i5 Upgrade..Looking Good?

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Cheezor722

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 13, 2008
Messages
82
I'm trying to upgrade my current system on a $500 budget. Here's my current build:

Intel E2160 (350FSB x 9 = 3.15ghz @ 1.325vCore) w/CoolerMaster TX2
EVGA 8800gts 512mb (G92) @ 740/1800/1040
Abit IP35-E rev 1.4
A-DATA 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 -- 876mhz 5-5-5-18@1.95V
Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Antec NeoPower 550w
Antec P182 w/3 x Scythe Slipstream
Windows XP Pro 32-bit


Here's what I'm planning on upgrading to:

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

MSI P55-GD65 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130239

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065


I have a fresh copy of Windows 7 I'm going to throw on when I get this stuff. I also plan on upgrading my Graphics card later on when Fermi comes out.
So my Questions are:
1) Is my power supply sufficient?
2) Is this the best choice of motherboard? When are MSI's Sata3/USB3.0 coming out?
3) Ram Choice? I've just seen these ripjaws recommended a lot on the forums. Other than that I know very little.
4) Is this the best use of my $500 budget?
5) Anything else I've forgotten?
 
How old is your PSU? If it's over two years old, I recommend looking for a replacement.
 
tiraides said:
How old is your PSU? If it's over two years old, I recommend looking for a replacement.
Click to expand...

It is over 2 years old. Still good?

In regards to the motherboard Comments, is the MSI board not as good? Equivalent? better?
 
Last edited:
Cheezor722 said:
It is over 2 years old. Still good?

In regards to the motherboard Comments, is the MSI board not as good? Equivalent? better?
Click to expand...

Your question is unclear. How can we know if the motherboard is "equivalent" in your eyes, if we don't know why you bought it in the first place?

Did you just buy it because you like the MSI brand name, and are loyal? Or did you buy it because it has a specific feature you can't live without?

I suggested it because you mentioned you wanted SATA3/USB3, and Gibabyte is one of the only board maker on the market with USB3/SATA3 on P55 boards. Also, with the combo discount, this is one of the cheapest ways to get the i5, so it's doubly-desireable.

We don't tend to recommend crap boards around here, even for low-end builds. If someone tries to recommend a board that isn't made by Asus, MSI or Gigabyte, we shoo them out of the forum :) All three of those board makers produce quality, and offer good support.
 
defaultluser said:
Your question is unclear. How can we know if the motherboard is "equivalent" in your eyes, if we don't know why you bought it in the first place?

Did you just buy it because you like the MSI brand name, and are loyal? Or did you buy it because it has a specific feature you can't live without?

I suggested it because you mentioned you wanted SATA3/USB3, and Gibabyte is one of the only board maker on the market with USB3/SATA3 on P55 boards. Also, with the combo discount, this is one of the cheapest ways to get the i5, so it's doubly-desireable.

We don't tend to recommend crap boards around here, even for low-end builds. If someone tries to recommend a board that isn't made by Asus, MSI or Gigabyte, we shoo them out of the forum :) All three of those board makers produce quality, and offer good support.
Click to expand...

I realized when i wrote the question that it might be a bit ambiguous. Primarily what I'm asking is if the MSI board will be stable (not break) and will overclock well. But in a more general sense I want to make sure the board is up to par with the Gigabyte and Asus boards also being recommended here. If the MSI is even better then that's great.

When making these computer buy decisions, there are so many factors and tradeoffs to consider that my head starts to spin when I think about them. Though this may be true of most people, I'd really like to get the best I can for the money I spend. This leads to a lot of agonizing over my purchases, as I always wonder if I chose the "right" part.

Anyway, I guess I'm really just looking for reassurance that my purchase was a good one. In light of this, I really don't want to have to think about whether getting a non-USB3.0 and SATA 3 board was really a poor choice or not.


On a side note, in addition to the items I listed in my original post, I also got a Intel X25-V 40GB SSD.
 
So let me get this right. When you say your "planning" the upgrade, the parts are already shipped?
Why even ask our opinion?
 
Cheezor722 said:
Anyway, I guess I'm really just looking for reassurance that my purchase was a good one. In light of this, I really don't want to have to think about whether getting a non-USB3.0 and SATA 3 board was really a poor choice or not.
Click to expand...

THAT's why you seemed so ungodly fixated on buying the MSI board.

The only poor choice you made was not coming here to assess your build before you ordered, and not being crystal-clear to us that the parts were already ordered. I'm not going to waste my time primping you and making you feel better about a purchase you've already made.

Post a new thread here if you have any issues, but otherwise I'm out.
 
this build right here is Solid. its identical to the build i was building before i switched. have fun with it and good luck

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115215

MSI P55-GD65 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130239

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065
 
i know i was just being the nice guy and giving him the reassurance he wanted that his first build was Solid lol.
 
Cheezor722 said:
It is over 2 years old. Still good?
Click to expand...

Still good. But if you ever plan on upgrading the video card, upgrade the PSU as well. The PSU will be fine for this current upgrade but probably not the next GPU upgrade.

defaultluser already covered what you did wrong and right.
 
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