Upgrade Suggestions

[Stan]

I am selling off my current system (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2193975) and have lost track of what is good these days.

> Intel E8400
> Gigabyte EP45-UD3R
> NVidia GTX 260
> Some good name brand 600 watt power supply
> 8GB
> 2x 256GB SSD (Boot)
> 2 x 2TB WD Black (Storage)
> Dell 30" + Viewsonic 24"
> 3 x Intel Dual Port PCI nic's

I'd like to keep an upgrade within reasonable (<500? is that even realistic). Probably keep the drives/video card, and swap in new mobo; cpu; ram (hopefully 16GB). I5-2500? Whats the ruckus these days on chipsets? I occasionally game (mostly TF2), but prodominantly do development work, or stage test environments in VMware (hence 16gb ram, and a quad core).

To toss something out there --

I5-2500 $209 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115073)
16GB $89 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233190)
Mobo ?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

i5 2500k
Z68 ASRock extreme 3
16 GB RAM 1600mhz

there

 

[Stan]

i5 2500k
Z68 ASRock extreme 3
16 GB RAM 1600mhz

there

Looks perfect. Gracias.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

no problemo

 

[lehtv]

Make sure you don't spend on some 1600MHz CAS8 by accident, it's not worth paying for. 1600MHz CAS9, being only $5 more than 1333MHz, can be worth it but you will be fine with 1333MHz CAS9 too. I'd recommend any of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

Personally I would get 2500K and CM 212+ cooler. That's $35 or 17&#37; more for ~30-40% more performance once overclocked to ~4.5GHz. Even if you OC only to 4GHz it's still worth the investment. But it's really up to you if you want to do that

Agree about the mobo.

 

[mfenn]

I5-2500 $209 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115073)
16GB $89 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233190)
Mobo ?

Looks good. Add an ASRock Z68 Pro3 and call it a day.