Upgrade Path (Query)

Bishie

Bishie

Bishie

Associate
Joined
10 Sep 2010
Posts
1,593
My System:

Antec 300 Ultimate Gaming Case
GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+
AMD FX-8150 Eight-Core Processor 4.00GHz 16MB Cache
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo CPU Cooler
Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 DIMM
Toshiba DT01ACA300 3TB SATA 6Gb/s 7200rpm 3.5 Inch Hard Drive
EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2048MB GDDR5
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Peripherals:

Logitech G700 Gaming Mouse
Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard
AOC E2250SWDA 21.5 inch Widescreen LED Monitor
Corsair Vengeance 1500 Dolby 7.1 USB Gaming Headset
SteelSeries Surface QcK Mini Mouse Pad
Xbox 360 Wired Controller (Black)

What's the consensus on AMD's upcoming Steamroller platform? Is it worth considering as an upgrade, or should I instead opt for an Intel build? What can I expect to pay for a reasonable HDD upgrade? Would a Momentus XT hybrid be sufficient, or I should I consider a separate SSD and larger capacity HDD? If so, what would you recommend?
I have a standard optical drive, plainly because of my ever-expanding DVD collection. Is it worth migrating to Blu-ray? What does a good drive cost these days? (It must accompany playback software.)
 
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Haswell is released next week so that would be a good starting point for a system build with a upgrade path (dependant on how long Intel keep that socket). An SSD and HDD combo will give you a nice snappier response time when using the OS and games (whatever you have installed on the ssd). Everything else looks fine, if you need more HDD space, then get a Seagate/Western Digital 1TB/2TB+ drive.

Blu-ray, not sure. :p
 
I would not worry about Blu-ray at the mo a good drive will cost about £80 for one that will write as well, I have an LG drive and have only used it to burn Bluray discs to back up my photo library, most of the time the old DVD drive gets used for playing discs.
 
Bishie said:
An FX-8150 to an FX-8320? I would have thought Steamroller was the more logical choice.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.
Click to expand...

SR isn't out for a while.
If I needed more performance, an FX8320 and then overclocking is the logical choice, it'll cost peanuts after your FX8150 would sell.
 
It's not massive, but that's why I said if you needed more performance, it'd be like 40 quid.
But it's the only way cheap way, otherwise you can go Haswell, but it's going to cost a lot.
 
I've updated the original post to reflect the 3TB HDD I've recently fitted. Any further suggestions are most welcome.

What would you add to further improve this understated but competent system?
 
Bishie said:
I've updated the original post to reflect the 3TB HDD I've recently fitted. Any further suggestions are most welcome.

What would you add to further improve this understated but competent system?
Click to expand...

An ssd, seems to be the only thing missing.
 
Fabulous. I'd better muster those pennies!

Edit: Any recommendations for a decent Blu-ray drive in the £50-70 mark? Reader or writer, it doesn't matter.
 
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