Need advice

[Checkm8]

So... I am not a hardware guy. I know enough to be dangerous but I am not guru in hardware.

I am currently in the process of wanting to spend a little money.

I was thinking.. either upgrade my almost 3 year old CPU and Mobo.

Currently I am rocking:

GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler

They are both still working fine but I am American and want more more more!! I want to stick with Intel for the processor and I really have no preference for mobos as I have no knowledge of them. I would probably get a new CPU cooler as well and just give my old one away with the old CPU.

My current system has:
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
2x Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
320 GB Hitachi HDD (backup Drive)
HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
Windows 7 Professional 64bit

I am thinking a quad core processor, of course. Most like an i5 or i7 (leaning more towards i7). I do not not know the best combinations here. For now, I really have no budget constraint but would not mind seeing and low cost to high cost evaluation.

[Boss Llama]

CPU:

The difference in gaming performance between a $200 CPU and a $600-$1000 CPU right now is almost completely negligible - a couple percentage points here and there, for the most part. Unless you are an extreme benchmarker and overclocking addict (which it sounds like you're not), there is no reason under the sun to get a super-pricey CPU.

The best deal right now is probably something like an i5-2500, which for $210, gives you functionally the same gaming experience as the $1000 hexacore i7 extreme chips.

If your heart is set on an i7, an i7-2600 ($300) will drink the milkshake of anything coming down the pipe with room to spare.

If you really want to go insane, and buy something Tom's calls "past the point of reason" (which they define as spending more than $230 on a CPU in the current market), the $600 i7-3930K is what they currently say is the best gaming CPU at any price. That said, they don't recommend doing it unless you're a lottery winner or something.

MoBo:

The motherboard is the heart and soul of the system, and is where it's more likely to be worth dumping some serious cash. That said, even the best motherboards don't cost nearly so much as the supposedly top-end CPUs. I personally like ASUS motherboards, though I know people advocate readily for others as well.

On the basic side (avoiding the cheapest by several models) would be something like the P8H77-V for $140. It has a PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot, SATA 3, gigabit LAN, and handles your type of RAM up to 32GB. All the things necessary for a good experience are there. It apparently isn't a good overclocker's board, though it doesn't sound like you're in to that.

On the high-end front, some like a SABERTOOTH Z77, at $240, is a crazy powerful solution. Has the same type of stuff as the previous, but more of it, and also has eSATA, more modern (future-resistant) peripheral slots, and a pretty amazing thermal "armor" set-up.

Cooler:

Call me a heretic, but if you aren't overclocking your CPU, I don't feel that you need an aftermarket CPU cooler. The HSF that comes with the i5 and i7 chips is plenty good, and there's no need to change it out unless vanity or tweaking demands it. In the decade I've been building gaming computers, I've never felt the need to use one, because I don't O/C stuff.

[Checkm8]

Yeah, I will go the route of better mother board and less expensive Processor. I don't overclock but I keep my room a compfy 82 degrees minimum. I am always freezing unless its that warm around me. The cpu cooler that came with i5 was horrible. I had to replace that junk. I would stress test my cpu and watch it just climb past 90 degrees Celsius so I got the cpu cooler and never saw it go over 75 on a full stress test. So, I can find a cooler as thats is just matching up comparability measurements.

I will just say concentrate on a damn good motherboard and pretty decent CPU. Anything over $400 for a CPU, in my opinion, is re-gosh-darn-diclous and I will not do that. So, I do have a budget on that.

[metacide]

I would recommend the i5 2500K over the i5 2500. I run the 2500K on my system and love it. When I looked into it (month's ago now to be fair) the 2500K was a comparable price and had better performance in some key areas according to Tom's Hardware guide.

[Boss Llama]

Only difference between a 2500 and a 2500K is that the K model has the multiplier unlocking for overclocking. They are completely identical otehrwise. A 2550K is slightly better than a 2500/K in terms of performance (100 MHz faster clock) - that's the one Tom's currently chatters about I believe.

[Mortis462]

With the temps you like to keep your room good aftermarket cooler is a must, as you have already found out. I am a big fan of aftermarket cooling and high quality thermal paste. I still recommend the CoolerMaster V8 if you can stuff that beast in your case. The lower you can keep the temp on the CPU the longer it will last. I also like to future proof as much as possible and also might be how much I work with video but I'm an i7 guy all the way. Upcoming software is only going to become more an more multi-thread focused so I would always opt for the i7 over any i5.

