Help me choose some upgrades!

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AJScott755

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Mar 11, 2014
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Hey guys, new to the forum! Looking for some advice, I currently have a semi decent PC and I am looking to upgrade, here at my current specs:

CPU: i7-860 @ 2.8Ghz with stock cooler
RAM: 6Gb 1333mhz Kingston
GPU: MSI Gtx 660 Ti
Motherboard: Dell own brand (Can't remember model)
PSU: Novatech 750Watt PSU
HDD: 2 x 1Tb Seagate Barracuda's.
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Case: Cooler Master ATX case.

So, this PC is actually from a Dell XPS 8100. About 6 months ago I bought myself the MSI Gtx 660Ti along with a bigger PSU to power it, the Dell case was not big enough to hold these so I bought a new case and moved everything over, this took me some doing but I eventually did it! Now some time has passed since then and I have got some money together and it is time to upgrade I think. My hard drives have started to take longer to load, there's been a few hiccups recently. Such as booting up Windows and then once I've logged in taking about a minute or so to actually show up all my icons etc. All the hardware except for the GPU and PSU is about 3 or 4 years old and considering that I have given it some very heavy use in those years it has served me well.

I'm looking for some advice on what to upgrade to, I have some ideas but I'm not sure what models/brands to go for! I've just bought myself a Seagate Expansion 3Tb external drive because it was on offer (£50, not bad eh?)

I do a lot of gaming and work a lot with audio (mixing and recording). The audio work is mainly dependant upon RAM and plenty of hard drive space as all files are recorded in .wav format, however I do have my 3Tb external drive now.
If you guys on this forum could help me out that would be great! I'll list what I want to upgrade:
(Budget of about £500/600)

Upgrades:
OS: A newer version of Windows, maybe Windows 7 Professional?

CPU: At least a quad core at 3.2Ghz. Would prefer to go with Intel, temperatures are important as it will get heavy use and I would prefer to use the stock cooler and not an aftermarket one. I don't plan to overclock.

Motherboard: This is the most important I think. Must have USB 3, and 2 x PCIe 16 lanes, so I can attach another MSI Gtx 660Ti at some point and run them in SLI.

HDD: A single 2 or 3Tb hard drive. Not bothered about a SSD. 7200RPM with a 64mb cache. Reliability is the most important factor to me, as it will get heavy use.

RAM: Not sure how much RAM to go for, 6GB has served me well however I've seen the Corsair Vengeance RAM at 1666Mhz (is that right?) with heat sinks on. Are these required for such high powered sticks?

If you fine people could recommend me some products to look at in these areas, stated above, that would be much appreciated! I use to be quite clued up on what hardware was brand new etc however I just haven't been keeping up to date with new technologies etc. Thank you!
 
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BnG

BnG

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Nov 1, 2013
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OS: Go for windows 8.1. It is a lot faster compared to windows 7, although some aspects might are a bit hard to get used to. This should be your last priority though :p
CPU: i5 3570k. Very good CPU that will handle every game like a boss =).
MB: You should ask someone that knows a lot about MB's, I'm not one of those guys... :p
HDD: You seem to have enough space, but the Wester Digital Caviar and Seagate Barracude are very reliable HDD's.
RAM: You have 1333Mhz, 1600Mhz, 1866Mhz, 2133Mhz RAM. 1600 is more than enough. The Corsair Vengeance series are quite good in my opinion =). There is no need for heatsinks, maybe when using very very high end ram...
 
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smorizio

smorizio

Titan
Jan 22, 2010
30,984
9
125,315
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/37Y0t
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/37Y0t/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/37Y0t/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.44 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£101.98 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£124.60 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£71.99 @ Aria PC)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z 30SB150200000 OEM 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card (£48.40 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £534.40
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-11 14:46 GMT+0000)
 
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AJScott755

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Mar 11, 2014
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Not a bad setup, however I won't be needing a sound card. I use external audio interfaces for all recording needs, internal ones just aren't up to scratch. I would of preferred a CPU without needing an aftermarket cooler, how would that CPU perform without one? And is that cooler you pointed out similar to a stock one, just heatsinks and a fan?
 
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ubercake

ubercake

Splendid
Oct 28, 2009
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Windows 7 Home Premiume is still a great option. I would stick with it unless you need to get the PC onto a business network/domain.

I'd get an Intel i7-4770K and an Asus Z87-A or Pro motherboard (both are SLI ready). This will give you the architecture update you need. Depending on how involved the audio recording is, you may want to get into an X79 and a six core processor, but that will run you two to three times the cost.

I'd keep and reuse both HDDs and pick up a 120GB SSD for your Windows intall. Right now the Samsung Evo 840s are a great low-cost high-performance option.

From a RAM standpoint, any DDR3 2x4GB (or even 2x8GB if the audio work is that involved) 1600MHz kits would be a good option, but a lot of the time, faster-rated RAM is often less expensive. I prefer Corsair brand RAM, but just about any company out there is making great RAM these days (A-Data, G-Skill, Kingston, etc...). Tall heat sinks are not required, but are usually more advantageous for cooling overclocked RAM.

Your power supply brand is a company I've never heard of. I know you just upgraded it, but I'd also look to replace that with a Seasonic, XFX, or Corsair 750W.

Then I'd pick up another GTX 660 ti some time in the near future for a real graphics boost.

What is your budget for this upgrade?
 
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BnG

BnG

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Nov 1, 2013
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The aftermarket cooler isn't really needed if you aren't planning on OCing. In general it is just a bit more quiete + it reduces the temps of the CPU.
 
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AJScott755

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Mar 11, 2014
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4,510


Thanks for your reply, was really well detailed! I think for a CPU a quad core is fine, they're more dependant on RAM. The audio software I use gives me information about CPU and RAM usage and my CPU is fine, however on larger projects I think my RAM brings me down a bit. I don't think I'd need such a powerful CPU, i'm really looking for something about the 3.2/3.1Ghz range. Something that won't bottleneck 2 x 660Tis. The budget overall is about £500/600 on PC upgrades. For the hard drives, I was thinking of formatting them and using them as backups, put them both into 2 enclosures, and give one away to a relative and one for archiving old projects. I've had a few issues with them lately, probably not something that can't be solved by a format though. (they're set up in RAID at the moment, not sure which RAID but it's the expansion one. Where the 2 x 1Tb hard drives act as 1 x 2Tb HDD.)
 
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S

sora

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Oct 30, 2013
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It is worth the money though if you want a cooler build and quieter build. Low temps on a CPU is a great thing.
 
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