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Looking to Upgrade Components

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Last response: in Systems
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Hi Guys, new to this forum but looking for a bit of advice on an upgrade i'm looking into.

Currently running this set up.

MOTHERBOARD Asus P8Z68 Intel Z68 ATX Socket DDR3-2200 RAID CrossFireX SLI
CPU Intel Sandy Bridge Core i7 2600K Unlocked 3.4GHz 8MB Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Hyperthreading Processor ( socket1155 P67 & Z68 chip motherboard required )

RAM Kingston DDR3 1600MHz 8GB HyperXkit (2x4gb) CL9 Non-Ecc Dimm
GPU EVGA GeForce GTX560Ti DS
PSU COOLER MASTER SILENT PRO GOLD 1000W Active PFC Suport SLI/CrossFire 135mm Ultra Silent Fan Input Voltage(Auto Range)

DVD Samsung 22x SATA DVD-Writer Blk
CASE ANTEC 900 Gaming Case
HDD WD 1TB SATA3 Caviar Blue
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

I'm currently running two monitors and want to add a third to the mix, I don't want to run a game accross all three, it's really just for multitasking, movie on one, game on another and FB, Forums, messaging in the third. I dont believe I can run 3 monitors with the current set up, but this could be an option if i added a 2nd 560ti to the rig. I will be running 3x 24" 1600x1200 monitors.

What other upgrades would be worth looking at?
SSD is obvious I think.
Worth over-clocking the CPU?
Would another 2 sticks of 4gb ram be noticeable?

Any other advice or questions are more than welcome.

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Homebuilt system Authority

If you don't plan to game on the third monitor at all to any extent, you can just add a cheap graphics card, like a GT610. With a second 560Ti, you can run 3 if you so please and game on them too.

Do you have the CPU cooler for the 2600K?

And I don't think 16GB would be that noticeable coming from me, who has 16GB. Even with heavy multitasking, I don't break 6GB.

I don't have a cooler on the 2600k, was actually just looking into getting a water cooling unit for it. Is this required?

Will leave RAM as is for the moment then.

Tempting to go for the cheap 610, but having said that I'd prefer to keep the systems options open so if i wanted to run 3 window gaming I could. If this were the case would it be best to stick with the exact same 560ti I've currently got?
Homebuilt system Authority

Watercooling is not required. You can go with a nice air cooler, like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, and if you want to spend more, you can go for the Noctua NH-D14.

And you can SLI any 560Ti you want, but I like the look of 2 cards that are the same in SLI. Just make sure they are the same memory.
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Homebuilt system Authority

I only got a little performance increase in some games and alot in others. I just did it because I can really. What games are you looking to get performance in?

An i7 paired with an 560 is definitely begging for a workout lol. Either SLI another 560(which should run 3 monitors, but I'm not 100% sure though), or upgrade to a 670/680 and sell your 560.

As far as overclocking, unless your play CPU bound games or do alot of encoding/editing, probably not too worthwhile. Especially with a single 560 it wouldn't matter. If you SLI another 560 or upgrade to a 670/680 (or AMD equiv) then a CPU OC may improve things a little.

As far as other upgrades, I would upgrade to 16 GB of RAM when you upgrade to an SSD. That way you can disable you page file to save writes to your SSD. An alternative would be to assign your page file to a HHD.

Thanks for the response xFriarx, I think i'll upgrade to the 2nd 560ti, it's a damn sight cheaper than the 670/680.

Would you care to explain what you're talking about with regard to the 16gb of ram and page file saves? I don't really have a clue what paging is.

Thanks.

Paging file/Virtual Memory is basically when your RAM starts nearing its capacity, it will start dumping information back onto the HDD (by default the drive the OS is installed on). The down side of this is that SSDs are write limited, each write shortens an SSDs life. So in order to save writes and prolong the life of the SSD, you can disable your page file if you have enough RAM to prolong the life of your SSD. How much it prolongs it, can be a nice debate, but my view is any little bit helps.

Oh excellent. Good to know, thanks.

So based on the research i've done today I'm looking to get the below items.

2x 4gb 1600Mhz sticks of RAM
1x Water Cooled Corsair h60
1x Samsung 840 Pro 256gb
1x GTX 560ti 1GB

Do these sound like good options?
Homebuilt system Authority

Not really no. There really isnt that much of a point to having a Z77 with a Z68 processor, especially since the video card nor the processor is going to take advantage of the Z77 features.

IMO based only on reviews/comparisons the h60 is crap (and all low end water coolers for that matter). Unless you have severe space issues or absolutely loathe fan noise, there are to many better/cheaper air based coolers. The H80 or H100 would be worthwhile but they are overkill if you're not serious about overclocking. They are more in line with the NH-D14 (which again would be overkill). If your thinking about light OC'ing with no/small voltage changes, I would recommend something more along the likes of the Hyper 212 Evo or something in that area. I had a Hyper 212+ for years and loved it, only recently replaced it with a NH-D14 that I snagged at a great price. But honestly, if your going to stay stock clocks and are not having temp or heatsink fan noise issues there is really no need to upgrade the cooling.

Regarding the mobo, unless a z77 mobo has a feature you want/need (usb 3.0?), upgrading it won't make a difference with a Sandy Bridge CPU.
Homebuilt system Authority

xFriarx said:
IMO based only on reviews/comparisons the h60 is crap (and all low end water coolers for that matter). Unless you have severe space issues or absolutely loathe fan noise, there are to many better/cheaper air based coolers.


This is super true. The only reason why I have one is because it looks cool and I got it for free, and you can't really beat free.
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