Just one nerds opinion in this sea of nerdyness.

On a side note I think that it's interesting that any CPU over ~$230 these days is considered high price. My current PC is also 3 years old and I got a deal on my i7 for $300, heck I spent more that $230 on my RAM, of course I know this is the tech world but still think it's interesting.

[Boss Llama]

On a side note I think that it's interesting that any CPU over ~$230 these days is considered high price. My current PC is also 3 years old and I got a deal on my i7 for $300, heck I spent more that $230 on my RAM, of course I know this is the tech world but still think it's interesting.

I agree entirely I don't know what Intel was thinking, but I love it. They out-competed themselves and released a ~$250 CPU that was better than their own ~$1000 CPU, and have rendered their own high-end lines completely pointless with the outstanding quality of their basic stuff. I have absolutely no problem with this, I'm just curious about it from a business perspective. You can buy a new motherboard, RAM, and superior CPU for less than the cost of simply upgrading your previous CPU to an inferior level. It almost makes up for the present absurdity in hard drives

[MrBlah]

Keep in mind Intel's top end are 6 and 8 core HT processors. That's some serious power. I have a feeling their $250 bit was to put stress on AMD. Either to actually do something, or to show AMD that they can price it where ever they want, you will never win.

Checkm8, I would get a Core i7. As for mobos... it's anyones game. Gigabyte, ASUS, Intel... they all make good stuff. Just make sure you get USB 3.0 and see if you can find one that can support 16x PCIx 2.0 or 2.1 on TWO slots, not 16x + 8x.

I think you should invest a bit more time and research into finding a good cooler. Basically... water cooling is nice, but it's high maintenance(but 30-35C at max load is standard), and good air cooling puts extra stress on your motherboard due to the weight of the cooler(really, not a big deal). It's all about total fin surface area. The more the better. Make sure a fan is moving air directly over the cooler as well. Forced convection = a mound better than natural convection. Really, though, water cooling doesn't provide super benefits over a well set up air cooling system. It just moves the location of heat transfer to a different location(like outside the case), which in your case, at 82F in the room, may prove to be especially useful as in case temperatures will go up with video cards like you have.

[kallous]

These guys know a lot more than I do about hardware. (In fact, Mortis helped me build my current rig almost 2.5 years ago... still rockin'!) Having said that, I have built a few machines in my day. My philosophy is usually to get as much cool tech in my machine as I can afford... so I won't be thinking about another upgrade in a few months. I'm looking for performance and longevity, but on the upper edge of value... If I had to buy a CPU MB Combo today, I'd get the i7-2700k along with an Asus Mobo (just my personal preference). When I'm picking out a MB, it comes down to features. If you took just a few minutes and wrote down your MB requirements, you'd be surprised how quickly you could narrow down your MB choices. Mfr? Socket type, SATA speed, eSata?, USB 3.0? Memory Type, PCI E 2.0, 2.1, 3.0? Onboard video? WiFi? RAID capabilities? and there are many other options. Once I know these answers, I just use the filtering tools @ Newegg to narrow it down, then start reading reviews. For my requirements, this is the MB I'd be leaning toward if I were buying one today: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131792 the Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3. It's very similar to the one Al suggested @ $140, but this one supports eSATA and has a different chipset (it also currently has free shipping PLUS a rebate! Did I mention I like value?)

As an aside... I've got that Coolermaster V8 Mortis talked about. It is a monster, but it does perform!

Wish I was building a new machine...

[Clay Pigeon]

If you're not planning heavily overclocking you may want to look into an ivybridge i5 (or i7 if that's your thing). IB chips use less power at stock, have slightly higher stock speeds, and have slightly higher IPC than SB chips. However, they are power hogs when overclocking, compared to SB.

[bluntspoon]

Check, what are you using your computer for?

Edit: I'm just thinking if you had said this is what I used it for, and I have $500 to spend, what would give me the best results?

And I'm wondering if the advice would be the same.

You have a pretty nice system. (Still)

The lack of SSD is disturbing.