Budget: 600-1000 (would prefer to stay under £1K) Main uses of intended build: image/photo editing video editing gaming Parts required: motherboard - Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) CPU - Intel Core i7-3770 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail GPU - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 WindForce 2X 2048MB SSD - Samsung 250GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD250BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** RAM - Patriot Venom Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (was going for 32GB, but think I'll try 16GB and see how that goes) All this is coming in at £814 at OC. Previous build information (list details of parts): Intel Q6600 2.4GHz with Arctic Freezer 7 8GB DDR2 1066 Asus ROG Maximum Formula mobo numerous hard drives (about 3TB) will be needing more Gainward Bliss 8800GT 1024GB Creative X-Fi Fatality Enermax Fatality 750W Bronze Thermaltake Armour case Monitor resolution: Monitor 1: 1680x1050 Monitor 2: 1280x1024 - may swap this one out for a 1080 at some point soon, but not yet. Storage requirements: Will be sorting out myself later will you be overclocking: Unsure at the moment I've always overclocked, and had the Q6600 from 2.4 to 3.6ish up until about a year ago when it kept crashing, so took it down to 3.4, stable for a month or so then eventually had to clock it down to stock. I do a lot of photo and video work and although I noticed the difference between 2.4 and 3.4 I'd rather have the stability under heavy load. Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): Nothing particularly needed here apart from standard setup - the GFX card should have firewire if the mobo doesn't. Extra information about desired system: My current systems runs more or less 24/7, with probably the odd day or weekend here or there that it's switched off, so reliability is high on the list. As mentioned above I was thinking about going for 32GB, but after a reality check I have figured to stay with 16GB for now. I was also considering getting two additional (smaller) SSD's to use a scratch drives, but not too sure at the moment and I'm not sure I'll have enough bays/space for my larger HDD's. The main reason that I have been thinking about rebuilding: crashing/BSOD under heavy load, i.e. editing/rendering video and gaming - arguably I could probably find a component to replace and fix this. However, this system was built in 2008 with the PSU replaced about a year or two ago (old one died) and I don't want to throw any more money at an aging system. I've not build a system since 2008 and a lot seems to have changed in terms of GPU's (used to three categories, entry level, mid-range and high-end, but now there's a plethora of versions of the same card, each with small tweaks here and there. So I've listed some possible gear I've found online next to the required parts - please let me know what you think and whether you can suggest alternatives and why? (better for same price or similar spec but cheaper) Thanks
Just wait and see what Haswell is like in a couple of weeks unless it's super urgent. At the very least Ivy will be cheaper etc.
Thanks for that. I would've thought that prices would have started to come down now, if there's a release date in a next few weeks, but I'll hold out for now anyway. I hadn't even heard of Haswell until you mentioned it just now! (shows how out of touch I am). Thanks again.
So when is all this new stuff likely to hit the shelves, I'm assuming it won't be until the last quarter or the end of the year possibly? And even then it may only be the high-end stuff, i.e. the extreme CPU's and flagship boards etc. So would I be right in assuming that mid-range stuff won't be on retail until after Christmas possibly or am I completely off scale here? So in light of the new arrivals, when are prices likely to drop in the current line of stuff (as suggested in my OP)? Thanks
Really that soon? I might as well wait then I suppose, my desktop is really doing my nut in down, just been messing about with it all morning (day off work). It either doesn't boot up or bsod's for random reasons once at desktop and doing anything remotely intensive. I've been playing around with settings again and it's been at stock for some time now, so I decided just for the hell of it, to OC it again. And for some strange reason, it seems to be more stable OC'd than at stock, it's currently running at 3.51Ghz and DDR at 1037Mhz. It does crash still, but less so than at stock. I've also been enticed by the GTX670 cards as reviews state it would be much more economical to upgrade to one of those and pay a bit more now than to get a GTX660 (non Ti). I'm also thinking of leaving the current build as is and once I get the new setup done I can concentrate on trying to figure out what's wrong with it and fix at a later point, which would also mean getting another PSU, case etc. Any suggestions on full tower cases? I initially caught a glimpse of the NXT Phantom (?) and it looked fairly good, but will need to have a proper look later at reviews and internals etc. I have a lot of drives and stuff so would need to be able to fit them all in without creating a mess of wires.
Just a really cheeky ask but when your done with your Q6600 chip, any chance of popping into the post to me ? I'll pay the postage and add £20 if need be
I've built in Phantoms and found them, whilst easy to build and hide cables in, the case is very flimsy and plasticky. It never felt like £90 worth of case.
I've just been looking online at reviews of this case and it appears to be quite well thought of, so I might be going with it, just need to decide what colour to get I'm thinking of trying to fix up the PC with the Q6600 and use it for testing or give it to my son. I may have a Thermaltake Armour case to sell though at some point. The Q6600 is a great CPU and I'm only building a new system because of the problems I've had for it, but I've managed to clock it to 3.61Ghz, but really stable at 3.41Ghz under full load with an Arctic Freezer Pro 7 only.
Definitely wait just 1 more month or so. The GTX700 series is slowly appearing, with the GTX760 most likely to be the same price as the 660 but better performance. The same goes for intel and it's new Haswell processors which will offer much better performance at the same price as their predecessors. Just make sure you get a Haswell supported PSU if you do wait that one more month.
It'll be interesting to see what pops up and reviews. Everything formal I've read from official testers/reviewers seem to think that Haswell is targeted towards efficiency and not performance and thus won't appeal to people like us and that Ivy Bridge will continue to be CPU of choice for performance builds. However, a lot of forums are rife with people putting of Ivy Bridge builds in anticipation of Haswell. And new GTX770, according to reviews and forum opinions, a refresh of the GTX680 at a similar price(?). I might wait a while longer, but I reckon I might be buying before the end of the month.
