Hi all, I'm helping my brother upgrade his PC. To cut to the chase: Budget: £800 Main uses of intended build: Gaming, general day-to-day use (watching films, playing music) Parts required: CPU, Motherboard, RAM and GPU Monitor resolution: 1920x1080 Storage requirements: N/A, sufficient performant disks being reused from old system Will you be overclocking: yes Basically, he wants to be able to play most games comfortably at 1920x1080. I've put together the following but would like advice on whether these are sensible and more importantly what GPU I should pair with them (it's unlikely we'll venture into overclocking the GPU): - CPU: i7 930 D0 -- £210.52 - Motherboard: Asus P6X58D-E -- £139.33 - RAM: 6GB Corsair XMS3 -- £67.12 - GPU: Uncertain? Total cost without the GPU is £416.97. Prices are from scan.co.uk (as of yesterday). I'm aware that sales might make some products better choices over the coming days, so any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks, happy holidays, lunaris
That makes sense if the OP were looking at an LGA1156 platform. In this case there's nothing stopping him going for a nice LGA1366 set up. Looks pretty good and leaves you enough money for a nice graphics card.
Why spend the extra though, when a 1155 platform could perform the same or even out perform some 1366 set-ups? I second wait, and see how the new socket does toe to toe before spending more then may be needed, saving cash to splurge elsewhere.
You won't be able to overclock your CPU as much if you use a stock cooler. I suggest that you get an aftermarket heatsink, such as a Corsair H50, Titan Fenrir, or the Thermaltake Frio. They range from £30-£55, and they should help keep your temperatures lower, allowing you to overclock further.
If he is just going to be using the system for gaming as the only intensive, there is no point in going for i7, he simply won't need the extra power. So, if I were you, I'd be waiting for Sandy Bridge.
+1 vote for that, wait a couple of weeks and SB will most likely offer the best value for money gaming wise.
wait for sandy bridge, there is a distinct possibility that sandy bridge chips over clocked (and maybe even without an overclock) will outperform even 1366 oh and as for a GPU GTX 570! Reviews I've seen, read say its a brilliant card, very fast and near silent too, just make sure your psu has enough ooomph and connectors, obviously :]
