Help spec me a gaming PC £600 - Upgrade from Q6600

[Pho3n1x84]

Hi All,

I am looking at new build PC to replace my 10 or so year old Q6600 build. It has been awhile since I built my last PC and I'm pretty much out of the game and would like help with the build.

If I can re-use any parts that would be an added bonus to splash out on something else.

Budget: £600 £1,000

What it will be used for:

• Gaming
• .net / frontend development
• Photoshop / Illustrator editing

My current build:

• Intel Q6600 OC'ed to 3.2Ghz
• 8Gb DDR2 1666mhz
• Asus P5KC Motherboard
• OCZ 600w modx stream pro modular power supply
• MSI Frorziii 7950 GFX
• 1Tb Samsung spinpoint
• Windows 10 Home OS
• Viewsonic 1080p LED monitor
• Mouse and keyboard
• Antec 300 case

Thanks

 

[mickyflinn]

You should be able to reuse your hard drive , psu, case , and gpu so theres room to maybe go I-7 and 16gb ram.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI - Intel Core i5 6600K Bundle **£20 Saving**= £298.98
• 1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)= £64.99
• 1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler= £29.99
• 1 x Kingston Fury Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (HX424C15FBK2/8)= £31.99

Total: £425.95​

 

[Pho3n1x84]

Thanks for the feedback mickyflinn.

I've started looking at parts again and the budget has changed to £750. I'm thinking of going MicroATX so the PC is off the floor and on my desk.

This would be my first MicroATX build for gaming and need a little guidance on parts and if its a good shout to go MircoATX?

What I will be looking for is... case, memory, motherboard, GPU, processor and maybe a all in one water cooler.

I already have a 1TB hard drive, 250 SSD and the power supply I think will still be ok.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[mickyflinn]

I have put 2 diffrent cases in for choice also gone for 16gb of 3000mhz ram if you deduct one of the cases comes to about £773 but you could get the antec h600 cooler instead which will save £20. another option is to get just 8 gb of ram.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x BitFenix Prodigy M MATX Cube Case - Midnight Black= £69.95
• 1 x Gigabyte GA-Z170M-D3H Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £104.99
• 1 x BitFenix Phenom MATX Cube Case - Midnight Black= £69.95
• 1 x Intel Core i5-6600K 3.9GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM= £215.99
• 1 x Antec H1200 Kuhler 240mm AIO Liquid Cooler= £62.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (TDKED416G3000HC16AD= £64.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1060 Dual 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £254.99

Total: £843.85
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

​

 

[Quartz]

At that age, I would replace the PSU. If you want the thing off the floor be aware that MicroATX isn't that much smaller. Try looking at an ITX build.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 1060 "Reference Design" 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £229.99
• 1 x Cougar QBX Kaze Mini-ITX Cube Case - Black= £44.99
• 1 x Asus H110I Plus Intel H110 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ITX Motherboard= £64.99
• 1 x Intel Core i5-6500 3.20GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Avexir Core White Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (AVD4UZ124001608G-2= £59.99
• 1 x Silverstone SFX-L V2.0 500W '80 Plus Gold' Fully Modular Power Supply= £80.99
• 1 x be quiet! Shadow Rock LP Low Profile CPU Cooler - 120mm= £34.99

Total: £704.93
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

​

I've assumed you won't be overclocking. Switch to a Z170 motherboard and a K model CPU if you will be. Also, the RAM is a placeholder as you will require low profile RAM but I couldn't spot such on OCUK's site.

 

[Pho3n1x84]

Ideally I will be looking to overclock at some point.

My first spec was over budget but I was looking at something on the lines of this or as close to this as possible.

My knowledge of motherboard and components is a little stale so i'm not sure if what I have below is even a good match.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming-5 Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £143.99
• 1 x Corsair Carbide Series Air 240 High Airflow PC Case - Black (CC-9011070-WW)= £89.99
• 1 x Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060025-WW)= £99.95
• 1 x Intel Core i5-6600K 3.9GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM= £215.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1060 Dual 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £254.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2A24= £79.99

Total: £884.90
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

​

 

[Pho3n1x84]

So I've done a some more research and looking at the cases for MicroAtx there doesn't seem to be a great deal of difference in the case size.

I have look at additional parts and increase my budget to £1,000 (I can't edit the title of the post).

How does this build look?

I'm not sure which of the two graphics cards would be better the Gigabyte founders edition which matches the motherboard manufacturer or the Zotac card.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2A24= £79.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI - Intel Core i5 6600K Bundle **£20 Saving**= £334.98
• 1 x Corsair Carbide 400C Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black Window (CC-9011081-WW)= £91.99
• 1 x Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060025-WW)= £109.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £399.95
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 "Founders Edition" 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N1070D5-8GD-= £399.95

Total: £1,416.85
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

​

 

[Quartz]

Gigabyte have UK RMA, I believe.

You might be better advised to go for a Noctua DH air-cooler over the H100i as it's quieter and not far off in performance.

 

[Pho3n1x84]

So I updated my basket. How does this look?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2A24= £79.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI - Intel Core i5 6600K Bundle **£20 Saving**= £334.98
• 1 x Corsair Carbide 400C Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black Window (CC-9011081-WW)= £91.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 "Founders Edition" 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N1070D5-8GD-= £399.95
• 1 x Noctua NH-D15 Dual Radiator Quiet CPU Cooler with two NH-A15 Fans= £79.99

Total: £986.90
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

​

 

[Quartz]

Looks good to me. Before you start the build, copy the motherboard and video card driver CDs to root-level folders on the SSD on the old machine. If you don't have an optical drive on the old machine, download them all from Gigabyte's and Nvidia's websites - make sure you expand any zip files or self-extracting archives. Then, when you build the new PC, simply plug in the old SSD and HDD and set the BIOS to boot off the SSD. When Windows boots it will automatically detect the new hardware, and you will just need to point Windows at the appropriate folder. Windows will probably need re-authenticating and you may need to call Microsoft, but they're generally very good about motherboard replacement.

 

[Pho3n1x84]

Thanks Quartz, I will give that a try when I build.

 

[jbh110tdi]

Do you know your windows key? Personally I would do a fresh install of windows.

You can use magic jelly bean key finder if you don't know your key. Use the media creation tool to download windows 10 and use a usb flash drive to do your install

 

[Pho3n1x84]

Yeah I have Windows 7 Home 64bit which I have used the free upgrade to Windows 10.

My thoughts are to install fresh on the SSD and port all my stuff from the other drives, photos, save game files etc... and then format the 1tb drive and fresh install steam, Visual studio etc...