i5, 1155 upgrade advice wanted

buffalobill

buffalobill

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
861
Reaction score
34
Location
Joburg, South Africa.
Hi folks. My setup is getting a bit tired, plus my one 3870 graphics card went belly up the other day (a Crossfire setup, so the other works). Anyway, not being a hardcore gamer, but wanting a decent enough experience and a machine that's relatively future-proof I decided on the following upgrade. Not top of the line, I think, but good enough for a number of years. I don't overclock and am not interested in overclocking:
Intel Core i5 2400 3.1GHz LGA1155 Processor
Corsair DDR3-1333 4GB (2x2GB) XMS3
Asus P8H67-M Pro : all-in-one LGA1155 mb
Total price: R3590
I was thinking to get a GTS 450 to complement it.
Trouble is the mobo is not available and no ETA. I understand there may also be problems with the 1155s but am not sure what. What I'm looking for are suggestions for similarly priced and available alternatives. I like the Asus board with its multi-GPU capabilities for the future, but also like the H67 with its built in graphics given that my upgrades become hand-me-downs to the family's PCs.
 
16x + 4x won't be good enough for a decent CrossFire configuration. You should also note that the board does NOT support SLI either.
I'm not exactly sure why you'd want that rather expensive H67 chipset motherboard when an R1000 one would suffice.

You can possibly get the same speed RAM from a different brand for cheaper.

If you want to play the latest games, then I'd advise you to rather get a slightly better graphics card, like an HD 6850, which you should be able to get for like R1700 - otherwise the GTS 450 would be fine.

The last issue (that you've already noticed) would be the stock availability with the Sandy Bridge components - especially with the motherboards. If you can wait a few weeks/month, then the Sandy Bridge stuff are really worth it!
 
There have been a few discussions about Sandybridge (SB) and the problems. In short, you will have to replace the Asus motherboard in the coming months to resolve issues with the SATA ports.

The K series CPU's have better on-board graphics, even if you don't want to overclock. SB also seems to prefer 1.5v memory.
 
Pada said:
16x + 4x won't be good enough for a decent CrossFire configuration. You should also note that the board does NOT support SLI either.
I'm not exactly sure why you'd want that rather expensive H67 chipset motherboard when an R1000 one would suffice.

You can possibly get the same speed RAM from a different brand for cheaper.

If you want to play the latest games, then I'd advise you to rather get a slightly better graphics card, like an HD 6850, which you should be able to get for like R1700 - otherwise the GTS 450 would be fine.

The last issue (that you've already noticed) would be the stock availability with the Sandy Bridge components - especially with the motherboards. If you can wait a few weeks/month, then the Sandy Bridge stuff are really worth it!
Click to expand...

Ah, I didn't notice the SLI. That could be important for the future as I'd like to keep my options open. My experience with boards is that space for aftermarket coolers becomes an issue. The Asus' in my experience generally have enough space.
To be honest, there has been so much development in architectures and chipsets in reent times that I'm feeling a bit lost and left behind. Hence the request for advice. I enjoy the pleasure of putting things together, fighting with it, learning and making it work - otherwise I'd hand it into a computer shop.
What board would you recommend? Full-size ATX rather than mini - I've got the space.
As for RAM, I'd prefer to go mid-range rather than cheaper, so I'm okay there.
Point noted on the graphics card.
 
You'd have to go for the P67 chipset motherboards, which are in the excess of R1900, if you want SLI/CrossFire and overclocking support.
It is really worth it to get a system that is overclockable to 4.5GHz - even if you don't overclock from the start. To put things into perspective: you can OC it to like 4.9GHz and only then it would consume the same amount of power as an i7 950 at stock speed (3GHz)!
The Full-ATX motherboards are even more expensive.
From what you've posted it seemed like you have quite a limited budget and would like a motherboard with onboard VGA, which the P67 chipset doesn't offer.

Have a look at the G.Skill 1.5v memory modules.
The other thing that you have to note with the SB stuff is that you can run the memory at pretty much any speed natively (without having to OC). So you'll find that some people (who can afford it) will buy like DDR3 2400MHz modules.

Lounger should've mentioned that the 2500(K) & 2600(K) CPU's all have faster GPU's. ;) See http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww181/Zraupp/BESNEWSYET.jpg

Btw: what PSU do you currently have? It's very important that you have a big enough PSU. By the looks of things you seem to have a big enough one since you ran 3870's in CF...
 
A person who is not a hardcore gamer would never need SLI/Crossfire IMO, unless the only purpose is multiple monitors (but we have ATI HD6xxx which supports up to 4 monitors from 1 graphics card). Single card setups are my preferred choice and have no issues with scaling which plagued dual card setups (and probably still does, to a lesser extent) - can get away with a much cheaper lower-wattage PSU, and there will be less noise and heat.
 
Pada said:
You'd have to go for the P67 chipset motherboards, which are in the excess of R1900, if you want SLI/CrossFire and overclocking support.
It is really worth it to get a system that is overclockable to 4.5GHz - even if you don't overclock from the start. To put things into perspective: you can OC it to like 4.9GHz and only then it would consume the same amount of power as an i7 950 at stock speed (3GHz)!
The Full-ATX motherboards are even more expensive.
From what you've posted it seemed like you have quite a limited budget and would like a motherboard with onboard VGA, which the P67 chipset doesn't offer.

Have a look at the G.Skill 1.5v memory modules.
The other thing that you have to note with the SB stuff is that you can run the memory at pretty much any speed natively (without having to OC). So you'll find that some people (who can afford it) will buy like DDR3 2400MHz modules.

Lounger should've mentioned that the 2500(K) & 2600(K) CPU's all have faster GPU's. ;) See http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww181/Zraupp/BESNEWSYET.jpg

Btw: what PSU do you currently have? It's very important that you have a big enough PSU. By the looks of things you seem to have a big enough one since you ran 3870's in CF...
Click to expand...

As I said, I would prefer the H67 because one day it will become my wife's and she doesn't do games. Budget is not the issue, other than self imposed because upgrades can be be a money pit. Again, I don't want to overclock.
Point taken about the SLI/Crossfire but mine worked well. PSU is currently an AeroCool 500.
I can't say I'm any closer to the answer so I'll probably just upgrade the GPU for now and look around a bit more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X