New spec advice

[robbobloke]

Hi, I'm thinking of upgrading my current PC to play the latest games with a good settings etc.. (GW2, some FPS's, Civ V) My old PC was built in 2007 with the help of the OCUK forum, which is as follows:-

-Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
-Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black
-Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink*
-Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
-OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
-Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
-Samsung SH-183LBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black)
-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache
-Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA663)

I'm not sure if any of my old PC is salvageable for a new build but would be grateful for your views (in particular the Liain-Li case and PSU?). Not sure if *the Lian-Li case will fit the motherboard and GPU below. With regards storage I also have a 2tb Synology NAS.

The proposed build is:
YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 EX OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card *£349.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail *£184.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) *£89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard *£79.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black *£54.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9) *£49.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 612S CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/1156/1155/775/AM3/AM2+/AM2) *£32.99
Total : £857.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).

*

I will also need a monitor, which at the moment is a choice between:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Benq XL2420T 24" TRUE 120Hz 3D Vision 2.0 Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red *£299.99
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey *£227.99
Total : £542.98 (includes shipping : £12.50).

*

In the end I expect it will be a choice between high res or faster refresh for gaming. As I also want to use the computer for work, the extra real estate might be more beneficial. Coming from a 19inch Viewsonic, I'm sure either will be an excellent upgrade nonetheless.

I'd be grateful for your thoughts on the proposed upgrade.

 

[n3mss]

At least you're going for an after market cooler. I am not criticising your choice, but I am interested in why you are not going for one of the "ready to go" CPU water cooling packages (e.g. from Corsair or Antec)?

 

[RJC]

Your current case will be fine for your new setup.

PSU wise, you should get away with the Corsair with the 670, i have a 670 with a overclocked i7 2700k and I pull 350w from the mains at full load.

Looked at cheaper memory which is low profile.

Edit:


YOUR BASKET
1 x KFA2 GeForce GTX 670 EX OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £349.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £184.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC128B/WW) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £31.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/AM2/AM3/FM1) £24.98
Total : £773.94 (includes shipping : £10.00).

 

[robbobloke]

Thanks for the input. I used the Coolmaster CPU cooler as I've seen it in other peoples builds. Are they all very similar around that price point?

Good news about the case and psu. Also means I can upgrade in stealth without the other half noticing! Haha.

Another thing I've just thought about, as it will be a new motherboard and CPU I'm guessing I need to buy windows 7 again, rather than use same activation?

 

[n3mss]

Another thing I've just thought about, as it will be a new motherboard and CPU I'm guessing I need to buy windows 7 again, rather than use same activation?

Who knows... I've upgraded MB (same brand) and CPU (same brand) at the same time and Win7 (OEM) activated fine. I guess it's a bit like Russian Roulette.