Advise needed for *upgrade*

[atilasos]

Hey there, im calling an upgrade because i have been buying a part or 2 for month.

So far i have:

Grafic: 2x 660 ti

system: Samsung 256GB 830 SSD

storage: 2x WD green 1TB

PSU: Corsair CP-9020008 AX 1200i Digital ATX

sound: Asus Xonar d2x

I need adivise for the cpu/mobo/memory

Approximate Purchase Date: till the end of the year

Budget Range: 500-800

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, some encoding, media center...


CPU : i was thinking about i7 3770k or i5 3570k

mobo: Im not sure here, i may be going 3x sli in the future not atm.

memory: Dominator® Platinum with Corsair Link Connector — 1.65V 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMD16GX3M4A2400C9)
http://www.corsair.com/us/memory-by...hannel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmd16gx3m4a2400c9.html

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: im buying from amazon.co.uk


Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Yes

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Thanks in advance

 

[assasin32]

Don't bother with Tri-SLI you won't get much of a performance increase use that money else were.

For CPU I go with the i5 3570k over the i7 use the extra cash for something else the difference in gaming is neglible if any especially after overclocking from what I recall. Though if you do any decent amount of encoding and you want the best performance for that, get the i7 the hyperthreading will help if the program is threaded for it.

For mobo you don't actually need the highest end one either, if you look up the performance decrease on the highest end cards if they aren't using full 16x slots and using say 8x or even 4x pci-e slots you see how little it degrades if any from what I recall. So worth looking into that if you felt the need to buy high end for that SLI purpose, especially since I haven't looked at that in awhile, it be nice to confirm before you make that purchase.

So that alone will probably negate most of the reason to buy very high end mobo's unless there is a feature you want in them.

Can't comment on ram thats not my area of expertise.

 

[Proximon]

Intel Specifies 1.5V. If you want to downclock that RAM a bit, perhaps it will run at 1.5V. It will probably default to 1600Mhz anyway.

Still, you are paying for a little extra bling and specs that will not make any difference in subjective performance but WILL place a lot of stress on the memory controller in your CPU. Remember, any overclock of memory beyond 1600Mhz (CL9 1.5V) is considered an overclock on the CPU.

Don't bother with triple SLI. Keep the GPUs properly spaced out for cooling.

Here's a board
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z77-OC-Motherboard-PCI-Express-ASRock/dp/B0090KIJFO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351236899&sr=8-1

 

[atilasos]

Ok, thank you both for the help!
I have changed the memory to 1.5V, the cpu to the i5 and the boar Proximon sugested look gr8


CPU : around 270usd

i5 3570k http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Gener...ZKK6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351244723&sr=8-1

mobo: around 340usd
AsRock Z77 OC Formula
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Z77-OC-Moth...IJFO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351244179&sr=8-1

memory: 265usd
Dominator® Platinum with Corsair Link Connector — 1.5V 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMD16GX3M4A2133C9)
http://www.corsair.com/us/memory-by...hannel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmd16gx3m4a2133c9.html

 

[Someone Somewhere]

That memory is overpriced. Note that there's negligible difference between 8GB and 16GB for gaming.

Spend some dosh on a new screen if you want to spend that much money. Get a nice 1440p one.

Get a Z77 Extreme4 or GA-Z77X-D3H. In mobos there's a very sharp point of diminishing returns.

Get a 7970 GHz Edition and 850W PSU for later CF.

 

[Proximon]

The higher end boards do have a purpose, it just depends on your OC goals and what specific features you want. I do agree that in most builds either board that SS suggests is fine.

The board I pointed out is Extended ATX, and you have not listed a case yet. It would need to be able to accept the larger board and of course have adequate cooling.

 

[atilasos]

Well full picticure then, i have a:

cpu: i7 920
mobo: ga-ex58 Extreme
mem: 12gb corsair 1333 (trichannel)
storage 1tb samsung 7200rpm x2 (in raid0)
case: CoolerMaster 932 Haf
grafic card: msi ati hd6850
psu: corsair tx650w

My wife need a new computer for office work, picticure edition, some encoding.

So she's having my computer and im buying a new one to replace mine.
That said i've decided to buy some part's every month till i have a full new system.
Then i started by buying the part's that could upgrade my actual computer.

At this point what i have is the old build plus:

msi 660ti pe oc X 2
corsair h100
Zalman CNPS10X-PERFORMA (for the i7 920)
Corsair CP-9020008 AX 1200i Digital ATX
Xonar d2x
Samsung 256GB 830 SSD
Corsair Link Cooling Kit
******************************************************************************
So, i can use the old case (coolermaster 932 haf) for this new build and get a new case for the old one, in this case i will probably get a 200r for my wife and keep the 932 haf for me.

Or i can get a NZXT Phantom 820 for the new build and keep the old pc in the 932 haf.

About the overclock, im kind new in overclocking... i will overclock the cpu but not much (at least for now, i want anyway to have some room to do a bigger OC when i feel its needed)

 

[Proximon]

Then you probably don't need quite that much board. I think the ASRock Z77 Extreme6 might be a good compromise... it comes with the front USB 3.0 ports so you could hang onto the HAF.