Time to upgrade

[dacons]

Well its a new year and ive decided my PC has done me proud but its time to upgrade she is 4-5 years old now and in PC terms thats 40-50 years old lol anyway ive started to look into things again havent kept upto date with all the new innovations so im after some tips so basically I wont state a budget cos I want a beast but I will give a basic description of the type of system I wanna build.

CPU I was looking for an intel maybe the Core i7 3960X but ive heard there will be a new batch out soon ivy bridge or something.

Mobo again high spec to suit above

Ram again high spec maybe 16GB or more if that is better.

GPU not looking to double up so a top end one (I would like the capability to if I get a deal on a second unit)

HDD a good fast SSD with a decent capacity but have a 4TB Nas for storage so not huge space.

Bluray RW

PSU to handle above and maybe in the future if I get a deal on a second GPU

Cooling im not interested in water cooling although I may go for one of the corsair hydro series type jobies.

Case well il pick that as thats more a taste thing.

Monitor il be looking at a decent HD 22-26" maybe led for extra thinness .

Ive probably forgotten somthing but this should give you an idea what direction im going I will say I wont be doing any overclocking (not patient enough) but depending on where I get the CPU mobo ram from I know some companies supply them pre overclocked.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Hi,

Wait for the Ivy Bridge CPU's as you'll get very good performance for a good price point. The X series are too expensive in my opinion.

No word on any Z77 motherboards as far as I know, but you can buy current 1155 boards as Ivy Bridge is on the same socket.

For RAM you won't have any restrictions if you go with a closed loop water cooler. LP RAM is always better though in case you have to/want to use a traditional air cooler in the future. Mushkin radioactive (I think that's what they're called), Corsair Vengeance LP, G.Skill Ripjaws are some of the more popular ones.

The AMD 7970 is the current top dog so that would be a perfect choice.

Kingston Hyper X for the SSD as it is super fast and is the best looking SSD you can get. Patriot Wildfire is another good choice if you want sheer speed. Other's include Corsair Force GT, Crucial M4, Mushkin Chronos and Corsair Force 3. There are loads more choices, but from them if budget allows I would get the Kingston Hyper X.

There's an LG Blu ray player on Scan that's a "HOT SELLER" and it's not too expensive so you could go for that if you like the looks of it.

A lot of people seem to be really happy with the Corsair H100. You will have to get a case that supports two 120/140mm fans at the top of the case though.

What are your main uses going to be with the monitor? If you want amazing colour and quality then an IPS panel would be the better choice. If you are going to be doing a lot of gaming TN panel monitors will be better, but IPS panels are by no means bad for gaming (well the higher quality ones at least). I game on an IPS panel and have experienced no ghosting or input lag of any kind so far, even with fast paced FPS'.

Hope this helped

.

 

[dacons]

Thanks for the input yeah though I should wait I only went fo the X cos thats part of a bundle that scan do and last build I went overkill with an intel QX6850 and it did me proud .

Ram wise whats a decent amount 8,16,32 etc

Monitor wise I want it for both HD video viewing and a bit of gaming

 

[yassarikhan786]

For gaming and general use 8GB of RAM would be more than enough. Have you considered any IPS panels?

 

[dacons]

TBH ive only just started researching so im using your advice to direct me a bit I just want a setup that will still hold its own in 2-3 years time.

I will look at the IPS panels now.

 

[yassarikhan786]

I have an IPS panel monitor and it is totally amazing mate. They are quite expensive though, but the build + screen quality is second to none on most IPS monitors. What is the highest you'd be willing to pay for a monitor?

 

[dacons]

I dont know really it depends on hos cash happy I am at the time but size wise im looking at around 24" give or take .

What IPS you got?

 

[yassarikhan786]

It's in my sig. I have the Dell U2410. 24" with a resolution of 1920 x 1200.

 

[dacons]

Doh sorry

 

[yassarikhan786]

Doh sorry

No worries mate, it is pretty small.