new gpu & ssd (and external hdd for good measure)...what we think

Thekwango · 28 May 2015 at 15:07

edit: gonna make a slight edit to my OP.......

£300 for an SSD and GPU....what would you go for? the below was including an external HDD for back up purposes so ignore that, it's a separate thing now

so I remember asking this question some time ago.....but the wife, life and other finances sadly interrupted any plans I've had - but enough of the sob story......

I need to freshen up the old pc (i5-750, 2 x 500gb hdd's, 8gb ram & vap-x 5770) and came up with the below on offers. what we think worth it or should I push the boat out a bit farther? ideally I'd wanna upgrade the whole damn thing but 1st child due in 3 weeks so prams and car seats come first!

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS Radeon R9 280X iPower IceQ X2 Boost 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
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 Samsung M3 1TB USB3.0 Slimline Portable Hard Drive - Piano Black £46.99
Total : £308.38 (includes shipping : £9.50 Ex.VAT).

did have a 280x not long after release and really liked the visual upgrade I got from it, but it had a rattling fan and after I DSR'd it the wife came up with other plans for MY money!

dacads · 28 May 2015 at 15:13

Well you can keep the existing SSDs and RAM at least. 280X is decent you can pick one up used for around £100.

Thekwango · 28 May 2015 at 15:16

dacads said:
Well you can keep the existing SSDs and RAM at least. 280X is decent you can pick one up used for around £100.

yea I've no issue really with the second hand market but for gpu's I normally prefer to stick with new.

dacads · 28 May 2015 at 15:17

Well I've seen some go with remaining warranty, so I don't see an issue

ginjaninja · 28 May 2015 at 15:22

i question the performance uplift value in a new sata ssd...but if its soace your after id value greatest gb/£ and nothing else. I imagine youd get more out of a gpu increase..

Thekwango · 28 May 2015 at 15:43

ginjaninja said:
i question the performance uplift value in a new sata ssd...but if its soace your after id value greatest gb/£ and nothing else. I imagine youd get more out of a gpu increase..

ahhh I have just amended the OP....not 2 x SSD's but rather 2 x HDD's!!! might make a bit more sense now I guess!

was really wondering if anyone has any experience of the gpu and ssd, especially the gpu....don't think I could face another rattling noisy fan!

dacads · 28 May 2015 at 16:01

I've got the same SSD, it's the best you can get for £80 so definitely recommended

Thekwango · 28 May 2015 at 16:02

dacads said:
I've got the same SSD, it's the best you can get for £80 so definitely recommended

excellent....at least that's that sorted then

ginjaninja · 28 May 2015 at 16:30

in a difficult position with a 5770...
one best value point is around 290x/970 but your paying a large amount for the last year of 28nm. All with the unknowns of how dx12 will affect landscape.
3GB of VRAM is worth a lot imo at 1080p in terms of longevity so 280x probably wins over 960 but youd want the expensive vapor-x (for noise) so your paying that bit more to cool a hotter card well..
Try and hold out until June 18th for info on 300 series, youve waited this long.

Thekwango · 28 May 2015 at 16:36

ginjaninja said:
in a difficult position with a 5770...
one best value point is around 290x/970 but your paying a large amount for the last year of 28nm. All with the unknowns of how dx12 will affect landscape.
3GB of VRAM is worth a lot imo at 1080p in terms of longevity so 280x probably wins over 960 but youd want the expensive vapor-x (for noise) so your paying that bit more to cool a hotter card well..
Try and hold out until June 18th for info on 300 series, youve waited this long.

aye there's no panic on the gpu, so no issues with holding out a bit longer...wife's due date is the 18th June, so maybe get 2 bits of good news then

might jump on the ssd though as the price seems damn decent

pastymuncher · 28 May 2015 at 16:55

Just be aware that you won't get the full benefit of the SSD. It will be faster than a hdd but limited to sata 2 speeds. If sata 3 was implemented on a socket 1156 board it was by the awful Marvell controller which turned out to be actually slower than the native Intel Sata 2 controller. I had a Asus P7P55D-E Pro and the Marvell performance was so bad I ended up disabling it and just using the Intel sata 2 controller.

Thekwango · 28 May 2015 at 17:24

pastymuncher said:
Just be aware that you won't get the full benefit of the SSD. It will be faster than a hdd but limited to sata 2 speeds. If sata 3 was implemented on a socket 1156 board it was by the awful Marvell controller which turned out to be actually slower than the native Intel Sata 2 controller. I had a Asus P7P55D-E Pro and the Marvell performance was so bad I ended up disabling it and just using the Intel sata 2 controller.

yea I'm aware of that - why in gods name they bothered with the marvel controller is beyond me. at least if when I get round to a new i'll get the full benefit of the ssd - so i'll get a speed boost now and again when I sort the new rig out......win win really

Thekwango · 28 May 2015 at 19:45

made a slight amendment to the OP....it's a spec me now

dacads · 28 May 2015 at 19:48

Thekwango said:
aye there's no panic on the gpu, so no issues with holding out a bit longer...wife's due date is the 18th June, so maybe get 2 bits of good news then

might jump on the ssd though as the price seems damn decent

It is a decent price for sure, I got mine a few months ago and it was closer to a £100

ginjaninja · 30 May 2015 at 13:08

Thekwango said:
might jump on the ssd though as the price seems damn decent

if you know you need an ssd the current deals are tempting...

Snookums · 30 May 2015 at 13:47

You have mm access so I'd say keep an eye out there for second hand cards. A friend of mine just picked up two 780ti's for £475 there, so 1 = £237.5 which is in your price range and this card will take anything you through at it. So keep your eye out for one of those if you can. Out performs a 970 and is comparable to a 980.