Layman looking to upgrade a 5-year-old Overclockers PC

Cynicus

Cynicus

Cynicus

Associate
Joined
31 May 2013
Posts
8
Location
Aberdeen
Hi all - I'd just like to start with a warning that I am not extremely clued up on some of the technical issues related to building a PC so please consider me a layman (or a noob).

I bought a prebuilt PC from Overclockers in 2008, which I am looking to upgrade on my own - I'm at work at the moment but I will try and remember its particulars:

-Intel Xeon X3350 Quad Core CPU which was overclocked from 2.66 to 3.something.
-Nvidia Geforce GTX 280
-Some kind of water cooling system that subsequently broke after warranty ran out which I replaced with another one (whose name I can't remember).
-Asus Rampage Formula motherboard
-Antec 900 case
-Corsair TX 750 PSU
-4 gigs of RAM, don't know any details.

Not sure if there's anything else to add there. If I'm missing some relevant info that may help you to help me, please let me know!

Basically, I'd like to give this setup a good spruce up, and though I do have a budget it's not set in stone - I am happy to buy things that are a good deal or a wise investment.

What advice can you guys give? Some notes:

1. I'm bored of my Antec 900 case which is too flashy and has blue LEDS aplenty - I have been looking at a Fractal Design R4 case.
2. I would like to consider making my PC energy-efficient and any ideas on that would be gratefully received.
3. I don't want to downgrade or move laterally on processing power.
4. I don't know anything about Sandy, Ivy Bridge, Haswell or which I should go for with these above requirements. The chioce is utterly bewildering.
5. I would definitely want to upgrade my mobo and CPU.
6. I would upgrade my PSU if it is deemed a good idea for energy saving or whatever.
7. GFX cards seem very expensive and I certainly would not need a top model but maybe some good deal is available on an improvement over my GTX 280.
8. Could I use my fancy water system in a new build?

Hoping someone who enjoys thinking about this kind of stuff can reply with some ideas.

Thanks for reading

TLDR: Help me upgrade my old computer!
 
Sorry all, looks like I missed out answering the most basic first question.

Currently I use the PC for some gaming (nothing particularly high end at the moment, mainly GW2, Anno games, etc. though this could change), watching films, TV - nothing hardcore. I don't expect this to change any time soon, though being able to play high spec games on decent settings would be nice, as would playing my current games on top settings.

Ballpark figure would be <500£.
 
What about this then ?

Intel Core i5 which allows Overclocking and the motherboard comes with a free cooler (can't complain) and a entry level 7870 with 2GB of VRAM.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail with FREE Grid 2 PC Game £185.99
1 x MSI HD 7870 Black Knight 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R7870-2GD5T/OC) £159.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard + FREE Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler! £107.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £43.99
Total : £509.32 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 
Ethermaster said:
What about this then ?

Intel Core i5 which allows Overclocking and the motherboard comes with a free cooler (can't complain) and a entry level 7870 with 2GB of VRAM.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail with FREE Grid 2 PC Game £185.99
1 x MSI HD 7870 Black Knight 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R7870-2GD5T/OC) £159.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard + FREE Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler! £107.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £43.99
Total : £509.32 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Click to expand...

This looks good.

Am I better advised to let prices settle and get an Ivy Bridge or should I just go for the new Haswell stuff?

Card seems quite expensive since I'd like to get a new case too, so may skip that one or try to find something cheaper.

The RAM is cheaper than other RAM I've seen in bundles (e.g. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-032-TG) - could you explain the price difference please?

How would this fare for energy efficiency - should I replace my old PSU (reminder: it says 'Corsair TX 750 L' on it)?
 
Cynicus said:
This looks good.

Am I better advised to let prices settle and get an Ivy Bridge or should I just go for the new Haswell stuff?

Card seems quite expensive since I'd like to get a new case too, so may skip that one or try to find something cheaper.

The RAM is cheaper than other RAM I've seen in bundles (e.g. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-032-TG) - could you explain the price difference please?

How would this fare for energy efficiency - should I replace my old PSU (reminder: it says 'Corsair TX 750 L' on it)?
Click to expand...

Corsair PSUs are usually regarded to be of good build quality and 750W is more than enough.

The card should be the priority, everything else is optional for what you're using it for. I think though, that the 7870 specced isn't good value for money, considering you can get a 7870XT for just a bit more (cut down 7950)
 
Cynicus said:
-Intel Xeon X3350 Quad Core CPU which was overclocked from 2.66 to 3.something.
-Nvidia Geforce GTX 280
-Some kind of water cooling system that subsequently broke after warranty ran out which I replaced with another one (whose name I can't remember).
-Asus Rampage Formula motherboard
-Antec 900 case
-Corsair TX 750 PSU
-4 gigs of RAM, don't know any details.
Click to expand...

