Homebuilt CPU upgrade advice appreciated

[ACE]

Just so you know, Intel is coming out with a new series of desktop CPUs on June 2nd.  The older series will eventually drop in price because of this.  The new series is only about 10% faster, so you don't need to wait for them to come out, but it might be worth waiting to save some money on the older CPUs.

Personally I think AMD has too many compatibility and driver problems, so I would go with Intel and Nvidia for any new build except for the low end.  I never overclock my GPUs (all the games I play are CPU bound anyways), but it isn't a horrible point about the 650 Ti Boost being highly clocked with little overhead.  I would look more towards a GTX 660 if that's a concern.

I have recently purchased a GTX 660.  Love the card so far. The only thing I have noticed is that I still get a small FPS drop when i am in a congested area. I.E. When a lot of things happen at once.  Like a lot of Graphics in a short span.  However, could this be my CPU holding it back?  Or even my mobo?

[Gman]

OP - Max, I would stick with your plan you posted, and go with whatever video card you can afford, and stretch to get the best one if possible.  I would also O/C your system for all the reasons stated in this thread by many others.  Try playing AH2 with and without it o/c'd and decide for yourself if you think it's worth it, that's the best way to proceed if you have any doubts about doing it IMO.

[MADe]

There is also this.
If the puter you use now, plays the game with mostly 60FPS, then your good to go. Modern hardware is not gonna all of a sudden make you into a hit monster. Your ISP is what it is, unless your still dial up. A new puter will only up the games, eye candy. It will however help, with all the other things one does outside of gaming with a computer. Things are cheap, newegg always has sales, patience can be rewarded. There are a lot of new goodies available.
I use an SSD array with a 4GHz processor. All things, are snappy as hell on the machine. I do not like using others machines now, to slow.............lol
 

[dhaus]

If you're searching for components, try pcpartspicker.com.  It helped me search for websites with the lowest price for each component.  Someone here also recommended looking at MicroCenter.  If you have one near you, it can save major $ if you get a motherboard and CPU from them.  You need to go into the store to get the best deal though.  I saved $100 off newegg on an Intel 3570K cpu with an Asrock Eztreme4 1155 motherboard.  Overclocking with that set up is easy.  I also saved $20 on my case - Coolermaster HAF 912 - no USB 3 connector, but otherwise a good, inexpensive case.  I listened to DeBrody and got an AMD 7870 (XFX) and have been really pleased with it.  This runs off a Seasonic 620 watt modular ps.  I have most of the eye candy turned up and am using hi res with a rock solid 60 fpm in furballs, through burning fields, etc.  My setup cost around $930 in early January including OS, 1 TB hard drive, and an optical drive.

[dhaus]

"rock solid 60 fpm" - That is a solid 60fps I'm getting.    I built new because anywhere near fires or large furballs I was dropping to 25 fps or less on my 7 year old Dell with all eye candy turned off.  Definitely pay attention to the advice on this board.  Do your own research and figure out what meets your needs and who makes the most sense here for you.  I could not have done my build without the help and advice on this board.

[Max]

After some further tweaking, this is the current upgrade list ~

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy bridge 3.4 GHz $219.99
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series (2 x 4 GB 240 pin DDR3 - $79.99
Asus P8Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb's USB 3.0 ATX Intel MOBO - $134.99
Seagate Constellation I TB 7200 SATA - $114.99 (budget cut from SSD)
Sapphire Radeon  7850-OC 2 GB - $185.99
Cooler Master Hyper 212 - $36.99

Total cost $772.94

Assume I have to do a clean install of Win7?

Opinions?  Thanks for all the help & suggestions. You guys rock 

[Bizman]

Looks both sensible and efficient for multiple uses.

And yes, you'd better do a clean install. There's more than one reason why it'd be wise. If you want to know the reasons, ask. The community knows!

[gyrene81]

what Bizman said...

[Dragon]

Since you are only keeping peripheral components a new instal is mandatory.

Silly.

My socket 775 machines are becoming quite dated.  Although the 8400 is still pulling right along, the 6750 is having a hard time with even coping with my wife's online games. 

If I had $750 laying around I would do almost exactly what you have listed.  Should be strong for many years.

[BaldEagl]

After some further tweaking, this is the current upgrade list ~

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy bridge 3.4 GHz $219.99
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series (2 x 4 GB 240 pin DDR3 - $79.99
Asus P8Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb's USB 3.0 ATX Intel MOBO - $134.99
Seagate Constellation I TB 7200 SATA - $114.99 (budget cut from SSD)
Sapphire Radeon  7850-OC 2 GB - $185.99
Cooler Master Hyper 212 - $36.99

Total cost $772.94

Assume I have to do a clean install of Win7?

Opinions?  Thanks for all the help & suggestions. You guys rock 

One last suggestion.  I didn't look at the RAM you're buying but if you can find similar (same speed) RAM at the same price with tighter timings you might pick up another marginal bit of performance.  CAS latency is the biggest factor.  It's the last number in that string of four (like 5-5-5-24 for instance).

[dhaus]

The only thought I have is to make sure the ram fits on the MB with the aftermarket cooler. I picked up corsair vengeance low profille ram just to be certain.  I'm also paranoid.  Others here with better expertise will weigh in, but your build looks good to me.  It should run AH really well!   

[MADe]

After some further tweaking, this is the current upgrade list ~
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy bridge 3.4 GHz $219.99
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series (2 x 4 GB 240 pin DDR3 - $79.99
Asus P8Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb's USB 3.0 ATX Intel MOBO - $134.99
Seagate Constellation I TB 7200 SATA - $114.99 (budget cut from SSD)
Sapphire Radeon  7850-OC 2 GB - $185.99
Cooler Master Hyper 212 - $36.99
Total cost $772.94
Assume I have to do a clean install of Win7?
Opinions?  Thanks for all the help & suggestions. You guys rock 

W7 64 bit clean install. Make sure you have the lan drivers ready so you can use net for other drivers required.
I have a 30 GB SSD with the OS only on it, + drivers. It herds spin drives. Fairly cheap for that size SSD. Keep your valubles on the spin drive and give the OS an SSD boost. Shame to waste that 6GB/s SATA header on a slow drive......
S good luck

[MrRiplEy[H]]

W7 64 bit clean install. Make sure you have the lan drivers ready so you can use net for other drivers required.
I have a 30 GB SSD with the OS only on it, + drivers. It herds spin drives. Fairly cheap for that size SSD. Keep your valubles on the spin drive and give the OS an SSD boost. Shame to waste that 6GB/s SATA header on a slow drive......
S good luck

Usually 30gb ssds are relatively slow for a ssd... And that space is going to get filled up fast. Service packs, shadow copies, updates etc. do not automatically get cleaned up and they bloat the windows folder surprisingly fast.

If one should purchase a ssd 128gb is definate minimum, 256gb size recommended. There are technical reasons why large ssds are superior to small ones, involving wear leveling algorithms, overprovisioning space etc. 128 or smaller ssds are usually limited in write operations and operative age compared to the larger versions.

[Debrody]

If one should purchase a ssd 128gb is definate minimum, 256gb size recommended.

I dont know much about the further technical details like Ripley does, but i have a 64 GB one, OCZ Agility II, its lightening fast, but is really getting small. My win7 consumes ~30GBs, only 30 is remaining for my programs - with a 128GB one, the remaining space is about 3 times larger.

[cattb]

SSD, what ripley says. 128 min. I bought a 60 GB for a recent rebuild last year and learned the hard way.