Replacing the Rig - Advice Needed

[Lissa]

Here's a build to look at. Now, unless you plan to XFire or SLI, a 500W PSU will be more than sufficient for today's systems that use Intel based processors.

Also, if you don't plan to overclock, you can save a bit of money by changing to a H77 or B75 chipset and go with a non-unlocked processor.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£166.79 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.49 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£69.99 @ Dabs)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£36.23 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£65.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£46.74 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 3GB Video Card (£178.30 @ Dabs)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (£49.83 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS104-06 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Drive (£21.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £692.26
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-28 16:02 BST+0100)


Here's the price difference if you don't overclock:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£142.74 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£51.01 @ Dabs)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£36.23 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£65.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£46.74 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 3GB Video Card (£178.30 @ Dabs)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (£49.83 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS104-06 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Drive (£21.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £624.74
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-28 16:08 BST+0100)

Anothing thing to keep in mind, if you do plan to record game play and the like, you may need to move to a i7 or get a video capture card.

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Ugh.

I've just realised that when I built this PC I decided to save a fair amount of cash and bought a system builder's OEM version of Windows 7. I always assumed I could just reinstall Windows on my new machine, but nope - while you can with regular versions of the OS, apparently you can't with an OEM.

May as well fall into the same trap twice. Win7 OEMs are about the same price as Win8 OEMs, but despite everything I am still leery about installing Windows 8. Funny thing is that the 64-bit and 32-bit versions are also roughly the same price. Pennies between the two.

Last time I bought a 32-bit OS. I'm not sure if I should have gone for a 64-bit one. Now that I'm faced with the choice again I'm still not sure. Bear in mind this rig would be used mainly for gaming, internet browsing, and my sister's teaching work. So I have a few more questions for this thread:

1) Would a 64-bit OS work with the computer I'm about to assemble: Intel Core i5 3570k, 16GB RAM, yadda yadda yadda? Would it just fail to work completely, or would I see a performance hit or, dare I say it, a performance boost?
2) What would I be able to do with Win7 64 assuming the answer to the previous question goes that way? I know WoW has a 64-bit client, but I've kinda fallen out of love with the game. A few other games might be able to run in 64-bit mode, but I'm not sure which. But if someone lists something snazzy I might be able to do with a 64-bit OS, I may jump on it.
3) What would I not be able to do with Win7 64? Are there any major hardware/software compatibility issues that I should be aware of?

I'm doing a little research on the side, and so far I get the impression that if I'm going with 16GB of RAM that I will need a 64-bit OS. Sigh. I'm beginning to long for the days when all I had to do was just reach for my copy of 98SE and install it on whatever I pleased...

In fact...

4) Dual- or tri-booting Win7/98/Linux: Am I insane?

Actually, you can use the OEM license again. You just need to install it and when it asks you to activate, it will say it was already activated, but will give you a call in number to re-activate it under the new machine instead of the old machine (the old machine will effectively become inactive at that point).

Also, do not buy the 32 bit version, you will be locked to a maximum of 4G of RAM, spend the extra and get 64 bit.