PC Upgrade, any recommendations?

XeroS1x

XeroS1x

New member
Hey guys,

It's upgrade time for me, been thinking of getting something decent. Thought I would get some advice from you guys before I go out and spend cash on items people have previously had problems with or who recommend alternatives. Can you guys maybe help me out? Especially the impulse buyers :D


This is the system I have been looking at, please let me know what you think:

Zalman Z9 Plus case - link (considering another option)
Asus P8P67 Deluxe - link
Intel Core i7 2600k - link
Corsair XMS3 4x2GB 1600Mhz - link
Huntkey X7 900W modular - link
AMD HD6970 - link
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM



So what do you think?


Thanks for any advice.:)
 
XeroS1x said:
Hey guys,

It's upgrade time for me, been thinking of getting something decent. Thought I would get some advice from you guys before I go out and spend cash on items people have previously had problems with or who recommend alternatives. Can you guys maybe help me out? Especially the impulse buyers :D


This is the system I have been looking at, please let me know what you think:

Zalman Z9 Plus case - link (considering another option)
Asus P8P67 Deluxe - link
Intel Core i7 2600k - link
Corsair XMS3 4x2GB 1600Mhz - link
Huntkey X7 900W modular - link
AMD HD6970 - link
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM



So what do you think?


Thanks for any advice.:)
Click to expand...

I would get the ASUS Maximus iv extreme mobo, the Coolermaster silent power pro 1000w(dont know huntkey really) and then finally get the GTX580, it is after all the fastest single graphics card in the world. Have a look at my specs but you also have not given us a budget to work with.
 
It (the psu) has 80+ silver which is very good. Although at that price there are corsairs, thermaltakes, antec, seasonics and xfx psu that i would trust more.

A budget would be nice so that we can suggest items that you need. Also, in case you didn't know, AMD are launching their new processors in June (not sure on SA release date) which may mix up the market a bit. So if you don't mind holding off on your mobo and processor you might find that either the pricing of intel's decrease or that you would want one of the new AMDs.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for the response. My budget is around 14-15k

@Frank007 - I was considering the GTX580 until I saw benchmarks of the HD6970 in crossfire mode, the GTX580 is better, but it's also more expensive. The 6970 also has 2GB's of memory. I was looking at the Maximus extreme, but I don't see that many places which have it for LGA 1155, am I looking in the wrong place?

@Darth - The other power supplies at that price point either seem to have lower wattage. The brands you mentioned also seem to be above R1300, can you recommend a specific model?

Not trying to be impatient, but I would like to order my PC soon, as I would like to get shot of my current one. I am a fan of the Intel processors and would kind of like to stick with them. Thanks for the info though:)
 
XeroS1x said:
Hey guys,

Thanks for the response. My budget is around 14-15k

@Frank007 - I was considering the GTX580 until I saw benchmarks of the HD6970 in crossfire mode, the GTX580 is better, but it's also more expensive. The 6970 also has 2GB's of memory. I was looking at the Maximus extreme, but I don't see that many places which have it for LGA 1155, am I looking in the wrong place?

@Darth - The other power supplies at that price point either seem to have lower wattage. The brands you mentioned also seem to be above R1300, can you recommend a specific model?

Not trying to be impatient, but I would like to order my PC soon, as I would like to get shot of my current one. I am a fan of the Intel processors and would kind of like to stick with them. Thanks for the info though:)
Click to expand...

Cool man but i would really consider the GTX580. if you sli that card there is not much that can top it. Its really a very good card, i just got one a while ago, the price difference of about R500 is really worth it. I also have the ASUS Maximus iv extreme and it is the one to go for. Ask Zaps if they can source it for you. i am sure they can!
 
XeroS1x said:
Hey guys,

It's upgrade time for me, been thinking of getting something decent. Thought I would get some advice from you guys before I go out and spend cash on items people have previously had problems with or who recommend alternatives. Can you guys maybe help me out? Especially the impulse buyers :D


This is the system I have been looking at, please let me know what you think:

Zalman Z9 Plus case - link (considering another option)
Asus P8P67 Deluxe - link
Intel Core i7 2600k - link
Corsair XMS3 4x2GB 1600Mhz - link
Huntkey X7 900W modular - link
AMD HD6970 - link
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM



So what do you think?


Thanks for any advice.:)
Click to expand...

The P8P67 Deluxe board will go really nicely with the unlocked multiplier of the 2600k (imo the best board for OC'ing), everything else seems decent (although I also don't know Huntkey, I would look at Corsair/Cougar personally). With that system it would be ideal to go with the GTX580 (If possible go for the Gigabyte factory OC'd) but you are definitely not going to bottleneck anywhere.
 
