New PC Required

[Hoonigan]

Hi everyone,

I've decided I would like to upgrade the main of my PC. Due to this getting quite old, I'm half expecting a component to give up the ghost before long.
I'm massively out of the loop on what is good and what isn't, and in all honesty, I don't even know which CPU sockets are newer than others; therefore, I'm forced into asking for help in building a PC.

The overall time this PC has ran must be into the 5000-10000 hour range, at least!

CPU: Q6600
Motherboard: Abit IP35 Dark Raider
RAM: 4x OCZ 1GB DDR2-6400 Platinum
GPU: NVIDIA GTX470

These are the parts that I feel need to be upgraded, the rest should all still be sound, with them all being more recent components.

I don't know if I have a budget, I just want something that will be future proofed and will allow some decent gaming to occur.
I may even upgrade the GPU at a later date if budgeting becomes a problem.

My only stipulations are:
Must be an Intel CPU and must be an NVIDIA GPU.

What are your suggestions? (I'm looking at you, CAT-THE-FIFTH. )

[Willzzz]

I'm going to copy my suggestions from another post:

I'd get a 4460
A relatively cheap mobo: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...hdmi-micro-atx
Some relatively cheap RAM: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CWR3HVS/?tag=pcp0f-21

More than powerful enough to handle the latest games but cheap enough that you can afford a decent graphics card.
And leave you to shop around for a Nvidia GPU to suit your budget.

[starkyller]

Try to grab a gtx 780 on ebay they've become cheap and they are a very solid GPU

[Hoonigan]

I'm going to copy my suggestions from another post:

I'd get a 4460
A relatively cheap mobo: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...hdmi-micro-atx
Some relatively cheap RAM: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CWR3HVS/?tag=pcp0f-21

More than powerful enough to handle the latest games but cheap enough that you can afford a decent graphics card.
And leave you to shop around for a Nvidia GPU to suit your budget.

Sorry, something I forgot to mention is that I have a 5.1 Sound Setup, so the motherboard must support that.

Also - I'm not really looking for cheap, I'm looking for good value for money. I know the difference is subtle, but I would like it to last a good few years, like this one has. (I got this at the start of 2007...)

[Hoonigan]

I've got a question:

When I built this PC, 2GB of RAM was "ample", but now I'm endlessly in need of more RAM, even during just everyday tasks... Google Chrome can easily get up to 1GB. I'm running 4GB now and I thought it would last forever.

Is 16GB enough now? Or is it worth going for 32GB?

[The Hand]

Maybe go for the i7 4790 plus a 970 of some description. It's hard to say if you don't have a particular budget in mind. Maybe go for an i5 if you want to cut down the cost, but I imagine the i7 will give it a bit more longevity.

Edit - I would say 8GB ram is probably entry level now for a new system. 16GB is the new medium to high end. Feel free to correct me anyone.

[Hoonigan]

It's hard to say if you don't have a particular budget in mind.

Maybe if I said I've got around £500 to spend, that could narrow it down a bit. I've been looking at i5, but there's SO many different CPUs/Mobos/Memory combinations..

[The Hand]

I've put together this list relatively quickly on scan.co.uk, so here goes!

CPU- i5 4460 - £139.38

GPU- Palit GeForce GTX970 4GB - £263.96

RAM - Corsair Memory Vengeance Blue 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz - £63.36

MB - Z87-G43 Intel S1150 MSI ATX - £55.04

Total: £533.24

If you stretch the budget by another £100 you could probably get the i5 4690k and double the RAM to 16GB.. if you definitely want to stick to Intel and Nvidia that is.
AMD have got some great cpu and gpu prices going at the moment.. I saw a R9 290 somewhere for about £199 and an FX 8320E for about £100.. so just a thought!

[Willzzz]

There's no need for a Z87 board.
The board I suggested does support 5.1 although you may prefer a better quality, e.g.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...-dvi-hdmi-matx

But if you really care stick in a sound card.

It is a pity Scan only stock Corsair RAM, it's fine, but it's always better to have a choice.

[Pob255]

Actually I would get a z87 over an h81 mainly for the extra ram slots so you can add more ram later if needed
8gb ram is fine

graphics card i'd say stick with the 470 until the 960 comes out. was supposed to be out this month but has been delayed to 1st quarter next year)

[dfour]

Hoonigan do you overclock your cpu?? Getting a K version might help you with your 'future proofing'.

[shaithis]

8GB is more than plenty, if you need more then that, you will know it (99.99% of people do not).

If your 5.1 receiver is HDMI, then any motherboard will do and I would recommend connecting via HDMI as well.

If you really want Intel and gaming then you probably have to be looking at a Haswell i5 of some description, the i7 premium isn't worth it IMO. I haven't found my IB i5 or my Xeon struggling and both are paired with high-end cards.

Motherboards.....so many to choose from, although from the last few years builds I definitely rate the manufacturers: AsRock > Gigabyte > Asus > MSI.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Maybe if I said I've got around £500 to spend, that could narrow it down a bit. I've been looking at i5, but there's SO many different CPUs/Mobos/Memory combinations..

What case do you have?? It will determine the length of the card you can have?? Any reason you need a Nvidia card specifically??

Anyway,going by a recent build I did,I would get a Xeon E3 1230 V3:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...che-80w-retail
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...mi-dvi-vga-atx
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...dvi-d-hdmi-atx

The CPU cannot be overclocked and lacks an IGP but considering how long your last build lasted,I would concentrate on the CPU and get a decent enough motherboard. The cheaper ones are weird sizes(smaller than mATX or ATX),have a poor selection of backpanel connectors and lack RAM slots too.

One of those Z87 motherboards would do the job - however the H97 and Z97 are supposed to have "official" support for Broadwell.

This RAM should be fine:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HyperX-Serie...words=8gb+ddr3

That will take the total to around £300.

This card will come to around £250:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-039-IN

However,the offer ends today at 6PM.

The total would be around £550.

Sadly if you had asked this question a week ago,OcUK had a KFA2 GTX780 for around £200 delivered with a copy of the latest BL game worth around £20.

[MrJim]

This might be a useful guide. Of course all their choice are subjective and the pricing is in dollars, but it might prove useful as a starting point:

http://techreport.com/review/27252/t...4-system-guide

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Personally I don't think the TR guides are that great going from past experience TBH(some very lazy choices in the past),so I would avoid them.

[DanceswithUnix]

I would say that 8GB of ram is fine, but that is only 2 sticks so you have a pair of sockets free for if you change your mind in the future. At some point in a year or so DDR4 will go mainstream and DDR3 prices will be at their lowest, and at that point you probably want to invest in a couple of sticks before DDR3 disappears and hence shoots up in price.

I expect once you have upgraded the CPU and RAM that you will find your existing video card is fine. The next gen cards made on 20nm can't be far off, I would defer video until then.

As you are looking long term I would want lots of threads, and as Cat has beaten me to it I will just say buy the Xeon that he linked to.

I find Asus motherboards last forever as long as you avoid the really really cheap ones, so I would go with that link from Cat too.

Assuming this is having Windows put on it, that means you have the aggro of a re-install, so is it worth looking at upgrading your storage with a bigger SSD?