Upgrading from AMD to Intel i5

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deeplove

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 19, 2006
Messages
276
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Miami Florida
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, MOBO and RAM
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Seagate 750GB HDD ST375028AS
MSI HD6850 OC
Corsair GS600 600W PSU
25" Samsung
Thermaltake Element S case
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1200 25" Samsung
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
No later than the end of May
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Nothing fancy. Maybe Crossfire down the line. No onboard video.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. Legit.

Yeah. I'm looking to upgrade to a i5 2500k. Right now I'm gaming on a AMD Phenom II 555BE which has served me well. But now I'm noting that the upgrade needs to be done. So, I don't want to get rid of everything unless I have to. I do have 4GB of Patriot RAM so I don't know if I can use that with the i5 upgrade or not. Might as well bump it up if I need to.

Oh, and another question. Right now I'm only using 586 of 750 on my HDD. Based on that, should I upgrade to a SSD? How big should I go? I don't store many games. The only games I'm playing is Starcraft 2, World of Warcraft, League of Legends and will be getting Diablo 3.
 
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READ the professional review. newegg
Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 $143 shipped
Asus P8Z77-V LK $145 shipped
Gigabyte GA 77X D3H $153 shipped

Without overclocking concerns the Ivy Bridge I5 3570K offers a few more features, largely unneeded at this time.

I would expect a Phenom II board to have DDR3 memory, 4 GB IS OK for gaming

If you can find a discounted 2500K,or 2550K, these would work as well if not better at this time.
For the same price Ivy Bridge since it saves power and has more on chip capabilities (and overclocking is not an issue, so far SB is the better extreme overclocker).
IB supports more bandwith (PCIE 3.0X16 on chip) but nothing uses it yet, supports 1600 memory without overclock (not a big deal), Z77 has more SATA 6/USB3 support between onboard and most Z77 configurations.
The $150 Biostar board also reviewed very well with a couple minor annoyances.

A 120 GB SSD would boost some performance, loading, and transfer rates. Convenient. SSDs do not effect gaming itself, except for rapid changes, multiplayer scene loads. A 120 gb SSD should easily handle oporating system and four games.

You are not listing a CPU cooler, though I suppose stock is acceptable without overclocking.
 
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Ok, so from what I'm understanding is that the 2500k is the better choice for overclockers and the 3570k is for stock and for better power consumption? I did compare a little and it seems that it's just marginal gains stock, but when OC'ed the 2500k is better? If so, then I see why you would recommend me the 3570k instead.

Cool.

If I go with the 3570k and the Asrock Z77 Extreme4, do I just go ahead and get me 8GB of RAM or can I still use my current 4GB instead? It's Patriot 1333 2x2GB. Oh, and I have a CM V6 CPU cooler. I did forget to mention that. Would I be able to use that on the new CPU?
 
What voltage is your ram rated at, if it's 1.5V and you think 4GB is sufficiant then you can keep it. IF it's rated higher than 1.5V then i'd replace it as there is some concern about the impact of higher voltages on the memory controllers of modern processors.

As for the cooler what brackets does it have? 1156 and 1155 use the same hole pattern so if your cooler has a 1156 bracket then it should be ok.
 
Well since you're not overclocking, no reason whatsoever for you to get the 2500K or even the 3570K unless they cost the same as or less than non-K CPUs. So you should be looking at the Core i5 3550 or Core i5 3470. If neither of those CPUs are available when you're buying, the Core i5 2400 is an ok alternative.

Motherboard wise, I still have concerns about AsRock quality. I'd go for a Gigabyte, Asus, or MSI mobo instead. Chipset wise, since you're not overclocking, you would be fine with a motherboard using the H67 or H77 chipsets.

RAM wise, as others have noted, if your RAM is rated above 1.5V, don't bother reusing it with Intel CPUs as it may cause damage to Intel CPUs. So if you need to get new RAM, I recommend this:
$38 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
 
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