Gaming rig upgrade advice

[SS88]

Hi guys

So I've decided to upgrade my old rig but im a bit stuck,as the title says it will be used for gaming only and maybe some movie watching.The only parts im reusing is the PSU (Huntkey Titan 650w) and GPU (Asus GTX 560 ti).I've got everything else sorted except for 3 things motherboard,cpu and ram.

1.CPU: i5 3570k or i7 3770k?I know this must have been asked a million times by now but would it be worth it to pay the extra for the i7 or would the i5 be good enough and future proof enough for my needs?

2.Motherboard: I wont be going SLI or crossfire and I most propably will do some mild overclocking. I want to go for the Asus P8Z77-V but would it be good enough?If anyone can suggest something a bit cheaper than the Asus board but still good enough it would be great coz the asus boards are a bit expensive so it would be nice to save a few bucks

3.RAM: How much do i really need?Is 8gb enough or 16gb?And what speed should i go for?

I will upgrade my gpu and psu at a later stage but for now i have to hang on to it coz im on a pretty tight budget
Sorry if my english is rubbish im from south africa

Thank you in advance

 

[po1nted]

1. i5 would be sufficient given the usage you listed. Go with last gen sandy bridge to save some money.

2. Any board that supports i5 would be good enough for you. The Asus one included. All it has to do is make your components work together and have the features want.

3. 8Gb should be fine, you can always upgrade later if you desire.

What do you have now? It might be better to upgrade your GPU, instead of these 3 components. Perhaps you have chosen a not so beneficial path given your budget limitations.

 

[Onus]

Here's your PSU (rebadged; but same unit): http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Rocketfish-700-W-Power-Supply-Review/556/10
It can deliver what's on its label, but is probably safest when not stressed that far.
1. i5-2500K should be sufficient for games. I7 isn't worth the added cost.
2. If Asus is too pricey, take a look at ASRock. I've had good results from their boards, and no failures (although they were all AMD boards, not Intel). ASRock boards tend to review well (HardwareSecrets has looked at a fair number of them), and they use high quality components like solid caps and ferrite core chokes.
3. 8GB of RAM is sufficient. There is little difference between DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600, but the prices may be essentially the same. I don't think getting anything faster is worthwhile.

 

[SS88]

Thanks for the fast reply.I propably should have mentioned before im currently running an ancient intel dg35ec board with a core 2 duo E8500 and 4gb ddr2 800 ram so i guessed thats more important to upgrade than the gpu now

 

[Proximon]

Huntkey Titan 650W is a 4 year old PSU capable of a max of 44 amps on the 12V rail. That's roughly the power of a 550W PSU. It's also incredibly inefficient by modern standards. And it's a Huntkey.

So my advice would be to upgrade the PSU sooner than later. Protect your hardware and save on electricity.

Don't bother with hyperthreading for gaming. The i5 is fine. The money you save will easily buy a good PSU.

You can also save some with the motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296

Here is a combo with the CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.910387

8GB

Seasonic modular 520W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093
Will cover your needs well.

 

[Onus]

I agree. A more powerful GPU will be bottlenecked by that CPU.

 

[SS88]

Huntkey Titan 650W is a 4 year old PSU capable of a max of 44 amps on the 12V rail. That's roughly the power of a 550W PSU. It's also incredibly inefficient by modern standards. And it's a Huntkey.

So my advice would be to upgrade the PSU sooner than later. Protect your hardware and save on electricity.

Don't bother with hyperthreading for gaming. The i5 is fine. The money you save will easily buy a good PSU.

You can also save some with the motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296

Here is a combo with the CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.910387

8GB

Seasonic modular 520W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093
Will cover your needs well.

Well im gona get me a gtx 670 in the future so might as well suggest a psu powerful enough for that plz

 

[Proximon]

GTX 670 has a power consumption even lower that the 560ti
http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264

So the PSU is fine, really. Your gaming draws on the new machine will be under 350W total. I doubt you'll see 400W peak.

I would be OK with a stronger PSU, but I doubt you need one. Quality over quantity.

 

[SS88]

Right so is it really urgent to replace my huntkey now?And what about ram could u plz suggest specific kits plz thanks

 

[J_E_D_70]

If you are absolutely certain you won't CF/SLI, that Seasonic is enough.

 

[SS88]

It seems the Seasonic is not available in SA any suggestions for a corsair,coolermaster,xfx,antec(i guess these are the good brands) psu?

 

[J_E_D_70]

Think Corsair is the best of that bunch but not a PSU guy - think XFX and Antecs higher-end models are OK but Coolermaster seems to get beat up in these forums.

Need a PSU dude to chime in!

 

[SS88]

Think Corsair is the best of that bunch but not a PSU guy - think XFX and Antecs higher-end models are OK but Coolermaster seems to get beat up in these forums.

Need a PSU dude to chime in!

Thanks for the help anyway ill just go and do some research myself and decide which psu to get

 

[Proximon]

The equivalent XFX PSU will be identical internally to the Seasonic I recommended. A Corsair CX600 V2 would be an acceptable alternative.

If you can't find ASRock in SA (South Africa?) Look for Gigabyte also.

 

[SS88]

We have Asrock here in south africa so ill go with the pro 4 u mentioned earlier
as for the psu ill just look around geuss ill go with the corsair cx600 v2

 

[SS88]

Best answer selected by SS88.

 

[Proximon]

On the RAM, just be sure to get 1.5V. 2x4GB kit is best. 1333 Mhz is enough, 1600Mhz CL9 is usually a good buy.