Advice on PC Upgrade

mtjdavis · 31 Dec 2013 at 20:07

Hi all,

I'm after upgrading the components in my tower, as most of them are coming on for 4/5 years old! I don't need an OS, monitors, keyboard, mouse or case (unless a case is recommended!). I've also got numerous HDD's (4+ years old) and a PSU (I don't know if it will be able to hack today's components).

I mainly use the PC for gaming (EVE, Battlefield, Total War etc) so ideally it would be able to handle running two monitors (one for games, one for browsing/films). I'll also be looking to do some overclocking to get the best out of what I'll get.

The budget I have is £550, maybe up to £600 if it's an absolute must have.

One of the questions I have got - is it be worth putting an SSD in, will I notice much difference from it?

This is the current spec:
- Intel Core2Duo E8400
- Asus Maximus Formula
- PowerColor HD4870 1GB
- 4GB OCZ ReaperX (DDR2)
- Samsung 500Gb HDD (Main Drive)
- Corsair VX-550w
- Coolermaster Centurion 5

Any advice is much appreciated

mickyflinn · 31 Dec 2013 at 20:36

You will need a mobo ,cpu,gpu, ram and maybe a power supply, is your hard drives sata?

Idleman · 31 Dec 2013 at 21:13

Here is one I did in another thread.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25576743&postcount=7

OvEr_KiLL · 31 Dec 2013 at 21:16

Idleman said:
Here is one I did in another thread.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25576743&postcount=7

nice spec right there

it will do you fine

Idleman · 31 Dec 2013 at 21:17

Or this, depending on how old your Psu is and use your old case.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Dual-X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card with Battlefield 4 PC Game £251.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £107.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £65.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £26.99
Total : £598.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).

mtjdavis · 31 Dec 2013 at 21:31

mickyflinn said:
You will need a mobo ,cpu,gpu, ram and maybe a power supply, is your hard drives sata?

Yes the hard drives are SATA.

Idleman said:
Or this, depending on how old your Psu is and use your old case.

Thanks for both specs! The PSU is just over 4 years old now - is it worth sticking with?

Idleman · 31 Dec 2013 at 21:36

I think you`ll be fine with your VX550.

OvEr_KiLL · 31 Dec 2013 at 22:03

Idleman said:
I think you`ll be fine with your VX550.

yeh thats what i was thinking, use it until it wears out then replace it. or buy something like a superflower 650w now which will give you room for a bit of overclocking and if you decide to get a better gfx at some stage then it will handle it
YOUR BASKET
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £73.99
Total : £83.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

was on offer its just gone back up

mtjdavis · 3 Jan 2014 at 01:49

If i'm looking to overclock an FX-8320 alongside a R9 280X (as has been recommended!) will I need to consider a different PSU?