IT geeks - PC upgrade advice

[Homer]

Hey guys, bit of a question for the IT guys

 

I'm looking at changing our my age old Intel 6750 system to a better one, have the following spec sized up but have a few queries..

 

CPU: Intel Core i7 3770 3.4GHz Socket 1155 8MB

Mainboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX Socket 1155

Memory: G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB) TridentX DDR3 2400MHz DIMM 240-pin

 

Rest of the system should be okay, 850w power, Asus GTX 560Ti, 2x 2TB 7200 drives

 

I think the CPU is about the most powerful available for sensible money and is the new Ivybridge standard, however a mate suggested it may be worth waiting until DDR4 comes out, but I can't see any info when that's available, is it worth waiting for? The specs on it do seem good from the white papers..

Are there any better options for the RAM?

[edinlexusV8]

If you dont need 2TB drives can do with smaller size, I would suggest using SSDs as drives.

[Guest ugp]

I've got that memory in mine, same chip too, not had a problem with it. The memory is clocked to 2650 too, stock volts.

 

I've had no experience with that board though, you generally can't go wrong with Asus. It's a shame DFI stopped making boards like they were though!

[Homer]

If you dont need 2TB drives can do with smaller size, I would suggest using SSDs as drives.

 

Disk performance isn't such an issue, I'll probably move to an SSD for the OS at some point but there doesn't seem to much point at the moment as high transfer rate is my priority over access speed

 

I've got that memory in mine, same chip too, not had a problem with it. The memory is clocked to 2650 too, stock volts.

 

I've had no experience with that board though, you generally can't go wrong with Asus. It's a shame DFI stopped making boards like they were though!

 

Cool, good to know the CPU and RAM are okay, I'd heard the sandybridge had some issues when it came out, so hope the Ivybridge is okay... Always thought G.Skill was a bit of a budget manufacturer, have you had any issues with the RAM being overclocked? Are you using any special cooling?

[Delboy52]

Your CPU is no.10 in the high performance chart of this list. Looks like a very good quad core CPU. Do you intend to use this for gaming or graphics work?

 

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

 

As for the DDR4 ram, if you are chasing benchmark figures then you'll get a higher score. If you just use it for games or general purpose you won't notice the performance difference. I have DDR2 ram in my ageing home machine and everything runs very well. That is crucial ballistix which was designed for a mild overclock.

 

Asus board looks feature rich. It doesn't support DDR4 for future upgrading but I don't believe that matters. It has an integrated GPU which I pressume would only be useful if you want lots of monitors connected. My laptop has dual graphics but that's for power consumption optimisation.

 

Quick look at G.Skill TridentX, and according to this benchmark you may be overspending on it. Seems the Ivy Bridge memery cache controller is keeping everything on a tight leash.

 

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/ram/38613-gskill-tridentx-ddr3-2400-ivy-bridge-memory/?page=7

 

If I was building another system I'd look at Corsair Dominator DDR3 Quad channel. The brand has been about for ages and is pretty solid.

 

You could also consider hybrid HDDs that use solid state tech for the memory controller. This has higher performance while retaining large capacity. You could put your 2 drives into raid 0 as you have a raid controller on that Asus motherboard. It stripes the 2 drives into one big disk enabling double the bandwidth. It's rapid but the risk of data loss if 1 drive dies is twice as much.

[DamanC]

DDR4 is miles off. Don't wait.

 

Unless you are editing multimedia go for an I5 CPU - An i5 3570K is a good bet.

[Homer]

Cheers Daman, just the man to ask I'm only using this for gaming and general things, nothing special. However I don't change the mainboard and CPU very often so would prefer to go as high end as affordable to make it last... Any reason to go for the 3570k over the 3770 other than cost? Benchmark wise it's about 1/3rd less powerful and only slightly cheaper, but I understand there's more to CPU's than benchmarks these days

[DamanC]

Mainly cost and you just wont use the benefits of hyper-threading (i7 tech) if its "gaming and general things, nothing special". I'm trying to find some benchmarks that put them head to head with a proper GPU rather than the integrated GPUS....

 

The 3570K has an unlocked multiplier too, where as the 3770 does not - The "K" denotes it. Anything without a "K" pretty much will only overclock a couple of percent, the unlocked multipliers will sit anywhere between 4.4Ghz and 4.6Ghz on air 24/7 365 safely.

 

I run an i5 2500K at home and a 3570K at the office simply because I don't need an i7.

[Homer]

Sorry Daman, read your reply to late and stuck an order in for a 3770K (slight change), but changed down the ram for 2133 simply because eclipse didn't have the 2400 (not that it seems to make any difference real world after some looking). Thanks for the advice though, I do get where you're coming from and it's very sound

[Supra Size Me]

Disk performance isn't such an issue, I'll probably move to an SSD for the OS at some point but there doesn't seem to much point at the moment as high transfer rate is my priority over access speed

 

Have you considered a caching drive ? quite possibly the best investment i've ever made for my PC the one to go for is the OCZ Synapse 64gb as they're cheap enough (approx 80 quid) and basically turns your 6 gb/s sata drive into an ssd hybrid with some serious performance speeds. Ideal for games and loading levels etc too as they get assigned as hot data onto the drive. more info here: http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-synapse-cache-sata-iii-2-5-ssd.html