Time for an upgrade, need some thoughts

[Zenoth]

Hey,

So I got some money finally for an upgrade, I'll change my motherboard, CPU and memory, I'll keep the rest intact, for now at least (and for a few months to come). I might go for a GT300 in SLi setup next year, but for now no GPU upgrades are planned (simply not enough money for that anyway). As my new motherboard I finally ended up choosing the Gigabyte's GA-P55-UD6, with a Core i7 860, and 4GB (2X2GB) of G.SKILL's F3-16000CL9-4GBTD. I went with that memory because, first of all, it was shown on the official Gigabyte's compatibility memory list for the motherboard I've chosen, and amongst the DDR3 2000 models shown it happened to be that one from G.SKILL that was in stock and at lowest price on the web-site I am going to buy my stuff from.

I would like to know what you guys think of such a build? I am planning to keep it for a minimum of two years, maybe three or four depending on my finances and the actual performance I'll be getting then. I'm primarily a gamer,, but I also do some very basic video encoding and decoding (audio as well), but nothing else really (other than of course browsing the web and watching movies), no photoshoping, no 3D modeling creation, etc. I would simply be curious to read about your opinions. To me it seems "good enough", but I haven't upgraded to a new motherboard + memory + CPU trio since... well... since late 2007 when I got the system I have in my signature (except for the GPU which I did upgrade quite recently from my previous G80 GTS 640MB).

Thanks.

EDIT: By the way I won't be over-clocking, if it matters to consider.

 

[Ayah]

DDR3-2000 won't be too much use to you if you're not overclocking. Just stick with some cheap lifetime-warranty brand-name ram.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: Ayah
DDR3-2000 won't be too much use to you if you're not overclocking. Just stick with some cheap lifetime-warranty brand-name ram.

I see, well even without over-clocking in mind, fast RAM would ensure fast enough operation for the next two years or three, no? And it's not that expensive, they cost $129.99 right now (Canadian dollars), which in my book isn't that much for memory, I paid about the same price back then when I bought the memory I have in my sig, and it was already considered "slow" last year, not that I regret it, but just speaking about the principle here (future proofing).

In about... say... three years from now, I think that having DDR3 2000 instead of... say... DDR3 1600 could help a little bit, especially if I'm not over-clocking. Well that's how I see it. I will consider it though, I'll keep looking at the prices and memory speed differences, if I notice a worthy change I'll mention it here.

Thanks.

 

[Ayah]

Originally posted by: Zenoth

Originally posted by: Ayah
DDR3-2000 won't be too much use to you if you're not overclocking. Just stick with some cheap lifetime-warranty brand-name ram.

I see, well even without over-clocking in mind, fast RAM would ensure fast enough operation for the next two years or three, no? And it's not that expensive, they cost $129.99 right now (Canadian dollars), which in my book isn't that much for memory, I paid about the same price back then when I bought the memory I have in my sig, and it was already considered "slow" last year, not that I regret it, but just speaking about the principle here (future proofing).

In about... say... three years from now, I think that having DDR3 2000 instead of... say... DDR3 1600 could help a little bit, especially if I'm not over-clocking. Well that's how I see it. I will consider it though, I'll keep looking at the prices and memory speed differences, if I notice a worthy change I'll mention it here.

Thanks.

The increase in performance will probably be <3%, and even then only in synthetic benchmarks if any. NCIX had the OCZ 6GB DDR3-1600 kit for like 110$ after MIR.

If you want to use memory that's rated at a higher speed than the bus speed of the processor (stock or overclocked, whatever it is currently), you'll need to use a higher memory divider than stock so that you can run the memory at an overclocked frequency. (overclocked being above bus speed)

 

[lopri]

Fast RAM doesn't run fast by default.. (in this case DDR3-2000) It will run at the speed you've specified. Otherwise it'll be DDR3-1333 per Intel's specification.

Said that, if price difference is small then yeah there is no reason not to opt for higher grade memory. Just make sure the voltages are not too high.

 

[Zenoth]

Ah, those memory specifications, indeed, I completely forgot about that, serves me right. Well I'll take that into consideration for sure, in fact right now I'm looking for DDR3 1600 brands and their prices (within the compatibility list from Gigabyte, that is, but there's a good number of choices, G.SKILL, Corsair, Kingston and OCZ are the recurring ones, good thing too). After all if I can save $40 or so... why not huh? Well thanks guys, I guess that pretty much sums up all I needed to know.

 

[coreyb]

May I ask why you wouldn't be overclocking?

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: coreyb
May I ask why you wouldn't be overclocking?

Simply put? Because I suck at over-clocking, and some of my attempts resulted in corrupted OS files forcing me to format and re-install, or to create partitions specific for over-clocking tests, at which point it just proves I'm a rookie, and even then...

I'm fine with stock settings anyway, plus it guarantees stability as long as the components are compatible with each others and the power supply is sufficient and of good quality, also it ensures that the life span of the components is not decreased, additionally I won't need a third-party cooling solution, saving me money in return... oh, also stock speed generates less heat, requires less voltages, which in long-term may also save me some money from my electricity bill.

And that's about why, and... well, over-clocking is just a hobby, it's not like I'd feel that my computer is "incomplete" due to not over-clocking it.