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FathomMe

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May 30, 2014
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Approximate Purchase Date: Ideally this week but no urgency. I would be willing to postpone if there is a good reason.

Budget Range: Some flexibility but the aim is £600-700 ($1005-1172)

System Usage: Gaming. I last built a new rig at the start of 2009, and its starting to show its age in that I have some games that it seems to struggle with (Skyrim on all but low), Far Cry 3, Thief and I know its gonna really struggle with newer games. I don't need everything to run on ultra but I'm hoping that what I come up with will be able to get by for another 4-5 years.

My current build:
CPU : 2.4Ghtz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Motherboard : EP45-DS3R
GPUs : ATI Radeon HD 4850 x2 (XFire)
Monitors : BenQ E2200HD, LG L226W
Ram : DDR2 4GB (2x2GB)
HDD: 229GB SSD + 2 x 250GB in RAID 0
Case : Cosmos S
PSU: 900W Tagan Dengine2 TG900-U33

New build core:
CPU : Intel Core i5 4670k - Bearing in mind I am thinking of overclocking this could you suggest a suitable heat-sink and fan? Preferably one that is quiet when not working too hard but still offers excellent cooling.
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB)
GPU: R9 280x with around 3GB memory
Motherboard - Orignally i was looking at a GA-Z87-HD3 but since it got a few bad reviews I was thinking GA-Z87X-SLI would be a suitable replacement?

This comes to about £550 without a CPU fan and heat-sink and thermal-compound. I am thinking I can save by reusing my PSU and Case. If i have any money to spare i was thinking of getting a larger SSD

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: From my past experience and what I have read recently I don't think its worth the cost. Would be happy to be corrected though as its a possible upgrade option.

Do you need to buy OS: No (Currently W7 SP1)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Scan.co.uk. I don't object to using others if the saving justifies P&P.

Location: UK, Nottingham.

I would would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you have.
Thanks in advance, Rick.


 
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SHADE117

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Mar 14, 2014
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looks good but if you´re buying a cheaper gpu now to go SLI/CF in the future, spend the extra money now on a R9 290x or GTX 780
I don´t know if your cpu will bottleneck with one of those cards but it would be worse in SLI/CF
you might also want to go with a z97 board btw
 
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Suztera

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Mar 18, 2014
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Here is my suggestion. I think it would be better to replace your power supply.
I also included a 1TB hard drive since you already got a SSD. This is so you can move games you play less often on the larger hard drive and keep games you always play on the SSD. Also newer games will be bigger than previous. We are starting to see modern games requiring 50GB.
Since you plan to upgrade again in 4-5 years time, Z87 motherboard would suffice. By the time in 4-5 years, there will be a new socket and cpu architecture.
There should be thermal paste supplied with the cpu cooler which is adequate enough.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.45 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£98.32 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£63.98 @ Dabs)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.50 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Tri-X Toxic Video Card (£249.00 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.69 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £694.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-30 12:14 BST+0100)

If you don't need the 1TB hard drive then you can get the R9 290:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£98.32 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£63.98 @ Dabs)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB DirectCU II Video Card (£319.55 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.69 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £700.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-30 12:13 BST+0100)
 
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SHADE117

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looks good too, but will a 750w psu support CF R9 280x?... I´m not to sure
 
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FathomMe

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May 30, 2014
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Firstly, thank you for the quick responses. :)


A quick google seems to suggest that even with SLI/XFire bottlenecking should not be a problem. Getting a better GPU would be nice but it will just come down to price in the end, i could go either way on that one.


Thanks for the cooler, it looks good. I just have a couple of questions, are you suggesting I change to this particular motherboard over the the one I picked and if so whats the reasoning? I also would like to understand the advantage to switching to a new PSU over my current one? Also, allowing for crossfire you would still go with the 750W over the 650W?
 
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Suztera

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The Asrock Z87 Extreme 4 is a better quality motherboard and allow good overclocking if you want.
MSI motherboards aren't too bad but isn't great.
For crossfire, a good quality psu 750 minimum.
Your power supply isn't great and is old. You don;t want to risk the psu failing and breaking all the pc components inside.
 
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FathomMe

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Point taken. Bearing that in mind, lets say I could up my budget. What is your opinion on the R9 290x and GTX 780 or equivalent cards. Would it be worth it? They seem to perform similarly but the GTX 780 seems to be cheaper.

Maybe a GTX 780 with this PSU in case I decide to create SLI in the future.
 
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SHADE117

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gtx 780 and r9 290 trade blows but the r9 290X should beat the 780 in most games and be cheaper don´t get one with a stock cooler though
 
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Suztera

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Mar 18, 2014
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FathomMe

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May 30, 2014
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Thanks so much for all your help. I think now its just a matter of if i want to pay for the better GPU or not. I will post my final build when I decide. thanks :)

 
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