Advice for the following mid/high spec gaming upgrade

[socioate]

Hi all,

I am currently pricing out a gaming rig upgrade, mainly to play PlanetSide 2 in all its glory, but I also want to build in as much future proofing as I can afford. I have done quite a bit of research but if any guru has any suggestions or tweaks to the setup then i'd be more than appreciative

CPU: i7 3770k 3.5Ghz retail http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/processors/intel3rdgencorei3,i5andi71155socket/bx80637i73770k.html

MOBO: MSI z77a-gd80
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/motherboards/intel1155z77chipset/z77a-gd80.html

RAM: Kingston XMP Beast 16GB 2400MHz DDR3 CL11 (2x8)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-Series-2400MHz-Desktop/dp/B00A771ZJG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357246476&sr=8-4

GPU: XFX HD 7970 Double D Black Edition 3GB
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/amdradeongraphicscards/amdhd7970series/fx-797a-tdbc.html

PSU: 850W
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/nov-psb850.html

Note: I already have a Coolmaster case with 2 3.5" rear case fans and a 5.5" front fan, and a Sata 6gb/s HD. I plan to go with stock CPU fansink for the time being and add watercooling when it gets to the stage I need to overclock the CPU. I know I should add a SSD but i'm going to wait a while as the prices are still falling pretty steeply and I reckon its worth waiting for a wee bit.

I am pretty fixed on budget but could maybe scrape together another very small bit if it would make a tangible difference. Any ideas welcome

 

[AMD Radeon]

alert : your ram is dead wrong....
it is 1,65v ram that will kill your intel cpu
get regular ddr3 1600 ram with 1,5v

and you forget about ssd, if you are limited with budget, go with i5 3570k and get SSD

 

[socioate]

And thats why forums are great

Thank you, I had totally missed that about the ram :|. Was going to wait for the SSD but with saving on RAM will prob just get one now.

 

[jonjonjon]

will you use the hyperthreading in the 3770k? is it only for gaming? you probably wouldn't need more then 8GB of ram. whats your total budget? need an os?

i was so disappointed in planetside 2. everyone is in a tank. it should be called vehicleside 2. i wonder why they even let you by a soldier with a gun.


something like this. without more info its partly guessing.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£239.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£74.39 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£30.60 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.99 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (£299.75 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case (£51.97 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£49.98 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £909.09
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-04 23:47 GMT+0000)

 

[socioate]

will you use the hyperthreading in the 3770k? is it only for gaming? you probably wouldn't need more then 8GB of ram. whats your total budget? need an os?

i was so disappointed in planetside 2. everyone is in a tank. it should be called vehicleside 2. i wonder why they even let you by a soldier with a gun.

I already have win 7 ultimate, case, HDD, monitors and external sound card. Upgrade budget is about £950. Yes i use hyperthreading for development work. I know the 16gb might be a bit excessive but I do some sound and vid editing and want a bit of future proofing

 

[socioate]

And I've heard that about PS2 but i'm hoping that will be balanced at somepoint.

 

[AMD Radeon]

for video editing things... if you use adobe software. you should know that they love CUDA cores...

consider nvidia card

 

[samuelspark]

alert : your ram is dead wrong....
it is 1,65v ram that will kill your intel cpu
get regular ddr3 1600 ram with 1,5v

and you forget about ssd, if you are limited with budget, go with i5 3570k and get SSD

1.65v will not kill your CPU. I don't know why people keep saying this. I've ran 1.65v with my 2500k perfectly fine for slightly over a year.

 

[socioate]

for video editing things... if you use adobe software. you should know that they love CUDA cores...

consider nvidia card

The vid editing is the most minor/hobbyish thing I do so not willing to let it influence my decision. Just always went with ATI cards so sticking along that line.

 

[AMD Radeon]

1.65v will not kill your CPU. I don't know why people keep saying this. I've ran 1.65v with my 2500k perfectly fine for slightly over a year.

dude, you are lucky to run it for a year....

 

[jonjonjon]

intel says 1.575 is the most you should go on ivy. sure you could run 1.6+ and be fine but maybe not.

 

[samuelspark]

dude, you are lucky to run it for a year....

No. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3
Read the comments on the bottom.

Intel may say 1.575v is max but they also say 1333MHz is the max RAM speed as well.

 

[jonjonjon]

no they don't 1600. and its 2 different things. it will support higher mhz without damaging it. voltage can actually cause damage.

http://ark.intel.com/products/65719/

Memory Types DDR3-1333/1600

 

[samuelspark]

no they don't 1600. and its 2 different things. it will support higher mhz without damaging it. voltage can actually cause damage.

http://ark.intel.com/products/65719/

Memory Types DDR3-1333/1600

Talking about sandy.

 

[jonjonjon]

yea they changed from 1333 from sandy to 1600 to ivy. i personally wouldn't risk running over 1.5V but that's just me.