 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, option of 2 more 120mm side fans.

OS: Windows 7 64-bit Home or Pro (clean load)

Thanks

 

[oldgrayraider]

Oh Dang, my bad, forgot the other MB options I am considering;
ASRock Z77 Extreme6
Intel BOXDZ77BH55K LGA 1155 Intel Z77
ASUS P8Z77-V LK
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I know all these boards and G.Skill does not list the specific RAM model but, several do list the F3-12800CL9D-16GBXL (4-stick 16GB kit)
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[nhasian]

yes, go with ivy bridge. its out now. all the other specs look great.

 

[oldgrayraider]

I am leaning towards an IVY-something due to the simple fact that IVY has native support of DDR 1600.
Outside of that, is there truely enough of a performace jump to pony up even the few extra bucks to go IVY?

The price difference between the IVY and SANDY at this point in time is not even worth a mention.
On that price-point:
Gosh dang it Intel, hear the logic. Price old-Sandy down 25%-35% and folks will jump on em like free cake in an office party and you will quickly clear out your inventory and make the next few quarter sales figures look fantastic! (It had to be said...)

----
Adding a factor. I always run a decent quality video card and thus, I can't see any need for "wasting CPU time" with an integrated GPU so that puts the Core i5-2550K firmly back in the running... Uh, oh yeah, price dilemma: i5-2550k ($235.00 +/-) vs Core i5-3570K (240.00 =/-)

----
Going the extra 60.00 or so bucks for an i7 totally takes the integrated GPU thing out of the equation because all the LG1155 series all have them.
Pro i7: I do a bit of Photo, Video, Music work both on the job and at home.
Con i7: At home I play games, watch DVDs or stream video and just cruse the net.

Don't feel up or down on a "K" designation because I feel moving up into an i7 will negate my need to OC. Heck I just do that for "fun" anyhow.
Again, the price dilemma: i7-2770 ($294.00) vs i7-3770 ($319.00) ...

----
I may just buy a Z77 motherboard at it will support any current CPU and see how the price differences are running in a few months or so.

Any constructive input between: owners of a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H (vs) ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 ?
As this would be a solo buy waiting on a “deal” to appear on a CPU the 50.00 diff in price between those boards is not a big factor to me provided real-world feedback puts one ahead in stability and reliablility when working with the G.Skill RAM I have.