Returned my SATA2 mobo, will be picking this up shortly with PM from Tigerdirect. Figured I might as well future-proof myself.

MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ 970 DDR3 2PCI-E16 SLI CrossFire 2PCI-E1 2PCI SATA3 USB3.0 GBLAN Motherboard

Purchasing the Intel Retail Edge i3770k this week and I'm looking for a decent mobo and ram combo for the build. I remember Skinny said last year the mobo sucked and this year I'm reading on RFD it isnt any better. This year they're bundling the DZ77GAL-70K Extreme Series. Not looking to overclock so the stock cooler should suffice.

Can I reuse my P180 case and 550W PSU? I plan to reuse my like first gen Sandforce OCZ 64GB SSD. Trying to gut out my e6600 + 8800 GTS without trying to replace the whole thing. Whats the most worth while route that will allow me to run BF3, etc and edit flawlessly in Premier Pro?

Thanks

550W is suffice if you are running single GPU and no OC at all
get that bundle...8GB ram...and get a 7870 or 660Ti for your graphics card...good upgrade for $550ish
What resolution do you run at?

RAM: Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 XMP Dual Channel Memory Kit
MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V Lk ATX LGA1155 Z77 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA3 SLI DVI HDMI DP USB3.0 Motherboard
Videocard: MSI Radeon HD 7950 Twin Frozr III 880MHZ 3GB 1250MHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI 2XMINI DP DX11 PCI Video Card

Only reason I recommend AMD right now is because of the "Never Settle" bundle that includes 3 new season games. (Far cry 3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs)

Yes, 550W will run a 7950 + 3770k no problem so long as they are 80+ bronze, otherwise, you're pushing it into the extreme.

At your earliest convenience, upgrading it to a 650W+ PSU will be best.

I may as well just do the PSU upgrade now me thinks when I think it over. Going to go with either the ASrock Ultimate 3 or the board Belaud suggested. Only difficult part is choosing the GPU now. Monitor is currently 1440x900 Samsung from like 6 years ago. That'll probably get updated soon too. Gunnna also jump for 16GB of ram cause video editing eats ram.


I wouldnt go for AMD over the games right now. At $95 for that 3700k I can't go wrong.

he meant AMD GPU
I'd go for 660ti/7870 if you are going for 1080p/1200p display...7950 if you are going for a 1400p+ display

Im guessing waiting until the boxing day deals poke through is the best way to take this on? Might even go for a new case too :okay:
The $40 MIR for the 560ti from Newegg US seems like a smokin deal. $169


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($95 @ Intel Retail Edge)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 1.25GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $557.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-19 17:05 EST-0500)

Don't get the AsRock board, or high density Corsair RAM, they're just not worth the hassle down the road. The quality on them are hit and miss, very inconsistent.

For the best deals, I'd wait until boxing week, you'll find even a 7970 for $299.... *cough*

560ti at $170 isn't a good deal

:ahwow:. Ok I'll narrow it down between the Gigabyte UD3H and the Asus.

As for RAM, how can I tell the diff between high and low? Any recommendations? Wanna stick with 8GB sticks.

:okay: Guess I'll wait for Boxing Day for the 7970 which I did not hear from anywhere.

My current setups!

Case:
1 - Cooler Master HAF-X EATX
Motherboard:
1 - Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3
Cpu:
1 - Intel i5-2500k OC'd to 4.8GHz
Ram:
1 - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Frostbyte 16GB DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V
Storage:
1 - OCZ Agility 4 256GB SSD
1 - Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 7200RPM + OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD (Cache)
1 - Seagate USB 3.0 1TB External (backup)
Video:
2 - Asus 7970 3GB GDDR5 Directcu II (Crossfire)
Power:
1 - Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850
Opti:
1 - LG CH12LS28 12X Blu-Ray Reader; DVD Writer Combo Drive
1 - LG BH12LS28 12X Blu-Ray Writer; DVD Writer Combo Drive
Cooling:
1 - Corsair Hydro Series H100i Liquid Cooler
4 - Cooler Master 120mm Sickleflow's
1 - Cooler Master Megaflow 230mm Front
1 - Cooler Master Megaflow 200mm Side
Monitors:
3 - Asus 27" 1080p 2ms LED VE278Q
Misc:
1 - NZXT Blue Sleeved LED Strip
1 - NZXT Sentry 2 Touchscreen Fan Controller

Case:
1 - Cooler Master Elite 370
Motherboard:
1 - ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AMD970
Cpu:
1 - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
Ram:
1 - Corsair XMS 8GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24
Storage:
1 - OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD
3 - Western Digital WD Caviar Green 3TB
Video:
1 - Radeon 7750 2GB GDDR5
Power:
1 - Thermaltake TR2 600W Bronze
Opti:
None
Cooling:
1 - Corsair Hydro Series H70 Liquid Cooler
4 - Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120M
Monitor:
1080p Viewsonic Projector w/ 120" Screen

^for your storage is it 3 x 3TB or 3TB in total. Cause uhh 9TB is.. damn lol

Yup 9 TB.

I thought my 2 x 4 TB WD RE4 drives in my NAS were excessive :(

I was aiming at 2x4tb but was cheaper to buy 3x3tb.
Posted via RS Mobile

what would you guys recommend for some kind of storage outside of my main case, I'd like to run 4 drives (2 + 2 in a RAID) with room for more in some kind of stand-alone case with whatever kind of connection I need between the two. Speed isn't critical and it will mostly be media storage.

I need a new case for my computer, what do you recommend?

If I were to upgrade just my CPU/Mobo/Ram, would my windows installation and files still be in tact? Is it better to reinstall windows?

Re-install. Your mobo chipset drivers and stuff will all be re-installed anyway, and I'd much rather start fresh than to have those old crap kicking around.

Just build any standard tower PC. Doesn't need to be anything special. Might want to look at a seperate RAID card if you're going to be expanding to a bigger array in the future.

NCIX fail :derp: I guess NCIX has to pay me $20 :fullofwin:

http://i.imgur.com/JI0AL.jpg

Raid for Media server ?

I have a 24TB media server running non-raid.
A buddy of mine has exact same server and exact same content, I called it human power raid. lol

As i know raid isnt that stable if you go with cheap raid card ah ?

I've already got the PC, I just want to be able to connect it to more drives than the case can hold.

is there a huge difference in wd blue vs green hard drives? also how do the seagates match up them?

Green is only suitable for archiving, if you plan on actually running programs from a HDD, then get at least a Blue. Be sure to cache it with an SSD too