Approximate Purchase Date: Next few weeks ideally, and to be done before the W10 free upgrade expires.
Budget Range: I don't have a specific budget, I just don't want to spend "too much". It's more of an "I'll know it when I see it" kinda thing.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Primarily used for gaming, quite a bit of Netflix too.
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: CPU + fan, Mobo, Ram.
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No particular loyalties/experiences.
Location: Bristol, England.
Parts Preferences: Intel Skylake.
Overclocking: Nothing excessive.
SLI or Crossfire: Not planning to.
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080.
Additional Comments: Nothing too major currently - LoL, TESO, D3, Stellaris. Planning to play Star Citizen and Chronicles of Elyria when they launch.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I'm feelin' the bug, and my hardware is a fair few years old now, and I'd like to have it done whilst I can still get the W10 upgrade.
My goal is to do the CPU/fan, Mobo, and Ram now, and then once the new graphics cards are out and the prices settle, do a graphics card upgrade.
What I'm carrying over:
Case: Carbide Series® 400R Mid-Tower
Happy with it, don't see any reason to need to change it. I can fit the size of it just fine currently, and have ample space to add fans as necessary.
PSU: OCZ ZS Series 550W 80 Plus Bronze
I know this thing isn't as great as they come these days, but it's honestly done me well. If I upgrade it now, it'll need to be for a well priced and reasoned upgrade, otherwise I'll re-evaluate it when I upgrade my graphics. As best as I can tell, it SHOULD be powerful enough to handle what I'm doing, based on the new CPU being of similar power consumption to my current 2500k, and the 1070 apparently only requiring a 500W system, but I guess this is a discussion we can have if need be?
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
HDD: Miscellaneous Seagate 2TB
What I'm looking for:
I'm feeling pretty good about an i5-6600K, will likely look into overclocking it to around the 4.4-4.5GHz mark, and would like a cooler that works with that. I'm eyeing up a Noctua, but not sure on which model to go with for that level of Overclocking. I feel like my case is pretty spacious, and should thus be able to fit in one of the larger models, but not really sure on what considerations need to go into that. I tend to err on the side of being overly cautious however, and so would rather go up a model and be extra cool than skate by on the bare minimum to achieve it.
Motherboards are what are really messing with me. So many models, and I just don't really see what to pick between them on. So obviously it needs to handle my overclocking of the processor. I don't plan on SLIing, with my plans being to eventually upgrade to a 970 or 1070 graphics card, which seem like 1 will be enough for me.
RAM wise, I was looking for 16GB DDR4 as I tend to have a lot of windows open at once, given I'm running dual monitors with one as my gaming display and the other as my "101 other windows" screen. Current system is 8GB and I have to at times close things down in task manager, so I'd like to go a step above to avoid this. I don't really know the brands currently, and I don't want to go overboard on the greatest of the great, but the prices look potentially decent. I guess I consider this the lowest priority of the new parts though, since I (perhaps incorrectly) view the other bits as having the greater impact. DDR4-3000 look like a nice mid-point of price and value, given the tests I looked at showed them as sometimes winning out over the 3200s?
Any recommendations you guys have on this will be greatly appreciated, thank you!
Budget Range: I don't have a specific budget, I just don't want to spend "too much". It's more of an "I'll know it when I see it" kinda thing.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Primarily used for gaming, quite a bit of Netflix too.
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: CPU + fan, Mobo, Ram.
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No particular loyalties/experiences.
Location: Bristol, England.
Parts Preferences: Intel Skylake.
Overclocking: Nothing excessive.
SLI or Crossfire: Not planning to.
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080.
Additional Comments: Nothing too major currently - LoL, TESO, D3, Stellaris. Planning to play Star Citizen and Chronicles of Elyria when they launch.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I'm feelin' the bug, and my hardware is a fair few years old now, and I'd like to have it done whilst I can still get the W10 upgrade.
My goal is to do the CPU/fan, Mobo, and Ram now, and then once the new graphics cards are out and the prices settle, do a graphics card upgrade.
What I'm carrying over:
Case: Carbide Series® 400R Mid-Tower
Happy with it, don't see any reason to need to change it. I can fit the size of it just fine currently, and have ample space to add fans as necessary.
PSU: OCZ ZS Series 550W 80 Plus Bronze
I know this thing isn't as great as they come these days, but it's honestly done me well. If I upgrade it now, it'll need to be for a well priced and reasoned upgrade, otherwise I'll re-evaluate it when I upgrade my graphics. As best as I can tell, it SHOULD be powerful enough to handle what I'm doing, based on the new CPU being of similar power consumption to my current 2500k, and the 1070 apparently only requiring a 500W system, but I guess this is a discussion we can have if need be?
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
HDD: Miscellaneous Seagate 2TB
What I'm looking for:
I'm feeling pretty good about an i5-6600K, will likely look into overclocking it to around the 4.4-4.5GHz mark, and would like a cooler that works with that. I'm eyeing up a Noctua, but not sure on which model to go with for that level of Overclocking. I feel like my case is pretty spacious, and should thus be able to fit in one of the larger models, but not really sure on what considerations need to go into that. I tend to err on the side of being overly cautious however, and so would rather go up a model and be extra cool than skate by on the bare minimum to achieve it.
Motherboards are what are really messing with me. So many models, and I just don't really see what to pick between them on. So obviously it needs to handle my overclocking of the processor. I don't plan on SLIing, with my plans being to eventually upgrade to a 970 or 1070 graphics card, which seem like 1 will be enough for me.
RAM wise, I was looking for 16GB DDR4 as I tend to have a lot of windows open at once, given I'm running dual monitors with one as my gaming display and the other as my "101 other windows" screen. Current system is 8GB and I have to at times close things down in task manager, so I'd like to go a step above to avoid this. I don't really know the brands currently, and I don't want to go overboard on the greatest of the great, but the prices look potentially decent. I guess I consider this the lowest priority of the new parts though, since I (perhaps incorrectly) view the other bits as having the greater impact. DDR4-3000 look like a nice mid-point of price and value, given the tests I looked at showed them as sometimes winning out over the 3200s?
Any recommendations you guys have on this will be greatly appreciated, thank you!
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