Few upgrades to an aging machine.

[Damos]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
a)Trying to get back into gaming a bit. Witcher 2, Skyrim, Civ 5, King Arthur II, Shogun 2, Borderlands 2, StarCraft 2. High to Ultra setting would be ideal.
b)Adobe Photoshop and Elements. Maya/3ds Max. Programming. School work.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Budget is around 600 with taxes. Could go higher; less is better obviously.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Live a little North of Dallas.

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.
I need a new Motherboard along with some RAM and a CPU/Cooler.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Reusing the following:
ASUS GTX470
Cougar SX700
Creative X-Fi Titanium
Corsair 550D
Samsung F3 1TB with GSkill C300 64gb.
Asus Optimal Drive

6) Will you be overclocking?
Oh yes. Much as I can.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I snagged one of those Korean Catleaps. 2560 x 1440. I also use a HP 23" in portrait.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon as I decide.

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)? UEFI? etc.
Crossfire, SATA 6GB/s.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yep. Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

I have been pretty busy lately, but their are some games that I have been keeping an eye out for. I tried a few of them out on Steam, but they lag quite a bit. I am thinking its probably my CPU getting long in the tooth. Old conroe dual core. Served me well, but I am thinking its time to move on. Unless my GPU can't keep up with my new Catleap? Not sure. I usually add parts every few months, so I think its not to badly out of date overall.

Unfortunately, haven't really kept up with Ivy Bridge, Bulldozer or Sandy Bridge. Guidance is much appreciated. I would like to try to stay with Asus though. I have used lots of their products and I have nothing bad to say whatsoever.

 

[Superhuman]

There's a Micro Center in Dallas. If you can drive there you can pick up an i5-3570K Ivy Bridge, ASUS P8Z77-V LK, and Kingston HyperX blu 8GB DDR3-1333 for $357.19 out the door.

 

[Damos]

Yep. I am aware. Micro Center and Frys have sucked more than a few dollars away from me.

That seems to be a really good deal. Might just do that. Is there a reason to go i5 instead of something like the 3770K?

 

[Dangman]

That seems to be a really good deal. Might just do that. Is there a reason to go i5 instead of something like the 3770K?

Budget really. It's largely dependent on how much Maya/3ds Max and Programming (multi-threaded of course) you're doing. If you're doing a ton of it, grab the Core i7 2700K from MC as that CPU still qualifies for the $50 mobo deal that MC has. The 3770K doesn't qualify for that $50 off deal so it's not a good deal if you have a MC around.

 

[Damos]

Ah. Makes sense. I wouldn't say a ton of it, but quite a bit, yes. I don't think it will really be that big of a difference between them coming from a dual core Conroe. lol.

Would the i7 2700K be a better deal than the i5 3570K then?

 

[Dangman]

If you can afford it and are doing a lot of Maya/3ds Max and Programming (multi-threaded of course), then yes the 2700K is worth it over the 3570K.