Maximum PC

Greetings all!

Okay, since it's been like three years since my last upgrade, and I'm experiencing annoying issues that I can only attribute to a hardware issue somewhere, it's time to get a new CPU/MB/RAM for my system.

The fact that my last build has lasted this long is a comment on the state of the tech, I think... it used to be that when I did my annual upgrades, the slowdown would be noticeable... these days I'm still playing new games with the graphics cranked up and I'm not noticing any problems. I bet hardware vendors aren't happy with that! No reason to upgrade until parts stop working... heh...

Anyway, I was looking at the new recommendation section of the latest issue and I was going to ask folks about what they though of the "middle" parts. I'd even entered the parts into my newegg shopping cart... for some reason, I thought they would persist until I either cleared them or placed the order.

Alas, that's not true... my newegg shopping cart is empty. And, I can no longer find the issue... I likely dumped it after I finished it...

Anyone have one handy and can share the recommendations? Or, can make their own? I wasn't too happy with that $330 motherboard... seems a bit steep, but I went by MaxPC's recommendations for my last several builds and I've never been disappointed... still, if the Brain Trust says, "no, buy this less expensive one", I'd be happy to hear it... *grin*

Thanks!

What's your current build?

It's an Intel Core i7 920 on an EVGA X58 3X SLI motherboard with six gigs or OCZ "High Performance Triple Channel DDR3"

The first upgrade you'd find worth your while is a GPU upgrade.

A helpful member was kind enough to send me a scan of the page from the magazine...

So anyway, the recommended parts for the "performance" computer are an Intel i7-3820k CPU, an ASUS Sabertooth X79 motherboard, and 16gig of Corsair Vengeance DDR3/1600 RAM.

Also a NZXT Havik 120 CPU cooler...

What do folks think? Does that sound like a pretty decent setup... although now that I look, I can;t seem to find the i7-3820K in stock anywhere... just the i7-3820. Anyone know what the difference is?

Also, that cooler... does anyone have any experience with it? Is it reasonably quiet?

Thanks!