Motherboard/CPU/HSF/RAM Upgrade

A

anonuser

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
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I've been upgrading my five year old system piecemeal over the last few years. Here's what I'm currently running:

Case: Antec 900 w/upgraded fans
PSU: CORSAIR 620 HX Modular
MB: EVGA 680i Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 oc'd to 3.26 GHz
HSF: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme HSK-TRI-U12 w/single fan (purchased 4/24/07 )
RAM: 4GB Corsair Ram
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB
SSD: Intel X25-M 80GB SATA II SSD

Monitors: Westinghouse 37" + Acer 21"
Etc: Miscellaneous hard drives

It's fairly obvious what I need to upgrade. Looking at the windows experience index, I currently rate:
CPU: 6.6
RAM: 6.6
Graphics - 7.8
SSD - 7.5

I assume that if I were to just upgrade the motherboard, cpu, and ram I would have a fairly high end system again. A couple of questions.

1. Can the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme work with the new sockets w/an adapter kit? If so, it is still a high end cooler or should I buy something new?
2. I've been out of the loop as to CPU/Motherboard/Ram options in the last couple years. Looking like the best bang for the buck is still the i5 2500k @ around $200?
3. What high end mainstream / low end enthusiant motherboard should I be looking at?
4. What RAM?

Any other comments/concerns/etc I would appreciate.
 
doug_7506 said:
Of course I can, But what for?
Click to expand...

Intel is scheduled to release its new Ivy Bridge desktop CPUs at the end of this month. Unfortunately, there will be absolutely no price drops at all whatsoever for the existing Sandy Bridge line (which is to be obsolesced by Ivy Bridge). This means that if you were to buy now, you'd be stuck in no-man's land, buying soon-to-be-obsilesced parts at high prices.
 
The 2011 sockets?

And how much?

LOL just realized I wasn't in my thread hahaha. but I'm still looking to upgrade and am interested. :)
 
anonuser said:
1. Can the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme work with the new sockets w/an adapter kit? If so, it is still a high end cooler or should I buy something new?
2. I've been out of the loop as to CPU/Motherboard/Ram options in the last couple years. Looking like the best bang for the buck is still the i5 2500k @ around $200?
3. What high end mainstream / low end enthusiant motherboard should I be looking at?
4. What RAM?

Any other comments/concerns/etc I would appreciate.
Click to expand...

1) Yes. Still a high-end cooler.
2 to 4) For now the 2500K is still one of the better bang for the buck CPUs when overclocking. However, as 450 noted, can you wait another month or so? That's when Intel is releasing their new CPUs and motherboards. As such, our motherboard and RAM recommendations will be different a month to a month and a half from now.
 
doug_7506 said:
The 2011 sockets?

And how much?
Click to expand...

Actually, Ivy Bridge will still be LGA 1155. The i5-3570K will be priced about as much as the current i5-2500K. LGA 2011 is a different platform entirely - very expensive to purchase as a combo and the lower two CPUs need specific ultra-low-voltage and extremely expensive RAM just to work reliably.
 
I can wait a month without a problem. I've waited this long...

Please school me -- how is waiting going to help? From what I've read, Ivy Bridge will just be marginally faster than current offerings (aside from a much better integrated graphics which doesn't matter to me).

Thanks!
 
anonuser said:
Please school me -- how is waiting going to help? From what I've read, Ivy Bridge will just be marginally faster than current offerings (aside from a much better integrated graphics which doesn't matter to me).
Click to expand...
Those are the early reports and not the whole story. In addition, there will be new motherboard chipsets coming out around that time. Finally, unless you really need the PC right away, why saddle yourself with "old" parts when new parts are a month or so away?
 
Danny Bui said:
Those are the early reports and not the whole story. In addition, there will be new motherboard chipsets coming out around that time. Finally, unless you really need the PC right away, why saddle yourself with "old" parts when new parts are a month or so away?
Click to expand...

Well usually the new parts are prohibitively expensive compared to the old. I don't normally buy the newest parts because the value just isn't (usually) there. Either way, I can still wait and see. This computer is running perfectly fine as it is, but the CPU is definitely the bottleneck.
 
anonuser said:
Well usually the new parts are prohibitively expensive compared to the old. I don't normally buy the newest parts because the value just isn't (usually) there. Either way, I can still wait and see. This computer is running perfectly fine as it is, but the CPU is definitely the bottleneck.
Click to expand...

Not these past couple of generations. If anything, the prices of the older parts will effectively increase to the point that they become very poor values (if Intel's recent pricing history is any indication). Remember, Intel kept the prices of the first-generation (Lynnfield) i5s artificially high when the Sandy Bridge CPUs came out - and kept them that way until the Lynnfield CPUs became EOL'd.
 
E4g1e said:
Not these past couple of generations. If anything, the prices of the older parts will effectively increase to the point that they become very poor values (if Intel's recent pricing history is any indication). Remember, Intel kept the prices of the first-generation (Lynnfield) i5s artificially high when the Sandy Bridge CPUs came out - and kept them that way until the Lynnfield CPUs became EOL'd.
Click to expand...

OK thanks for the advice. I'll repost in a month or so.
 
OK well it's that time again.

Ivy Bridge is out and doesn't seem to be that amazing of an upgrade. What is everyone thinking now?
 
Unfortunately Ivy Bridge was a bit of a disappointment, especially with the current price gouging at the moment. If you absolutely need the system today and aren't planning on a high-end SLI/Crossfire setup, the 2500K is a solid choice. But please answer this question:
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

However, the pricing for the Z77 motherboards have stabilized and have proven to be fairly solid and well worth the price. If you want a specific motheboard recommendation, please answer this question:
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.
 
Danny Bui said:
Unfortunately Ivy Bridge was a bit of a disappointment, especially with the current price gouging at the moment. If you absolutely need the system today and aren't planning on a high-end SLI/Crossfire setup, the 2500K is a solid choice. But please answer this question:
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

However, the pricing for the Z77 motherboards have stabilized and have proven to be fairly solid and well worth the price. If you want a specific motheboard recommendation, please answer this question:
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.
Click to expand...

Danny,

Thanks for the response:

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, Miami -- No Microcenter nearby unfortunately

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.
USB3, SATA6, eSATA, UEFI would be nice to see -- I've never seen a need for SLI/Crossfire as single GPU solutions just seem more elegant to me.

I will be overclocking to somewhere between 4.5 and 5 GHz on air. I have a Thermaltake Ultra 120 Extreme that I could use if I buy a kit for $20. It may be worth just buying a new cheap cooler (Cooler Master Hyper 212+?) instead.

I don't HAVE to build the system right now as my current one still does mostly everything I need. I wouldn't mind having some more power though at a good price to performance ratio.
 
Last edited:
Mobo wise, grab the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H. HSF wise, yeah buy the Hyper 212+. Not only can it cool a little better than the TRUE120 (main reason we've been recommending the Hyper 212+ all these years) but it only costs $25 (off Amazon.com) to $30 (Off Newegg.com).
 
Danny,

Thanks. I was actually looking at that specific motherboard on newegg yesterday.

What do you think? 2500k or ivy bridge?
 
For me, probably 3570K for the extra PCI-E lanes and the faster onboard video.
 
Danny Bui said:
For me, probably 3570K for the extra PCI-E lanes and the faster onboard video.
Click to expand...

Thanks -- I'm leaning towards the 2500k just because it runs cooler overclocked and it's pretty warm where I am. Onboard video just doesn't come into the equation for me.
 
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