Upgrade Advice Needed

IgsTer

Well im looking to upgrade my system in the coming months and just looking to get a start on what components to go for.

I currently have an:
E6600 C2D processor,
2gb corsair 6400 ram,
8800gtx
gigibyte p35 ds3r mobo,
620w psu
all in a themaltake kandalf tower.

Now im looking to put all my current components into a smaller lighter case to be used for either htpc, second computer for family or lans etc. So I need another new case for this, one that will fit the 8800gtx nicely while still having good airflow and quality.

Anyway so far ive come up with this list


Im missing a graphics card and harddrives though, as im not sure on whether to wait a little longer or buy one now. Choices that come to me would be the gtx 295, ati 5850, 5870 right now. However Ive heard there are x2 versions of the ati cards coming out soon and the gt300 nvidia range? I want something that is a big upgrade from the 8800gtx to make it worthwhile and last a good few years. Even now at 1680x1050 the 8800gtx struggles in some games so seen as im going up in resolution itll have to be alot better. I was also thinking of going crossfire or sli depending on what card i go with so thats not out of the question either. Just want a nice big graphics boost basically.

Also on the harddrives. I was looking at getting a SSD or a Velociraptor for os and other apps and maybe a 500gb-1tb harddrive alongside for storage?

Also ive listed the new case at the bottom of the list for my current components which seems to be alot lighter(nearly half the weight) and smaller than my kandalf and yet still looks to be good quality and isnt expensive, another even smaller and lighter case is the antec 300 but I think itll be a tight squeeze for the 8800gtx.

So apart from those few components which ive yet to decide on, is everything else looking ok in the list? Im new on all this new tech which has been released since my last build, wasnt even sure if the 6gb odd numbered channeling was anygood seen as it wasnt dual channeled :P

So 6gb 3x2gb isnt going to give me any performance decrease due to it being odd numbered channeled?

Went on the 1156 860 cpu instead of the 1366 920 cpu due to the fact this will be mainly for gaming and heard its better than the 920 for that.

Just looking for any advice that can help me choose better components to go with

thanks

Leman_Russ

IgsTer wrote: »

So apart from those few components which ive yet to decide on, is everything else looking ok in the list? Im new on all this new tech which has been released since my last build, wasnt even sure if the 6gb odd numbered channeling was anygood seen as it wasnt dual channeled :P

So 6gb 3x2gb isnt going to give me any performance decrease due to it being odd numbered channeled?

It wont decrease performance, but you are better off with 8 or 4 GB. 4GB is more than enough.

Went on the 1156 860 cpu instead of the 1366 920 cpu due to the fact this will be mainly for gaming and heard its better than the 920 for that.

Just looking for any advice that can help me choose better components to go with

thanks

Gaming = i5 750. The i7's are Hyperthreaded, which as of now and for the foreseeable future, actually results in WORSE gaming performance.

Your motherboard is nice, but perhaps a little too high end. You could drop down to a UD4 easily. I run a UD3 and have my i5 750 at 4GHz 24hourPrime95 Stable and my 1333 9-9-9 Ram running at 1200 6-6-6 stable :P YMMV ofc, but unless you are going to be dumping DIce or LN2 on it, I'd suggest getting a UD4 or UD3

The Power supply is a little High, you could go to 650 and still have loads of room to spare for upgrades. I suggest the HX650 by Corsair. Its an awesome modular high quality PSU.

Do not under any circumstances buy a Monitor online. If you have a Dead Pixel, the RMA will be a pain, as they are german, if they even LET you RMA it (they have lots of loopholes to be able to refuse it, even if they are in the middle). Stick too a local shop that will let you turn it on and inspect it first.

As for the case, I cannot say, never had experience with LanCool. However, it is better to have too much space in the case than too little, so err on the side of caution. Just don't make it TOO big or you might have Power cable troubles (like I did with my generic Stopgap CiT PSU, the CPU 4pin was too short and I had to solder a extension on )

IgsTer

Thanks for the advice

Leman_Russ wrote: »

It wont decrease performance, but you are better off with 8 or 4 GB. 4GB is more than enough.
Gaming = i5 750. The i7's are Hyperthreaded, which as of now and for the foreseeable future, actually results in WORSE gaming performance.

Ye looked up the ram think ill go with 4gb 2x2gb sticks and maybe then upgrade in the future to 8gb if needs be. Though I think ill stick with the i7 860 over the 750 as looked up some reviews and although the 750 was on par with the 860 gaming wise, I will also be using other programs that seem to perform better on the 860 by far. Also just want to have the HT for the future just in case

I remember after my first build, my c2d e6600 which was a great processor at the time was the first thing I wanted to change in my system afterwards and was probably the bottleneck of the system so I dont want to make the same mistake again.

