Thoughts on these upgrades?

Tomcat825

Tomcat825

Tomcat825

Associate
Joined
23 Sep 2010
Posts
1,331
Location
Bucks
Looking at upgrading mobo, ram, cpu and gpu (Already have the rest in a working but older gaming PC)

SSD will be upgraded further down the line so I'd like the mobo to have sata 6gb/s ready for that.

Was just going to get 8gb RAM but was thinking it might just be worth forking out for the full 16gb in the first place?

Computer will be used for gaming and my budget would ideally be £600, but I can go to £750 if really worth it. I will be selling my current gaming laptop but want some money left over from it.

Came up with this:

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7970 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £299.99
(£249.99) £299.99
(£249.99)
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
(£166.66) £199.99
(£166.66)
ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX16GX3M2A1600C11) Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX16GX3M2A1600C11) £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Sub Total : £608.30
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £123.66
Total : £741.96

Price will be with free next day, just haven't signed in. :P

Cutting down to 8gb will drop it to £690. Was also thinking of possibly downgrading the mobo a little but making sure it has the sata and a decent capability of getting the cpu up to ~4.2-4.4GHz.

Let's hear your views. :)
 
nice spec, i also would drop the m/b down, good board but do you need all it does, some great lower priced boards work just as well if they do all you need and save yourself some and spend it elsewhere
 
 
Nah not planning to crossfire. Have a CPU cooler already and have coolermaster storm scout :)

Also I'm happy to spend another £12 to get retail i5 for the warranty.

Thanks stulid, happy with them!
 
I like the styling of the Asrock Extreme mobos but you can do better for your money.

For around £600 I could have suggested......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £143.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
Total : £625.96 (includes shipping : FREE).



Mobo has wifi and bluetooth inc. along with some other nice freebies worth the extra £3 over the Asrock. If you don't need the wifi/bluetooth and will never Xfire the GPUs then the GB Z77-D3H is a fair shout and saves you £50.

Look forward to seeing what you settle on :)
 
Good point hono, though he did day before he won't go xfire so id stick with the D3H. The MSI board comes with WiFi, which is help, but nothing a £20 Usb WiFi adapter can't solve. :)
 
Haha can't forget the f1 car :p happy with the GB board tbh.

Gonna have a look around at some reviews on 7950 vs. 7970 too to see if its worth the £70 difference. I've always had to skimp on gpu so it would be nice to go full whack but only if its worth the bang for buck etc.

Oh and the CPU cooler does have socket 1155.

Will post up later what I decide :)

Thanks for the I put folks.
 
7950 vs. 7970 is too close to call and for me and many others not worth the extra, the 7950 can be clocked to the 7970 easy so save the money and spend elsewhere
 
That suits me to the ground then. £70 saving and I can tweak it up to the same speeds. Looks like I may have settled on what I would like then.
 
Doomedspeed said:
Good point hono, though he did day before he won't go xfire so id stick with the D3H. The MSI board comes with WiFi, which is help, but nothing a £20 Usb WiFi adapter can't solve. :)
Click to expand...

That's why I said could have suggested ;) I just went off his original spec and what he ideally wanted to pay and tweaked it a little bit.

I don't think the 7970 is worth the extra either. Can't see a need for 16GB of RAM in a gaming rig either.

Hopefully he is close to balancing the build out nicely for himself now :)
 
Just at a loss with what to do with my gaming laptop... Nice to have as I go home most weekends from base however I miss having a desktop that I can tweak look at and upgrade etc.
may just keep it and spend the money on desktop upgrades anyway...
 
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III Boost Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Crysis 3 & Bioshock PC Games £239.99
(£199.99) £239.99
(£199.99)
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £82.99
(£69.16) £82.99
(£69.16)
Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) Patriot Intel Extreme Masters 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVI38G160C9K) £38.39
(£31.99) £38.39
(£31.99)
Sub Total : £451.13
Shipping cost based on delivery to with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £90.23
Total : £541.36

Pretty good price for what is there I think personally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom