PC GPU died, need help with what to go for next

[Dhalmel]

Ram is so cheap now, there's no point in getting less than 8gig.

Also the i5 3470 is cheaper, newer and better than a i5 2500.

This, at most you will spend $15 more to go from 4GB to 8GB depending on that rated speed and latency. If you play BF3 it can and will use more of that extra memory. 8GB is the new gaming standard. I have 16GB but I actually use that (hover around 12GB use often) but you will definitely won't need that for any video game any time soon, or till at least 32bit windows is finally dead.


Speaking of speed and latency, on SB chips don't bother going over 1600MHz @ CL9 latency or on IB 1866MHz @ CL9 latency. Anymore adds stress on your CPU's IMC and can and probably will effect your possible CPU overclocking result.


As for I7 brand, ignore it unless you need the the extra threads for video encoding, folding, 3D editing, or bit mining. Stick to either the 2500k or the 3570k, to which i personally say the 3570k for it's lower power consumption and PCI-E 3 feature.

You will most likely get a Z77 motherboard and I've seen alot of users have issues using SB chips with Z77 on all brands, (MSI, Gigabyte,ASUS) in particular with OCing, and S-states (hibernation, sleep mode), another reason to just get the 3570k to avoid compatibility problems.


I also see you're interested in AMD, if you're going that route don't bother with FX "Bulldozer", they're slower than their previous generation Thuban/Phenom II clock to clock. FX is widely known in the OC community using an absurd amount of power use when overclocked also.

For AMD stick to either Thuban X6 or the Phenom II X4 960T (Thuban chip with 4 cores, has similar overclocking and better IMC compared to Deneb) or 970.


and lastly

BUILD IT YOURSHELF AND SAVE.