My RAM has died for the 2nd time and I think I may have pursuaded the Mrs that it's time for me to upgrade my pc - not easy when Christmas is coming up! So I need to keep the budget reasonable. I'm thinking of going with an i5 2500k so the rest of the build needs to be around that. I did a bit of research but the numerous different chipsets on motherboards and types of RAM boggled my mind to be honest, so I thought I'd throw it over to the people more in the know on Bit-Tech. Budget: Unsure, trying to keep the cost down but I am not against spending a bit more if it's justified. Main uses of intended build: Gaming Parts required: Motherboard, CPU and RAM Previous build information: In my sig. Basically I will be keeping the case (P182), PSU (Corsair HX 620w, if possible) DVD drive, ATI 5850, Soundcard (Creative Labs X-fi) and my hard drives (SATA). Monitor resolution: 1920x1200 but I am not worried about having everything run on max settings. Storage requirements: None, though I may well upgrade to SSD late this year/ early next but none for this build. Will you be overclocking: Quite possibly but more as a mess around than a serious try and get the last mhz out of it. It's not make or break if it's not the best overclocking motherboard out there and I'd be ok with keeping things stock for now if it keeps the expense down. Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): Nothing special, just need room for my Soundcard. I have USB wireless so no specific need for onboard wireless or anything like that. Ram wise, I'd like 6gb/8gb something around there. Thanks in advance
A 2500k would be best as it will do fine with gaming and have grunt for rendering and stuff too as for the mobo and ram, id have to recommend my current parts for that. both the p8p67 deluxe and gskill ripjaws x have been faultless for me so far, and you can oc the ram too if you want. http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=370 you can get my ram in an 8gb version which is the one i recommend to you. the deluxe if i am correct has improved heatsinks (which was my main reason for getting it over the pro) and also a front usb3 header if that appeals to you i just felt more comfortable overclocking on it knowing it had the best stuff if you wanted to be a real speedfreak why not go this ram lol http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=396&c1=&c2= with the deluxe you would probs be able to hit that speed but nah tbh you dont need that, it will hardly make a difference over my recommended ram.
The LE version of that motherboard certainly looks like an option that's a little closer to my budget I think, thanks, I also found a review of the standard version on Bit-Tech who gave it a good score. Scan don't seem to have that RAM but I bet I can find something similar by another brand on there. Is the P67 chipset generally the one to go for then?
as far as im aware (which isnt very aware so someone correct me if im wrong) the p67 is more overclockable but the z68 provides various fixes to stuff. but as i say i havent found any problems which need fixing. personally id go with the p67 yeah not many people stock gskill ram (the high frequencies) which made me slightly nervous when purchasing it (if not many people stock it, it cant be that good right?) not true at all! here go to this site. they will be happy to refund you if it isnt compatible, not working, not happy with it etc. i spoke to one of the live chat people when ordering mine. http://www.memoryc.com/computermemo...oolingfanforsandybridge911928dualchannel.html great value in my opinion for its amazing performance. you get a cooling fan too but you dont need it. great heatspreaders already. just to praise the ram a little bit more, i actually bought two of the kits i linked you and combined them to make 16gb (because the 16gb kit was out of stock at the time) and this sometimes leads to instability especially at these high frequencies! but nope works fine, and i even got them stable at 2200mhz, and tightened the timings lol. as far as i know, this is the only online retailer that stocks this in the uk. there are plenty outside the uk though but obviously shipping is a pain and you cant really send it back.
For your needs P67 is the way to go, as you wont use the two main features of Z68, I.e. on-board graphics or SSD caching. The ASUS 1155 P8P67-M PRO is a cracking little board for the money, with probably the best sub £150 overclock.
I have NO IDEA why someone is pushing a ridiculous £150 set of RAM on you. Just a nice set of 1.5v 8gb 1600 DDR3 for ~£50 will do you fine such as this or this (depending on your tastes) will be more than adequate for you and will still enable you to dabble with overclocking should you wish to. Please read the bottom of this article for clarification. Really need a ballpark for your budget, but for gaming the 2500k is the best choice atm. This might be a good place for you to start. Your HX620 should be absolutely fine for pretty much everything, so don't worry about that.
Thanks folks. For a ballpark I was hoping somewhere around the £300 area for the 3 items, pushing it a touch higher if a cooler was needed above the stock one. It's around £165 for the CPU on Scan, that would leave about £90-100 for the motherboard and £50 or so for the RAM to come in around that price point. Anything under is great though, it's not like I have £350 burning a hole in my pocket and need to spend it all.
^edit: and now the op has actually given a price he would ideally like to pay for the ram, we can now see that perhaps a simple 8gb 1600 kit would be the right option. how was i to know. hey at least refer to me by my username. and i was not 'pushing' them on him, i thoroughly RECOMMENDED them to him. which i stand by.
£300 will easily get you the 3 main components, like so. I don't have any working knowledge of that particular motherboard however, but it should all work together fine. You can also take Scansure off that (-£8.50) if you are comfortable putting it all together (it just seems to default on these days). You can always add a cooler later if you wish to have a go at overclocking - this seems to be recommended a lot on this forum and relatively inexpensive @ £22.78. Not sure if you are aware, but you are eligable for free delivery from Scan (and CCLonline). Also, perhaps wait until Friday if you can hold off - Scan do some very good offers on their Today Only page which may help shave a few extra pounds off, considering they don't have the CPU in stock atm anyway...
That link to the scan list didn't work Ljs, think it would need to be a screen grab but thanks anyway. I have been looking into the MSI P67A as listed on Septembers Hardware buyer's guide and that looks like a pretty good pick. Might consider running the stock heatsink/fan and then look at grabbing one of the corsair H60s or similar in a month so's time.
MSI P67A-GD53 motherboard 8GB Corsair Vengance i5 2500k Being a member on here can net you free P+P on Scan, and you'll get the above three items for £303 at the moment. Have a crack at overclocking on the stock cooler, and as you say, upgrade in a month or so.
Thanks for the advice, getting ready to push "buy" on the following: Any last minute advice/comments?
The oem version is the same as the retail but doesnt come with a cooler, so saves £5. I would recommend the gelid tranquilo for £20 as it is very quiet as i have one. Or a bequiet advanced which is £45 (i think) and is meant to be good as many on here recommend it.
Will check into those coolers though I am really fed up with having a massive heatsink in the middle of my motherboard. The retail CPU is only 23p more at the moment as it's on Today Only with Scan and the OEM one isn't. I figure a backup cooler is worth 23p!
Ordered minus the fan for now, will see how the Antec 620 does with it's stock fan and buy a couple of fans for push/pull if I need to later. Couldn't find a definitive answer about the best fans to use anyway, so many different recommendations out there.
Great choice. Mobo seems out of stock tho. I was trying to get a hold of one. I have used that mobo for 3 builds so far.
It is out of stock but I figure it's worth waiting a day or two considering the alternatives. Should still get here by Wednesday, give or take a day.
Good choice. I have a Kuhler 620 for pretty much the same reasons. It performs pretty well - I could give you numbers but I have no idea what my room temperature is so they would mean nothing! The stock fan is loud, but you have probably read about that. It is too loud for me, although I still haven't got round to changing it as I can't make up my mind and don't want to spend a fortune trying out loads of different fans!
@ post 13 - Little tip, save the basket, then when you view the basket there is a link at top of page
