Help New hardware build - opinions / thoughts?

[old.user4556]

Where else better to ask than here. My Wolfdale PC is starting to show it's age and I need a) more memory b) more CPU beef c) faster disks (SSD). My main use will be photo / video editing with the occasional game.

Looking at:

- Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - £269.00
- Asus Z87 GRYPHON Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard - £129.95
- Corsair Dominator PLATINUM 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (on the approved ASUS vendor list) - £169.99

I could punt for a pre-tested "3.5 GHz at 4.2 GHz" bundle from Overclockers for about £40 or so less, but I want stability and reliability over an ePenis 3DMark score.

Any advice on those components? Is the memory overkill if I'm not looking at tweaking anything and running it stock? I've picked an ASUS board as the previous three mobos I've had have been ASUS and I've never had an issue, so I'm sticking with 'em.

Regarding the SSD, I'll probably go for:

- Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - £115.99

(I'll only have OS, apps and games on the SSD with a standard hard drive for all my photography)

 

[Deebs]

I went for the following earlier this year:

• Intel i7-3770K @ 3.5ghz
• Asus P8Z77-V Pro
• Cannot remember the RAM but it was high performance stuff. Will look it up if needed. I have 16gig in this machine and my work machine, at work I hit 91% of RAM used all the time, ask Zarjazz as I moan a lot when it hits that point.
• SSD, I have the 830's and I would use an 840 pro but not the non pro version.

Aside from that I think you have it covered, my SSD is for my OS and some apps, the rest sit on a HDD. I cannot fault ASUS, love their motherboards.

 

[Embattle]

Yeah that is fine, you can OC the processor fairly easy yourself if you really want to any way.

 

[old.user4556]

Got my new build all running.

Absolutely ereet. I know I'm late to the SSD party, but what a difference it makes. Everything runs so cool and quiet.

 

[TdC]

how's that working out for you then Gbacon? recently I have been having the itch to upgrade my aging i7. I have SSD's so that is not an issue. If you compare your current feel of working on the pc to your previous experience, would you advise going for the haswell / new mobo / new ram?

 

[old.user4556]

I think the biggest change for me is the SSD - boot time is a few seconds, load time for apps is almost unnoticeable. Everytime I quit a game or close Photoshop, I'm back to the desktop in a flash.

The CPU horsepower is less obvious. Photoshop is faster, but it's not "WOAH!" faster which was a little surprising (I was on a 3.0 GHz 'Wolfdale' Core 2 Duo before). Games like CS:S do not feel any quicker (even with the GTX 660), but games like Farcry are very fast now. Having 16 GB of RAM makes dozens of Chrome tabs and several layers in Photoshop a breeze. I no longer feel the need to "clear down" anything and can let the RAM footprint increase to 7 or 8 GB when working with several 100 MB TIFF images.

For me, I've seen the biggest performance improvement from SSD and the RAM. The CPU has had less of a dent, but maybe it's less obvious as Windows has more room to work with in terms of RAM and I/O ?

 

[TdC]

cheers dude, very insightful. I'll certainly take things in to account towards the end of this year for upgrades. I have an older i7 oc'd to 3GHz, with 12GB of triple channel ram and a Gforce 5 series card. I am thinking that the mobo/cpu/ram upgrade is potentially the best step.

 

[wolfeeh]

I believe with the haswells you can justify 2400mhz ram iirc...? I'm waiting for my new EVGA Geforce GTX 770 SC ACX to arrive in the post (tomorrow) wait is killing me.