Long Overdue Upgrade Needed

[Cutthroat]

My current system...

Asus P5Q-Pro
Intel Q9450
2GB DDR2-800
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Asus Xonar DX
1 x 150GB VelociRaptor SATA II
1 x 300GB VelociRaptor SATA II
1 x 750GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA II
Corsair TX750 power supply
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit

Now I believe my motherboard is dying a slow death, I have had issues for years with it that aren't worth mentioning, but in the last year the PC has failed to boot with 2 high end video cards (GTX 8800 & GTX 280) and recently won't hold more than 1 RAM module and won't boot if the memory voltage is below 2.1v. Now I am frequently crashing and often it refuses to POST without waiting 10-15 minutes and it resets CMOS.

I guess it is time for an upgrade anyway, but I've been out of the loop since I built this one. I've done some research here and I think I can get away with the following for a relatively cheap upgrade...

Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H - $149.99 (bundled with RAM)
Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3-1600MHz (included with motherboard)
Intel i5 2500K - $209.99
OCZ Vertex 3 SATA III 120GB SSD - $159.99
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM - $119.99

All CDN$ and I haven't shopped around much. I think I should be able to keep everything else.

I rarely play graphics intensive games anymore, and it's doubtful I will overclock (much), but I like to have the option open if I decide to.

Does anybody see any glaring errors with my choices? Any comments are welcome.

 

[mnewsham]

Nothing looks too bad, if you look for sales im sure you can find a better SSD, and I personally do not like OCZ so I wouldn't buy them, but that's up to you really.

 

[Cutthroat]

Thanks mnewsham, I'll keep my eye out for something cheaper but why don't you like OCZ? They seem to perform well in benchmarks for their price.

I'm thinking maybe I should get a i5 3570K instead since they should be available by the time I buy, any thoughts on that? I think that motherboard should be compatible, but I'm not 100% positive, can anyone confirm? Also I'll need a CPU heatsink probably, any recommendations?

 

[mnewsham]

Thanks mnewsham, I'll keep my eye out for something cheaper but why don't you like OCZ? They seem to perform well in benchmarks for their price.

I'm thinking maybe I should get a i5 3570K instead since they should be available by the time I buy, any thoughts on that? I think that motherboard should be compatible, but I'm not 100% positive, can anyone confirm? Also I'll need a CPU heatsink probably, any recommendations?

If you can find a better deal on the 2500k take it, Ivy bridge only adds about 5-10% performance clock per clock (if that) so it isn't worth too much extra in my opinion. I don't like OCZ because they have consistently been releasing products months early and basically using first adopters as beta testers for the firmware and if you complain they basically tell you to F-off. Not the greatest customer appreciation in my opinion. The drives are good, the company sucks in my opinion.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

If you can find a better deal on the 2500k take it, Ivy bridge only adds about 5-10% performance clock per clock (if that) so it isn't worth too much extra in my opinion. I don't like OCZ because they have consistently been releasing products months early and basically using first adopters as beta testers for the firmware and if you complain they basically tell you to F-off. Not the greatest customer appreciation in my opinion. The drives are good, the company sucks in my opinion.

For stability and reliability go intel

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you insist on Sandforce, go Mushkin.

 

[lehtv]

Crucial M4 is only $149 on amazon.ca. More reliable than sandforce, and also faster where it matters (small random reads)

Is the Vengeance RAM bundled with the motherboard low-profile or with tall heatspreaders? The latter will get in the way of a lot of CPU coolers

 

[azeem40]

The Mushkin Enhanced Chronos 120GB is a Sandforce-based drive and has no complaints of issues, so I don't think you should count out all Sandforce-based drives.

 

[mfenn]

Crucial M4 is only $149 on amazon.ca. More reliable than sandforce, and also faster where it matters (small random reads)

Is the Vengeance RAM bundled with the motherboard low-profile or with tall heatspreaders? The latter will get in the way of a lot of CPU coolers

Agree. The build looks fine otherwise.

 

[mfenn]

I'm thinking maybe I should get a i5 3570K instead since they should be available by the time I buy, any thoughts on that? I think that motherboard should be compatible, but I'm not 100% positive, can anyone confirm? Also I'll need a CPU heatsink probably, any recommendations?

Yes, the Z77 boards support Ivy Bridge. My advice is to get Ivy Bridge if its in stock when you want to buy, otherwise Sandy Bridge is just fine. As for HSF, you only really need something like a Hyper 212 for a mild OC.