Building a new system soon

sweavesweave boston
edited May 2012 in Hardware
The case
NZXT Switch 810
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146088

CPU
Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0388577

RAM
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354611
Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9
going to add more later

Motherboard
Need advice on this one
i've always gotten gigabyte drives but microcenter seems to stock a lot more asus models lately so any suggestions would be appreciated
saw this one P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Z77
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0386887

keeping from old computer
graphics card xfx radeon 6850
harddrives
power supply ocz fatality 750w

thoughts and suggestions are welcome
also going to get an SSD at the end of the year
the only thing i'm not going to buy from my local microcenter is the case as i didnt see any i liked there but most everything else i plan on getting locally

thanks

Comments

  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited May 2012
    I would go with an i7-3770 for the price difference-- it hyperthreads on each core which means you are getting about 1.25 (edited) times the effectiveness per core compared to the i5-3570 which does not hyperthread:

    http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0388576
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    HyperThreading only provides 6% more performance at the cost of $70. Bad, bad trade.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    I beg to differ, I have tried both i5s and i7s. I get lots more from i7s than a 6% increase.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2012
    You don't. Here's Cinebench R10, which is something of a perfect storm for CPU benchmarking. It provides consistent, reliable data over the course of a longer period, which is exactly what HyperThreading needs to be most effective.

    It yielded +10%.

    @sweave:

    I think you've made really great choices that are perfect for your budget. :)
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    Check out the bottom of this chart, where it gets past the benchmarks:

    http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287

    recall that the i7 is clocked slightly higher and has more l3 cache
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    Depends on what he wants to play for games, or if he wants to do photo (not video) editing, or if he wants to do old-fashioned data crunching. I do textual web-development, which is data-crunching. I do some photo editing of old-fashioned still photo kind. I fold. The 2nd gen i7 I am running now in my dedicated folding box outruns the earlier gen and much slower i7 in the laptop. I had an i5 machine for a bit, it bogged compared to the i7s, but that was the first-gen i5 CPU. I upgraded that to a 2nd-gen i5. Then I upgraded to a i7-2600K.

    Cinebench is good for benchmarking if you will be rendering or dealing heavily with fancy motion video. Thus, for gaming the i5 4 core is quite close to the i7 4 core. A 6 core i7 will blast the work out faster, 1.5 times the cores. The i7-3960 is a 6 core CPU.

    So, if sweave wants largely to game, the i5-3570 will work fine (games are mostly not designed to use hyperthreading fully). If, otoh, he wants a multipurpose box and gaming is not his major goal, I would have to say a i7-3770K would be his sweetest spot(overclockable, runs $30.00 more than the i7-3770 at Microcenter) and the fallback would be a i7-3770 (not overclockable). Microcenter has both.
  • sweavesweave boston
    lol i just reread my original post and i wrote gigabyte drives.... derp derp derp

    thanks for the replies.
    i'm gonna start grabbing everything by the end of may.
  • MrTRiotMrTRiot Northern Ontario Icrontian
    edited May 2012
    Corsair Vengeance is amazing RAM, highly recommended. Only issue I find is using an ASUS motherboard. Several people on Icrontic have had issues with ASUS in the past, including myself. You could find better a manufacturer out there...
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    lol i just reread my original post and i wrote gigabyte drives.... derp derp derp

    thanks for the replies.
    i'm gonna start grabbing everything by the end of may.
    what do you plan on using the system for (this should help decide between i5 / i7)?
  • sweavesweave boston
    hmmm gaming but that isn't really a worry since the games i play arent graphical heavyweights
    apart from that i mainly work in photoshop and illustrator
    i'm planning on starting zbrush and some 3d work soon as well but again this is ultimately going to end up in artwork i finish off in photoshop
    i think the i5 will be fine
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    I think so too, especially if you don't want to pay $100 more for the unlocked i7. Are you planning on doing much overclocking?
  • sweavesweave boston
    none at all if i'm honest
    i keep thinking about it but i probably i never get around to it
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    Well.... Microcenter HAS discounted the i7-2600K down to $259.00 and it is a 3.4 GHz stock base speed processor that is overclockable and Turbo 2.0 takes it to 3.8 GHz. It has an 8 MB L3 cache also. And yes, it hyperthreads. It draws 90W of power at stock and overclocks cooler than the 3rd gen i7's do per several major review sites

    It is so popular at about $310.00 now at Newegg that they have 1342 5-egg average reviews on it and keep selling out of them (they are out of stock now). So, given what you want to do, here is a way to get possible practical overclockablity for now or later and a high stock base speed to start with if you want both for the same price as the i7-3770 non-overclocked CPU.

    I think the whole 3rd gen i7 series is somewhat premium priced now.

    http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354587
  • sweavesweave boston
    quick update
    microcenter just got a bunch of GA-Z77X-UD3H LGA 1155 Z77 boards in yesterday so i think i'm going to go with gigabyte over the asus.
    also comes with a sweet bundle deal if i buy it with cpu at the same time.

    they've also gotten the case that i listed up there soooo that seems pretty much a done deal too.

    only thing i forgot about is a cpu cooler since my current one wont fit on the new socket i believe.
    my current cooler is a tuniq tower 120 but i got this one 5 years ago for my socket 775 board.

    if anyone wants to recommend anything in the cooler department to me that they have in stock at microcenter feel free. i'm looking to spend around $50 at most for the cooler.

    here is one i found so far http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0345783
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
  • sweavesweave boston
    sweet just read a review for that.
    well things now look pretty much set for me.
    just have to find time this week to buy stuff :D
  • sweavesweave boston
    just got home with everything :D
    got a z77x-ud5h instead of the ud3.
    they just put them on the bundle sale today.
    for the case i got a corsair 500r instead of the nzxt switch.
    i saw the switch and frankly it wont fit under my desk T___T
    considered getting a larger desk.
    but i'm happy. just wish they had the white one instead of the black but no worries

    going to put everything together on thursday. will post pics.

    next step is to get a fan controller and i'm all set.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    Very cool. I like both cases a lot and can see you are in the right frame of mind when you say
    considered getting a larger desk
    I also ended up getting the UD5H.
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