Upgrades £500

Don
Joined
23 Oct 2013
Posts
11,947
Location
Guildford
Hi Hi,

I have just found out from the boss that I am inline for a Christmas Bonus - blinding, he didn't specify an amount but speulated that it would be around the £700 mark. Lovely - after spending some on the longhaired general in doors and the ikkle trogs I'm left with around I think £450-£550 - after only just last month speccing and building my own little budget pc this means I get some funding for better parts.

My current rig and the upgrades I want are listed below.

CPU - AMD FX8320 OC'd @ 4GHZ - KEEPING
MOBO - ASUS M5A97 - KEEPING
RAM - 8GB CORSAIR VENEGNCE - KEEPING
COOLER - CM TX3 EVO - Want water cooling so H60 or H80i
GPU - EVGA GTX 660 SC - Unsure play BF4 so R280X is appealing
PSU - CORSAIR 650W - KEEPING
SSD - 64GB CRUCIAL (BOOT) - KEEPING
HDD - 2TB WD BLACK - KEEPING
CASE - CM K280 - Corsair 300R or a 230T
SCREEN - ACER 60Hz 21.5" - Asus or Benq 120hz
KB&M - SOME GENERIC POOP - Corsar M65 & K50

lets say the budget for upgrades is £500 - go go go

I just wanted some opinions really on the upgrades in red, the KB&M is being bought for me as a Christmas gift from the general and trogs so they are stating, the PSU is fine.
Other than that I'm gazumped, I like EVGA GTX but at the moment price per perfomance seems to be leaing me towards AMD for a GPU. I play BF4 mainly, but will turn my hand to any game tbh. Farcry 3 etc. I persoanlly would rather a single powerful GPU that x2 in sli/crossfire, I have no idea why I just do. Opinions?

I want water so that I can try and push my CPU towards 4.4GHz. I like Corsair products, they have a good build qulaity and I like things to match.

Just interested to see what you chaps would do?

Josh
 
Ok thanks for the headsup for the monitor!

As for the 540 case, the design is horrible, not something I could bring myself to look at, the 300R and 230T just look good and seems to be set out well.

Would there be much benefit of a H100i over a H80i for what I require? or is the H100i just better price/performance wise?

Ta

Josh
 
Gonna warn you now, you may struggle to get the h100i in the 300R..

Some people have had to modify the fan enclosure so it doesn't clash with the RAM slots..

It'd be too risk for me to do it (as its dependant on your motherboard layout)..

I'd suggest the H80i for that case.
 
Gonna warn you now, you may struggle to get the h100i in the 300R..

Some people have had to modify the fan enclosure so it doesn't clash with the RAM slots..

It'd be too risk for me to do it (as its dependant on your motherboard layout)..

I'd suggest the H80i for that case.

Brilliant advice, potentially just saved me a whole heap of aggro, I don't mind building a pc but when it comes to DIY mods I'm staying clear. Wonder if the 230t has better clearance, some research for me then!

Thanks

Josh
 
I like that Ronin, very similar to the 300R in looks, another contender.

Would i be better off getting a 7970 or a 280x, they seems to be the same GPU and the same price point? And the 7970 seems to come with free games.

Josh
 
Sounds sweet. I have the 540 case btw and happen to love it! :D

Don't get me wrong, I can see all the benefits of th case, but its not for me, reminds me of a generator, plus I only have a tiny desk in the deepest, darkeset corner of the living room, think Harry Potter under the stairs!

The wife already moans that it's 1)too noisy 2)too big 3)too noise - honestly I can't hear it over my noise cancelling Bose headphones so I think she is just jealous!

lol

Thanks

Josh
 
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