Selecting hardware for upgrades

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Elantos

New Member
Hey all, I'm planning on upgrading my motherboard, processor and memory soon (since it's now crashing very often, the memory might be a little buggy) but I'm having difficulty in choosing what I want. I'm thinking of either getting i7 920 or 860 with their respective motherboards and memory but I'm not sure what to go for.

So, to start with, what's the difference bewteen the two? The only thing I've picked up on is that the 9xx series are the high end series but the 860 is clocked higher than the 920. The bus speeds are higher though for the 920 but I don't really know what difference that makes.

Secondly with regards to memory, is a 1333mhz triple channel (for the 1366 socket) better than say a 2000mhz dual channel (for the 1156)? The motherboard I might get with the 1366 socket is this one :

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165434

I have a limited option since my case is matx. It only supports up to 1333 mhz o.c (and I assume o.c means overclocked). The only other matx is the asus :

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/162039

It supports higher frequency ram but it's a little pricy I think.
For the 860, I think I might go for this :

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173533

With either a 1600mhz or even 2000mhz ram. Does that sound ok? I ask that because when Iwas looking at the specs for the processors, there's a section called memory and listed under it is ddr3 1066/1333:

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=41316

Is this the cap on the frequency of ram I need?

Any help and opinions would be much appreciated to steer me in the right direction. Thanks.
 
I7 860 is slightly faster than i7 920.
Whether you should get i7 860 or i7 920, it all depends on if you are going to run crossfire/ SLi. The P55 Mobo do not support Crossfire/ SLi at full speed. IMO, unless you are running something with High Res. like 2560 x 1600, a high end single video card could handle the job.

Since you are going to use small case, running crossfire/ sli is not a good option due to ventilation. I suggest you go for i7 860 + P55 + single video card.

RAM speed would depends on your mobo. i suggest go for DDR3 1600 as DDR3 2000 are expensive.
Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1800MHz HyperX Memory Kit CL8(8-8-8-24) @ £88, not a bad price compare with others
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169277

For Mobo: I suggest get the cheap Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 instead.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173542
 
Elantos said:
Cool, thanks. I think I might do that. What's the difference between the two mobos?
The kingston memory is also out of stock :(. Is there a different one you would recommend?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173114
These look good but I don't know whether they are compatible or not.
Click to expand...

I would get this, due to the price...
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173122

Which 2 mobo are you refering to?
 
daisymtc said:
I would get this, due to the price...
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173122

Which 2 mobo are you refering to?
Click to expand...

Thanks, I think I might go for these ones instead then.

The two gigabyte ones. the one you suggest and the one I found. All I see different is with the 2 pci x16 slot, one of them only runs at 4x (irrelavent to me since I won't be using crossfire) and a 12 phase power...what does that mean?
 
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