Associate
Case: Generic midi tower Fractal design Arc Midi R2
MB: GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H
CPU: Intel i3-3240 3.4Ghz
GPU:Generic 6450 HD 2Gb MSI GTX 650TI 1GB HIS 7950 3GB MSI GTX 650TI 1GB
Memory: Corsair XSM 3 2x4Gb
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500Gb
PSU:Generic 500W Fractal Design Integra 650W
Story so far:
I toyed with a full Haswell rebuild but decided I would be better going for some incremental upgrades instead. So I promptly ordered a HIS 7950 on one of the AMD Friday offers and a Silverstone Argon cooler as well as some nice BitFenix cable extensions to tidy up the case. As well as a new keyboard and mouse to replace the generic OEM ones I had lying about.
New toys have arrived:
Before:
Backplate fitted:
Frontplate on and CPU cleaned up:
Shiney bottom:
All up and running:
So the more observant of you will notice that the graphics card is still the 650, this is because with the 7950 installed my PC wouldn't boot. I initially assumed that this was due to the power supply so I requested a RMA and went and bought a new one. That didn't work either so it looks like the 7950 was to blame so it has been RMA'd
On the upshot I've ordered a new BeQuiet Purepower PSU and EVGA GTX 760 to replace these items and they should here today
Future plans are as follows:
* upgrade the CPU to a unlocked i5
* New mobo that will support SLI
* 2nd monitor and GTX 760
The Silverstone cooler is great, I know I'm not asking much of it running a stock i3 but it keeps both cores very cool under 40C while running the intel burn test on "very high" Vs the stock cooler which was closer to 60C.
I really like the Sidewinder keyboard but find myself hitting caps lock a lot due to the slightly narrower keys than I'm used to. Nothing a little practice won't sort out, the action on the keys is very nice and the back lighting is great too.
MB: GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H
CPU: Intel i3-3240 3.4Ghz
GPU:
Memory: Corsair XSM 3 2x4Gb
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500Gb
PSU:
Story so far:
About this time last year I began specing a PC to allow me to work from home that would be replacing a rapidly dying laptop I had owned for 8 years. This is what I ended up with
I ran with this specification for a few weeks and was happy enough, I then changed jobs and was given a laptop for remote working so I decided to try and re-purpose my PC for some gaming. I quickly discovered the GPU was probably worse than the on board graphics of the i3 so it was the first thing to go and was replaced with a MSI GTX650 Ti 1Gb. I really liked this little card and it preforms better than I expected and can run some modern games at a decent frame rate albeit not at top quality.
Anyway it didn't fit in my case and my generic PSU didn't have any PCI-E connectors so I purchase a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 and Integra 650W PSU. I've been running this setup now for about a year and I'm ready for some upgrades.
I ran with this specification for a few weeks and was happy enough, I then changed jobs and was given a laptop for remote working so I decided to try and re-purpose my PC for some gaming. I quickly discovered the GPU was probably worse than the on board graphics of the i3 so it was the first thing to go and was replaced with a MSI GTX650 Ti 1Gb. I really liked this little card and it preforms better than I expected and can run some modern games at a decent frame rate albeit not at top quality.
Anyway it didn't fit in my case and my generic PSU didn't have any PCI-E connectors so I purchase a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 and Integra 650W PSU. I've been running this setup now for about a year and I'm ready for some upgrades.
I toyed with a full Haswell rebuild but decided I would be better going for some incremental upgrades instead. So I promptly ordered a HIS 7950 on one of the AMD Friday offers and a Silverstone Argon cooler as well as some nice BitFenix cable extensions to tidy up the case. As well as a new keyboard and mouse to replace the generic OEM ones I had lying about.
New toys have arrived:
Before:
Backplate fitted:
Frontplate on and CPU cleaned up:
Shiney bottom:
All up and running:
So the more observant of you will notice that the graphics card is still the 650, this is because with the 7950 installed my PC wouldn't boot. I initially assumed that this was due to the power supply so I requested a RMA and went and bought a new one. That didn't work either so it looks like the 7950 was to blame so it has been RMA'd
On the upshot I've ordered a new BeQuiet Purepower PSU and EVGA GTX 760 to replace these items and they should here today
Future plans are as follows:
* upgrade the CPU to a unlocked i5
* New mobo that will support SLI
* 2nd monitor and GTX 760
The Silverstone cooler is great, I know I'm not asking much of it running a stock i3 but it keeps both cores very cool under 40C while running the intel burn test on "very high" Vs the stock cooler which was closer to 60C.
I really like the Sidewinder keyboard but find myself hitting caps lock a lot due to the slightly narrower keys than I'm used to. Nothing a little practice won't sort out, the action on the keys is very nice and the back lighting is great too.
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