A little help with upgrade/new build?

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7 Jul 2007
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37
Hi

I'm looking for a little help building a new Gaming PC or updating my old one. I originally just wanted to upgrade some components but my current build is so old I may have to start from scratch. I have monitor, keyboard, o/s etc so its just the main components I need.

After reading a lot of the forum posts I think I've decided to go with an i5 build and if possible I would like a 250gb SSD but other than that I'm not sure whats best.

Here is what I have come up with:
Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £167.99
Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £164.99
Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X WindForce 3X OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included £149.99
Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £139.99
Corsair Hydro H100i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060009-WW) £99.95
Corsair RM Series RM 650 '80+ Gold' 650W Power Supply (CP-9020054-UK) £95.99
Corsair Vengeance Pro Red 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CMY8GX3M2B2133C9R)
£89.99
Antec 302 Three Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £59.99
Total : £978.47

This is a bit more than I would like to spend and I think I could reuse my old Hyper 580W PSU and my Antec 900 case.

Can anyone see any obvious problems with these components or suggest a way I can get similar performance for closer to £800? Also I presume Corsair are still a safe PSU brand?

If you can think of a cheaper upgrade option my existing PC is:
Asus P5N32-E SLi nForce 680 (Socket 775) DDR2 Motherboard,
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C4DHX (2x1GB)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 "LGA775 Conroe" 3.00GHz (1333FSB)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
For £1000 I'd expect a 280X. You're overspending in a couple of areas and having to make savings on the GPU. The motherboard, CPU cooler, PSU, and RAM could all be done cheaper without giving up much in the way of performance.

I'm at work so I can't do the basket thing, but here's what I'm thinking:

This motherboard will save you £45: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-477-GI

This PSU will save you £40: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-003-SF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2057

This RAM will save you £20: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-053-TG

Total savings: £105. Which will get you a 280X: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-122-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1842
 
Thanks. TBH the mobo was based on some reviews I read and the PSU was just because Corsair had a really good reputation last time I built a pc. Would the 550W you posted be enough then? If so I wonder if I could just keep my current one and use the money elsewhere.

Also the GPU - Would there be much of an improvement between 270X and 280X?
 
There's a noticeable gap between the 270X and the 280X: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7503/the-amd-radeon-r9-270x-270-review-feat-asus-his/11

Not that the 270X is a bad card; but for £1000 I'd expect more power.

You'll probably want a new PSU. Based on the rest of your spec, I'd say your current one is a bit old. Superflower make top quality units; it's cheaper than the Corsair partly because they're a lesser-known brand, and partly because it is non-modular. 550w is plenty for a single 280X in an overclocked system.

The ASUS motherboard is certainly a good one, but expensive.

EDIT: Prettier case for an extra tenner: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-129-BX&groupid=2362&catid=2277
 
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Ok I'm sold on the card. Only other thing is I'd like it to be quiet. Any suggestions on a CPU cooler? Some of the better ones seem so big they get in the way of some of the mono slots or id need a bigger case.
 
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