Pc Upgrading. Time to do it!

[MarkyG]

I am currently running a Q9650 on an XFX 790i SLi Motherboard, 4x Branded XFX DDR3 2000mhz (which unfortunately wont run at anythng higher than 1333mhz ) and a XFX GTX 280 XXX Gfx card.

Now looking to upgrade to i7. Maybe the i7 2700k Sandybridge. I am wanting faster RAM than the 1600 I see everyone raving about though and looking for some 2133 DDR3 RAM, dual channel, instead but can't seem to be able to decide on which motherboard. If i want the Quad Channel DDR3 I can't find a suitable mobo to run it!

Had a little look at the Asus Sabretooth Z77 and the Gigabyte G1 Sniper and Gigabyte UDx series of boards. Ideally it will be for gaming but also for DTP and Audio/Video and can't forget catching up on current news, a must/addiction of the Mrs!

Money isnt really a limit, but the motherboard i wont spend more than £200 on and the new graphics card can wait for now as long as the motherboard supports NVidia SLi or both as I will eventually be upgrading the Gfx card later on.

I haven't kept up to date on the tech of stuff as of late due to being otherwise occupied, jsut really looking for recommendations and anything you guys and girls can input, positively hahaha

Cheers!

[Yasuraka]

I got the Gigabyte Guerilla. Was about 140 quid or so but that was some time ago so probably out classed by something well tasty. Memory I just whacked in 2x4gig sticks of 1600 DDR3, board can hold up to 32 (I think) but to be honest I dont run anything that needs anything close to that. Card I have the ati HD7870. Built this about 8 months ago and my only regret is buying a shitey 3d monitor (Got Assassins Creed Brotherhood free /sigh). Wish I had just spent more and gotten decent dell

[Yasuraka]

Pish.. Forgot to say, make sure you get an SSD if you are updating/upgrading. HDD just dont seem to cut it anymore and with Windows 8 on the horizon its likely to be scored with SSD in mind

[MarkyG]

I've gone for the DDR3 2133 ram and an asus sabretooth z77 mono with an unlocked i7 2700k CPU.

Read up quite a few articles about windows 8 and the comments are biased. I'm not liking the look of the layout. I know things need to come up to date but to me it just looks awful!

Ssd is a must u agree. Haven't gone for one yet but will do in a few months.

Now can't decide on a graphics card to go for, AMD or nVidia?

[hellonpluto]

Go for AMD video cards as they are alot cheaper then nvidia for comparable cards.

[Chris_]

Originally Posted by hellonpluto

Go for AMD video cards as they are alot cheaper then nvidia for comparable cards.

There is a reason for that you know.

The best upgrade you can do in terms of noticeable performance is get an SSD. Load your operating system and important programs on it, you'll never go back to a hard drive.

[MarkyG]

Looking into that also. Swayed toward the Corsair Force Series 3 drives if I'm honest,m had a lot of recommendations and seen them in action against others.

As for the Graphics card, I've been researching the Gigabyte 660ti Windforce 2x Edition running core clock at a base of 1032mhz

[Penn]

i7's still fairly pointless as nothing utilises hyperthreading and the price premium they hold over an i5 is fucking ridiculous. I guess if you got money to burn it doesn't matter.

Don't touch OCZ SSD's, ever.

Corsair or Crucial are good picks, had my Crucial M4 for best part of a year now without any problems. That includes a firmware update to increase the speeds too.

Get an nVidia card and make sure you water cool the CPU if you're overclocking!

[Yasuraka]

Originally Posted by Penn

i7's still fairly pointless as nothing utilises hyperthreading and the price premium they hold over an i5 is fucking ridiculous. I guess if you got money to burn it doesn't matter.

Don't touch OCZ SSD's, ever.

Corsair or Crucial are good picks, had my Crucial M4 for best part of a year now without any problems. That includes a firmware update to increase the speeds too.

Get an nVidia card and make sure you water cool the CPU if you're overclocking!

OCZ have been better lately, firmware has sorted a lot out.

[Penn]

Originally Posted by Yasuraka

OCZ have been better lately, firmware has sorted a lot out.

Fail to see how firmware updates can change their failure rate

[Yasuraka]

lol fair point. I guess I just got lucky with mine. Ran like shit and boot time was slower than HDD, however the firmware update sorted a lot out and it was actually very good. Regret flogging it.