Looking to Upgrade my PC...

[El Xando]

Hello
What with having a job and christmas and my birthday coming up (a month and a day after) and not being able to think of anything else I could possibly want I've decided I want to upgrade my PC.
Current Specs:
DFI LANParty X48 Socket 775
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.00GHz
OCZ Reaper 4GB RAM running at about 850MHz I believe.
SATA II 1TB HDD (5.9 on Windows Performance Index)
I'm not interested in getting new graphics card, but I currently have a 4850 and a 4350.

OK so, I'm pretty sure I want either an i5 processor or an i7 processor. The reasons I want to do this include getting a bit more into PC gaming, capturing from my Xbox/PS3 (as it occasionally desyncs, badly) and for rendering videos (it's slowwwwwww...)
I need a motherboard with at least 3 PCI Express slots, as both my graphics cards are PCI Express and so is my capture card. The 4850 graphics card is double height, so I need at least 2 PCI Express slots that aren't directly below the primary slot.
As for RAM, I'll either be getting triple channel if I decide on an i7, or dual if I decide on an i5.

So what do you guys recommend?
I've been looking on Novatech, and this is the i5 I'd probably buy while this is the i7 I'd probably buy. This is the cheapest Socket 1366 motherboard that has the PCI config I need Obviously I'm not restricted to Novatech, I just have one very close to me and know they're generally quite cheap.

So what do you guys recommend? Is it worth the extra money for an i7, or will the i5 fill all my needs? Also what motherboards do you recommend?

Any recommendations are appreciated

 

[FrozenIpaq]

As far as the Core i5 vs Core i7 goes, the major difference in the two processors is Hyperthreading. Only the Core i7 CPUs support it, allowing it to divide the 4 physical cores into 8 virtual ones which will generally give you a performance bump in processor-intensive tasks (suck as rendering video). It might be worth it to get an i7 if you can afford it. As far as the motherboard goes, Gigabyte, Asus, EVGA are solid companies (from my experience) with motherboards. Usually it just comes down to choosing one that fits your system specs and physical needs - shouldn't need to break the bank on it though

 

[El Xando]

As far as the Core i5 vs Core i7 goes, the major difference in the two processors is Hyperthreading. Only the Core i7 CPUs support it, allowing it to divide the 4 physical cores into 8 virtual ones which will generally give you a performance bump in processor-intensive tasks (suck as rendering video). It might be worth it to get an i7 if you can afford it. As far as the motherboard goes, Gigabyte, Asus, EVGA are solid companies (from my experience) with motherboards. Usually it just comes down to choosing one that fits your system specs and physical needs - shouldn't need to break the bank on it though

Apparently some i5 processors have Hyperthreading. Pretty sure i7s a good plan though then, as I may as well get the best I can now.

---------- Post added at 08:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 PM ----------

From reading about, looks like 12GB of RAM would be unnecessary. So think I'll go with 3x2GB for 6GB.

Would it be worth getting a solid state drive for my OS?

 

[x3sphere]

Would it be worth getting a solid state drive for my OS?

Definitely - an SSD is by far the most significant upgrade I've made to my PC. It makes a dramatic difference in daily usage. Everything loads up instant, there's no lag when opening up heavy applications.

 

[El Xando]

Definitely - an SSD is by far the most significant upgrade I've made to my PC. It makes a dramatic difference in daily usage.

Ah nice
Is the best plan to have JUST my OS on an SSD then use SATA drives for storage?
Also, is there much of a different between CAS 9-9-9-24, CAS 8-8-8-24 and CAS 7-7-7-20 RAM timings?
Also if any can explain how THIS is more expensive than THIS then please do, I don't understand.

 

[x3sphere]

Ah nice
Is the best plan to have JUST my OS on an SSD then use SATA drives for storage?
Also, is there much of a different between CAS 9-9-9-24, CAS 8-8-8-24 and CAS 7-7-7-20 RAM timings?
Also if any can explain how THIS is more expensive than THIS then please do, I don't understand.

That's what I do - store OS files and any installed programs on the SSD. Everything else goes on my regular HDDs. Games don't seem to benefit from an SSD too much, so it's better to leave them off as well.

When it comes to RAM, tighter timings are better, but you'd likely only notice a difference between those under benchmarking situations.

From the links you posted, I'd say the second set is a better buy. RAM prices fluctuate depending on supply etc, so it just depends. Board compatibility is also a factor.

 

[El Xando]

OK awesome.
These are the things I'm currently looking at:
Motherboard: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...chipsetfori79series/gigabyte/ga-x58-usb3.html
Processor: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/processors/intelcorei7/intel/0601930oem.html
RAM: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...triplechannel/g.skill/f3-12800cl9t-6gbnq.html or http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...pc/ddr3-triplechannel/ocz/ocz3g1600lv6gk.html (Is 1-1-1-0 fewer RAM timings worth a

 

[Andy]

OK awesome.
These are the things I'm currently looking at:
Motherboard: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...chipsetfori79series/gigabyte/ga-x58-usb3.html
Processor: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/processors/intelcorei7/intel/0601930oem.html
RAM: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...triplechannel/g.skill/f3-12800cl9t-6gbnq.html or http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...pc/ddr3-triplechannel/ocz/ocz3g1600lv6gk.html (Is 1-1-1-0 fewer RAM timings worth a

 

[x3sphere]

I'd save up for a bigger SSD, 32GB isn't enough imo.

