£400ish upgrade

CuteTurtle · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:09

Lost what I had in mind a long time ago, so I need a new spec as the items are no longer sold / available / etc.

My current spec is in my signature..

I'm getting

-i5

I need help choosing

-8Gb RAM
-New Graphics card
-New Motherboard
-New PC case

Budget is £400 or around that.

stulid · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:23

You haven't sad what you use the PC for, but im just going to guess it's gaming.

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7870 Black Boost Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £49.99
Total : £375.96 (includes shipping : £10.00).

CuteTurtle · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:23

Gaming, yes; sorry, forgot.

apeksdiver · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:25

You said you are getting an i5, is that to be included in the budget?

CuteTurtle · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:27

apeksdiver said:
You said you are getting an i5, is that to be included in the budget?

Yes

stulid · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:30

Do you know if its a Haswell or Ivybridge you are getting?

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7870 Black Boost Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard + FREE Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler! £109.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £65.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
Total : £411.96 (includes shipping : £10.00).

CuteTurtle · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:35

Well, is it worth getting the Ivy over the Haswell since it's cheaper? Or is Haswell that good?

stulid · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:38

CuteTurtle said:
Well, is it worth getting the Ivy over the Haswell since it's cheaper? Or is Haswell that good?

Get the newer Haswell.

You will notice that the Gigabyte Z87 board above includes a free cooler.

CuteTurtle · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:40

stulid said:
Get the newer Haswell.

You will notice that the Gigabyte Z87 board above includes a free cooler.

Is it better than the tranquillo I have?

And with the CPU, what you suggested would be around £550ish

stulid · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:41

CuteTurtle said:
Is it better than the tranquillo I have?

No idea, but even if you use the Tranquillo (assuming you have socket 1155/56 mounts for it) sell the BeQuiet! for £20-25?

CuteTurtle · 14 Jun 2013 at 23:02

Anymore suggestions? Best I can push is £500 zone I believe.

If all goes as planned will get it next week.

CuteTurtle · 15 Jun 2013 at 02:49

Hey guys. I decided to try and put together what I would really want. The total leads up to in the £600's but it's definitely what I want.

How could I possibly make it cheaper?

The items -

Zalman Z11 Case
Kingston HyperX 8GB Grey
Intel i5 Haswell
Gigabyte GTX660Ti OC 2GB
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 motherboard (Thanks for the suggestion stulid)

stulid · 15 Jun 2013 at 08:52

To make it cheaper you can do a few things,

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with a free copy of 3DMark advanced edition £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM with FREE Grid 2 PC Game £187.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard + FREE Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler! £109.99
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
Total : £657.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).

• The GTX670 has had a price cut, its obviously faster than a 660ti.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM with FREE Grid 2 PC Game £187.99
1 x VTX3D HD 7870 Black Boost Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard + FREE Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler! £109.99
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
Total : £591.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).

• This particular 7870 has more cores than a normal 7870, its based on a cut back 7950.

CuteTurtle · 15 Jun 2013 at 17:08

stulid said:
To make it cheaper you can do a few things,

YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with a free copy of 3DMark advanced edition £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM with FREE Grid 2 PC Game £187.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard + FREE Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler! £109.99
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
Total : £657.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).

• The GTX670 has had a price cut, its obviously faster than a 660ti.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM with FREE Grid 2 PC Game £187.99
1 x VTX3D HD 7870 Black Boost Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard + FREE Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler! £109.99
1 x Zalman Z9 USB 3.0 Midi Tower Case - Black £54.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
Total : £591.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).

• This particular 7870 has more cores than a normal 7870, its based on a cut back 7950.

This other case doesn't lower the price. As for the graphics card, I never had AMD. Which one should I get?

The GTX 660Ti Gigabyte OC 2GB or this one? Getting the AMD would remove around £60 from the total cost. But would it be as good?

stulid · 15 Jun 2013 at 17:15

CuteTurtle said:
The GTX 660Ti Gigabyte OC 2GB or this one? Getting the AMD would remove around £60 from the total cost. But would it be as good?

The AMD will be as good, it's like a 7950 with a bit of speed taken away.

7950 vs 660ti - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/550?vs=647

VTX 7870 black edition review - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VTX3D/Radeon_HD_7870_XT_Black/28.html

CuteTurtle · 15 Jun 2013 at 17:33

stulid said:
The AMD will be as good, it's like a 7950 with a bit of speed taken away.

7950 vs 660ti - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/550?vs=647

VTX 7870 black edition review - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/VTX3D/Radeon_HD_7870_XT_Black/28.html

Last question, would everything fit in the Z11 Plus? And I watched a video on the unboxing, something about it not having internal usb connectors, what does this mean for me? I've never built a computer so this will be a little hard doing without computer access (as I'm using some parts from my own PC - PSU, HDD, DVD)

stulid · 15 Jun 2013 at 17:40

Hold on,

The Z11 Plus is £59.99, yet you said the Z9 USB3.0 I listed at £54.98 wouldn't save any money (lower the price)? so I thought then that you were thinking of the standard Z11 case at £48.95.

Ive not looked at the Z11 specs or videos, but these have USB3.0 internal connectors,

YOUR BASKET
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Windowed Case - Black £59.99
1 x Antec GX 700 Rugged Gaming Case £59.99
1 x NZXT H230 Classic Silent Midtower Case Black £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus Midi Tower Case - Black £49.99
Total : £304.07 (includes shipping : £20.10).

CuteTurtle · 16 Jun 2013 at 14:13

Anymore case suggestions? I want a top tray to put things as my desk is small.