System Upgrade (AMD to Intel)

[Arjun]

Hi Guys,

 

I am planning to upgrade the following peripherals in my current rig:

 

Processor: Intel i7 3770k (Gaming + Lightweight Editing)

 

Motherboard: Asus Maximus V Formula (Already using ROG mobo for AMD platform hence satisfied with tweaks provided)

 

SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120 GB (Mainly as a Boot drive for Win 7 Ultimate OS )

 

HDD: WD EZRX 3 TB (Secondary Storage)

 

Monitor: Asus VK278Q (Shifting from 22' to 27' monitor)

 

My current AMD build is in my signature.

 

 

Some Thoughts:

 

The main reason for shifting to Intel is power consumption. Many people have rightly said you save a few bucks on AMD CPU but more electricity bills in the longer run compared to Intel and I am the one experiencing it. AMD P2X4 965BE is having TDP 140W plus overclocking it to between 3.8 to 4.0 GHZ consumes around 160 to 190W and that has consistently increased my electricity bill. Whereas Intel 3770k is having TDP of 77W almost half that of 965BE but costs way more than AMD FX8350@125W.

 

Also I am not satisfied with my current CPU cooler Corsair H70. Even at stock 3.4 GHZ the temps are around 39 to 43 deg. Celsius whereas many Phenom users report the stock temp to be around 29 to 30 deg. celsius. Applied CoolerMaster IceFusion thermal paste but results are crap. Thinking of some better cooler or even custom water cooling but no good brands such as Frozen CPU, Koolance or EKWB available in India. Hence in a dilemma.

 

The ATX form factor for Crosshair III is ( 30.5 cm x 24.5 cm) whereas E-ATX form factor for Maximus 5 Formula is ( 30.5 cm x 25.7 cm). I hope MVF will fit into my CM HAF 922 w/o any problem.

 

My Sapphire HD 5870 has served me very well for past 3 years but not sure of handling future games such as Crysis 3 and many more graphic intense games to come, hence thinking of HD 7970. (I wont be using 3 monitor setup. Just one)

 

I am a music freak hence thinking about Creative SoundBlaster-Z/Asus Xonar D2X as I am not sure how the MVF onboard Supreme FX IV sound card performs. If I were to upgrade my current Artis 5.1 speakers to Creative Inspire 5.1 or Logitech Z506/X-530 5.1 (Those available here locally) which one would you suggest.

 

Does 7200  RPM HDD's over 5400 RPM HDD's  have significant Cost/Benefit performance in gaming ?

 

Suggestions are welcomed.

 

[EuroFight]

I would say for gaming and light editing, you should be fine with an i5 3570K over the i7. The only real benefit you gain from an i7 is HyperThreading, so you can probably do without that for what you need in my opinion. 

As far as the motherboard form factor goes, I personally prefer the ATX form factor over mATX due to it having more ports and generally more space, but that's down to personal preference.

An SSD is a great choice for any system, no questions asked

A 7970 will easily be able to max out today's games and most of tomorrow's games easily at 1080p, plus you can CrossFire it later on if needed

 

Overall, a very solid build that should suit you fine for a while. I don't like using the term 'future proof', but the build you have there is probably as close to it as you can get.

[Arjun]

Thanks EuroFight for u r input.

 

One question..if I crossfire 2 cards in near future will my Corsair TX 750W be sufficient ?

[EuroFight]

The TX750W would be sufficient for the two cards, say under maximum load they draw 200W each, that makes 400W and leaves 350W for the rest of the system, which should be more than adequate.

 

If you know the exact specs of the build you want, you can use this calculator to work out the power supply requirements.

[IVIYTH0S]

I agree, a 3570K (hell, a 2500K might be where the real value would be had!) would be right up your alley.

 

I would try the H70 with the new CPU before "upgrading" to something else, since a "lowly" Coolermaster 212+ overclocked my friends 2500K to 4.5ghz without any problem. (we could have gone higher but I didn't have time to keep pushing) For all you know you just may have a hotter running 965, I wouldn't blame the cooler just yet

 

You sure you'll be using all the extra features of the Maximus?? I'm a huge fan of the AsRock Extreme series boards for what they bring to the table versus what you're shelling out in money.

 

Yeah a 7970 or even a 7950 would serve you quite well (you aren't upgrading resolution, and 1920x1080 wouldn't give the 7970 any noticeable performance edge over the 7950).

 

I'm not a sound card believer and I know nothing on this subject

 

No, typically (in my experience) 7200RPM drives of the same technology/generation don't offer appreciably better performance than 5400RPM/5900RPM drives. Unless the 7200RPM drives can be had for as cheap, then it's fine to get the slower spindle speed. I'd sooner get a 240GB SSD single drive and run the a 2-3TB storage drive for everything you aren't currently playing/accessing (with all the money I saved you, this shouldn't be a problem at all!)

Edited January 25, 2013 by IVIYTH0S

[Arjun]

I agree, a 3570K (hell, a 2500K might be where the real value would be had!) would be right up your alley.

 

I would try the H70 with the new CPU before "upgrading" to something else, since a "lowly" Coolermaster 212+ overclocked my friends 2500K to 4.5ghz without any problem. (we could have gone higher but I didn't have time to keep pushing) For all you know you just may have a hotter running 965, I wouldn't blame the cooler just yet

 

You sure you'll be using all the extra features of the Maximus?? I'm a huge fan of the AsRock Extreme series boards for what they bring to the table versus what you're shelling out in money.

 

Yeah a 7970 or even a 7950 would serve you quite well (you aren't upgrading resolution, and 1920x1080 wouldn't give the 7970 any noticeable performance edge over the 7950).

 

I'm not a sound card believer and I know nothing on this subject

 

No, typically (in my experience) 7200RPM drives of the same technology/generation don't offer appreciably better performance than 5400RPM/5900RPM drives. Unless the 7200RPM drives can be had for as cheap, then it's fine to get the slower spindle speed. I'd sooner get a 240GB SSD single drive and run the a 2-3TB storage drive for everything you aren't currently playing/accessing (with all the money I saved you, this shouldn't be a problem at all!)

Thanks IVIYTH0S..Will give some thoughts on u r suggestions..

[IVIYTH0S]

 

I agree, a 3570K (hell, a 2500K might be where the real value would be had!) would be right up your alley.

 

I would try the H70 with the new CPU before "upgrading" to something else, since a "lowly" Coolermaster 212+ overclocked my friends 2500K to 4.5ghz without any problem. (we could have gone higher but I didn't have time to keep pushing) For all you know you just may have a hotter running 965, I wouldn't blame the cooler just yet

 

You sure you'll be using all the extra features of the Maximus?? I'm a huge fan of the AsRock Extreme series boards for what they bring to the table versus what you're shelling out in money.

 

Yeah a 7970 or even a 7950 would serve you quite well (you aren't upgrading resolution, and 1920x1080 wouldn't give the 7970 any noticeable performance edge over the 7950).

 

I'm not a sound card believer and I know nothing on this subject

 

No, typically (in my experience) 7200RPM drives of the same technology/generation don't offer appreciably better performance than 5400RPM/5900RPM drives. Unless the 7200RPM drives can be had for as cheap, then it's fine to get the slower spindle speed. I'd sooner get a 240GB SSD single drive and run the a 2-3TB storage drive for everything you aren't currently playing/accessing (with all the money I saved you, this shouldn't be a problem at all!)

Thanks IVIYTH0S..Will give some thoughts on u r suggestions..

 

yeah, definitely let me/us know what you decide on. Going with a bigger SSD is so much easier and a offers a much better experience. (I run a 240GB SSD with a 2TB/1.5TB storage setup)

[hylander]

I agree, a 3570K (hell, a 2500K might be where the real value would be had!) would be right up your alley.

 

I would try the H70 with the new CPU before "upgrading" to something else, since a "lowly" Coolermaster 212+ overclocked my friends 2500K to 4.5ghz without any problem. (we could have gone higher but I didn't have time to keep pushing) For all you know you just may have a hotter running 965, I wouldn't blame the cooler just yet

 

You sure you'll be using all the extra features of the Maximus?? I'm a huge fan of the AsRock Extreme series boards for what they bring to the table versus what you're shelling out in money.

 

Yeah a 7970 or even a 7950 would serve you quite well (you aren't upgrading resolution, and 1920x1080 wouldn't give the 7970 any noticeable performance edge over the 7950).

 

I'm not a sound card believer and I know nothing on this subject

 

No, typically (in my experience) 7200RPM drives of the same technology/generation don't offer appreciably better performance than 5400RPM/5900RPM drives. Unless the 7200RPM drives can be had for as cheap, then it's fine to get the slower spindle speed. I'd sooner get a 240GB SSD single drive and run the a 2-3TB storage drive for everything you aren't currently playing/accessing (with all the money I saved you, this shouldn't be a problem at all!)

 Just a quick thought, tell me if I am way off.

