Go the upgrade urge...

Jono8

Jono8

Jono8

Caporegime
Joined
20 May 2007
Posts
41,035
Location
Surrey
Good morning fine people of OCUK

I have started to get the "upgrade urge" and was wondering if now is a good time to do it? I currently i have an I5 2500k (running @4.3GHZ) on a MSI P67A-GD53 with a GTX 480.

Now, it does most things i ask of it very well and the 480GTX still seems to play everything i throw at it without much trouble.

My only real annoyances are:

A. Mechanical hard drives - i think i would like some fast boot up,short load time, solid state goodness.

B. It is noisy. My case fans are noisy, the GTX 480 is noisy (as i have it overclocked and therefore a loud fan profile set) and im thinking i would like to go pretty silent next upgrade,maybe even watercooled. I have also recently moved to a small flat so my pc is in the living room with the TV so the quieter the better.

To fix these things though requires lots of tinkering and also, reinstalling windows e.t.c ( i have a copy of Windows 8 still in it shrink wrap so might go the Windows 8 route as well), so i figure i may as well upgrade other stuff whilst i'm there.


Is there anything CPU/GPU (excluding SLI/XFIRE ofcourse) wise that will knock spots off my current set up?

Will there be loads of new tech coming up after March/April so should i wait?

Budget wise, i guess around the £500 mark. Maybe more if i can sell what ive got for fair money. the parts i would keep, would be the case, power supply(corsiar 620w),optical drives,maybe the memory depnding on what platform i upgraded to.

Any thoughts/advice would be most appreciated.


Edit: Title should say "Got" :(
 
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Jono8 said:
( i have a copy of Windows 8 still in it shrink wrap so might go the Windows 8 route as well), so i figure i may as well upgrade other stuff whilst i'm there.
Click to expand...

imo windows 8 is gash...designed for tablet and touch screens. Keep with Win 7 until service pack 1 comes out for 8.
 
subbytna said:
imo windows 8 is gash...designed for tablet and touch screens. Keep with Win 7 until service pack 1 comes out for 8.
Click to expand...

SSD + Windows 8, best boot speeds imagineable!

Grab a nice 7950, a 256GB SSD? (Or is that too cheeky) & put windows 8 on it, you'll love the speeds.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £251.99
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £164.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £62.98
1 x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series High Pressure Low Noise - Dual Pack £25.99
Total : £517.34 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Added the D14 for that chip, unless you have a decent heatsink already, the d14 might be able to get a little more juice out of the chip, and may well be even more quieter. If not, closed loop watercooling could be an option to get rid of that noise, hence the corsair fans.
 
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Thanks for the input guys

I am going to have to wait for decent SSD to drop to near £100 though because i let one of those M4's at £100 go in the lightning deals last November thinking i didnt need it so i cant actually bring myself to spend much more than £100 on one :p. they do drop occasionally still so i will wait it out.

Would a 7950 be that much of a step up performance wise compared to my 480GTX? I know it will be quieter and use less power.

Those SP120 fans look tasty though.

I was only going to go Windows 8 because i bought a physical copy while it was on offer for £25 and if im installing an all new windows set up i though i may aswell.
 
subbytna said:
imo windows 8 is gash...designed for tablet and touch screens. Keep with Win 7 until service pack 1 comes out for 8.
Click to expand...

The 'metro' stuff is indeed horrible for desktop use but it takes about 20 mins to configure to ensure you'll never see it again. (unpin all apps, install superior desktop version, set as default for main file-types).

Afterwards your left with an OS very much like win 7 but with improved usability (file transfer pause/ resume, imporved task manager, boot times etc). And I have to say the start screen is better than the old start menu.
But the apps & metro can do one.

As for the rest, the guys have given you great advice. I can say that an SSD is well worth the investment & 256gb size has been a real sweet spot for me, needs no particular management.
 
Jono8 said:
Thanks for the input guys

I am going to have to wait for decent SSD to drop to near £100 though because i let one of those M4's at £100 go in the lightning deals last November thinking i didnt need it so i cant actually bring myself to spend much more than £100 on one :p. they do drop occasionally still so i will wait it out.

Would a 7950 be that much of a step up performance wise compared to my 480GTX? I know it will be quieter and use less power.

