What to spend £300 on?

cuffylad

cuffylad

cuffylad

Associate
Joined
6 Feb 2011
Posts
1,260
Location
At your mums
OK guys, I have come into some spare cash (£300) and want to do something with my pc. My build is below and is mainly used for gaming. My question is what would you spend the £300 on to improve the system?

I already have a new mouse & mat, keyboard, headset and also have a sound card so don't need them. I run dual screens and have thought about 2 nice new monitors but wanted some other options first ;)

Sapphire HD 7850 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM
Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive -
Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler
OcUK Value 300Mbps NWP300E Wireless-N PCI Express Adapter
 
then go away for a weekend and blow it, pc doesn't need it yet, unless you want to replace something just for the sake of it

a 3gb card wont gain you that much for an extra £300 spent
a faster larger sdd means a 1 second max faster loading into windows, wouldn't blow me away tbh

a larger normal hdd, only if space is needed etc, so you could replace you 1 and 2tb with a 3tb but thats only £100 unless you want a pair, still leaves £100, buy the lady something nice and you may get lucky :)
 
cuffylad said:
I was thinking this myself, but you know whats its like when you have spare cash burning a hole in your pocket ;)
Click to expand...

It's the 'sensible' option :D

I'd spend it myself. A steam buying extravaganza? Not sure what your build is like but you could neaten it all up with custom cables etc?
Monitors is always an option since you don't really 'need' to upgrade anything.

Water cool it all? That's what I'll be doing once I get the cash after I've built my new rig.
 
olivier renault said:
Save your money. There'll be a time when you'll wish you had £300 in your pocket.
Click to expand...

but...but...but.....I know u guys are right and I should save my cash.

However I do like a little project and it would cheer me up in this depressing month lol

Maybe watercool my pc as It would not be that expensive would it and I could also save a little cash as well?
 
cuffylad said:
but...but...but.....I know u guys are right and I should save my cash.

However I do like a little project and it would cheer me up in this depressing month lol

Maybe watercool my pc as It would not be that expensive would it and I could also save a little cash as well?
Click to expand...

meh proper watercooling cpu and gpu would take over 200 approaching 3.

you could do a cpu only loop as its not really worth overclocking a 7850 (EDIT: watercooling to overclock). better to spend the money on a 200 pound 7950.
 
Last edited:
Perhaps upgrade the RAM (to 12-16GB or so) then get the full version of FRAPS and buy Sony Vegas:
You could make some fantastic HD game videos with some fantastic effects/transitions/titles etc:D
 
Howitzer said:
Perhaps upgrade the RAM (to 12-16GB or so) then get the full version of FRAPS and buy Sony Vegas:
You could make some fantastic HD game videos with some fantastic effects/transitions/titles etc:D
Click to expand...

I quite like the idea of making 1080p video's. I have dxtory already and have done a few tests and the results seem pretty good.

I presume adding another stick of ram would improve my recording capabilities?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-115-GL

^^ one of them?
 
cuffylad said:
I quite like the idea of making 1080p video's. I have dxtory already and have done a few tests and the results seem pretty good.

I presume adding another stick of ram would improve my recording capabilities?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-115-GL

^^ one of them?
Click to expand...

Wait till the 8GB kit comes on offer fella. You want to add another dual channel kit or the RAM will run in single channel mode and you will be worse off really. 16GB is the max you can use on the home premium windows licence btw.

I really hope you have overclocked the 7850 GPU, whoever said it's not worth it is a bit of a donut to be fair. The GPU overclocks very well, I'm guessing you have OC'd the CPU atleast ;)

The Z9 plus is a great starters case (I have one too). Not really ideal for watercooling though as you can't mount large rads in it. If you want a cheap little project, maybe consider cutting out the side panel mesh and doing a D.I.Y window panel or upgrade the case completely to something larger. You can salvage a lot from the Z9 as it has 4 fans and the P4/8 extension cable. If you left the non LED fan in the case, I'm sure you could sell it on to get a few quid back
 
Ah thanks guys, so THIS is what Im looking for?

I am ashamed to admit I have never overclocked anything :confused: Always worried I will break something tbh.

But as Im looking for a project I think that should be my next task. As well as making 1080p gaming video's as well, Im presuming overclocking gpu and cpu will help in this department as well?
 
cuffylad said:
Ah thanks guys, so THIS is what Im looking for?

I am ashamed to admit I have never overclocked anything :confused: Always worried I will break something tbh.

But as Im looking for a project I think that should be my next task. As well as making 1080p gaming video's as well, Im presuming overclocking gpu and cpu will help in this department as well?
Click to expand...

Yes mate that's the kitty. Hold fire though as it often comes on offer (£35ish or under), you have just missed some great offers on RAM kits. Bide your time as at 100 posts you will qualify for free P&P ;)

Overclocking the CPU is dead easy. All you really need do is up the multiplier in the BIOS. You will get the i5K over 4Ghz easily, you need software like prime95 (for stability testing) and HWmonitor (to watch the temps). For the GPU use MSI afterburner, do some googling or search the forum and you will see how easy it is to tweak more from your kit for free :D
 
Thanks Hono, I'm all over this like a tramp on a bag of chips!

So you keep HWmonitor open while using the pc and keep a eye on temps all the time?
 
Personally I think you are unlikely to need more than 8gb in the time it takes for you to reach your next cpu upgrade.
Id sell the 7850 and get a pair of 7950's
 
breadturbo said:
Personally I think you are unlikely to need more than 8gb in the time it takes for you to reach your next cpu upgrade.
Id sell the 7850 and get a pair of 7950's
Click to expand...

Well the Z77-D3H doesn't run the PCI-Lanes in sync so running two 7850s or even 7950s is a waste of cash ;)

cuffylad said:
Thanks Hono, I'm all over this like a tramp on a bag of chips!

So you keep HWmonitor open while using the pc and keep a eye on temps all the time?
Click to expand...

You're welcome bud. I personally use OCCT and run the linpack test. OCCT has a built in temp guage with other useful info included but I do have HWmonitor and Prime95 installed as well. Head into the BIOS check the memory settings, if you can enable an XMP profile for the RAM do so, to get the best timings. The multiplier (or ratio) for the CPU if you set it at 40 would give you a 4Ghz (100x40=4000mhz) overclock.

Do some reading to build some confidence but it really isn't hard. I'll link my review of the Hydra pro controller HERE as you can see the OCCT and HWmonitor screens near the end of the review. I'll have to leave you to it as a delivery has just arrived........ so I have a rig to build ;)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom