New build advice, can build it myself.

Associate
Joined
14 Apr 2011
Posts
1,154
Location
Stafford
As the titles says, looking to replace my extremly aging PC.

Its a 2500k, 12gig of ram, lots of drives and an SSD, its almost 13 years old but to be fair the old girl is still going strong, running a 970 currently but I am aware its time for an upgrade.

So, I need everything going forward as I think salvaging anything from this PC isnt wise, I`ll move the storage drives over so I`ll need a decent power supply

My budget is gonna be £1500, I wont need any periperals with that or any monitors as I just brought a monitor, so £1500 for the base unit.

it will be mainly used for gaming, two or three monitor setup for productivity if I can get a GFX card that will do that. I have a 1gig internet connection so would like to be able to use that to the maxx on this setup.

I have no peference to either AMD or Intel or AMD or Nvidia when it comes to CPU or GPU although like I have said my I5-2500k and my old 970 have done me very well for the past 7 years or so. (I had a 6950 originally with this build)

If anything I would prefer to spend more on the basics this time around with slighly less on the GPU so I can upgrade that in the future using the same setup, much like I did with my current setup (originally purchased in 2011, upgraded with SSD and 970 in 2015)

so, ladies and gents, fire away with your recommendations on maximum performance, I will need a decent sized case to house a number of drives, I believe it helps with cooling as well.

Cheers! I look forward to reading your replies.
 
Thanks for your prompt reply @Tetras. I currently have a couple of 4tb drive and 1 6tb drive, I could go 4xsata without a major issue to be honest I would just have to get another larger drive into the build. Is a 650W power supply going to be enough? I currently have a 750W XFX and to fair its done very well over the years. I suppose if only 4 drives is max then 650 is enough? I currently have the i100 from corsair for my existing cooler and again this has worked flawlessly for 6 or 7 years, I would be happy to pay the difference over the air cooler but is this cooler so good for the money? (I dont like to bleat on but again the system I have now has served me so well, I need to try and build something that will last)
 
Thanks, @pastymuncher, It was always my intention to upgrade my current system with a new CPU at some point but that never happened. What I would want to ensure is that in a couple of years time I could swap out the 4070 for whatever the latest card would be then (6070 or 7070 by then maybe) I was able to give a bit more life to my current rig by swapping the 6950 to a 970 and as long as I could do that with this system that would be great. I would like to get at least 5 to 6 years of decent gaming on the new system so I can save a bit in-between for upgrades.

The above with the AMD cpu and case and the 4070 totals out to about £1540, I`ll need a decent M2 drive and a CPU cooler so I`m already over budget. I can increase it a little as I already have some items I can use but not sure I would want to re-use my i100 cooler its like 8 years old now. So, anyone got any other suggestions and could throw in an altogether basket for around the £1750 mark?
 
I dont think I`ll have any issue with flashing the BIOS from a usb so probably will opt for the 14700F. Would this build be ok for now with a 4060? how do those cards perform in games? given that I`ll be spending a bit more on this PC i could do with saving some cash elsewhere. I`ll need to factor in a cooler as well. My limit was really £1500 but I can stretch if the step up is a decent one in terms of longevity. I`ll be gaming on a new Dell S2722DGM that arrived today so as long as whatever I get looks good on that monitor for now I would be happy.
 
Ok, after reading all the posts and taking it all on board. I heve the following basket:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,675.92 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

I have changed a few things, gone for a 2TB drive for a little extra and gone for a 4070 super as its currently in stock. Does that baskey look good? will it all work together? will the Phantom Spirit fit inside this case for example? Is there a better AIO water cooler like the i100? or is the Phanton Spirit that good?
 
just get the E-F for £80 saving rather than the E-E
do you really need a full-tower case?
would also change the ssd to either: m480 spatium pro, or the 850x or firecuda 530
I will swap the mother boards over, doesnt look like there is much difference between the 2 at all. I would prefer a full tower case for sure. I`ll easily want to get the 4 sata slots filled and can do that with the drives I already have, hence the reason I have gone for a larger M2 initially. This PC will act as my plex server as well so I do need the drive space.
 
Last edited:
I will be using 2 monitors, when talking about productivity its nothing more than watching youtube and maybe a bit of office thats it, easily handles with a gaming cpu. I will need a case that can handle 4 drives and at least 2 m2s. I have a coolermaster case currently and it would all fit in that, but its battered so need a new one
 
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,654.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

I think with the above I`m almost there, I have watched some reviews on the POP XL and for price nothing comes close, I can live with 3 drives for now and save up and replace them with larger ones anyway, how I would love to get a brand new Coolermaster CM690III. I have changes out the SSD for the MSI one. (not sure what was wrong with the WD one?) I dont think I need anything else apart from a windows 11 key but I believe I can get one of those through work anyway. Is there anything else I`ll need to buy to ensure I can built this when it all arrives? Cables or thermal paste? or does that come with the CPU cooler? I have opted for a AIO rather than the Air cooler, is this one a good option for the CPU? or is that air cooler really that good?
 
I pushed the button earlier on today, got everything that I planned to get that was on that list but did change the cooler for this one :


It should fit in the top of the pop XL ok at least it does on a video I watched.

Just need to wait for the pre-order items to arrive now and I get to building!!
 
So, I purchased and built this PC a few weeks back. I am just looking for some advice on some future pathways to adding to it now. If I had say £500 to spend on this setup now what would be the recommended upgrades. Do I got for another 32gig of memory to get up to 64gig? I am thinking of getting a larger M.2 drive for games and there isn't much need for that to be silly fast. I am using the all sata ports, is there a PCI card that would allow me to add more storage drives? I am going to start upgrading some of the peripherals because my eldest spilt coke on my keyboard and the space bar now sticks, what would be the way to go, something fancy that might be a bit more waterproof? need wireless headset as well, but when all that is done I`ll need to look at how I can upgrade over time on this one. new second monitor as well. its a beast of a setup and apart from some initial build issues it run absolutely flawlessly in all the games I have played on it so far, need some decent game suggestions to try it out to the max, I have just recently got Xbox games pass for PC and have been working my way through Diablo 4. Any suggestions on other games to try out? I have doom eternal and Sniper elite 5 installed but yet to try them out,
 
Back
Top Bottom