Post Holidays Big Upgrade

PGdude

PGdude

PGdude

Soldato
Joined
3 Aug 2007
Posts
2,519
Location
London
Hello friends,

It is time for that big upgrade (5-6 years now) and I basically need to do over the base system. What I do have is the regular peripheral gubbins, case, power supply from a few months ago and so on. Are the following products good to go? Extra screen for having an extra screen (use a lot of windows when working, does this come with cables?).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X "BF4 Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-00-50G) £379.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316GM1600HC11DC01) £107.99
1 x Asus VS228DE 22" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x MSI Z87-G43 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard - FREE Alpenfohn Civetta Cooler!! £86.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H55 Quiet Liquid CPU Cooler £52.99
Total : £907.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Anything seem off here or am I good to go? Better motherboard maybe? I'll OC a bit.
 
Fulax said:
Yes to a better motherboard. Some faster RAM would be nice, too. Do you need 16gb?
Click to expand...

I'm not terribly clued up on RAM as of late. I chose 16GB because it seemed a bit more norm now (currently have 4GB), and would last me longer. I suppose I could go for 8GB and get it if I felt I needed it at a later date?

Why a better motherboard? Is it just for the clocks I can get out of it?
 
Hi, :)

What is your current case and power supply.

16GB is not the norm now. 8GB is and will be perfect for a long while to come.

I think you can get a much more balanced list for £900.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 OC WindForce 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-R929OC-4GD) £389.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Asus VE247H 24" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £53.99
Total : £902.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).




The cooler all depends on your case..

Personally id even drop down to the 280X's.
 
8Gb will be more than sufficient for gaming - the 290X suggests this is something you'll be using the rig for. As you say, you can always easily increase the amount of RAM in future.

I'm running 16Gb simply due to the VMs I use, but other than that I've seen nothing push usage near 8Gb.
 
Ah thanks, both Doomedspeed and zola25.

@Doomedspeed: My current case is an original Antec 300, and my power supply is a Coolermaster Silent Pro M 700W. I have some Spectre Pros blowing air around inside the case.

If you don't mind me asking, why that motherboard over others? Also is the extra 40MHz of the Windforce significantly better than the Tri-X? (It's only £10 more and the cooler is different, but I don't know much else). I'm not sure if I'd be okay with a 280X, simply because I know that I might be happier with something better (I know that's a terrible reason but...)

@zola25: Yeah I will be playing videogames on it, but I may dabble in some Linux VM (but not exclusively so yet). Just need something that feels nippier in games and whilst multitasking/working. I may throw in an SSD somewhere, though I have one already. The types of games I play right now are Rome II, Shogun 2, Guild Wars 2 and probably anything else with a need for a lot of VRAM (and maybe is a sequel to something).

Would the following be alright? Reduced the RAM amount as suggested, suggested screen, and a slightly different Gigabyte motherboard.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X "BF4 Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11227-00-50G) £379.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Asus VE248H 24" Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £95.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £53.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H55 Quiet Liquid CPU Cooler £52.99
Total : £921.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
PGdude said:
Also is the extra 40MHz of the Windforce significantly better than the Tri-X? (It's only £10 more and the cooler is different, but I don't know much else).
Click to expand...

It's faster and has a longer warranty. Both combined really make it worth the extra £10 imo. It's also probably quieter.
 
As danny said above i feel the windforce is worth the extra.

The cooler is a tried and tested design which is cool and quiet, little is know of the tri-X. Gigabyte have a longer warranty and the RMA is UK based. I am a bit of a gigabyte fan for those reasons alone. :)

The motherhoard i suggest supports Xfire/SLI (x8/x8). If dual cards isn't a worry for you the board you've selected is fine.
 
Doomedspeed said:
As danny said above i feel the windforce is worth the extra.

The cooler is a tried and tested design which is cool and quiet, little is know of the tri-X. Gigabyte have a longer warranty and the RMA is UK based. I am a bit of a gigabyte fan for those reasons alone. :)

The motherhoard i suggest supports Xfire/SLI (x8/x8). If dual cards isn't a worry for you the board you've selected is fine.
Click to expand...

That clears things up, I forgot about checking the lane bandwidths (or whatever they're called). I may think about Xfire in the future, so I'll throw in the Z87X-D3H SLI into the build instead, which has 2 x8s.

Does this mean I'm good to go and ready to absorb fast computer-y glory once more?
 
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