Upgrade in progress, seeking advice

S

sushicide

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
205
Hello all, came across some extra funds recently, so I've decided to update my 4-year old system...been reading the forums quite a bit but still have some questions since I was out of the loop for a while

Answers for the Q&A:
1) PC will be a 24/7 box mainly for DX10/11 gaming @ 1680x1050, along with common daily tasks, but no serious graphic/data processing.

2) Currently I have over $1000 set aside for this project, not a hardcore gamer so no need the very top of the line stuff, but if it's worth the performance boost to break a bottleneck, I have no problem spending extra.

3) I do not live near Fry's, Microcenter or any other computer B&M store; I will most likely be ordering the parts from the Egg, Tiger or other online retailers in the next two weeks.

4) Will be reusing my mid-ATX case, x-fi sound card, SSD boot drive, 2 SATA storage drives, DVD-RAM drive, 22" monitor, mouse/KB & other peripherals.

5) Would like to attempt moderate overclocking, but it's been a while since I messed with this, gonna have to search for guides.

6) Addtional features - USB3/SATA3 is a plus, doubt I'll make full use of them now, but you never know; No plans on having SLI/Crossfire.


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Already bought these since they were on sale:

CPU : i5-760 $171
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115067

GPU : Gigabyte GTX470 $272 -$30MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125320
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Additional Parts required:

Mobo : Gigabyte P55A-UD3 $130 -$10MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128412
The "UD3P" is the same thing but better onboard sound?

Also was looking at ASUS P7P55D-E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131620
and MSI P55A-GD65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130291
How do these compare? Which one has better bundled software?

RAM : Gskill DDR3 1600 2x2GB $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-193-_-Product
Seems to be the most popular choice, the only difference w/ the RipJaw series are the heatspreaders?
I tend to have several tabs of Chrome open at all times while I play and they eat up alot of memory, is 4GB still more than enough?

PSU : Coolermaster Silent Pro M600 Watt $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-036-_-Product
Should be enough juice for this build? Too bad I missed the Corsair TX650 sale last week.

Cooler : Corsair H50 $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835181010
Honestly I picked this out of curiosity because of how much people talk about it, while it's no replacement for monstrous air coolers, I don't think a i5-760 would run too hot @3.4~3.7GHz to cause trouble?
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Total comes out to $808 -$40MIR, not bad at all...I can probably use the leftover money for a bigger SSD or monitor later this year.

What do you guys think?

Thank you for reading.
 
Last edited:
Additional questions:
- When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- What mATX case do you have?

Anyway onto your selection:

- The UD3P is the same as the UD3 but with eSATA ports and support for this feature:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/06/04/gigabyte-mobo-lets-you-hide-files-using-you/1

So for many people, the UD3 will be just fine.

- I would rank the Asus as higher quality than the MSI. And better priced too. As for bundled software, I can't comment on that since I haven't used bundled software in quite a long time.

- The Ripjaws can supposedly OC higher than DDR3 1600. With that said, all you need is DDR3 1600 speeds for a pretty high OC with the i5 760. So yeah, that G.Skill set you chose should be fine. Get 4GB of RAM now, then add more RAM if necessary.

- PSU wise, that's not a good choice for the money. It only has 40A on the +12V rail. For the same exact price as that Coolermaster, you can get this:
$70 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU

The Antec has 48A on the +12V rail which means that it can support more power consuming hardware than the Coolermaster. SO yeah, unless that Coolermaster is $50, don't bother with it.
 
- I plan on finish ordering the rest of the parts in the next two weeks
- Right now I have the first gen CM690 (I meant mid tower instead of m-ATX as in micro atx)
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Ooh, didn't notice that on the PSU...is there another modular option you'd recommend? Right now the bottom of my case is a wirey mess because I have trouble positioning a few power cables.
 
sushicide said:
Ooh, didn't notice that on the PSU...is there another modular option you'd recommend? Right now the bottom of my case is a wirey mess because I have trouble positioning a few power cables.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you will have to increase your budget if you want a worthwhile modular PSU. The least expensive worthwhile modular PSU costs more than $100.
 
sushicide said:
Ooh, didn't notice that on the PSU...is there another modular option you'd recommend? Right now the bottom of my case is a wirey mess because I have trouble positioning a few power cables.
Click to expand...

Well it is gonna cost a bit more but this is probably the cheapest but still quality modular PSU that I'll recommend without reservation:
$110 - Silverstone DA700 700W Modular PSU
 
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