£500 Upgrade. Help appreciated.

startledgiraffe

startledgiraffe

startledgiraffe

Associate
Joined
20 Sep 2013
Posts
15
£550 Upgrade. Help appreciated.

Current specs: E6600 2.4Ghz, 2GB ATI 57*0 (5750 or 5770 can't remember), 500W old unknown branded PSU, 6GB DDR2 RAM, 19 inch 1440 x 900 monitor

Would like it to be pretty quiet as my current PC sounds like an aeroplane taking off so I wouldn't mind spending a little extra on a case and CPU cooler to do this. I probably won't be overclocking in the near future.

I know my GPU isn't that great but I mostly just play TF2 at the moment which isn't very graphics intensive. I will be looking to upgrade the graphics card when newer games I'd like to play come out (GTA V PC, Titanfall, BF4).

My case (this one) is pretty old (6+ years) will I need a new case or do SSDs go in the same place at 3.5" HDDs?

I have very little experience in upgrading (Changing GPU, adding HDD, adding RAM, reseating CPU and adding aftermarket cooler) and have a few newbie questions.

Do I need to buy thermal paste for the CPU or is it supplied? Is it already applied?


I've picked out some parts I would appreciate any criticism and improvements. I had posted this on another forum but didn't get any help so thank you for your time.

wYUY9MM.png
 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £109.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £59.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
Total : £495.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Intel side of things, great CPU, good board with a nice free cooler, fast RAM that Haswell likes, Windows 8 bundled in. No SSD as Intel costs a tiny bit more, but if you can stretch get this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/120G) £77.99
Total : £86.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).



Cooler will come with supplied thermal paste.
 
Don't get the FX-4350. Either the faster 6300 (actually cheaper!) or the 8320. The Asus 970 EVO R2.0 board is better. Here's an improved version of your initial spec. Slightly over, but includes a decent cooler and the faster CPU.

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £86.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £53.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020048-UK) £53.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £26.99
Total : £523.92 (includes shipping : £10.00).



Old cases tend to need adapters to use 2.5" drives. You can get those, or you could upgrade your case to something nice and modern, but you'll be adding £30-£60 on the budget.
 
Last edited:
 
Doomedspeed said:
Pssst, Snips86x.... pssssst...

That motherboard won't benifit from faster than 1600mhz RAM, money to be saved. :)
Click to expand...

pffttt...saving money is over rated and it's been one of them nights:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4570 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £149.99
1 x Gigabyte H87-HD3 Intel H87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £80.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/120G) £77.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £47.99
Total : £508.93 (includes shipping : £10.00).



OP - could always go Mini-itx? They have some sweet small cases which cater for traditional mech drives & SSD's.
 
Last edited:
snips86x said:
OP - could always go Mini-itx? They have some sweet small cases which cater for traditional mech drives & SSD's.
Click to expand...

Tad over budget but includes ITX case :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £137.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/120G) £77.99
1 x Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1600C11DC) £49.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
Total : £526.88 (includes shipping : £10.00).

 
I do like the idea of a mini-ITX build. The only thing I'm worried about is the max CPU cooler height (65mm). How big are the stock coolers? Would this mean I wouldn't be able to overclock? Any good aftermarket coolers this size?
 
With the H81 board you can't overclock, and not with that CPU.
Really don't need an aftermarket cooler, the Intel coolers are tiny and not loud at all really.
 
Indeed, around the £500 mark I'd say you're not going to be doing much over clocking at least with Intel not sure about AMD :)

And yeah the stock Intel coolers aren't to bad noise wise and will fit in any ITX case except Thin-ITX.
 
Okay so I spoke to a friend and he convinced me against the ITX.

Sorry for being so indecisive but tomorrow is payday and I will be ordering. How does this look?

v6Nfhef.png


Also how do you guys put your basket into a forum post? I assume there is some easy way of doing it and you aren't putting in all the BBCode.
 
I would go for an 8320 over an i5 you can't overclock if you're looking at upcoming games.

Get the Chrome/Firefox extension to paste your shopping basket.
 
I'd lower down the board and get a 1150 4c/8t xeon personally, but Overclockers don't stock them.

But I see no problem with the i5 you've chosen.
I wouldn't see a problem on an FX8320, but my money would be the i5.
 
 
Not that board. The Asus 970 one I mentioned overclocks better, and I'd want to push the 8320 to 4.5GHz to get the most out of it.
 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom