Next Upgrade

Jak3 Mac · 20 Apr 2014 at 15:14

Hi, I've got the upgrade itch (you all know what I mean

) and I've got money but I don't know what to upgrade, I mostly just game on my PC but sometimes I convert films and stuff, nothing too intense. Does anyone have any suggestions for my next upgrade?

My current PC:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Radeon R9 280X DirectCUII TOP 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Kingston 240GB SSDNow V+200 Drive SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (SVP200S37A/240G) £159.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-06949) £109.99
1 x Asus Z87-K Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £91.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020060-UK) £62.99
1 x Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black £59.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £53.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** HDD £52.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 250GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST250DM000) HDD £37.99
Total : £1,061.86 (includes shipping : ).

ExRayTed · 20 Apr 2014 at 18:37

What monitor do you currently have?

dacads · 20 Apr 2014 at 18:42

I'm guessing there's a reason for the two hard drives?

I would go with a Samsung Evo SSD as it's the best value for money you can get

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-168-SA

Again you can do better with the PSU as well, this gold rated unit will do the job

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

Also will you be planning to overclock the CPU? If so a cooler wouldn't go amiss

RJC · 20 Apr 2014 at 18:45

Do you need the pro version of windows?

Done a slight reshuffle:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev2.0 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £47.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K2/8X) £45.95
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 950 Liquid CPU Cooler £44.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £947.80 (includes shipping : ).

ExRayTed · 20 Apr 2014 at 19:07

That's his current PC in his post RJC

Jak3 Mac · 20 Apr 2014 at 19:19

ExRayTed said:
What monitor do you currently have?

http://www.acer.ca/ac/en/CA/content/model/ET.FS0HP.A01

dacads said:
I'm guessing there's a reason for the two hard drives?

I would go with a Samsung Evo SSD as it's the best value for money you can get

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-168-SA

Again you can do better with the PSU as well, this gold rated unit will do the job

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

Also will you be planning to overclock the CPU? If so a cooler wouldn't go amiss

I had a spare HDD, so I put it in and installed linux mint on it. I already have a 250GB SSD, would it really be worth upgrading? As for the PSU, I'll consider that one it looks good

I have a cooler master hyper 212 EVO but OcUK doesn't sell them any more. I've oc'd to 4.2Ghz

RJC said:
Do you need the pro version of windows?

Done a slight reshuffle:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev2.0 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £249.95
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black (CC-9011023-WW) £47.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K2/8X) £45.95
1 x Antec Kúhler H2O 950 Liquid CPU Cooler £44.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £947.80 (includes shipping : ).

I have the pro version because I got it on that deal in January of last year when microsoft were trying to sell as much as they could. There's no point changing my graphics card for an almost identical one, if not worse. I like my case and that one isn't as good. There's no point replacing the RAM for that because there's not much improvement, I don't really want an optical drive, too. That hard drive is worse than my current one. If I was going to replace my mobo it would probably be better than that one. I don't think you understood the thread properly

I already have the PC and I'm looking for an upgrade, I'm not buying a new one

thanks anyway

ExRayTed said:
That's his current PC in his post RJC

Yep

RJC · 20 Apr 2014 at 19:50

Jak3 Mac · 20 Apr 2014 at 20:04

RJC said:
Doh

Well you've got to make 1 mistake in 23476 posts

RJC · 20 Apr 2014 at 20:11

Jak3 Mac said:
Well you've got to make 1 mistake in 23476 posts

That's true

Your system is pretty good as it is, you could add a separate sound card, mind you I would not know which to go for ( not into sound cards

)

Jak3 Mac · 20 Apr 2014 at 20:21

RJC said:
That's true

Your system is pretty good as it is, you could add a separate sound card, mind you I would not know which to go for ( not into sound cards )

I've never thought about that, I'm not big on sound but I'll think about it

***Edit***
Does anyone think a 4770K would be worth getting for me?

ExRayTed · 20 Apr 2014 at 20:36

How about a spanky, shiny new 27in monitor? It's the only thing I can think to spend money on that would be an immediate and tangible improvement.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus VG278HE 27" TRUE 144Hz 3D Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £379.99
Total : £379.99 (includes shipping : ).

Jak3 Mac · 20 Apr 2014 at 20:59

ExRayTed said:
How about a spanky, shiny new 27in monitor? It's the only thing I can think to spend money on that would be an immediate and tangible improvement.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus VG278HE 27" TRUE 144Hz 3D Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £379.99
Total : £379.99 (includes shipping : ).

Oooh, good idea! Maybe not that one because I'm not fussed on 3D but maybe a higher resolution one, or higher refresh rate

ivorito · 20 Apr 2014 at 21:03

Unless you go for a new monitor, to be honest I don't see the point in upgrading for the sake of it. However, I would consider getting new fans to replace existing ones. Obviously this depends on how much you care about noise but with better quality fans you can get better cooling with less noise.

Jak3 Mac · 20 Apr 2014 at 21:07

ivorito said:
Unless you go for a new monitor, to be honest I don't see the point in upgrading for the sake of it. However, I would consider getting new fans to replace existing ones. Obviously this depends on how much you care about noise but with better quality fans you can get better cooling with less noise.

Which fans would you recommend?

ivorito · 21 Apr 2014 at 00:53

Jak3 Mac said:
Which fans would you recommend?

I'm not an expert or anything but I would say one of these three would be good for a 120mm case fan:

Noctua NF-S12A

YOUR BASKET
1 x Noctua NF-S12A FLX Fan -120mm £17.99
Total : £17.99 (includes shipping : ).

Very expensive but will provide great cooling at very low noise. Also as with all Noctua fans not the most attractive.

Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition

YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow - Single Pack (CO-9050001-WW) £11.99
Total : £11.99 (includes shipping : ).

Good looking fans with good airflow and quiet operation. Not quite as good as the noctuas but have better aesthetics.

Akasa AK-FN059

YOUR BASKET
1 x Akasa AK-FN059 120mm Ultra Quiet Venom Viper Cool Fan - 3/4 Pin £9.49
Total : £9.49 (includes shipping : ).

Again, relatively quiet and shift a lot of air. They are better in high pressure situations such as on your heat-sink or pushing air through a hard drive cage.

There are other options available including corsairs and noctuas designed for higher static pressure but you wont go wrong with any of the above three.