System Upgrade (AMD to Intel)

[Arjun]

Just thought I'd add my two cents about sound cards.  If you are at all into music/detailed audio, you should definitely invest in a good one.  The Xonar D2X is a wonderful card.  I've had it for about two years, and wouldn't trade it for any other.  The correct drivers can be annoying to find, but that's more of a "one & done" ordeal.  As far as the card itself and sound quality, I would say the D2X is one of the top dogs.  

 

If you're using the HDDs for storage, it really doesn't matter what spindle speed you get.  5400rpm is fine.  I've seen them transfer at 80-100MB/s, just like 7200rpm drives.  Like IVI said, it's the access time that will be slowed, which doesn't matter for a storage drive.

 

The cooler you have should be plenty sufficient to keep a newer generation i5/i7 cool.  If it doesn't you might want to look into RMAing it or getting a new cooler, because it might be defective. Be sure you apply the thermal paste correctly!  Also, you should be fine with an i5 3570k/2500k.

Thanks Shurman..You struck the cord regarding Xonar D2X..I am almost finalizing it. Just one last comparison with driver compatibility issues of xonar/soundblaster-z remaining.

[Shurman292]

I downloaded the unified drivers I've been using from here.  They keep it updated pretty regularly (last update was November 2012).  These are rock-solid stable for Windows 7; however if you are planning on using Windows 8, I would just hold off on any sound cards for the moment until they get the drivers ironed out properly.  

 

At first I had problems with the original drivers making weird sounds in games.  However, I have not had any issues with these unified drivers whatsoever

[Arjun]

Can any one enlighten me about performance of Gigabyte Z77X-UP4TH over Maximus V Formula..? Searched a few pages but not able to find concrete answers.