SFF Upgrade advice....

[akg102]

Recently, I've been considering moving my main gaming rig toward a smaller, more LAN friendly direction. I'm really conflicted about the path I'm going to take because AM3 socket mini-itx offerings are virtually non-existent, especially for 125w cpu's. I'd like to move to Intel for Ivy Bridge and more options within the mini-itx platform, which would result in a complete parting out of my current system. I also plan on upgrading to a 7970.

I'm looking to take care of all of this fairly quickly. (Sooner the better) Unfortunately, Ivy Bridge and the Bitfenix prodigy releases are still a ways in the future; this leaves me a couple different upgrade options.

A) Go ahead and buy a mini-itx Z68 board + cheapest 1155 overclockable CPU + 7970 and wait for ivy bridge and the prodigy to be released......all the while selling my current system. Later, upgrade to IB and sell the i3.

B) Buy the 7970, keep current system and wait to see what the Z77 offerings will be. (Will it be worth it to wait?) I assume the z68 would be sufficient, considering pci-e 3.0 will be unlikely to give me a clear improvement.

Financially, I'm at a place where I can take a bit of a loss on selling, so it's not that big of a deal. Also, I'm considering selling my nh-d14 for a H100, due to the sheer size and incompatibility of the Noctua with smaller boards. Is it a good move?

Also, would pairing a 7970 with an i3 for a few months be completely ridiculous?

Current System:

AMD 1090T + Noctua NH-D14
990fx Sabertooth
8GB Ripjaws 1333
128GB C300
1TB WD 7200rpm
Asus 6950 (Reference)

I mainly play BF3 and a few RTS's.....Starcraft 2, EU III, etc...

 

[Dangman]

Definitely not option A IMO since the current mITX Z68 motherboards aren't that good. In addition, the cheapest overclocking capable-ish Intel CPU is the Core i5 2300/2400 but those are maxed out at 3.4Ghz and 3.6Ghz respectively. The Core i3s cannot be OC'd at all.

Option B is ok if the HD 6950 isn't providing you with enough satisfactory performance and if you have that 1090T OC'd. Hopefully there will be actually good Z77 ITX motherboards for sale around that time.

IMO, yes pairing the HD 7970 with an i3 is a tad ridiculous.

 

[akg102]

I'm certainly not opposed to bumping up to a 2500k and see where that takes me.......unless IB is a total flop or ridiculously priced I'll still probably make the swap.The i5 would obviously afford me significantly more OC'ing room and make good use of the upgraded GPU for only $100 more.


I've been eyeing this Zotac board for all the bells and whistles, but realize I'm basically playing Russian Roulette......I'm hoping the December BIOS update has fixed most of the problems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500069

 

[Dangman]

I'm certainly not opposed to bumping up to a 2500k and see where that takes me.......unless IB is a total flop or ridiculously priced I'll still probably make the swap.The i5 would obviously afford me significantly more OC'ing room and make good use of the upgraded GPU for only $100 more.

Rumors are putting IB CPUs at around 16% faster than the SB CPUs clock for clock.

I've been eyeing this Zotac board for all the bells and whistles, but realize I'm basically playing Russian Roulette......I'm hoping December BIOS update has fixed most of the problems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500069

Like I said, not that good. Considering Zotac's past history with mITX motherboards, it does not bode well at all for the long-term stability for that motherboard. The checkered past for that motherboard is also a big red flag for me as well.