New Build or what to upgrade?

rupertbeats · 6 Dec 2014 at 20:02

Hi all,

I've had my computer setup for a while but haven't really done anything with it but now i'm getting back into playing a few games (SC2, Heroes of the Storm, Smite) nothing too crazy and this has made me want to upgrade or change some bits as i'm in need of a new case and PSU and wondered whether to do a new build or just change some bits so any help would be good.

I own an I5 4790k with a Corsair H100i cooler.
An Nvidia GTX 640 ti boost (gigabyte version).
An Asus H81M-E Motherboard. (weak link???)
8GB (2x4gb) of Corsair Vengeance Ram
and a Scandisk 250GB SSD

Firstly I need a new case and PSU, currently I hate the fan noise from my Corsair and GPU so a silent/quiet case is what i'm thinking of, I have a cheap case currently with a budget 500w psu and it is so noisy and cheap feeling. So recommendations for case and psu?

Next the motherboard i'm sure isn't great I bought it as it was all the money I had left over and I just needed something to get running. And the graphics card is i'm guessing a little old now with today's standards had it a fair while.

I haven't overclocked anything and I don't want to run ultra graphics but currently i'm not getting great fps on even high settings on the games mentioned. Something I might be interested in soon is recording my games so i will also need a new HDD to accompany my SSD, will any do?

My OS is Win 8.1 64 bit.

Any advice on where to go with my build would be great,

Thanks all,

Roo

stulid · 6 Dec 2014 at 20:03

Hi,

Well here is a quiet case and a great PSU,

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £89.99
1 x Antec P100 Mid Tower Silenced Computing Case £62.99
Total : £162.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

The next thing I can see with your spec is the GFX card and motherboard are the weak links.

A Z97 board for example will allow you the chance to overclock the CPU.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £92.99
Total : £102.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).

This board does SLI+Crossfire at 8X/8X, the PSU above will run two GTX970s for example.

Harddrive,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £64.99
Total : £73.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).

So that then leaves the GFX card, depending on how much you want to spend?

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £289.99
1 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £226.99
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
Total : £696.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Nvidia cards have something called Shadowplay that can record gameplay for 20mins.

One question,

Is the Vengeance RAM the tall or low profile version?

rupertbeats · 6 Dec 2014 at 20:49

Hi,

Thanks very much for the really detailed reply.

The Vengeance RAM is i think tall version, has some pretty big heatsinks on it.

Now a series of follow up questions, sorry

Is that about the price i'm going to have to pay for a decent PSU and motherboard?

Any other case suggestions? The silver plate front is a pet hate. (though looks not so bad maybe on that one)

And finally graphics cards. I didn't set aside a budget as such I just wanted something that would be decent now and a bit future proofed, also as quiet as possible I don't crave the nicest of settings just looking nice enough and being steady fps.

Thanks again,

stulid · 6 Dec 2014 at 20:52

Is that about the price i'm going to have to pay for a decent PSU and motherboard?

For a PSU to run SLI/Crossfire then yes, or for a single card,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-003-SF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2057

Any other case suggestions? The silver plate front is a pet hate. (though looks not so bad maybe on that one)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-078-BQ&groupid=2362&catid=2911

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-144-CS&groupid=2362&catid=1489

That fits an H100i.

And finally graphics cards. I didn't set aside a budget as such I just wanted something that would be decent now and a bit future proofed, also as quiet as possible I don't crave the nicest of settings just looking nice enough and being steady fps.

The MSI GTX970 runs passive when idle and is quiet when running.

The others will be quiet, they have excellent coolers on them.

------------------------

You may want some thermal paste to re attach the H100i

TheGentry · 6 Dec 2014 at 21:33

You have a pretty solid build as it is as stulid says mobile and gfx card is weakest 970 and a sli mobo needed

rupertbeats · 7 Dec 2014 at 14:22

Thanks guys,

So on my list is a case (thinking the Bequiet orange and black) a psu, (I think i'll fork out for the slightly better one) a motherboard (undecided) and a graphics card, will SLI be a bit overkill for what i'm after?

Final question I have the Corsair H100i , it seems really noisy and i'm not overclocking or anything yet, would it be worth selling and buying a normal CPU cooler maybe just one fan slightly quieter? Or keep hold of it.

Thanks again,

Roo

stulid · 7 Dec 2014 at 14:26

SLI would possibly be overkill, a single GTX970 doesnt struggle at 1080P.

Have you installed the software for the H100i and set both fans to quiet/balanced?

rupertbeats · 7 Dec 2014 at 15:08

Hi,

Yes I have, however i'm thinking perhaps the noise is due to my cheap case and when I get a quieter case this will help with the noise overall anyway.

PSU wise how does this compare to the one you listed for me?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-055-BQ

Thinking of buying the matching case, thought £100 might seem overkill for the case considering the one you listed for me has very good reviews.

Thanks

stulid · 7 Dec 2014 at 15:09

The EVGA PSU is made by Superflower, Gold rated and a 10 year warranty.