Leman_Russ wrote: »

Your motherboard is nice, but perhaps a little too high end. You could drop down to a UD4 easily. I run a UD3 and have my i5 750 at 4GHz 24hourPrime95 Stable and my 1333 9-9-9 Ram running at 1200 6-6-6 stable :P YMMV ofc, but unless you are going to be dumping DIce or LN2 on it, I'd suggest getting a UD4 or UD3

I see what you mean, Im not going to be overclocking anything in this build so I want to get the best performance I can at default settings. Cant find any reviews on the UD* boards though to see how much performance im getting with the UD5 compared to the UD4, at only 25 euro extra I might just go with it anyhow. Also noticed the UD4 has a different audio codec than the UD5 which seems to have a better one, considering I have a good 5.1 system connected to my pc that ill be using for films a bit too so better audio capability is always welcome.

Leman_Russ wrote: »

The Power supply is a little High, you could go to 650 and still have loads of room to spare for upgrades. I suggest the HX650 by Corsair. Its an awesome modular high quality PSU.

I currently have the corsair 620w which ill be passing over to the spare machine when I get this lot, great psu. Though I may be going xfire/sli depending on how the new cards go so I just want to have enough power to power it all. Not sure if 650w would be a bit low for two cards and the rest of the system? counting future upgrades etc.

Leman_Russ wrote: »

Do not under any circumstances buy a Monitor online. If you have a Dead Pixel, the RMA will be a pain, as they are german, if they even LET you RMA it (they have lots of loopholes to be able to refuse it, even if they are in the middle). Stick too a local shop that will let you turn it on and inspect it first.

Yeah this has worried me a bit in the past, I was lucky enough to get a perfect samsung 226bw from the same shop but dare not think what would have happened if it did have dead pixels being german and all. Dont think Ill go through with that again now that you mention it. Is there any local shops in dublin that have a good range of lcd monitors though that are not way overpriced. I think once the retailer sees 25.5-27" they say we'll double the price, just from the size and not counting the quality of it etc.

Leman_Russ wrote: »

As for the case, I cannot say, never had experience with LanCool. However, it is better to have too much space in the case than too little, so err on the side of caution. Just don't make it TOO big or you might have Power cable troubles (like I did with my generic Stopgap CiT PSU, the CPU 4pin was too short and I had to solder a extension on )

Yeah they seem to be a new brand, i think a split company from lian-li, reviews have been good mentioning high quality, space and airflow etc. So its looking good,

Hehe yeah I dont want it too big. Nearly had the same issue myself, bought the kandalf tower not even thinking about size or weight, the thing empty weighs nearly 19Kg and then trying to lift up the stairs with the parts inside it after building, nearly collapsed.

Leman_Russ

Ye looked up the ram think ill go with 4gb 2x2gb sticks and maybe then upgrade in the future to 8gb if needs be. Though I think ill stick with the i7 860 over the 750 as looked up some reviews and although the 750 was on par with the 860 gaming wise, I will also be using other programs that seem to perform better on the 860 by far. Also just want to have the HT for the future just in case

Fair Enough. If you will utilise the HT then go for it. I was just saying if you weren't, it wasn't worth it :P

I see what you mean, Im not going to be overclocking anything in this build so I want to get the best performance I can at default settings. Cant find any reviews on the UD* boards though to see how much performance im getting with the UD5 compared to the UD4, at only 25 euro extra I might just go with it anyhow. Also noticed the UD4 has a different audio codec than the UD5 which seems to have a better one, considering I have a good 5.1 system connected to my pc that ill be using for films a bit too so better audio capability is always welcome.

Again, Fair enough. I was assuming if you were gonna be hooking up top range hardware you'd have a sound card :P The UD5 is a nice, NICE board, it shouldn't let you down. As for Overclocking, well, even if you don't want to mess with the BIOS, Gigabyte Mobos come with a tool called "Easytune". Click one button and it overclocks automagically

I currently have the corsair 620w which ill be passing over to the spare machine when I get this lot, great psu. Though I may be going xfire/sli depending on how the new cards go so I just want to have enough power to power it all. Not sure if 650w would be a bit low for two cards and the rest of the system? counting future upgrades etc.

I am actually facing this dilemma myself. When I ran a build through the PSU Calculator (google it :P) it told me a Overclocked System running Two 5870's with 3 HDD etc etc etc only would need 519 Watts at 85% load. So a 650 is more than enough, especially if it's a corsair one, as they tend to be conservative with their ratings.

Yeah this has worried me a bit in the past, I was lucky enough to get a perfect samsung 226bw from the same shop but dare not think what would have happened if it did have dead pixels being german and all. Dont think Ill go through with that again now that you mention it. Is there any local shops in dublin that have a good range of lcd monitors though that are not way overpriced. I think once the retailer sees 25.5-27" they say we'll double the price, just from the size and not counting the quality of it etc.

Yup. I don't even like using these huge monitors to be honest. I run 2x19" at 1440*900 and it's perfectly fine imo.

Yeah they seem to be a new brand, i think a split company from lian-li, reviews have been good mentioning high quality, space and airflow etc. So its looking good,

Hehe yeah I dont want it too big. Nearly had the same issue myself, bought the kandalf tower not even thinking about size or weight, the thing empty weighs nearly 19Kg and then trying to lift up the stairs with the parts inside it after building, nearly collapsed.

Yeah, I do my builds in my bedroom now :P