Upgrading Gaming PC, NEED HELPZ

[Sensi Karate]

Sup guys! Bet most don't know me since I jump in and out of these forums because of rl but always found these forums helpful so this is where I ask all my questions.

Well my computer is still running fine with a duo core and P45 board but I am thinking of getting upgrades for future safety. My main things I want to do is play all games on highest settings for the far future and also I want to start streaming (which is why I want a quad core because I lag hard when streaming games).

Main three things I am looking for is CPU, Motherboard and RAM (DDR3). I don't want to spend too much but my budget can be bent. I am looking at around $300 - $500 AU but if I can get an epic setup for slightly more or less, please tell. I want to be able to OC (my PSU and cooling should be fine). Also if there are new models coming out that are worth waiting in the coming weeks/months then do please tell, I am not up to all the techie news since gaming and work preoccupy most of my life atm. I want it to last around 2 years. The current Mobo, RAM and CPU setup I got has lasted me 3 years, so yeah.

I am hearing i5 2500k is good and also the ASrock P67 Extreme = Good combo. Is there any better ones? I am from Australia so keep that in mind and I use umart.com.au/.

Cheers everyone!

 

[Syuzeren]

2500k, Asrock Fatal1ty P67 Pro and G.skill 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM for the high end stuff. Maybe throw in another 4850.

 

[BrooksyX]

2500k, Asrock Fatal1ty P67 Pro and G.skill 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM for the high end stuff. Maybe throw in another 4850.

All good suggestions except the 4850. I am not saying crossfire is bad. I just wouldnt suggest sinking any more money into the 4xxx series because it does not have dx11 support.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

2500k, Asrock Fatal1ty P67 Pro and G.skill 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM for the high end stuff. Maybe throw in another 4850.

you can skip the over priced Fatality board and go with something cheaper like a Asus P8P67 Pro - but make sure any P67 or Z68 board you buy has the B3 stepping.

any 1600 DDR3 Ram will do really. I use Corsair Vengeance ram.

get rid of the 4850, and snap yourself up a GTX560 or 570. If you wish to stay with ATi then get a 6950 and see if you can unlock the pipes.


:Edit:

the P8P67 Pro should still be able to take the 2600k to 4.8Ghz or even higher if youre lucky

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Just a suggestion, but you could upgarde what you have one last time to a used C2Q Q9450/9550/9650(anything less would be a waste of time) for about $200 usd(dont spend anymore than that) and get another year or so use out of your current hardware.

 

[Sensi Karate]

2500k, Asrock Fatal1ty P67 Pro and G.skill 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM for the high end stuff. Maybe throw in another 4850.

Oh. That is my old card. I have a 6870 at the moment and also Corsair 750W (just changed my computer specs then. Sorry.)

 

[Black Haru]

you can skip the over priced Fatality board and go with something cheaper like a Asus P8P67 Pro - but make sure any P67 or Z68 board you buy has the B3 stepping.

any 1600 DDR3 Ram will do really. I use Corsair Vengeance ram.

get rid of the 4850, and snap yourself up a GTX560 or 570. If you wish to stay with ATi then get a 6950 and see if you can unlock the pipes.


:Edit:

the P8P67 Pro should still be able to take the 2600k to 4.8Ghz or even higher if youre lucky

I recommend the Asus. I love my p8z68. It will definitely take the clock as far as the chip can go.

 

[BraveSoul]

i5 2500k is where the game is at right now,, im sure any decent mobo will clock it high enough, but i would suggest buying higher end one, like mine(z68 msi gd80)do make sure that it supports latest pci express 3.0,,,+ long down the road u can upgrade cpu to ivy bridge ,,, good features for the future

 

[Sensi Karate]

Cheers for all the help guys!

I have looked on umart, and the Intel Core i5 2500K is $218 AU which seems reasonable enough to me (unless someone knows somewhere cheaper?).

With the motherboard and RAM I am still looking into.

For the ASUS mentioned the following I am seeing with the "p8z68". There are a few and dont know which one to get?

