PCFormat Forum Archive

Shalom Alom fellow boils and ghouls...

It's that time again, upgrade time that is. I have been running my current setup(Sig) for a little over 4
years now, with only needing to change the GFX card in the process, but its finally time to do a full upgrade.

This is what I have come up with: Budget R11000

i7 2600K - R2800
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z - R1950
CoolerMaster 690 II ADVANCED - R960
Zalman CNPS9900max Red LED - R665
OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD - R1240
Coolermaster Silent Power Pro 850W - R1700

Ram wise, I am either looking at going for:
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 - R1460 or
G_Skill RipJaws 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 - R1675

That should come up to 11K

I will be keeping my peripherals, screen, HDD's and GFX (Waiting for Nvidia's 600 range to come oot)
I may consider SLI...but will more than likely go with a dual GPU option when available.
(I do like them dual GPU cards)

I know the latest Ivy is coming out soonish, but I am not really concerned about it, unless if falls
under the same price bracket as my budget. In all truth though, if I can make a dual core last for
four years, I am pretty sure I can make an i7 last the same or even longer.

Any comments or advice?

Much thanks...

Takealot has the agility 3 120gb for R1900.

StarBound wrote:Takealot has the agility 3 120gb for R1900.

Awesome! I saw it for R2300 somewhere else, henceforth my reasoning for going with a smaller drive.

Thanks for that.

This is what I ended up settling with. Should all arrive tomorrow.

1 x Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance 2x4GB DDR3-1600 1.5v CL9 Desktop
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core LGA1155 3.4GHz Boxed Processor
1 x Thermalright Venomous X CPU Cooler for LGA775/1156/1366
1 x Asus P8Z68-V LGA1155 Dual-Channel DDR3 (New B3 Sandybridge) SLI/CrossFire
1 x Corsair CSSD-P3128GB2-BRKT Performance 3 2.5" 128GB SATA3 SSD

Grand total came in at just under R10k. Luckily I do not need a new PSU or case .

Anakha56 wrote:This is what I ended up settling with. Should all arrive tomorrow.

1 x Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance 2x4GB DDR3-1600 1.5v CL9 Desktop
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core LGA1155 3.4GHz Boxed Processor
1 x Thermalright Venomous X CPU Cooler for LGA775/1156/1366
1 x Asus P8Z68-V LGA1155 Dual-Channel DDR3 (New B3 Sandybridge) SLI/CrossFire
1 x Corsair CSSD-P3128GB2-BRKT Performance 3 2.5" 128GB SATA3 SSD

Grand total came in at just under R10k. Luckily I do not need a new PSU or case .

Nice one!

I guess I don't need a case either, but my old PC will prob go to my Dad and don't want the hassle of swapping cases...

What gfx card are you running with that Anakha?

GTX 460. Dont see the need to upgrade the GPU just yet. Probably will with the new generation in 2012...

Looks like a pretty solid setup. I'd go for a bigger SSD, 120GB. And may I ask why do you want a mATX mobo? Its going to look lost inside the big case with the enormous cooler towering above the tiny little board

That mATX board has a lot of features and I was seriously considering on getting it but then decided to go with the bigger board because I can. I suspect Molean is looking at that one because it gives a lot of features at a good price while just sacrificing size.

Slimshaedy wrote:Looks like a pretty solid setup. I'd go for a bigger SSD, 120GB. And may I ask why do you want a mATX mobo? Its going to look lost inside the big case with the enormous cooler towering above the tiny little board

Anakha56 wrote:That mATX board has a lot of features and I was seriously considering on getting it but then decided to go with the bigger board because I can. I suspect Molean is looking at that one because it gives a lot of features at a good price while just sacrificing size.

You hit the nail on the head Anak! The mATX basically has the same features as the Maximus Extreme, but for about R1000 rand cheaper...I don't need any of the extra ports it boasts so I am happy with the mATX. I was going to consider the Sabertooth P67 or Anak's board, but I am going for a red and black theme too and wanted the colors to match.

Woot! Got my new rig and it's running like a dream!
Most games take 2min to install (or less) and less than 10secs to load, with some loading in 3-4 seconds...it's awesome!

Getting just over 25K in 3D mark '06. Stock Everything.

BTW, when did sig's become 300 char?

Awesome .. good to hear the rig is running so smooth.


So you would say the SSD is worth every penny ?

Thanks muchly!

And...Yes! SSD's all the way...I won't ever go back...

I am sitting now and thinking of all the parts I can get so long, in stead of waiting for the release of the new GPU's and CPU's early next year..
Thinking the SSD will be one of the early things I am gonna get

PhR34KKK wrote:I am sitting now and thinking of all the parts I can get so long, in stead of waiting for the release of the new GPU's and CPU's early next year..
Thinking the SSD will be one of the early things I am gonna get

Definitely! You will see instant performance increase...

I am looking forward to the 6 series from Nvidia...The final piece to my upgrade...

I can't justify spending that much on an SSD. Games and apps will load faster, that's about it... Ok well I'd get an OCZ SSD if I had to get one so I'm looking at quite a big price

Slimshaedy wrote:I can't justify spending that much on an SSD. Games and apps will load faster, that's about it... Ok well I'd get an OCZ SSD if I had to get one so I'm looking at quite a big price

I thought it was pricey too, but when you see it in action...you will be a happy chappy...everything in windows is just SO much more responsive...you can switch between games in seconds, applications just pop open...I like seeing that and most importantly, feeling it...

What did you end up getting and what did it cost?

doo_much wrote:What did you end up getting and what did it cost?

I got this:
i7 2600K
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1866 (Racing Red)
CoolerMaster 690 II ADVANCED
Zalman CNPS9900max Red LED
OCZ 120GB Agility 3 SSD
Coolermaster Silent Power Pro 850W

Came up to around 11.5K

Very happy with it...PC is runnng like a hot knife through butter...

Will post some pics soon, just need to do my final bit of tiding up in the case...

Another question..

What made you decide on the
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z ?

And are you happy with it ?

Molean wrote: Came up to around 11.5K

Nice.

I see Intel is previewing Ivy-bridge but it looks like its gonna replace sandy bridge socket 1155.

Did you remember to set your sata mode to ahci/raid? And what graphics card do you have?

PhR34KKK wrote:Another question..

What made you decide on the
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z ?

And are you happy with it ?

Cause it is basically the same as the Maximus Extreme and has all the features I want for R1000 less...

Very Happy with it hey!

StarBound wrote:I see Intel is previewing Ivy-bridge but it looks like its gonna replace sandy bridge socket 1155.

Did you remember to set your sata mode to ahci/raid? And what graphics card do you have?

I did thanks...I have also done all the necessary tweaks in windows/bios when using an SSD...
I do have a question for you - Starbound.
I did a benchie last night and got these scores:



Even though my PC is running superfast, do those seem alright too you? As you have had SSD's for awhile now...

...and I am still running my GTX295 Dual GPU. The i7 has breathed new life into it and will make it last until the 6 series from Nvidia...

Molean, I'm running a Corsair Force3 SSD, in Sata3 mode as far as I can tell, your scores and mine line up, and seems to be pretty much par for the course. I do have a slight sequential write advantage though, along the lines of double

SykomantiS, thats good to know! That was probably my main concern...is that my sequential write is rather low...and I wasn't sure if it was normal or not...

I do believe the firmware between the Force3 and Agility 3 controllers differ, that and the type of nand used? I guess that would account for the differences. I'm sure not though if it should be under 100, to be honest