Those SP120 fans look tasty though.

I was only going to go Windows 8 because i bought a physical copy while it was on offer for £25 and if im installing an all new windows set up i though i may aswell.
Click to expand...

The graphics card would be a great improvement from what you have at the moment, it will definately add some oomph to the system. Only thing that would hold it back slightly would be the CPU, however if you did decide to get a bigger/better heatsink you could overclock a tad more to get some performance increase but that's just an opinion.

Regarding Windows 8, I'd recommend it to everyone and anyone, it's great to use, and once you get used to using 3 extra keyboard shortcuts, Metro becomes the best thing ever, shortcuts for games/apps/emails is so damn useful! & Like I said, I can boot in around 4 seconds! It's worth it especially if you have it spare, and even if you don't like it, just use the desktop and download a third party start button and you have the best of both worlds!

EDIT: Also, what case do you have? Those fans are definitely worth installing!
 
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ThaReaperGuy said:
The graphics card would be a great improvement from what you have at the moment, it will definately add some oomph to the system. Only thing that would hold it back slightly would be the CPU, however if you did decide to get a bigger/better heatsink you could overclock a tad more to get some performance increase but that's just an opinion.

Regarding Windows 8, I'd recommend it to everyone and anyone, it's great to use, and once you get used to using 3 extra keyboard shortcuts, Metro becomes the best thing ever, shortcuts for games/apps/emails is so damn useful! & Like I said, I can boot in around 4 seconds! It's worth it especially if you have it spare, and even if you don't like it, just use the desktop and download a third party start button and you have the best of both worlds!

EDIT: Also, what case do you have? Those fans are definitely worth installing!
Click to expand...

I have a gigabyte aurora 570. It is old, but it is big and i like the look of it so i don't really think its worth changing. I might, as has been suggested, swap the fans out for something better.

In terms of graphics cards i have heard rumours that the Nvidia refresh is coming in March so maybe it might be best to wait it out till then as it is only a month?
 
Jono8 said:
I have a gigabyte aurora 570. It is old, but it is big and i like the look of it so i don't really think its worth changing. I might, as has been suggested, swap the fans out for something better.

In terms of graphics cards i have heard rumours that the Nvidia refresh is coming in March so maybe it might be best to wait it out till then as it is only a month?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure on the next gen of tech that's coming out, as I've been too busy to search around about it aha! It's up to you really? If your after a nice boost in performance and some quiter fans then grab those Corsair SP120's, a nice heatsink, and an SSD. I'm trying to think of what would be better in the long term. Even with new tech coming out, it's going to definately be expensive straight away. So, your gunna be paying that little more to have it straight up. Lemme spec you some definate worthwhile parts.

TL;DR: Maybe just some fans and an SSD?
 
For now this is what I would get, as it will give a very nice boost in performance speed with the SSD and, keep things nice and cool. The D14 is fantastic! & They're 4 fans in the basket below. Should cover all the fans on the case, if they are all 120mm.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2) £164.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £62.98
2 x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series High Pressure Low Noise - Dual Pack £25.99 (£51.98)
Total : £291.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).



However, having a quick look at your case, I'd be tempted to upgrade that as well due to it not having roof fans, and being silver! [This is a personal opinion however!]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.98
1 x Antec 1100 Eleven Hundred Ultimate Gaming Tower Case - Black £71.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case - Black £64.99
Total : £258.38 (includes shipping : £17.85).



Few I would recommend if you ever felt like changing case.
 
Thanks. The case is a black one and not silver, and i think it will be fine.

SSD definitely seems the way to go (ARGH why did i not by the M4 in the amazon lightning deals!!) and those super quite fans look good. Can you use those fans as case exhaust/intake ones as well?

For the rest, i'm not sure. I defniitely would like a cooler running/quiter graphics card. The 480GTX has been a fantastic buy.£190 i paid two years ago and it is still going strong today! I do think its time for a change this year though.

I guess CPU wise there isnt anything at the moment (that isnt silly money) that is going to give huge gains in that area is there?
 
An SSD is a must have, I'd highly recommend grabbing one and putting windows 8 on it as a start, and those fans can be used however you like. And ahh, I only saw a silver version of the case ah, black would look nice! :)
 
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