2011 Upgrade

Soldato
Joined
2 Jul 2010
Posts
3,098
Hi, I tend to upgrade my PC every year, and I'm not planning to spend too much money this year, so I'm setting myself a maximum budget of £300 for this years upgrade. My PC is primarily used for gaming, occasional graphics editing, some movie rendering and a little programming.

So, I'm asking you guys what things I should upgrade, which will total to a cost of £300.

My current rig:
i7 930 @ 2.8Ghz
4GB DDR3 Corsair RAM @ 1600Mhz
Asus Rampage II Gene
GTX 295 1792MB
Corsair 750W TX PSU

What do you think needs upgrading? Please give me some suggestions, and suggest what I should replace them with, but make sure the replacements don't total over £300.

Thanks :)

P.S I also have free P&P.
 
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Do you have a SSD?

A nice case?

Killer screen?


A GTX295 is still fast as hell, I had one until recently.
Try overlcoking the i7 930, get a cooler on it and crank the mhz up.
 
processor and graphics card are still very capable. if memory serves the graphics card is quite noisy, but im not sure if you could get anything for £300 that would be a worthwhile upgrade. the slow typist will recommend what stulid has already suggested
 
Ah right, no I don't have an SSD, I have a Western Digital Raptor (or atleast I think it's a raptor), and it runs at 10,000RPM and serves me well.

I have a 21" 1080p screen.
My case is a Lian Li K62 case.
I have a lovely cheap chair from Staples lol.
 
Sounds like a killer screen and overclock then CPU then to me.


Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Dell Ultrasharp U2311H 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Corsair A70 High-Performance Dual Fan CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £31.99
(£26.66) £31.99
(£26.66)
Sub Total : £201.65
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £42.58
Total : £255.48


What Corsair RAM is it? XMS3/Vengance/Dominator etc?
 
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Thanks for the suggestions Stulid, interested in the cooler, but I'm content with my current screen.

My current RAM is http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS. When I bought it, it was around £67 lol.

I might get an SSD, but I'm sceptical about their reliability.

That ram is good, it will fit under a big heatsink.

Silver arrow.
Gelid Tranquillo
Corsair A50/A70
Antec Kuhler620
Corsair H70/80

They are all good.
 
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Yeah, it scores well on Windows Experience Index with a 7.7 or 7.8, last time I done it.
Might be worth mentioning I'm eligible for free P&P.

Also, overclocking seems like a nice option after getting a better cooler.
 
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Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (CSSD-F120GB3-BK) £147.98
(£123.32) £147.98
(£123.32)
Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM2+/AM3+) £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
Sub Total : £188.31
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £39.56
Total : £237.37

£225.97 delivered.
 
Thanks Stulid, my motherboard only has 3GB/s ports, but I think 6GB/s will work in a 3GB/s port. Also, will that cooler fit in my case properly do you know?

Also, I'm eligible for free P&P :)
 
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Thanks Stulid, my motherboard only has 3GB/s ports, but I think 6GB/s will work in a 3GB/s port. Also, will that cooler fit in my case properly do you know?

The SSD will work in 3GB/s ports, but will max out the bandwidth untill you upgrade sometime.

That 920 will fit, it goes on to the rear 120mm fan placement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCqEwz8VSMQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7CH_TwY3UM

Also, I'm eligible for free P&P

Thats the seperate price underneath.
 
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Will that create any noticeable problems, or will it be okay?

No problems, will be ok.

will still be a big jump from a velociraptor, I used a Crucial C300 with SATA6gb/s on a motherboard with SAT3gb/s and it was fine.

I now have it on a SATA6gb/s board and its just faster again.
 
theres issues right now with the corsair force 3 drives...there is a new firmware 1.3 out for it but people are still saying there having issues....i just bought one firmware seems to have worked for me but its early days and if i had the choice again knowing what i know i would have bought something else like a vertex 3, crucial m4 or intel drive
 
Okay, thanks for your help Stulid. I have a question though; why did you suggest the Antec Kuhler, and not a Corsair H70 or Silver Arrow?

EDIT:
Cammy, okay, I will Google around and take that in to consideration.
 
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