Advice upgrading current system.

Bloodfever · 6 Apr 2013 at 14:20

Hi guys, I am finding my PC struggling a lot with some of the new games I am playing these days so am seeking any advice with what I should purchase to run a bit better. (Specifically mobo, CPU and tower).

Currently I have
Unknown mobo (cant find any model info!)
AMD Radeon HD 6850
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual core Processor 4200+
Antec Truepower 650w PSU
and an old in need of retiring AC tower.

I have been looking around and am interested in buying

CPU
AMD FX8320 Black Edition 8 Core (3.5/4.0GHz)
or
AMD FX8350 Black Edition 8 Core Processor (4.0/4.2GHz)

MOBO
Asus Sabertooth 990FX.

I am running 4gb of DDR2 ram atm but have some 2x4gb DDR3 intel extreme masters ram so ram isn't an issue.

I am really unsure about the tower as the cpu + mobo come to around £260-£280) with a budget of around the £350 mark so perhaps could make some suggestions.
I'm not really planning on overclocking as I'm an overclocking virgin + I may need to deal with stock cooling for the time being.

So are what I have found decent or are can I do better?

Thanks in advance

Bloodfever · 6 Apr 2013 at 15:37

Thanks a lot. I'm assuming what you suggested is on par/surpasses what I suggested?

I'm not liking the case all to much in all honesty though. I know aesthetics are not really important, but I don't really like the look of it. Also something with USB hubs at the front or top would be preferable. Is there something around the £50-£70 that may be better.

How about any of these?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-196-AN&groupid=2362&catid=160

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-054-NX&groupid=2362&catid=35

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-013-XG&groupid=2362&catid=1572

Bloodfever · 6 Apr 2013 at 20:57

The i5-3570k and P8Z77-V LX2 seem to be popular choices. Think i'll place an order over the next few days, thanks a lot.

EDIT:Out of curiousity, if my budget for a mobo and CPU was at around £800 what would you change? (I would probably buy the Corsair Vengeance C70 case) and Im guessing it would be worth getting a better HDD for my OS. I'm running an IDE atm :s

Bloodfever · 6 Apr 2013 at 21:42

Oh right. Well in all honesty I'm not overly knowledgeable regarding computer hardware and don't feel too confident trying to match up what I need myself so would you personally wait? I am assuming if I waited for the Haswell chipset I would need a compatible MOBO so would need to wait for that too?
Frustratingly due to how old my Mobo is, its bottlenecking my current GFX card as it is, so can't consider getting a new card until I get a new mobo.

It al kinda makes me think I should just go back to my Xbox 360! haha!

Bloodfever · 6 Apr 2013 at 22:18

Well thankfully atm I only really play League of Legends so my PC hasn't become redundant but would be nice to get some better games!
If there will not be a huge difference then I would probably get what I need now (I am impatient haha)
I do have a few Sata drives for storage (never got round to putting my OS on one) but will probably get a SSD and do a fresh install.
If I upgrade my GFX card I could probably still sell my xfx radeon hd 6850 BE for around £75 atleast.

What I currently have in my shopping list:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire HD 7870 XT rev2.0 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £209.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance C70 Midi Tower Gaming Case - Military Green £109.99
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Thermalright Macho 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £29.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £794.93 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Does this look like a good investment?

Bloodfever · 6 Apr 2013 at 23:00

The extra £30 should be doable, it all comes down to how much I get for selling 1 or 2 of my bass guitars!! haha.
With all of these specs I am assuming I shouldn't have any issues with heat? Or would any extra cooling be advised?

Could it be better to spend a bit more on a better CPU cooler such as:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-IN&groupid=701&catid=2330

Also (sorry to ask so many questions) but would swapping out the mobo for http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-199-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261 be a better option as its on offer atm?

Bloodfever · 7 Apr 2013 at 21:46

Ok, so I have a revised Shopping list:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £259.99
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £251.99
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **NEW REVISION** with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI Z77A-GD65 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £119.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance C70 Midi Tower Gaming Case - Arctic White £109.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £89.99
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Intel Liquid Cooling Solution CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011) £73.98
1 x NZXT Havik 140 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £54.98
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,498.57 (includes shipping : £14.75).

Hopefully this will all be compatible and efficient although but if anyone can suggest any improvements?
Also there seems to be a lot of debate between the 3 7950 GFX cards and I can't decide on what 1 would be best.
Anyone have any suggestions?