LGA 775 system upgrade

gazozborne · 28 May 2015 at 19:28

Hi There,

I'm finally looking to upgrade my old systems CPU/Mobo/Case with a budget of around £400 and looking to add more parts over the next few months (SSD, 4GB Gfx etc), its current specs are:

Intel E8500 C2D (w/ AC Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 Cooler)
ASRock G41M-VS3 R2.0 Motherboard (Replaced a dead P5Q-E)
MSI 7850 Twin Frozr IV 2048MB
TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz
XFX 550W PSU

in a Thermtaltake Tsunami case.

This is for general gaming really, would like to futureproof it as best i can but stuck on the i5/i7 conundrum as well as if my PSU would be able to manage it.

Any help would be appreciated, i tried to look myself but its been quite a while since i did a considerable upgrade.

stulid · 28 May 2015 at 19:31

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£12 Saving** £257.98
Total : £267.58 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

There is that to get started with.

Your PSU is decent (made by Seasonic).

You can reuse your RAM (or buy a 8GB 2400 Teamgroup kit for£49.99)

Are all your drives SATA?

gazozborne · 28 May 2015 at 20:38

Yeah they are all Sata, 320gb internal with a 1tb in an icy box for the moment, a 250GB SSD is on the future list along with a bigger internal drive.

I'll upgrade RAM in the coming month to a faster 16gb too, is the i7 not worth the £100 difference? This one has £39.50 cashback it seems making it £310.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK - Devil's Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£15 Saving + Gigabyte Free Upgrade ** £349.98
Total : £359.58 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

At the moment i play mainly GTA and Shadows of Mordor which are starting to struggle a bit (especially GTA).

gazozborne · 29 May 2015 at 00:51

Okay, having toyed with the idea of upgrading my RAM as well it seems GTA doesn't really need 16GB that much and after looking at a few benchmarks the i5 vs i7 performance difference isn't that huge either on it.

Would the below be a better option perhaps? More importantly is a 550w still good nowadays? I still only have a 2GB 7850.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£12 Saving** £257.98
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £79.99
1 x NZXT Source 340 Midi-Tower Case- Black Window £52.99
1 x Samsung SE-208GB/RSWD External Slimline 8x DVD-RW (TV Connect) - White £21.98
Total : £427.04 (includes shipping : £11.75 Ex.VAT).

Thanks.

stulid · 29 May 2015 at 00:53

The i5+SLI board is £23 cashback.

The black edition also has a 2for1 upgrade offer - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18631511]

The i5 is no slouch and with a £20 heatsink you should be able to crack 4-4.4Ghz without any hassle.

setter · 29 May 2015 at 01:17

No need for an i7 unless your going multi gpu, even then there's only gains in very few games.

gazozborne · 30 May 2015 at 04:39

Thanks for the advice, went with the below, should be a nice upgrade from what i have now! Seemed silly to pass on the gigabyte offer especially.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £112.99
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £79.99
1 x NZXT Source 340 Midi-Tower Case- Black Window £52.99
Total : £425.96 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).