That Xeon (basically a high binned Q9450) will have retained a lot of its value, and the GTX280 won't exactly be worthless either, maybe sell them off and add that to you budget, also the DDR2 will have good value if their big sticks (>512mb) as its now very expensive new as everyone's making DDR3 (your looking at ~£20 1 GB new for DDR2 now).
 
pandem0nium said:
Corsair PSUs are usually regarded to be of good build quality and 750W is more than enough.

The card should be the priority, everything else is optional for what you're using it for. I think though, that the 7870 specced isn't good value for money, considering you can get a 7870XT for just a bit more (cut down 7950)
Click to expand...

I know it's more than enough - but is it too much? As I've mentioned I'd like to make a PC that is not a 'gas guzzler' - I'd like it to run as light as possible and draw as little wattage as possible too. If a highly efficient, lower watt PSU was a good idea I would definitely consider it.

ubersonic said:
That Xeon (basically a high binned Q9450) will have retained a lot of its value, and the GTX280 won't exactly be worthless either, maybe sell them off and add that to you budget, also the DDR2 will have good value if their big sticks (>512mb) as its now very expensive new as everyone's making DDR3 (your looking at ~£20 1 GB new for DDR2 now).
Click to expand...

That's interesting and was going to be one of my questions. But where does a person sell their second hand computer parts? I wouldn't know where to start.

I assumed that I would be keeping my cd/bluray drive (optical drive they may be called) and my hard drive at the very least so at least some small money comes off the build with those.

Afaik my RAM is 2 sticks of 2 gigs DDR2. I haven't actually looked at it in a while - maybe 4 x 1.
 
pandem0nium said:
Most Important with a gaming build would be the graphics card, what resolution do you game in usually?

ethermasters spec is just what you need platform wise.

I would also recommend adding a good SSD as you main drive if you havent already.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-002-PL
Click to expand...

I forgot to reply to you, sorry.

The resolution of my monitor is 1680 x 1050 - but I am thinking of replacing this as it sometimes flickers or has barely perceptible lines running down it when I'm in games (god knows what that is -I guess that is a question for another thread?)

I don't really 'get' SSDs. Not sure why I want one, or rather if it's worth the outlay of money.
 
Just to clarify - since I don't really 'need' to upgrade to do the things that I'm already doing, my focuses really are on:

1. Making my PC less thristy for electricity
2. Making it quieter
3. Making it run cooler
4. Eliminate the need to overclock
5. Futureproof it for a good few years, playing a moderate amount of games on moderate settings
 
Cynicus said:
I know it's more than enough - but is it too much? As I've mentioned I'd like to make a PC that is not a 'gas guzzler' - I'd like it to run as light as possible and draw as little wattage as possible too. If a highly efficient, lower watt PSU was a good idea I would definitely consider it.
Click to expand...

750 watts is just the maximum amount, it won't be using all that. If your parts require 500W it will draw 500W from the wall plus a bit more depending on it's efficiency at that wattage.

If you bought say a 80+ platinum rated power supply, it would take quite a long time before you see any savings taking into account the cost of the new PSU.
 
For point #1 Haswell would be a huge upgrade, but unfortunately because of the heat issues that seem to be going around at the moment that might conflict with points #2 and #3. If you don't want to overclock, I would think you'd be able to have manageable temperatures with low noise.

You would see a significant performance increase upgrading from your current processor, so that would probably tick #4 off the list.

#5 is pretty tricky. Judging from the games you mentioned before, I would think a mid-range gaming build like the one Ethermaster suggested would suit you. To try and squeeze in a case too you could drop to a 7850 for the graphics card since they are fairly decent value for money. However, it's obviously going to affect the gaming performance you get out of the machine and you'll probably feel the need to upgrade earlier.

If you definitely don't want to overclock, you could also save some money by going for a locked (non K-version) CPU and a cheaper motherboard (eg. H87 chipset) although the current offer of the Z87 board with the free CPU cooler is a good one.

You mentioned you already had some kind of liquid cooling system, what exactly is it? There's a chance you could use it on the new system.
 
Regarding the case, I have an Antec 900, I made it much quieter (and much less bright) by replacing all the fans (bar the top one) with LED free, higher quality fans. Also antec will sell you a solid side panel to replace the windowed one to tone it down and again quieten it. The twin frozr gpu is now the noisiest thing in it and that is barely audible
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom