Anything better for £400 (Sandybridge)?

broona · 7 Jan 2011 at 23:37

Looking to upgrade my old HTPC/gaming machine.

Current system :-

E8400
4gb Ballistix DDR2
Asus Nvidia 9300 mobo
Scythe Zipang cooler
GTX460

Looking to upgrade to the following :-

Monster ninja · 7 Jan 2011 at 23:44

i would spend £10 more and get some 4gb of corsair XMS3

iNPUt · 7 Jan 2011 at 23:46

Well if you take the 20% "VAT" cashback offer on that motherboard in to account you have an extra £24ish to play with, might be worth upgrading your cooling or RAM.

Sparx · 7 Jan 2011 at 23:46

GeiL > Corsair RAM

Sparx · 7 Jan 2011 at 23:47

Don't forget the 2.5% discount being offered til midnight 10th Jan

!

Discount code: novatrise

Source: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18224844

Speed · 7 Jan 2011 at 23:48

Get a better cooler and clock the socks off it!

iNPUt · 7 Jan 2011 at 23:49

Sparx said:
Don't forget the 2.5% discount being offered til midnight 10th Jan !

Discount code: novatrise

Source: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18224844

He's already applied that. I would keep the Geil RAM, £24 where to play

Speed said:
Get a better cooler and clock the socks off it!

Prolimatech Megahalems maybe?

Speed · 7 Jan 2011 at 23:58

Yeah the Megahalems is excellent as is the Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B (which OcUK unfortunately don't stock). Actually having read a few reviews the Frio isn't too bad performance wise but its fans are pretty loud, so wouldn't be my choice.

broona · 8 Jan 2011 at 00:00

Any advice on a better cooler then please, as the system's in the living room, silence is more important than cooling ability?

Looking to spend as little as possible, and 4ghz will be more than enough for me.

broona · 8 Jan 2011 at 00:01

Speed said:
Yeah the Megahalems is excellent as is the Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B (which OcUK unfortunately don't stock). Actually having read a few reviews the Frio isn't too bad performance wise but its fans are pretty loud, so wouldn't be my choice.

Thanks for that info, would prefer a quiet cooler, my current cooler's basically silent.

iNPUt · 8 Jan 2011 at 00:08

Well with the Megahalems you have to buy your own fan to put on it, so you can get a nice quiet 120mm fan.

I not up to date on fans, I have Akasa Apache Super Silent 120mm and I can't hear it through my fractal design R2.

What case do you have?

Speed · 8 Jan 2011 at 00:16

Some good info on fans and heatsinks as well as silent/quiet setups here, the forums are excellent: http://www.silentpcreview.com

Fans: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html
Heatsinks: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article30-page2.html

broona · 8 Jan 2011 at 00:16

Case is a Lian-Li PC-A10B fitted with sound deadening material, it's currently fitted with 5 hdd's, 2x120mm fans, 120mm fan Corsair PSU, and 140mm fan on the CPU cooler, and you can hardly hear it from 3ft away, so it's reasonably good at keeping things quiet anyway.

Speed · 8 Jan 2011 at 00:28

If it was me, I'd get the Cogage Arrow and use your existing 140mm fan with it. OcUK don't stock it anymore but with the Thermalright Silver Arrow out of stock everywhere it is a good buy at £40ish elsewhere.

Other option would be the Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B and some quiet 120mm fans, I expect you'll have some issues getting a 140mm to fit without some elastic bands or something.

Or if your pockets are deep enough, the Noctua NH-D14 is still pretty unbeatable.

DragonQ · 8 Jan 2011 at 00:37

broona said:
Anything better for £400 (Sandybridge)?

Yeah, you could wait a few days when OcUK will have to lower Sandy Bridge prices to remain competitive with everyone else.

broona · 8 Jan 2011 at 00:40

DragonQ said:
Yeah, you could wait a few days when OcUK will have to lower Sandy Bridge prices to remain competitive with everyone else.

Any idea how much cheaper the bundle would be?