Which components to upgrade?

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Hello all,

I have given my younger brother my old system and hes not sure on what to upgrade, now he only wants to spend around £450 max doing so.

Currently the specs are

nvida 680i sli
q6600 @3.15ghz
4gb kingston hyper x 1066mhz
gtx 560ti 448
600w corsair power supply
2 500gb HDD
1 160gb HDD
Antec P183 case

Now i was thinking he could go and add more ram, ssd and maybe add a couple fans to the case. Then I got looking at the bundles (cpu, mobo,ram,cpu cooler)
The gpu is only few months old so that will do for now but if going for the bundle would the sata 2 HDD's slow it down much? or would that not be noticeable?
I know adding a ssd for the os will help with speed and keep using the 2 500gb drives as storage.
 
That was quick!

So i take it using the older HDDs will be fine?

Yeah, If you boot using the Sata 3 SSD and use all your older Sata 2 drives for storage, Your machine will fly, Graphics are still adequate unless you have a bigger budget or game at 1440P :)
 
Yeah, If you boot using the Sata 3 SSD and use all your older Sata 2 drives for storage, Your machine will fly, Graphics are still adequate unless you have a bigger budget or game at 1440P :)

Brillient I will let him know.

He has showed me this bundle.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Z77 Gamer Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz @ 4.50GHz DDR3 Ivybridge Overclocked Bundle £389.99
- 1 x Standard Build Systems - Approximately 5-7 working days £0.00
Total : £401.39 (includes shipping : £9.50).






and this one with a 128gb ssd
YOUR BASKET
1 x Radon 690a AMD Piledriver FX-4 4300 3.80GHz @ 4.00GHz DDR3 Overclocked Bundle £209.99
- 1 x Standard Build Systems - Approximately 5-7 working days £0.00
- 1 x Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £141.98
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £89.99
Total : £453.96 (includes shipping : £10.00).

 
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Bundles are ok, but building your own will be cheaper, also that bundle only leaves around 50 notes for an SSD, which will limit you to a sub 64Gb jobbie, instead of the 128Gb that going custom affords ;)
 
You can do the overclock yourself it isn't difficult. The Z77-D3H is a very popular mobo. 3 year UK based warranty and a dual BIOS plus decent overclocking capability helps secure it as a forum fav.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £40.00
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 REV A (BW) Performance CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £24.98
Total : £477.95 (includes shipping : FREE).



Little more cash. Better mobo that has proper Xfire/Sli support, includes wifi and bluetooth with some extra freebies thrown in to help justify the price. The SSD doesn't write as fast as the 840 Pro but its the read speeds you really benefit from. As your PSU is 600W then the Z77-D3H (it's a single GPU mobo) might well be the better option with the better SSD

Look forward to seeing what you guys settle on in the end
 
Bundles are ok, but building your own will be cheaper, also that bundle only leaves around 50 notes for an SSD, which will limit you to a sub 64Gb jobbie, instead of the 128Gb that going custom affords ;)


Cool thanks for reminding me about building your own. I forgot i can build it for him as i did build the system to start.
 
You can do the overclock yourself it isn't difficult. The Z77-D3H is a very popular mobo. 3 year UK based warranty and a dual BIOS plus decent overclocking capability helps secure it as a forum fav.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI Z77 MPower Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 ATX Motherboard with FREE F1 RC Car & MSI HDD Enclosure £149.99
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £40.00
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 REV A (BW) Performance CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £24.98
Total : £477.95 (includes shipping : FREE).



Little more cash. Better mobo that has proper Xfire/Sli support, includes wifi and bluetooth with some extra freebies thrown in to help justify the price. The SSD doesn't write as fast as the 840 Pro but its the read speeds you really benefit from. As your PSU is 600W then the Z77-D3H (it's a single GPU mobo) might well be the better option with the better SSD

Look forward to seeing what you guys settle on in the end


I'm glad this isn't my choice lol I have been showing him many options including this one different motherboard.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £136.99
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Avexir MPower Yellow Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CM) £40.00
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 REV A (BW) Performance CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £24.98
Total : £476.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 
With the Gigabyte Z77X-D3H it totals £441

The Z77X-D3H and UD3H offers Xfire/Sli over the Z77-D3H. The UD3H has a few more ports and a onboard power button with voltage measuring points.

I used the M power as it comes with wifi and bluetooth which the GB mobos don't. You get a little R/C race car too worth £15 and a HDD enclosure. I went with the MPower RAM simply to colour code it to the mobo. The LED RAM matched the Z77-D3H and costs the same.

Best bang for buck is my first spec really. I just like to cover all the options :)
 
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The Z77X-D3H and UD3H offers Xfire/Sli over the Z77-D3H. The UD3H has a few more ports and a onboard power button with voltage measuring points.

I used the M power as it comes with wifi and bluetooth which the GB mobos don't. You get a little R/C race car too worth £15 and a HDD enclosure. I went with the MPower RAM simply to colour code it to the mobo. The LED RAM matched the Z77-D3H and costs the same.

Best bang for buck is my first spec really. I just like to cover all the options :)

MSI suffers from overclocking issues?? no?
 
MSI suffers from overclocking issues?? no?

It doesn't do offset overclocking, it's when mobos are voltage locked you have to worry. Stulid often points out the MSI Mpower lacks the DVID option but that's a Gigabyte exclusive feature. If you read reviews of the Mpower mobo it's got i5Ks to 5Ghz on custom water loops. It's far from a shabby mobo.

The Z77-D3H offers all he needs really, I just like to point out different options so the OP sees what he gets for the price
 
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