I agree, go for at least an 80GB. Windows by itself (with updates) uses around 18GB. That'd leave you with like 10GB left for applications, not enough IMO.

 

[El Xando]

Oh right, how much space does Windows 7 take up? The combined size of my Program Files and Program Files (x86) folder is 20GB.
Also, http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/harddrives-ssd/ocz/oczssd2-2sld60g.html
And which RAM would you say? 9-9-9-24 for

 

[El Xando]

What about RAID?
What would result in better transfer times, buying an SSD drive or buying 2 more 250GB drives (I have one 250GB atm) and doing RIAD on them?

 

[MenaceInc]

What about RAID?
What would result in better transfer times, buying an SSD drive or buying 2 more 250GB drives (I have one 250GB atm) and doing RIAD on them?

RAID 0 will boost the transfer speeds certainly but they still won't bring the access times down to the levels of SSDs or have read speeds near the same as SSDs. Another thing to note with SSDs though is that the controller IC used in them matters a lot as to what read/write speeds you get. Generally, the Intel SSDs offer the best performance from benchmarks that I've seen. That was quite a while ago though.

 

[El Xando]

RAID 0 will boost the transfer speeds certainly but they still won't bring the access times down to the levels of SSDs or have read speeds near the same as SSDs. Another thing to note with SSDs though is that the controller IC used in them matters a lot as to what read/write speeds you get. Generally, the Intel SSDs offer the best performance from benchmarks that I've seen. That was quite a while ago though.

What about other types of RAID, such as RAID 5?

 

[MenaceInc]

What about other types of RAID, such as RAID 5?

When you're getting to the stage of using RAID 5 which requires 4 HDD's IIRC then the cost is practically the same while the performance would still be less. The main use of RAID 5 is to get the performance of data striping with the failsafe of backups.

Another note, you won't notice the difference in performance between 8CAS and 9CAS RAM with real use, more so synthetic benchmarks so I'd say just save the

 

[El Xando]

When you're getting to the stage of using RAID 5 which requires 4 HDD's IIRC then the cost is practically the same while the performance would still be less.

Another note, you won't notice the difference in performance between 8CAS and 9CAS RAM with real use, more so synthetic benchmarks so I'd say just save the

 

[MenaceInc]

Ah OK.
So you're saying the best course of action is just get an SSD drive and put my operating system and programs on that, then use the 1TB and 250GB SATA drives I have at the moment for storage?

That's what x3 does and it's what I've planned to do for quite a while myself.

I'd pay particularly close attention to these charts, http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/ssd-charts-2010/benchmarks,110.html
and buy whatever budget you can afford. Personally I'd go for something around the 100GB mark but I would tend to have quite a few games installed that take up about 8 or 10GB each. If you find that all the games/applications take up less then go for less.

One thing though...the OCZ SSD that you linked to was about

 

[Hardrive]

You don't want to have a striping raid for your OS installation because then random access speeds dramatically suffer (for non-SSD raids). So either install your OS on an SSD or a single (or mirrored) hard drive.

 

[El Xando]

That's what x3 does and it's what I've planned to do for quite a while myself.

I'd pay particularly close attention to these charts, http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/ssd-charts-2010/benchmarks,110.html
and buy whatever budget you can afford. Personally I'd go for something around the 100GB mark but I would tend to have quite a few games installed that take up about 8 or 10GB each. If you find that all the games/applications take up less then go for less.

One thing though...the OCZ SSD that you linked to was about

 

[El Xando]

Thought I may as well not open a new thread for this...
Right, so as some of you know I have my SSD, got it for Christmas, and it's awesome
For my birthday, my Dad has agreed he will buy me a new motherboard, i7 processor and 6GB RAM.
However... Not entirely sure whether to get a 9XX series i7 processor or 26XX series...
Rendering is something key in mind that I want fast, though I also play a fair few PC games.
So essentially, would it be more sensible for me to get this and this or this and one of these.
Cheers.

 

[Andy]

Thought I may as well not open a new thread for this...
Right, so as some of you know I have my SSD, got it for Christmas, and it's awesome
For my birthday, my Dad has agreed he will buy me a new motherboard, i7 processor and 6GB RAM.
However... Not entirely sure whether to get a 9XX series i7 processor or 26XX series...
Rendering is something key in mind that I want fast, though I also play a fair few PC games.
So essentially, would it be more sensible for me to get this and this or this and one of these.
Cheers.

Go with a Sandy Bridge i7.