What to upgrade?

Kris_90

Kris_90

Kris_90

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Joined
29 Jun 2011
Posts
2,081
Hi All

I was planning to build my own pc but I think I should be able to just upgrade the one I have now (only 8 months old).

The specs are:

Code: 
Thermaltake V4 Black Edition Gaming Chassis
550W HEC Desktop Power Supply
Asus M4A89GTD PRO - USB3 and SATA 6GB/s Support - AMD 890GX, AM3, DDR3, ATX
Supports up to 12 USB 2.0 ports (8x mid-board, 4x back panel) + 2x USB 3.0 ports - M4A89GTD
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Processor - (2.8-3.3GHz,6xTurbo Core,9MB Cache)
8GB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM - ( 4x2GB ) 
1GB NVIDIA Geforce GT430 with CUDA Graphics Accelerator - DX11
1TB Samsung F3 SATA 7200rpm 32MB Cache Hard Drive
22x SATA Dual Layer DVD-Rewritable Super Format ±R/±RW/RAM
7.1 High Definition onboard sound card - for 8 Channel Cinema sound
Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium pre-installed
Free Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter Edition
Free Cyberlink Video Editing Suite - 7 titles (oem)
BullGuard Internet Security ver. 9 - 90 Day Trial - AntiVirus/Firewall/Backup/Spamfilter
2 x 1394a port(s) (1 at mid-board; 1 at back panel) - M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
Network Ready PCIe Gigabit LAN


I would like to buy a GT 560 and a new 2 TB hdd. I'm guessing my PSU isn't good enough for a 560, would a 650w psu handle everything fine?

I would like to put in 2 extra fans as I bought the pc pre-built, it has a stock cpu cooler on it so I was hoping for a little extra ventilation :D To add extra fans, do they need to be connected to only the psu?

Thanks
 
you can connect them to psu but they will run at 12v (full power and could be very noisy depending on which fans you buy, normally they are plugged into fan header on the motherboard.

Or you can buy a fan controller which fits in underneath/above where you cd/dvd drive goes, you then plug fans directly to this fan controller allows you to control speed of the fans, e.g. turning them down at night, up when gaming etc etc.

can you see any open fan headers on the motherbaord? should look like 3 pin or 4 pins and maybe called pwr_fan, chassis_fan or something along those lines
 
munz said:
you can connect them to psu but they will run at 12v (full power and could be very noisy depending on which fans you buy, normally they are plugged into fan header on the motherboard.

Or you can buy a fan controller which fits in underneath/above where you cd/dvd drive goes, you then plug fans directly to this fan controller allows you to control speed of the fans, e.g. turning them down at night, up when gaming etc etc.

can you see any open fan headers on the motherbaord? should look like 3 pin or 4 pins and maybe called pwr_fan, chassis_fan or something along those lines
Click to expand...

I might get a fan controller then. Just had a quick look and there are some for £10 :D

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-021-AK

nuttyprot said:
Instead of getting extra fans get a new cooler stock coolers are crap and a good cooler can get for same price as a couple of fans.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1155/1156/1366)

The best budget cooler imo. But some people prefer the

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366)
Click to expand...

I don't want to change the cooler as I know that's the bit where it can all go wrong. I know I'd end up breaking the cpu and mobo lol. I will have a think about it tho.

My only other question was, is a 550w gpu good enough for a 560?

Cheers
 
^^??
all you have to do is remove the stock cooler, clean the residue on the CPU, put a pea sized thermal paste, attach the new cooler and tighten it(most coolers come wit ha preapplied thermal paste, so you might not need to put the pea size on the CPU)
 
fitting a new cooler is super easy. since you have a phenom II X6 it will really benefit you as the stock cooler is super noisy. personally i'd go for the Gelid tranquillo

looking at your PSU i'd definitely change it. using unknown brand PSU's on a big gaming computer is just asking for the PSU to die and kill the rest of the computer with it. i'd go for the XFX 550W or greater, or the antec 620W PSU if you want a 560

for the graphics card i would get a 560Ti, not the standard 560. if you wanted one of them i would recommend you get a GTX460 with a custom cooler on it (like the HAWK), as the 560 is basically an overclocked 460, but way more expensive
 
The secret to adding a cpu cooler for the first time is.

1. Take yer time don't rush it

2. Get someone to help you. (Will make it 1000000000s of times easier)

3. Watch videos on youtube and read guides on fitting them.

A new cpu cooler will lower temps better than adding more fans to yer case.
 
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