Budget system upgrade (gameing system)

Reppyboyo · 22 Jul 2011 at 19:35

Hi,

Looking to upgrade on a budget, which is about £400 - £450
Need the following:
CPU (+ cooler)
Motherboard
RAM
PSU (I currently have a Corsair 520w, not sure if this will be adequate)

Something along the lines of this bundle:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-063-OE&groupid=43&catid=2053&subcat=2063

Im out of the loop on the latest components however, so I dont know what is the latest gen stuff.
System is mainly for gaming and movies, upgrading in time for BF3.

Any help is appreciated.

Surveyor · 22 Jul 2011 at 19:38

What are the specs. of the system you have now and what resolution is your monitor?

Not much use doing an upgrade for gaming if you don't have a decent graphics card.

shadow_boxer · 22 Jul 2011 at 19:41

What graphics card do you have at the moment?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £114.98
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £26.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £341.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Current PSU is should for a single card setup, assuming do don't have something like a Radeon HD5970. Later on down the line can go SLI/Crossfire and get a bigger PSU.

Reppyboyo · 22 Jul 2011 at 19:43

Current monitor is a 24" Dell (2405fpw I think it is called). Native res 1900x1200.
GFX card is an Nvidia Geforce GTX 280.

EDIT: Current specs:

Noctua NH-U12F CPU Cooler
Asus P5K Intel P35 (Socket 775)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 (overclocked)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2
Crucial Ballistix 2GB

shadow_boxer · 22 Jul 2011 at 19:49

PSU will be fine with a GTX280.

shadow_boxer · 22 Jul 2011 at 19:52

If you want to reuse your current cooler you can get 1155/1156 bracket from Noctua free of charge. See here.

Reppyboyo · 22 Jul 2011 at 20:11

Cheers.
Hovering over the buy button now.

One last thing, what is the current best thermal compound to use?
The IC Diamond stuff worth the extra cost over MX-4?

shadow_boxer · 22 Jul 2011 at 20:19

Can't go wrong Arctic Silver 5 or MX-4. Don't like IC Diamond, found it quite tricky to apply as it's very viscous.

olivier renault · 22 Jul 2011 at 20:22

I'd say no, unless you want to go to extremes. I don't think it matters that much for usable overclocks, and we're talking a few degrees.

Reppyboyo · 22 Jul 2011 at 20:29

Groovy, went with MX-4.

Thanks again, bits ordered.

Roll on Tuesday.

Reppyboyo · 26 Jul 2011 at 23:06

Need help.
Putting system together and hit an issue.
My psu only has a 4 pin atx connector, the mobo has an 8 pin.

Is it ok to use a 4 pin in an 8 pin or am I stuffed?

stulid · 26 Jul 2011 at 23:07

You can use it fine.