When it comes to overclocking Sandy Bridge the motherboard isn't that important. They all OC pretty much the same with the high end boards giving you a few MHz extra. It's 90% dependant on how good your CPU is and only like 10% mobo.

I'd replace the graphics card with this http://www.zapsonline.com/51439-inn...t-memory-graphics-card-asn570-1ddn-j5kwx.html and rather put the money towards a better PSU. Look at the Antec TP-750, Corsair HX750 or the HX850W. The 570 is about on par with the 6970 and has more overclocking head room.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I have been looking at the P8P67 Deluxe board from Asus, read some reviews, seems to be fine and fits under my budget. I originally planned on getting the i5 2500k, but realized that for futureproofing, I should get the i7.

@Silverlight - So true, that was one of the reasons I considered the i7 over the i5. The GTX570 unfortunately, only has 1.25GB's of memory, not really on par with the 2GB on the 6970. In terms of a dual card set-up, the AMD 6970 seems to do better than the GTX570, the scaling appears to be better and it seems there aren't driver issues or bottlenecks. Although the 6970 is a little over my budget.
 
Asus P8P67 Deluxe - have on of these: it rocks for easy OC'ing
Intel Core i7 2600k - I'm running i5 2500K at 4.3 Ghz on auto-OC (easy as pie)
Huntkey X7 900W modular - have smaller Huntkey PSU; they are dependable & affordable PSU's
AMD HD6970 -- great card, although you may get equal performance from flashed 6950 2Gb (mine unlocked flawlessly to 6970 -- could save you some dough)

Just my 2 c
 
The 2500k is not a lot slower than the 2600k for over a grand less. if you are tight on budget don't bother with the 2600k.

I.t.o. psu: you can get the brands i recommend, so even though they have a small amount less wattage their quality is better and with the big brands come great warranties.

The thing is, i would not trust my 5k gpu to a make that has not become established and gone through a lot of end-user testing.

Although it does say up to 50C and 80+ certified on the huntkey which usually indicates quality. You want something that has reliable and stable power output.
 
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Unless you are running three monitors, don't change anything. Maybe drop to a 2500k and get a SSD.

The specs you have are almost identical to what I have currently. I would maybe recommend getting an SSD for your OS. It's freaking phenomenal.

I'm running 2 x 5870's and the X7 does a bloody good job. I have a friend that reviews hardware as well, he tried blowing one of those Huntkey PSU's up with 3 x GTX 480's iirc, and was pulling 1100w off the wall socket.. He didn't blow the PSU in the end.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. From what Kuga said, it seems that that Huntkey PSU is pretty darn good for the price. If I were to go for an SSD, is there anything in particular I should look out for? Does this mean that the Windows installation itself is stored on the SSD, and all program files/documents etc. are stored on the actual HDD?

@Snakker - I did have a look at the 6950's but I am not too keen on the flashing bit, I don't want to void the warranty or anything like that. There is also a clear margin between the 6970 and 6950 but that is not including the flashed 6950. How easy is it? and are there any flaws/restrictions that prevent you from flashing it?

BTW, what make is your card?

@DarthSWNT - True, I did look at the Coolermaster 1000w silent pro option, but it is priced quite a bit higher than the Huntkey. After what Kuga said, surely it's ok to assume the Huntkey is ok?

(Sorry Kuga, didn't see that you replied to this thread already, before I posted on this one)

Another decision I need to make, is whether I should go for a 6970 or a GTX570. They seem to come neck and neck in benchmarks, but the 6970 has 2GB of memory rather than 1,25GB. I have heard that the GTX570 bottlenecks in SLI. Which do you guys reckon is best? Please bear in mind I could be running them in SLI/Crossfire at a later stage.
 
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What is the warranty on the huntkey?


Edit: http://www.itocp.com/htmls/47/n-647.html
This might interest you as it interested me giving it a read. Technically it performs well. Their comments were good save for a few minor problems.

They also commented on the warranty, a 2 yr one instead of the usual 5yr warranty on similarly placed products.
 
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I agree. the TX750 is a great psu... the output on the 12v is 744w which is brilliant! And it got a jonnyguru score of 9.5... they haven't tested the huntkey yet.

Tbh, i have been biased due to older huntkey psu's, the X7 900w looks half decent.

The price between the two are very similar, but the extra warranty would turn me to the corsair. The only issue would be if you wanted tri-cf on the 6970s. dual-cf would be fine on the corsair.
 
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