New build/upgrade spec, expertise needed!

[Blinkz]

Hey folks,

My current machine is just over 6 years old and so I'm looking to replace it. It is based on a c2d E8500 with 4gb DDR2 ram, originally with a Radeon 4870 which died a very colourful death to be replaced by a Radeon 7850.

I've been out of the loops for 6 years so have lost track of what's good, but I assume there is much quicker stuff out now! Firstly I'm wondering if any of my current system is worth keeping, or even worth anything at all!

I'm then looking to buy something new, ideally pretty quick. I don't play as many games as I used too as I've an xbox one but it would nice to have the option. I'd just like to have great windows performance, as well as powerful enough to do the odd bit of video editing.

Any advice would be welcome!

 

[stulid]

Hi,

So what is the budget and what parts do you need?

Do you need a whole base unit, OS, monitor, keyboard + mouse etc.

 

[Blinkz]

Yea sorry that would be useful info! Between £1-1.5k. As I said everything is 6 years old so I would guess I probably need everything.

 

[stulid]

Start from scratch then and I mean everything,

YOUR BASKET
1 x EPIC BUNDLE: Intel 4790K, Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7, Kingston 16GB 2400MHz Kit, Superflower 750W PSU & FREE STUFF!! **£50 SAVING** £549.92
1 x AOC G2460PQU 24" Widescreen 144Hz 1ms Gaming LED Monitor - Gunmetal £199.99
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280 TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Intel 335 Series 20nm 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail (SSDSC2CT240A4K5) £79.99
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 1250 Liquid CPU Cooler £76.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x CM Storm Sniper Elite Gamer Peripheral Bundle £64.99
1 x Antec P100 Mid Tower Silenced Computing Case £51.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £39.98
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £13.49
Total : £1,318.79 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[tamzzy]

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£43 Saving** £351.98
1 x XFX Radeon R9 290 DD Black Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R9-290A-EDBD) £281.99
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2414H 24" Widescreen LED Slim Bezel Monitor - Midnight Grey £191.99
1 x Kingston HyperX 16GB (2x8GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/16-OC) £129.95
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Mid Tower Enthusiast Case with Window £89.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H105 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060016-WW ) £89.99
1 x Seasonic M12II EVO Edition 850W '80 Plus Bronze' Fully Modular Power Supply £79.99
1 x Intel 335 Series 20nm 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail (SSDSC2CT240A4K5) £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x Edifier C2 Plus (EDIHCS2330) £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance M65 Laser Gaming Mouse - Black (CH-9000022-EU) £52.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £41.98
1 x Corsair Raptor K30 Gaming Keyboard (CH-9000043-UK) £37.99
1 x Pioneer 24x Internal DVR-221LBK DVD Rewriter - OEM £13.49
Total : £1,577.29 (includes shipping : ).



specced an ips screen (but i don't know if your work needs accurate colours, if not, then stu's 144hz panel is a better call)
keyboard out of stock at the moment

 

[ShivP]

Any preference to what peripherals you want?

 

[Blinkz]

Thanks for the specs guys, appreciate it. It's impressive what is available now! How much faster can I expect it to be? Obviously the gfx will be much improved, better res, fps etc. but on a day to day basis?

I'm not a fan of all these gamer keyboards/mice. I've used the same intellimouse explorer for as long as I can remember and I've never found any other mouse as comfortable!

Also is win 8 really worth it? The pics I've seen make it look awful!

 

[tamzzy]

Thanks for the specs guys, appreciate it. It's impressive what is available now! How much faster can I expect it to be? Obviously the gfx will be much improved, better res, fps etc. but on a day to day basis?

depends on what you do

I'm not a fan of all these gamer keyboards/mice. I've used the same intellimouse explorer for as long as I can remember and I've never found any other mouse as comfortable!

the intellimouse was one of the best office/gaming mice ever lol

Also is win 8 really worth it? The pics I've seen make it look awful!

get win 8. win 7 is outdated lol

 

[stulid]

Thanks for the specs guys, appreciate it. It's impressive what is available now! How much faster can I expect it to be? Obviously the gfx will be much improved, better res, fps etc. but on a day to day basis?

I'm not a fan of all these gamer keyboards/mice. I've used the same intellimouse explorer for as long as I can remember and I've never found any other mouse as comfortable!

Also is win 8 really worth it? The pics I've seen make it look awful!

It's going to be a night and day difference coming from your older system, the SSD alone is going to be a shock if you've never used one before.

Win8.1 takes a while to get use to but it is rapid and smooth in operation, I use to be a Win7 fanboy and hated Win8, but after using it and the last service pack, it is now lovely.

You dont have to use that "tile" interface at all and instead just use the standard looking desktop.

 

[Blinkz]

Well that's good to hear. Is anything in my old system worth keeping? Is it even worth anything to sell it? I've been thinking about making a htpc separate from my micro server so I suppose some of it could be used for that?

 

[Blinkz]

Look to pull the trigger on a new system in the next week or so and am trying to fine tune exactly what I want.

Some of the products mentioned before aren't available anymore so any recommended replacements would be great!

A few questions to fine tune the spec as well. Both the specs above include watercooling, is that needed? I won't be overclocked and so assume the CPU stock cooler would do the job? The watercooling seems to limit the type of case I could get?

For now I think I will stick with my current keyboard and mouse, as well as my current DVD-RW/BR/HD-ROM drive as it does everything I need it to do!

I currently have 3 WD Green drives in my N40L. I'm going to be updating them to WD Reds (mainly due to needing more space!) Will there be any issues running one of them in my new system? (still having the SSD as the main windows/programs drive of course) or is it better to just get a brand new drive?

Last question is regarding the monitor. There seems to be lots of options to choose from, 144hz, IPS, 4k, etc etc Are there any big differences between the options?

Sorry for all the noob questions! Thanks again for the help.