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basic system upgrade, sanity check please

M

Mr.Pernod

Lurker and [H]ard|DCer of the Month - May 2015
Joined
Jun 5, 2006
Messages
182
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
light gaming (mainly Civ5), web browsing, BOINC, a bit of x264 encoding
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
+/- 450 EURO (ex. shipping)
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Netherlands
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, motherboard
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
GFX: ASUS GTX460 DirectCU
PSU: Corsair Builder series CX500
Cooling: Corsair H80
Disk: Crucial M4 128 GB SSD
Disk: Samsung HD103UJ 1TB
Optical: SATA Optical
Case: Chieftec LCX-01B-B-SL midi tower
6) Will you be overclocking?
yes, though nothing [H]ardcore
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920*1080, 24"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
before the end of the month
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc.
Gbit LAN, SATA3, audio
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Win7, x64

My own proposition
200 Euro Intel Core™ i5-2500K
170 Euro ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3 (Intel Z68 Express)
60 Euro Kingston KHX1600C9D3P1K2/8G (DDR3-1600, 2x4GB, 1.5 volts)

as you can see by my signature, I like to hold on to the base of a system (CPU, RAM, board) for as long as I can, while in the mean time doing incremental upgrades on disk, GFX and memory.
this unfortunately means I don't always keep up with current tech :(
right now I am looking to replace the old Q6600 gamer with a new base system that will keep me happy/satisfied for the next couple of years :)
 
how much x264 encoding are you doing?

35027.png


Both the 2600K and 2500K are great, but if you need a bit more encoding power I'd go for the 2600K and its 8 threads.

I'm not too sure about the prices in the NL, but that Kingston ram, though good, is a bit too expensive. You might even benefit more from having more ram rather than having faster ram, but I guess that depends on your usage and how much encoding you're doing. Ram won't be getting any cheaper any time soon, so if you're looking to buy the ram you should do it asap.

Other than perhaps getting cheaper ram, your choices look fine.
 
well, the (occasional) encoding is not something I hang around for, it's just another thing the PC does all by itself while I sleep or work, there's no deadlines or races ;)
the prices I listed are the listprice at one of my favourite webshops (Alternate in the Netherlands), but I still have to check our company discounts on the Kingston when I am at work this week.
Taking into account some bad experiences I had with g.skill and a-data, any suggestions for RAM?
 
well, ram is ram. So long as it's cheap and rated at 1.5V or lower and 1600mhz, you should be golden =P

Considering you're just encoding while it would be idle, your choices are great. There would be no need to get the 2600K then.
 
pelo said:
well, ram is ram. So long as it's cheap and rated at 1.5V or lower and 1600mhz, you should be golden =P
Click to expand...

Huge misconception here. 1333 performs almost no different than 1600 or faster RAM on a SB platform. Spot on with the 1.5V or lower, though.
 
guess that's me being stuck in the era of FSB overclocking then, figured faster RAM would give me a bit more room to play with?

Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9K2/8G is 36 Euro per kit (2x 4GB) (DDR3-1333, timings 9-9-9) (1.5 volts).
Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2CP4G3D1337DT1TX0 is 41 Euro (2x 4GB) (DDR3-1333, timings 7-7-7) (1.5 volts).

Going with 2 of the Crucial kits puts me right on target for the budget (452 Euro), but with 16GB total to play with.

So is this my list?
- i5 2500k
- ASUS Maximus IV Gene-z/Gen3
- 2x Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1333 (2x 4GB)
 
Mr.Pernod said:
guess that's me being stuck in the era of FSB overclocking then, figured faster RAM would give me a bit more room to play with?
Click to expand...
Yeah not really as others have noted.

Mr.Pernod said:
Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9K2/8G is 36 Euro per kit (2x 4GB) (DDR3-1333, timings 9-9-9) (1.5 volts).
Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2CP4G3D1337DT1TX0 is 41 Euro (2x 4GB) (DDR3-1333, timings 7-7-7) (1.5 volts).
Click to expand...
Flip a coin honestly. Just like the higher speed RAM, SB CPUs don't really see a noticeable performance difference between CAS 7 and CAS 9 RAM. It's fair to say that RAM has little to no impact on SB's performance.

Mr.Pernod said:
- ASUS Maximus IV Gene-z/Gen3
Click to expand...
How much is the Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 and Asus P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3Motherboards?
 
ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 is 150 Euro, the P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3 is 170
 
I recommend both of those Asus mobos over your current choice then as they are of the ATX form factor and has almost as many usable features.
 
hmz, you're not making this easy on me :(

giving up the smaller formfactor, X-Fi audio, 8+4 phase powercircuit, PS/2 and a fun looking toy like ROG-Connect for a larger board with Realtek Audio, 12+4 phase powercircuit, DVI/VGA connectors, more slots and a bluetooth module

the Pro is out anyway, since I have no need for firewire and the two extra SATA ports are not enough for me to pick the Pro over the non-Pro.

keeping in mind the usability of the boards at the end of their "gaming life", I should probably go with the ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3, but that's me being sensible.
the smaller Gene-Z though would allow me to repurpose it as an HTPC or a compact hypervisor host.

I'm gonna sleep on this for a while.
 
The X-Fi audio is software based on the Gene-Z.

You have some forward thinking going on, such as being able to repurpose the smaller uATX size board into an HTPC.

Given that, I'd recommend you stick with your initial choice and go with the Gene-Z. It's going to serve as a powerful board for years to come, it seems.
 
sod sensible, I'm ordering the Gene-Z tomorrow.

Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z/Gen3
i5-2500K
2 Crucial Ballistix tactical kits (16GB total)

total price ex. shipping 451,78 Euro

this should be fun :D
 
ordered.
there was actually a small pricedrop on the CPU overnight.
total, now including shipping, is 450.73 Euro ($555)

the waiting game begins....
 
memtested the system over the weekend, no errors :)

just having second thoughts about putting the board in that chieftec case ... it's just too cute to stick in a windowsless case.
wondering of the old 3x80mm radiator in the old Koolance PC2-601BW will be able to handle the cpu if I get a new block.
(it could handle an overclocked Q6600 and before that overclocked dual Prestonia's and before that dual athlon MP's)

hmmmz
 
Well heck if it could handle dual Prestonias and dual Athlon MPs, I don't think it'll break much of a sweat with your current 2500K. :D
 
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