£600 Motherboard, CPU & RAM Upgrade

8BaLL

8BaLL

8BaLL

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Joined
9 Mar 2006
Posts
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Location
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So I'm looking at upgrading my motherboard, CPU and RAM my system is really out of date now but it has done me for what I use but unfortunately, it keeps shutting down randomly as another user stated it could be my board showing its age.

I am really happy with my case which is the NZXT H700i Blue
My Graphics Card is a EVGA GTX 1070 I am going to keep this for now and will be looking at upgrading when I have more money to put into it next year.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
CPU: Intel i7-3770k @3.5Ghz
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X52
RAM: Corsair XMS3 1600 X4 8GB
PSU: Corsair TX 750W

I'm not much of a PC gamer these days but that could change in the future I would like to spend around £600 I could stretch this a bit if I am going to get a big difference for a little extra and allow for me to have any future upgrades without compatibility issues.

I would also like something visually appealing as it is on show in my living room

Any suggestions? I'm out of date now with what's hot or not these days
 
Performance is very similar between the two setups but you are getting a better board on the intel side.
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £629.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £659.43 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​
 
Thank you Joxeon they both look great choices unfortunately Asus Prime motherboard is currently unavailable any other recommended motherboards?

I also believe that the Kraken X52 supports AM4 socket not sure about it being 3rd Gen if there is a change between generations in that case the Going the Ryzen option I would not need a new CPU cooler
 
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Before you commit to buying anything, why not spend sometime cleaning your system thoroughly, and ensuring it is working optimally?

Get rid of all the dust in the PSU, and in the board etc. Remount and new paste on the CPU, and cooler, and maybe even a nice clean install of Windows on your SSD (assume you have one).

Alder Lake is brand new, and jumping onto a new platform and then using DDR4 RAM seems a short term move, and judging by the age of your system you don't upgrade that often. Allow some more time for DDR5 prices to come down, and board prices to maybe become more sensible. If if you want to go short term then it would be better to get a B560/10400f/16GB DDR4 for about £280 all in, then selling it once you secure a new GPU, you'll likely lose £100 but there will be much better platform choices out
 
Thanks Journey for the advice recently I did all the above cleaned throughly and rewired well checked all cables.
Have a brand new SSD installed with a fresh install and re-pasted my cpu cooler.
I take pride in the cooling and and apearence of my system even though its aged looks fresh out the box.
 
Getting close to personal preference but I'd go with the Ryzen build, depends when you want to get as the xt version is out soon too.
 
Soon as possible really I'm edging towards the Ryzen build not been with AMD since they were ATi and seeing as there is no LGA 1700 brackets yet for my Kraken.
I know they will be issuing soon new brackets sent for just postage cost but I no longer have the proof of purchase or box so save myself some extra money I can use to put to a new GPU at a later date.
 
8BaLL said:
Soon as possible really I'm edging towards the Ryzen build not been with AMD since they were ATi and seeing as there is no LGA 1700 brackets yet for my Kraken.
I know they will be issuing soon new brackets sent for just postage cost but I no longer have the proof of purchase or box so save myself some extra money I can use to put to a new GPU at a later date.
Click to expand...
So which motherboard do you like if you go Ryzen ?
 
8BaLL said:
Thank you Joxeon they both look great choices unfortunately Asus Prime motherboard is currently unavailable any other recommended motherboards?

I also believe that the Kraken X52 supports AM4 socket not sure about it being 3rd Gen if there is a change between generations in that case the Going the Ryzen option I would not need a new CPU cooler
Click to expand...
I think you would need to contact NZXT to supply you with an LGA1700 bracket although I'm pretty sure that ASUS 1700 boards come with a second set of holes which means that they are compatible with existing coolers without requiring the bracket.
 
Any cooler with a fixed Z* high is incompatible with LGA1700. Any AM4 specific* cooler is probably also incompatible.

People that say otherwise are wrong.
 
mickyflinn said:
So which motherboard do you like if you go Ryzen ?
Click to expand...

If I go with Ryzen I was thinking: MSI B550 Gaming Carbon WIFI

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...i-amd-am4-b550-atx-motherboard-mb-35c-ms.html

Joxeon said:
I think you would need to contact NZXT to supply you with an LGA1700 bracket although I'm pretty sure that ASUS 1700 boards come with a second set of holes which means that they are compatible with existing coolers without requiring the bracket.
Click to expand...

jigger said:
Any cooler with a fixed Z* high is incompatible with LGA1700. Any AM4 specific* cooler is probably also incompatible.

People that say otherwise are wrong.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the Advice I have emailed NZXT just waiting on there response.
 
Still waiting on NZXT to get back to me before I made my decision but seen somewhere else about a different bracket that can be used and is sold by Overclockers so reached out with a webnote it linked below

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aset...-intel-lga-1700-35-150-0000021-hs-056-as.html

Replied with: Thank you for your webnote.
Yes, this should be ideal for use with the NZXT Kraken X52 as Asetek are the OEM manufacturer for it.
 
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