I understood the higher spindle speed mostly affects the pre-fetch from cache.I am way off base or in the ballpark?

 Thanks.

[IVIYTH0S]

 

I agree, a 3570K (hell, a 2500K might be where the real value would be had!) would be right up your alley.

 

I would try the H70 with the new CPU before "upgrading" to something else, since a "lowly" Coolermaster 212+ overclocked my friends 2500K to 4.5ghz without any problem. (we could have gone higher but I didn't have time to keep pushing) For all you know you just may have a hotter running 965, I wouldn't blame the cooler just yet

 

You sure you'll be using all the extra features of the Maximus?? I'm a huge fan of the AsRock Extreme series boards for what they bring to the table versus what you're shelling out in money.

 

Yeah a 7970 or even a 7950 would serve you quite well (you aren't upgrading resolution, and 1920x1080 wouldn't give the 7970 any noticeable performance edge over the 7950).

 

I'm not a sound card believer and I know nothing on this subject

 

No, typically (in my experience) 7200RPM drives of the same technology/generation don't offer appreciably better performance than 5400RPM/5900RPM drives. Unless the 7200RPM drives can be had for as cheap, then it's fine to get the slower spindle speed. I'd sooner get a 240GB SSD single drive and run the a 2-3TB storage drive for everything you aren't currently playing/accessing (with all the money I saved you, this shouldn't be a problem at all!)

 Just a quick thought, tell me if I am way off.

I understood the higher spindle speed mostly affects the pre-fetch from cache.I am way off base or in the ballpark?

 Thanks.

 

It would help with access times, which are the most important for typical usage but for a storage drive it wouldn't be worth the often sizable difference in price between the spindle speeds.

 

I wouldn't go with a 120GB SSD though. I'd run a 60GB SSD with the Intel Rapid Storage Technology as a cache drive to the bigger drive if money is tight. (This makes it pretty much as fast as running a standalone SSD but with all the capacity of whatever platter drive you run)

 

I recommend the full experience of a 240GB or larger OS/program SSD and then dedicated storage drive

[Arjun]

 

 

I agree, a 3570K (hell, a 2500K might be where the real value would be had!) would be right up your alley.

 

I would try the H70 with the new CPU before "upgrading" to something else, since a "lowly" Coolermaster 212+ overclocked my friends 2500K to 4.5ghz without any problem. (we could have gone higher but I didn't have time to keep pushing) For all you know you just may have a hotter running 965, I wouldn't blame the cooler just yet

 

You sure you'll be using all the extra features of the Maximus?? I'm a huge fan of the AsRock Extreme series boards for what they bring to the table versus what you're shelling out in money.

 

Yeah a 7970 or even a 7950 would serve you quite well (you aren't upgrading resolution, and 1920x1080 wouldn't give the 7970 any noticeable performance edge over the 7950).

 

I'm not a sound card believer and I know nothing on this subject

 

No, typically (in my experience) 7200RPM drives of the same technology/generation don't offer appreciably better performance than 5400RPM/5900RPM drives. Unless the 7200RPM drives can be had for as cheap, then it's fine to get the slower spindle speed. I'd sooner get a 240GB SSD single drive and run the a 2-3TB storage drive for everything you aren't currently playing/accessing (with all the money I saved you, this shouldn't be a problem at all!)

 Just a quick thought, tell me if I am way off.

I understood the higher spindle speed mostly affects the pre-fetch from cache.I am way off base or in the ballpark?

 Thanks.

 

It would help with access times, which are the most important for typical usage but for a storage drive it wouldn't be worth the often sizable difference in price between the spindle speeds.

 

I wouldn't go with a 120GB SSD though. I'd run a 60GB SSD with the Intel Rapid Storage Technology as a cache drive to the bigger drive if money is tight. (This makes it pretty much as fast as running a standalone SSD but with all the capacity of whatever platter drive you run)

 

I recommend the full experience of a 240GB or larger OS/program SSD and then dedicated storage drive

 

I agree  IVIYTH0S..but the 240 GB SSD's here in India are far too expensive than that in US (Price Starts at $180 in US (Amazon.com) whereas in India it starts at $250 approx). Hence sticking to 120 GB as a Boot drive.

 

As far as u r suggestion on Asrock mobo is concerned Asrock is not having a service center in my town but Asus has one. Hence RMA would be a problem if there was one.

[IVIYTH0S]

I'd downsize the 120GB to 60GB and just run it in rapid storage mode. Or would it be affordable enough to run a raid of two 120s

[Shurman292]

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.