Thanks again guys @Pill+Dark, I'll keep an open mind regarding the X58's and Xeons and what-not I've never had anything new and current, I'm a bit sick of hand-me-downs and last-gen products you know... Will be nice psychologically to have some new kit and it will still be a big improvement over my current PC. @Fender - I love to OC so I'll be squeezing every last drop out of the Pentium K I took my previous E5200 I bought off Kylzer (remember that guy?) to 4Ghz on air with the Noctua D-14 I won in the Christmas giveaways right here a few years ago, interested to see how far these new chips will go!
Will do, although I only have a Freezer64 Pro as I traded the Noctua for my GTX260 a long time ago. Arg, I have one more question. I'm looking at different motherboards now on a different website. I've had a quick google and I can't see any major differences, but is it worth getting a Z87 motherboard now that there are Z97's? From what I can see the difference is negligible, for me at least. For example I had this in my basket, and then I saw this. And I've always loved the idea of building a powerful mATX which this seems ideal for. Sorry to be a pain but these 3 boards are all pretty much the same thing or am I missing something? I know they can all OC, I plan to only ever run a single GPU, one day purchase an SSD for OS and key games and a mechanical drive for storage. So I think I'll be fine with any of those 3, even the mATX, am I right?
Always go for the newer tech when you can, I would opt for a Z97 over a Z87. If you want to go the mATX route there's Z97 options you can take a look at. Be sure not to confuse the Z and H boards, the Z boards have ample overclocking options. You wont get far on an H97. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-500-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2811 This would be an option for a budget board that you'll get a half decent OC out of, while being micro-atx. Although I'd be tempted to spend the extra tenner to get something a little better.
Thanks mate, going cross-eyed trying to keep track of all this new stuff, lol. I guess this would be the one then, £11 more. I'd have bought the H97 without realising and had a nasty shock if you hadn't have said that. :thumbup: I think its the 7's and the Z's being such similar characters, derp!
Easily done mate, especially if you're out of the loop. The naming conventions can get a little confusing. That's the board I'd go for if building a m-atx rig on a budget, lovely piece of kit.
You'll see a very healthy improvement to be honest, with good future upgrade options when you need them. The Z97 platform is fantastic, very much looking forward to your impressions.
I can't wait, I'm sure it'll blow me away. SSD is what I'm really excited for, though. I'm eyeing up that 240GB Kingston drive for £70ish iirc. Another hand-me-down from a friend, just a rubbish Hannspree 16:10 19". It does the job for now, a 120/144hz is going to be a major luxury for the future.
Be wary of the Kingston drives, there was some fuss a little while ago about them replacing same name/model drives with slower than advertised replacements. I'm not saying that's the case for them all, but be sure to look into it before purchase.
Oh really, good to know, thanks! I'm on my phone now so can't link it easily, the description listed its speeds at around 450/450 read/write, wondered why it was so cheap. I'll investigate closer to the time. Do I want a case first or more hardware, decisions decisions :infinity:
I'd be in two minds in your situation, a nice new m-atx motherboard would sorely tempt me to buy a new case. That said, you'll see direct performance benefits with new hardware.
Yeah it's the lovely little cases that draw me to mATX, but GPU and 8GB RAM is the next priority. Besides, I've quite enjoyed having my PC alfresco since I binned my last case
You'll definitely benefit from a nice new GPU, I'd recommend going for something with at least 2gb of GDDR while being fast enough to really use most of it. A 7870/660 or some such. You might pay a little more than you would for a 560, but if you're happy to look second hand you should be able to find a deal for under the £90-100 mark. Sometimes it's worth spending a little more in the long run.
I was looking at 7870's as it happens, one guru is selling his but not yet, so I will see. I was buying the GTX560Ti more out of "necessity" as one of my GTX260's overheats and grey-screens after about 30 minutes of gameplay, and the other one's resistors or capacitors start shrieking at me and then BSOD in much the same fashion.. I imagine the 560 would hold its value for a few months at least while I sort out a better GPU, maybe lose £10 on it but that's fine. Thanks again Darkest and everybody, been a big help
