£800 PC upgrade. Spec Help and Questions

[JamesEW]

Hi,

First, I apologise for this long post. Due to my experience (or lack thereof) I have a few questions and would really appreciate some help putting together a decent spec.

I’m looking to upgrade my PC workstation and get as much power and bang for the buck that I can get with a budget of around £800. Hopefully minimal compromises and good value.

I possibly could stretch to a grand if it’s really justified for a significant performance difference but would rather stick around the £800 mark as I’m putting together a HTPC as well (see thread here).

This will be for both general PC use, current and “next gen” gaming on occasions, DAW audio work with power hungry plugins, and adobe video work / rendering which requires as much ram and CPU as you can throw at it.

I bought an overclocked bundle last time from OCUK which served me well as I have no idea about doing this myself or even changing it back. I’m looking to do the same unless the CPU is fast enough not to warrant an overclock.

How important is CPU beyond 3.5GHz in terms of my overall requirements?

Is there a reason I struggle to find 16GB ram overclocked bundles? I only ever see 8gb OC bundles? Stability issues?


Gaming:

I would like the option to play “next gen” games at decent level or better - surpass the new consoles as I don’t plan to buy Xbox One or PS4. I want to try Steam and connect to my TV via HDMI. I don’t play FPS like Battlefield or COD but want to play a range of SP games if that is of any relevance to GFX spec.

I’m not a “hardcore gamer” so I don’t need a top end expensive gaming card that would exceed my budget but do want something decent, not bottom line, that offers a good round gaming experience which I can dip into on occasions without any headaches, e.g. play Watch Dogs, Outlast, and other new SP games so they look and play great.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/14/build-a-next-gen-pc/

They seemed to have done well for £500 so am I correct in thinking my budget is reasonable for my expectations?


Operating System

Do I need to upgrade to Windows 8 if I have 7 Home Premium? I do want this PC to be up to date technology wise (e.g. directX, performance, low power etc) and be relatively future proof for a while but I’m not too keen on Windows 8’s new style. Does Win8 improve anything game related or power related beyond faster boot times?


Case:

I have a Lian-Li ARMORSUIT PC-P50 Mid Tower Chassis with stock fans

VGA Card length: 275mm
PSU length: 240mm
CPU cooler height:165mm

All components will need to fit this case I already own. It’s a mid tower. Link to case spec. http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/armorsuit-pc-p50/

• Motherboard – ATX or Micro-ATX. I’ve been happy with reliability of ASUS. Need a good reputable stable board with “bells and whistles” that most expect from modern motherboards. I don’t want to scrimp here
  
• CPU: I7 or I5 Intel Haswell latest ideally. Plus decent CPU cooler
  
• Graphics card: Gaming card, Something with HDMI output to TV, not low budget but not highly expensive to exceed my budget. AMD or NVidia?
  
• SSD: 180 – 250gb. Reliable reputable brand / model to last some years use. The less spent the better

• Ram: DDR3, 1600Mhz RAM. Corsair seems good to me. 16gb unless I can get better performance and overclock bundle options with 8gb - however as mentioned, I do fairly intensive work in Adobe after effects, rendering, plus use this as a DAW for music stuff running large plugins. 4GB has proved to be insufficient for my needs within Adobe.

What I have:

• DVD Drive: DVD Drive: Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) If I have spare money I might add a blu-ray rom
  
• Fan Cooler: Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus Black Multi Fan (I have this already)
  
• Hard Drives: I have three standard hard drives already.
  
• Sound Card: I have RME HDSP 9632 PCI.
  
• PSU: I do have a Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650HXUK) that I planned to put in a HTPC build. Is this compatible and stable for a new overclocked machine or am I better to get a new PSU for this upgrade?

Anything else I would need?

I’m very open minded to suggestions, tips and advice as I’m not too knowledgeable on this stuff and find it difficult to put my own spec together that will be compatible.

Thanks guys.

 

[TooMuchCheese]

Is there a reason I struggle to find 16GB ram overclocked bundles? I only ever see 8gb OC bundles? Stability issues?

Possibly because you're not looking in the right place?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2512&subid=2513

Click "See Product Options" and you have a choice of 8gb or 16gb.

If you're referring to the specs people put together for other users, it's simply due to the fact that games don't typically need 16gb, and a portion of specs are for people who mainly game(where 16gb isn't necessary and eats into the budget that has been set, that is better served being funneled elsewhere).

 

[JamesEW]

I see it now, I was reading the basic description of the bundles in the list.

Cheers.

 

[TooMuchCheese]

I would like the option to play “next gen” games at decent level or better - surpass the new consoles as I don’t plan to buy Xbox One or PS4. I want to try Steam and connect to my TV via HDMI. I don’t play FPS like Battlefield or COD but want to play a range of SP games if that is of any relevance to GFX spec.

I’m not a “hardcore gamer” so I don’t need a top end expensive gaming card that would exceed my budget but do want something decent, not bottom line, that offers a good round gaming experience which I can dip into on occasions without any headaches, e.g. play Watch Dogs, Outlast, and other new SP games so they look and play great.

You can't really have it both ways, play games at the high(ish) settings. ie. decent level or better whilst not approaching the high end of video cards, so if you want some GPU grunt, expect that decision to eat a fair amount of your budget.

280X would be a nice, not too high, not too low, choice... but we're still talking £230(or so) of the budget(you could go for a 7950 at £200 though to shave off of a bit). For 1080p anyway, higher resolutions you might find yourself wanting more grunt a bit sooner.

Do I need to upgrade to Windows 8 if I have 7 Home Premium? I do want this PC to be up to date technology wise (e.g. directX, performance, low power etc) and be relatively future proof for a while but I’m not too keen on Windows 8’s new style. Does Win8 improve anything game related or power related beyond faster boot times?

If you have a Win 7 disk, no need to buy Win 8 at all unless you have money to throw around or specifically want to do the upgrade.

P.S. Sorry for responding in chunks, i'm doing dinner..

 

[JamesEW]

I see. Maybe i'm better trying to spec the rest before determining graphics card but thanks for giving me a ball park figure. Maybe my budget isn't high enough for what I had in mind.

Yeh I didn't want to buy win8 if it didn't offer anything new that I would need for playing new games. I'll stick with 7 then.

 

[JamesEW]

I should perhaps add that I think 1080P gaming would be fine for me. Thats what the new consoles run at right? Obviously steady frames per second is still quite important.

 

[TooMuchCheese]

Salvaging parts will help, i don't see a reason to get a new PSU, that'll certainly help keep within your budget.

 

[JamesEW]

Salvaging parts will help, i don't see a reason to get a new PSU, that'll certainly help keep within your budget.

Yeh this was what I was hoping I wouldn't have to replace.

Would my Corsair PSU be compatible with new socket motherboards. Would 650w be enough to run an overclocked build with "pro" pCI soundcard, gaming card, 8 or 16gb ram, etc?

 

[TooMuchCheese]

Your GPU choice will likely be the deciding factor on power requirements more than any other component and i don't think you'd need to change PSU with a single R280X, so anything with lesser requirements would be fine.

 

[JamesEW]

Cool. Sorry for all these questions.

I take it I don't need SLI CrossfireX supported motherboard if i'll only ever use one graphics card? I'm not sure what it is really other than what appears to be enabling multicard use working in tandem. Does this offer anything else?

I'm thinking along the lines of:

CPU: Intel Core i5 4670K, Haswell
Motherboard: Asus Z87-K Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard

I don't think I need i7. Likely overkill and expensive.

 

[JamesEW]

Hi,

Quick question - What are people's general opinions on Asus vs Gigabyte Z87 ATX motherboards in the price range of £100-£250?

I am limited because I need PCI slot for my "pro" soundcard and was thinking of Asus Z87-K or plus.

Some reviews indicated this was a very budget motherboard. I'm really looking for a solid stable board to be overclocked and offer 1 or 2 PCI slots and to play nice with a single Nvidia graphics card.

Anyone got any suggestions for the most popular / best performing boards?

Thanks.

 

[stulid]

I personally think Gigabyte have the Z87 sown up, they have great boards for the prices.

A Z87-D3HP comes with a free cooler and has 2 PCI slots.

It doesnt support |LSI and does Crossfire at 16X/8X.


Instead of this if you want SLI support the Z87 Sniper has just been released at £120 and features some good sound related features - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18558959


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £259.99
1 x HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ BOOST 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included (H270XQ2G2M) £155.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Laptop Kit - (MZ-7TE250LW) £149.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD316G2133HC11ADC01) £129.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
Total : £816.71 (includes shipping : £9.00).



The card is claimed to be 27cm long and comes with BF4

 

[JamesEW]

I've got to admit I don't understand SLI / crossfire. I'll only ever be using a single graphics card but a mid to hi end one with Cuda support as I'll be dipping my toes into "next gen" PC gaming and doing intensive Adobe video work.

My soundcard will be taking care of all audio. I'm not sure what else is required in a motherboard to justify whether or not I spend more or less. I could spend a bit more than the D3HP or Sniper though these might be all I need.

I guess the thing I'm most concerned about is the build quality, stability, heat so that it does not BSOD all the time, something my Asus P7P55D never did. I don't want to regret not putting enough money into the motherboard if that makes sense.

The Sniper and D3HP is now on my consideration list though. Cheers

 

[stulid]

I've done a build for you above

Shame this RAM here is out of stock.

 

[JamesEW]

Cheers Stulid. That does look good. I had that SSD in mind too.

I'll likely go with an Nvidia card just because a lot of the people over the Adobe video forums seem to indicate Cuda performs very well for rendering and video work, with small advantages over AMD. I don't know enough to argue either way

Is there a popular recent Nvidia 7 series alternative to the R9 at around £300 price point?

 

[stulid]

There are Nvidia cards up to that price point.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD) £257.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 WindForce 3x OC Rev2 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Black PCB** £199.99
Total : £468.78 (includes shipping : £9.00).




But also look into OpenCL compute acceleration which is a rival to CUDA.

This is a list from August of programs that supported OpenCL,

 

[JamesEW]

Cheers. I guess I need to look into OpenCL Adobe support.

I'm using an older version of an Adobe suite - CS5.5. I see that list only mentions premiere and the new CC versions. This may or may not make a difference.

Without starting a huge debate, are AMD graphics cards generally considered better than Nvidia at the £300 price point?

 

[stulid]

You generally get more bang for your buck,

The R9 280X are £240 and competes easily with the 770, the £324 R9 290 matches a 780 (but is hotter and louder as there are no custom cooling cards yet).

This shows the how they match against each other - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_780_Ti/27.html

 

[JamesEW]

Yep just as I thought, I do need Cuda acceleration for CS 5.5. If I had CS6 or later then there is support for OpenCL acceleration and I would have opted for AMD graphics card.

I am hopeful that for £300 I can get a suitable Nvidia card that runs new games well and gives me the cuda support for adobe CS5.

Those Gigabyte cards you posted seem good, although i'm wondering whether I should be looking for 4gb cards.

I guess these will come with a price increase over £300.

 

[stulid]

Its the length you need to worry about, I've not looked but it wouldn't surprise me if they are 280mm long.