Upgrade help

Cenchria · 31 Mar 2016 at 15:20

Hi guys, need some opinions on some upgrade options I have been considering for a little while.
I've been meaning to upgrade my pc for quite some time but have never quite got round to biting the bullet and ordering everything.
Now I've decided that it is definitely time I did this. I'm going to wait for the next series of graphics cards to be released before I upgrade my GPU. My budget is roughly £300 and ideally I'd like that to include:

.SSD
.PSU for the new GPU
.CPU cooler (I'm currently sat at a mild overclock for my chip but don't want to go too much further on my current cooler)
.Case (mine is awful for cable management, space and airflow isn't great either)

Here's my current build:
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K
CPU cooler: Coolermaster HYPER TX3 EVO
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 7870 IceQ X Turbo X 2GB
RAM: Patriot IEM 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
MOBO: Asrock Z75 Pro3 Socket 1155 VGA HDMI 7.1 ATX
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Case: Thermaltake V3 BlackX edition

Here's what I'm thinking of ordering:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Fractal Design Define R5 Midi Tower Case - Blackout Edition= £89.99
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)= £68.99
1 x EVGA Supernova GS 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply= £84.95
1 x Phanteks PH-TC12DX CPU Cooler - Black= £38.99
1 x Arctic MX-2 Thermal Compound (8g)= £3.95

Total: £286.87
(includes shipping: £0.00)

Any advice/other ideas would be appreciated!

mickyflinn · 31 Mar 2016 at 19:53

Nice components but i would hold fire on the psu and see what reqirements are needed for the new gpu, most coolers come with thermal paste.

lee32uk · 31 Mar 2016 at 20:11

I would go with the Alpenfohn Matterhorn. Great cooler for less money. As mentioned you don't need extra paste.

You would also be fine with a 550W psu for a single gpu, such as the SuperFlower Leadex Gold.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler= £29.99

Total: £37.38
(includes shipping: £7.39)

Cenchria · 31 Mar 2016 at 20:52

Ah yes forgot about the included thermal paste with the coolers cheers for reminding me!
As for the cooler, do you think that one would be better than the one I picked for a higher overclock? Moneys not really an issue I just want to keep my temperatures down and saw the phanteks one had decent reviews for OC.

lee32uk said:
You would also be fine with a 550W psu for a single gpu, such as the SuperFlower Leadex Gold.

I did consider 550w but I thought this would be pushing it a bit fine with some cards if they are as power hungry as the current AMD series? I guess I can wait on the psu anyway.

mickyflinn · 31 Mar 2016 at 21:58

They are both excellent coolers, i had the Alphenon pure and overclocked my 3570k to 4.5ghz at roughly 60c and is also quiet, Cant go wrong with either.

lee32uk · 31 Mar 2016 at 22:05

Does your current Patriot Ram have tall heatspreaders like the kit below ?

If so then you need to be careful with the cooler choice as the Ram might not fit under depending on whether the cooler covers any of the slots.

You can get slim coolers like the Noctua D15S where you can use tall Ram up to 65mm.

If you have low profile Ram then it isn't an issue.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Patriot Viper 3 "Venom Red" 4GB DDR3 PC3-17200C11 2133MHz Single Module (P34G211UR)= £37.99

Total: £46.69
(includes shipping: £8.70)