Hey all.

I think my processor is damaged. It's running between 80-90C all the time. It has a thermal limit of 95C. It has shut itself down once already to protect itself. I get overheat warnings constantly.

I'm thinking of getting a new computer.

What's the best deal from a value for money perspective right now? Intel i5? AMD Phenom?

Should I bother building my own again? Should I just get a pre-build?

I'm looking to spend about £1500 on a new computer, as that's what my current one cost me back in 2009.

FYI my current specs are: Phenom X4 965 3.4GHz (sometimes underclocked to 2GHz when I get scared), 8GB DDR3 1066MHz, Radeon 5770 1GB, ASUS Crosshair Formula MB (with no spare parts), Tagan 1.1kW PSU (with no spare cables), Lian Li-PC P80 (with no spare screws or accessories)

Meh. Done.

Might aswell post in case anyone is interested.

Intel processors are pretty much destroying AMD unless you have very little money to spend. i5 is the best value. The main differences with i7 are a small bit of cache and the hyperthreading, which is only useful is a select set of applications. Ivy Bridge is a bit faster than Sandy Bridge, though doesn't overclock quite as well, due to the new "3D transistors" creating a higher heat density (though this only becomes an issue for extreme overclocks that require water cooling) - Both will overclock about 1GHz easily on decent air cooling. Ivy Bridge also supports PCI-E 3.0, which is twice as fast as 2, though currently not needed (except for maybe a GTX690, or SLI GTX8680s).

z77 is a brand new chipset to go with Ivy Bridge, no real idea on performance, but it seems to be better than the z68 boards.

Graphics wise, nVidia are dominating the top end, with both the GTX680 being the best single GPU card and the GTX690 being the only dual card, though they both cost a fortune (£450 and £900 respectively). Announcements of the lower end GTX6 series is expected to come soon, with some leaks on the GTX670 looking promising, though no price is known yet.

SSD is pretty much a must, and their prices are now reasonable. Crucial M4 is the go to drive, and is currently about £90 for the 128GB version. Samsung have released a very good SSD, but it costs a fair bit more. Their are rumours of a new Crucial drive due to the release of a new Marvell controller.

Rest of a system is pretty much self choice. RAM is cheap, so just get as much as you want, generally the 1600MHz stuff atm. PSUs don't need to be too powerful, maybe 650W for a single card, 850W for a dual card, might need a bit more for dual GTX690s.

Also for those interested...

I purchased the 3770K i7 (3.5GHz), Asus Maximus Gene V Z77 mobo, 16GB of Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz, and a CoolerMaster V8 CPU cooler. I'm not going to overclock anything, just wanted a bit of an upgrade and a 'cooler' system overall.

Keeping my Radeon 5770 because... well, it works fine, and I hardly use the graphics card anyway (EQ2 is CPU intensive) - and the real reason is because if I get a new card, I need a new PSU, since I don't have access to any of the modular cables, turning this whole thing in to a rather expensive overhaul. I have an SSD already, although it is used purely for Windows and EQ2. Everything else goes on the other drive.

I must say that Asus' Maximus Gene series of motherboards are hugely impressive, it's a shame they started doing them about a year after I built this comp. Looking forward to getting that exact motherboard when I build my new computer, finally.

He ordered the components this morning, he doesn't even have them yet

Stop poking holes in my flawless logic!

Picks tomorrow when the parts arrive

Just realised its a micro atx lol.

For what you've ordered or what you actually need/had?

You seriously didn't realize before you bought it? Didn't even look at any pictures?

Unless you need the ports, though, it doesn't matter - it's one of the best performing z77 boards out there.

It's fine, it's just funny I didn't realise!

I'm reading the reviews of the things I bought now. They all seem really good.

I briefly looked at a picture, but I guess I wasn't really looking...

Out of interest, did you buy 4x4GB or 2x8GB of RAM?

This thread needs more updates

Is there any difference?

The amount of slots you use (i.e. upgradability, not that it matters with 16GB), the cost, and timings on 8GB modules are a bit slack atm. There may also be minor issues with running memory in all 4 slots aswell (stability, usually).

2x2x4GB

You're right. However, my dad had a stroke and he is in hospital. I'm not going to get much time online as he's not doing very well. We're all hoping for the best but it's a very sad time. We need someone to be with him at all times. Not had much sleep recently.

Jesus Aaron, hope you and him are holding up alright!

That's pretty terrible news, I hope everything turns out alright.

as do i

Thank you for your wishes. Unfortunately things did not turn out for the best, but we will celebrate my dads life as he would have wanted. He had a stroke on Monday night, and he fought really, really hard every second until the very end where we were with him and holding his hand. He was surrounded by those who loved him the most. We will always miss him. Luckily I have his hairline so I will see him every time I look in the mirror, and I will be proud that he was my dad and the only dad I could have ever wished for.

We need to keep busy and put our minds on something!

And I think I promised picks so...

I'm not too savy on most of the technical details on that last screenshot, but that temperature seems pretty good!

Temperatures are pretty meaningless unless it's loaded

Why did you mount the cooler going top to bottom rather than front to back?