More memory or faster CPU

[richag]

I am looking to get a new PC very soon and am looking at something like the following Spec.

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3820 (3.6GHz) 10MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P9X79 PRO: INTEL® SOCKET LG2011
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti - 2 DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)



my question is though would the above spec benefit from a faster CPU (like a 6 Core i7) but with say half the ram? Is the extra Ram (from 8Gb to 16Gb) going to make a lot of difference to the lesser CPU. I have always wondedered where the benefits of extra memory stops and a faster CPU starts?

so in essence would i see better performance in a PC with

Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-3930K (3.2GHz) 12MB Cache CPU and 8 Gb of memory

or

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3820 (3.6GHz) 10MB Cache CPU with 16 Gb of memory

 

[Sie]

depends on the use of the system, if its gaming you might as well go for the 8gig ram and beefier CPU since games don't really need more than 4 gig, if you're going to be doing any production such as music, video or graphical go for the 16gig.

also for RAM if you don't plan on over-clocking there is no reason to get the 1600MHz ram nor a K version CPU so you could possibly go for the i7-3820 and 8gig ram and maybe a beefier GPU if you're aiming to game with this rig

 

[Rakk]

What are you going to be using the PC for?

And as Sie said, unless you're going to be using some very intensive RAM usage software (like rendering, video editing or running multiple VM's), you'll see no difference between having 8GB and 16GB of RAM

 

[Corfate]

Corsair 650W PSU, upgrade the case, drop down to 8GB. Like the others have said, you won't need 16GB unless you do rendering etc.

 

[richag]

thats exactly why i asked the question.i tend to do a lot of things with my computer from office type stuff through 3d gaming (mainly source engine games) and into some photoshop and manipulating a lot of large images from my digital SLR. The image manipulation is where i see things really slow down on my current machine which only has a C2D 8400 and 4 gig of ram. Lightroom and Photoshop struggle a bit in that environment.

thanks for your recommendations it has definitley given me something to think about and i can always upgrade memory at a later date relatively cheaply (not so cheap to upgrade a CPU though lol)

 

[mantadog]

Dropping the RAM to 8GB is a minimal saving vs an upgrade to the CPU.

If your into gaming in any meaningful way i would advise you upgrade from the 560ti, although it's solid it is about to start dating very quickly as new cards come out and the new games take advantage of the more powerful cards.

I would drop to an i7 2600, look at getting a better GPU, drop the RAM to 8GB and see what kind of spec that brings. I would spec one up for you but right now i need to shoot off for a while.

 

[Sie]

one of the key points i would ask tho, do you plan to overclock ?

 

[Sie]

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP (Special Offer)
Free Item
FREE Battlefield 3 with any Nvidia1.5GB GeForce GTX 580!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,137.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-sandy-bridge-pc/


this is something along the lines of what mantadog was thinking, we could probably get some tweaking going on but this spec is based around NOT overclocking,

if you can tell us if your going to overclock and what your budget it we can probably come up with something more suited to your needs if this spec isn't to your taste

 

[richag]

cheers guys and no Overclocking is not something that interests me. and that last spec sort of hits my budget quite spot on really. I am looking ot get my new machine sometime in the next month (well i will order it in the next month) so will keep you posted on what i get.

your help is much appreciated

As for Gfx cards i currently have a 768Mb Geforce 8800 GTX which still handles most things i throw at it so i guess i don't need top of the range graphics it never really seemed to date as i only play at 1680 x 1050 res with most settings on high.

 

[richag]

incidentally whats the difference between a 2600 and a 2600k cpu? is it to do with overclocking?

 

[mantadog]

incidentally whats the difference between a 2600 and a 2600k cpu? is it to do with overclocking?

Yeah spot on, the 'k' means the CPu has an unlocked multiplier, which means unless you overclock your CPU then your 2600k will function exactly as a 2600 would.

 

[richag]

cool i used to be all over this stuff a couple of years ago lol. knew a lot about this sort of thing but it just goes to show take a break from it all and it is like you never knew any of it lol

 

[Sie]

K version chips have the multiplier unlocked so you can OC them, and since you're not overclocking you only need 1333mhz RAM

 

[mantadog]

cool i used to be all over this stuff a couple of years ago lol. knew a lot about this sort of thing but it just goes to show take a break from it all and it is like you never knew any of it lol

Yeah moves so fast, i was the same for a while, took a good few months to get back into the swing.