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Blackvault

Blackvault

Blackvault

Soldato
Joined
5 May 2004
Posts
4,391
Location
Northern Ireland
I'm looking to upgrade my existing PC, well most likely completely replace it, and looking for your guidance.

Currently, my existing machine is there, and I don't think much is salvageable, other than my HDDs.
  • Old Chief Tech Dragon Case
  • Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 (2 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN)
  • Intel Core i7-4770K, 3900 MHz
  • Corsair Vengeance Pro CMY8GX3M2A1600C9 (8GB)
  • GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2 GB)
  • AOC 2243W [22" LCD]
  • OCZ-AGILITY3 ATA Device (SATA-III)
  • WDC WD20EZRZ-22Z5HB0 ATA Device (2 TB, SATA-III
  • XFX 750Watt Non Modumlar PSU

I've done a little research on what I would like and what I think should work. I'd to game with this rig, and while I don't play AAA titles, mainly because of my current spec, I might in the feature. I'd also like to possibly expand it VR at some time, so I'd hope the GPU would meet those requirements.
I'd like to possibly expand into water-cooling in the future and why I went with an AIO at the moment. I think having a massive upgrade PLUS building my first watercooled rig might be too expensive at the moment.
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,470.83 (includes shipping: £15.90)​


I'd like also to get a better monitor and would like your suggestions on it. I'm that out of the loop with PC components, in general, I'll defer to your better judgment. As you can see that PC is around the £1400 mark, I'd be willing to put another 400 or so to a good monitor, so in theory, the budget would be £2,000 tops.

As you can see from my current specifications, I tend to keep my components a long time and no longer chase technology, so I'd like future proof as best I can without getting leading-edge super expensive tech.

Thanks.​
 
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Myself had once one those Chieftec cases.
More precisely DA-01BLD model.

If you want anything capable to approaching similar usage life, you better forget disposable fashion cases without any 5.25" bays.
In those you're stuck with number and type of connectors built into it and have to buy new case to get new front connectors.
While any case with 5.25" bays can be easily upgraded with more/newer connectors in future:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akas...-front-bay-for-usb-2.0-3.0-3.1-hd-059-ak.html

Having 5.25" bays doesn't mean they have to stick out visible.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?ssearch=silent+base+600



those waterhype tubes are quite waste of money.
unlike intel's space heaters ryzen 3700x is very frugal in power consumption even under full all core load.
this would be very good for it.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-brocken-eco-advanced-cpu-cooler-120-mm-hs-05j-al.html
And there are others, including all the way to step behind top coolers at very reasonably price. (neither are 12/16 cores any 200W space heaters)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-brocken-3-cpu-cooler-140mm-hs-05a-al.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-scmg-5100-mugen-5-rev.b-cpu-cooler-hs-046-sy.html
Though Mugen 5's convex base designed for Intels with centered heat source and often concave heatspreaders could need lapping for best performance with AMD's flattish heat spreader and off center chiplets.
(Might be down to also individual variation in convexity of the base: Non-flat surfaces aren't fast&cheap to produce accurately)

And compact slim radiators aren't even any better in continuous cooling per noise than top heatpipe coolers:
Despite of all the marketing pee that water isn't some black hole for heat, which has to be dissipated into air.
That needs surface area, which isn't that great in those smaller slim radiators.
Heatpipes are also darn good in transferring heat and don't wear and break down unless broken physically.
Meaning except for cheap to replace fan, even heavily 10 years used heatpipe cooler works like new.


That motherboard is very good and balanced for the price with "proper overkill" VRM to take any 12/16 core Ryzen, including coming improved Zen3 architecture ones.
Upgrade to 12 core from discount in two years would keep PC good for long time in future's core heavy games.
Also downside of X570 boards, active chipset cooler, is sensibly designed in it:
Heatsink is good size and farther from graphics card's heat allowing semi passive cooling and even fan's failure wouldn't be automatically problem.
(Asus X570 boards have tinfoil origame heatsink relying on constant airflow from fan)


And you better forget HDD as storage for games and certainly for programs, unless you like taking coffee breaks waiting for game/levels to load.
For some kind future proofness it would be best to take 1TB SSD.
Space requirements of some games are crazy:
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/7070...e-requires-colossal-100gb-of-space/index.html


27" 2560x1440 144Hz monitors start from £260 in VAs and £300 in IPS models.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aoc-...een-led-backlit-gaming-monitor-mo-057-ao.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/acer...r400-widescreen-gaming-monitor-mo-14b-ac.html
So you don't have to pay much to get huge improvement.
 
Blackvault said:
Are you suggesting I wait to purchase those, or wait to the current range drop in price?
Click to expand...

Both ? It would be a shame to buy a board now, if there are possible better and/or cheaper options in a few weeks. There should be some good value B550 boards at least. The X570 Tomahawk also looks very good, and hopefully that comes in at around £220 and you get a better VRM than the other £200 boards and wifi 6.
 
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lee32uk said:
Both ? It would be a shame to buy a board now, if there are possible better and/or cheaper options in a few weeks. There should be some good value B550 boards at least. The X570 Tomahawk also looks very good, and hopefully that comes in at around £220 and you get a better VRM than the other £200 boards and wifi 6.
Click to expand...

I usually don't have buyer's remorse if something newer comes out after purchasing anything but for the sake of a month, I'll wait. Is the Wifi within motherboards good? The reason why I ask is that I have a PCE-I wireless card with antenna and it really does the job.

Quartz said:
B550 motherboards are out next month, and new Nvidia GPUs are expected in August / September. If you're going for a Fractal Design case, take a look at their Meshify range for better airflow.

As for the monitor, Iiyama are launching a 3440x1440 144 Hz IPS monitor at your price point. See this thread.
Click to expand...
Not sure whether to wait for a new GPU. I'll certainly not be buying one, although if that drives the existing cards down a bit I'll see what happens. Given how low stock levels are, this PC will most likely be bought in pieces as items become available. Thanks for the session on the case, and I'll have a read of the monitor thread!
 
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