Asus P8P67V3 P67 4DDR3 D12PH 2400OC RAID GLAN PCIE16 2FW SA3 ATX STEP3 - $189. (I think this is the one, it has the most comments).
Asus P8P67-M Pro V3 Socket1155 P67chipset 4x DDR3 SATA3 SATA2 RAID USB - $150.
Asus P8P67-LEV3 P67 4DDR3 5PH 2200OC RAID GBLAN 2PCIE16 2FW SA3 ATX STEP3 - $129.
Asus P8P67 PRO V3 L1155 P67 4x DDR3 SATA3 SATA2 eSATA RAID Firewire USB3.0 GLAN CrossFire/SLI - $191. (This is the only PRO one on the list).
Asus P8P67 EVO V3 L1155 P67 4x DDR3 SATA3 SATA2 eSATA RAID USB3.0 Firewire 2xGLAN CrossFire/SLI -$235.
Asus P8P67 Deluxe V3 L1155 P67 4x DDR3 SATA3 SATA2 eSATA RAID USB3 - $239.

If the people can tell me which is the best one, that would be epic. ^_^

Also is the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Z68 ($200) and the ASRock Z68 PRO3 ($150) better then the Asus and are MSI or Gigabyte worth looking at?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Cheers for all the help guys!

I have looked on umart, and the Intel Core i5 2500K is $218 AU which seems reasonable enough to me (unless someone knows somewhere cheaper?).

With the motherboard and RAM I am still looking into.

For the ASUS mentioned the following I am seeing with the "p8z68". There are a few and dont know which one to get?

Asus P8P67V3 P67 4DDR3 D12PH 2400OC RAID GLAN PCIE16 2FW SA3 ATX STEP3 - $189. (I think this is the one, it has the most comments).
Asus P8P67-M Pro V3 Socket1155 P67chipset 4x DDR3 SATA3 SATA2 RAID USB - $150.
Asus P8P67-LEV3 P67 4DDR3 5PH 2200OC RAID GBLAN 2PCIE16 2FW SA3 ATX STEP3 - $129.
Asus P8P67 PRO V3 L1155 P67 4x DDR3 SATA3 SATA2 eSATA RAID Firewire USB3.0 GLAN CrossFire/SLI - $191. (This is the only PRO one on the list).
Asus P8P67 EVO V3 L1155 P67 4x DDR3 SATA3 SATA2 eSATA RAID USB3.0 Firewire 2xGLAN CrossFire/SLI -$235.
Asus P8P67 Deluxe V3 L1155 P67 4x DDR3 SATA3 SATA2 eSATA RAID USB3 - $239.

If the people can tell me which is the best one, that would be epic. ^_^

Also is the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Z68 ($200) and the ASRock Z68 PRO3 ($150) better then the Asus and are MSI or Gigabyte worth looking at?

If youre willing to pay extra for the P8P67 Deluxe then go for it.

that board is packed full of features. and i think has 1 or 2 more VRM circuits then the pro so it should overclock better.

2500k is good. Hyperthreading on the 2600k doesnt make a huge difference in gaming and both the 2500k and 2600k are about the same level when overclocked.

 

[Sensi Karate]

If youre willing to pay extra for the P8P67 Deluxe then go for it.

that board is packed full of features. and i think has 1 or 2 more VRM circuits then the pro so it should overclock better.

2500k is good. Hyperthreading on the 2600k doesnt make a huge difference in gaming and both the 2500k and 2600k are about the same level when overclocked.

Cheers for the information. I will consider the Deluxe edition.

I am going to buy the 7.1 Surround Sound Headset. Does any motherboards come built in with a decent sound card that can use 7.1?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

which headset?? a lot of headsets connect via usb these days

 

[Sensi Karate]

which headset?? a lot of headsets connect via usb these days

It isn't out yet but the Razer Tiamat. It has 4 3.5mm jacks.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Hmmm.... if you want something a little better then built in sound... look at the Xonar DG. it has a built in headphones amp and it would probably go well with your headset. builtin audio is always just passable.

 

[Sensi Karate]

Hmmm.... if you want something a little better then built in sound... look at the Xonar DG. it has a built in headphones amp and it would probably go well with your headset. builtin audio is always just passable.

Cheers for that man. I was looking at the sound cards and going "omfg... $200+ for creative etc..." and that goes on top of the $180 price tag on the Tiamat (finally a REAL 7.1 headset, not virtual. ). I am willing to spend $90 for the sound card. Didn't even notice the Xonar DG but I remember hearing they are great for the price tag. Cheers again.

Now all I got left is RAM....

 

[DrunkenMafia]

Hey Sensi Karate, I have an as new set of G-Skill 2000mhz ripjaws 2x2gb I can give you cheap. They are made for I5/I7 and don't play nice on my AMD setup. I live in cairns and can ship for free.

How does $50 shipped sound?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

If youre gonna go with the DG - dont forget to check out the Xonar drivers in my sig. they fix a lot of issues with gaming and such

 

[qubit]

Sensi, don't buy anything yet. AMD's new CPUs are out later this month, which will change the whole market, like any major product release does.

So, wait for the release and the benchmarks and then give it another few weeks for the prices to settle down. Only then jump in with your purchase.

 

[Sensi Karate]

Hey Sensi Karate, I have an as new set of G-Skill 2000mhz ripjaws 2x2gb I can give you cheap. They are made for I5/I7 and don't play nice on my AMD setup. I live in cairns and can ship for free.

How does $50 shipped sound?

Mmm tempting offer mate and seems like a great price. I will consider it but I am not totally sure. I really only buy from umart since I can go pick up locally the next day from the shop. I will consider though but if you sell to anyone else before I give you an answer I wont hold it against you.

 

[Sensi Karate]

Sensi, don't buy anything yet. AMD's new CPUs are out later this month, which will change the whole market, like any major product release does.

So, wait for the release and the benchmarks and then give it another few weeks for the prices to settle down. Only then jump in with your purchase.

Wow cheers for the advice. So does this mean I should look at the AMD CPU's or will it just bring the price down of the 2500k intel? I can wait a month or two so it is fine.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

it will most likely just bring the price down. as for performance. I think the 2500k will still have the upper hand but thats only just speculation

 

[DrunkenMafia]

Mmm tempting offer mate and seems like a great price. I will consider it but I am not totally sure. I really only buy from umart since I can go pick up locally the next day from the shop. I will consider though but if you sell to anyone else before I give you an answer I wont hold it against you.

No worries man, They are just sitting here, I will put them on ebay one day when I can be bothered. Would be a great set of ram for an i5 build.

Like someone above said - I would suggest holding off for a few weeks until BD comes out. Even if you don't want to go with AMD I am sure there will be a lot of users selling of i5 chips for something different and it may bring the prices down. crossfire scaling on the HD6870 is really good too, you can pick one up for $160 these days and would be a great boost. Make sure you mb supports crossfire.

 

[DrunkenMafia]

forgot, this is link to ram to tease you a bit:

http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=2

 

[qubit]

Wow cheers for the advice. So does this mean I should look at the AMD CPU's or will it just bring the price down of the 2500k intel? I can wait a month or two so it is fine.

Aha, now that's the question! AMD has somehow managed to keep all geniune leaks of Bulldozer's performance off the internet, so it's all speculation at this point. My guess is that if we don't know, then it's performance isn't that great, or they'd leak it themselves. However, whether it's better or worse than Intel's processors, you can be sure that there's gonna be a significant "price adjustment" ie you'll get more for your money. Intel are also likely to release improved processors around that time too, even if they're only slightly improved versions.

There's a TPU thread here all about Bulldozer, but it'll likely make your head spin, lol.

What I'm looking forward to is an octacore Intel CPU with unlocked multiplier.

 

[Sensi Karate]

Hey guys. Haven't replied in awhile but does anyone know if I should consider going Bulldozer/AMD now or wait until prices drop on the Intel CPU's when Bulldozer arrives?

Like I said, mostly gaming. But I also want to livestream games (X-fire) and do put videos up onto youtube.

Cheers.