Upgrade hardware

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Tim182

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I currently own a Core 2 Duo E8200 overclocked to 3.2Ghz with some Gigabyte P35 chipset and 4x1Gb of DDR2 800 RAM (one of which just packed up...)

Lately I am having a few issues such where the PC just gets stuck at bootscreen (un- and replugging all components usually solves the issue). Sometimes it also becomes very sluggish during normal operation which makes me believe I may have some mainboard or CPU troubles.

In either case I can't be bothered to spend days trying to figure out what is causing these issues and the PC is becoming rather outdated in any case so I am contemplating upgrading.

Here are my thoughts:

- Intel I5 2500k (R2000): seems like the single best value for money processor out there at the moment. Open to suggestions...
- Intel Deer Flat P67 (R1000): Does anyone know if Ican overclock on the intel branded P67 or if I would I have to go for an MSI/Gigabyte/etc board? The board appeals to me due to 14 USB2 + 2 USB3, 4*DDR1333
- 2 * Corsair DDR3 1333 4Gb (R450)


I would keep my

- Gigabyte 555 Watt power supply: should be powerful enough
- MSI Radeon 5770 Hawk: keep this for now. I don't game much on my PC anymore so its enough until I decide I want to play again
- tower, various harddrives and dvd drives


This whole upgrade would cost me under R3500. What do you guys think? Worth it? Or are there any alternatives offering better value for money. Don't want to go above 4k and like I said, I don't really game much anymore.
 
Esquire has CPUs going for cheap at the moment I think.
Rather get a Gigabyte MB.
 
Personally I stay clear away from Intel motherboards. Any other brand imo is better than a Intel branded board. Asus/Gigabyte are high on the list to look at. Otherwise you should be able to overclock on an Intel branded motherboard given that the chipset supports it which yours does. The upgrade is defiantly worth it.
 
NomNom said:
Personally I stay clear away from Intel motherboards. Any other brand imo is better than a Intel branded board. Asus/Gigabyte are high on the list to look at. Otherwise you should be able to overclock on an Intel branded motherboard given that the chipset supports it which yours does. The upgrade is defiantly worth it.
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Does anyone know of a good MSI/ASUS/Gigabyte P67 mobo for around R1000 with 4DDR3, 8 USB and decent onboard audio with spdif?
 
Have a look at the MSI P67A-C43. very cheap(799 excl VAT) and still a good board

Remember all G3 revisions of MSI's Z68 will support Ivy Bridge not sure on the p67's though so it maybe worth going for a cheaper Z68 such as the Asrock ones.

Why stay away from Intel boards. their Burrage P67 boards are made by ASUS and are rock solid, just cannot OC as well

They look way better too.
 
Reaper84 said:
Have a look at the MSI P67A-C43. very cheap(799 excl VAT) and still a good board

Remember all G3 revisions of MSI's Z68 will support Ivy Bridge not sure on the p67's though so it maybe worth going for a cheaper Z68 such as the Asrock ones.

Why stay away from Intel boards. their Burrage P67 boards are made by ASUS and are rock solid, just cannot OC as well

They look way better too.
Click to expand...

What's the difference between the P67 and Z67 boards?
 
Tim182 said:
Hmm, there must be somehting cheaper. Don't have the need for the dual PCIe x16...
Click to expand...

Either way, it will cost around R1400 for a P67 motherboard other than Intel, R1500 for a Z68 board, but so far the Asus Z68 only has 6 USB 2.0 at the back.
 
there is no Z67, The main diff between P67 and Z68 is Z68 can use the integrated gfx on Intel CPU's and it can use Intel SRT

Not sure if the P67 can?

That Asrock board is crazy good value for money. just do it
 
I think I may just go for an ASUS. Just read up about the Lucid's Virtu technology which lets you use the onboard graphics and automatically switches to the discrete GPU if needed. Would save me a lot of electricity....

Does anyone have any experience with this?
 
Tim182 said:
I think I may just go for an ASUS. Just read up about the Lucid's Virtu technology which lets you use the onboard graphics and automatically switches to the discrete GPU if needed. Would save me a lot of electricity....

Does anyone have any experience with this?
Click to expand...


Reaper84 said:
there is no Z67, The main diff between P67 and Z68 is Z68 can use the integrated gfx on Intel CPU's and it can use Intel SRT

Not sure if the P67 can?

That Asrock board is crazy good value for money. just do it
Click to expand...

Wait, the Asrock has also got the technology :D
 
Do you really need the upgrade?

Have you tried a reformat of the machine? If it still gives hassles then consider it. That machine is still OK especially if you don't game.

That being said. I would wait a little while and get Ivy Bridge. The chips will be better and need less power. In the meantime get an ssd :D
 
Reaper84 said:
Do you really need the upgrade?

Have you tried a reformat of the machine? If it still gives hassles then consider it. That machine is still OK especially if you don't game.

That being said. I would wait a little while and get Ivy Bridge. The chips will be better and need less power. In the meantime get an ssd :D
Click to expand...

Am not bothered with SSDs at this point but you're making a good point with the Ivy bridge.

Looks like those will be released in April. Don't you think they will be very expensive initially?
 
Nope, they are based on the newer 22nm tech so will be cheaper to make. This will also make SB much cheaper when IB comes out. I hear they are going to start dropping the prices of SB to get rid of stock in the next few months as well.
 
Reaper84 said:
Nope, they are based on the newer 22nm tech so will be cheaper to make. This will also make SB much cheaper when IB comes out. I hear they are going to start dropping the prices of SB to get rid of stock in the next few months as well.
Click to expand...

So you reckon I could get a decent Core i5-3570K setup (mobo+ram) for around 4k? In that case I cand efinately still wait...
 
i7 is better but also way more expensive and not needed unless you are going to be heavily using the CPU and can make use of those extra threads.

The i5-3570K will be the best bang for buck by far. My only dissapointment is the Z77 chipsets, they look to plain and offer nothing really new to the Z68's
 
+1 on Ivy Bridge and +1 on the i7 vs i5.
The IB i5's are only due for release a few months after the i7's anyways (August/Sept iirc). By this time next year or maybe after that, you should have some good utilization of 8 threads anyways.
And yes, I did shoot myself in my foot by buying an i5 just last month (this is what happens when you have money saved up for a pc and you see something you like) :p
 
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