Help me choose a motherboard bundle, please (probably Scan/Overclockers UK)

I'm looking to buy replacement tech, since my PC is getting creaky and it's about time I got on this SSD thing anyway.

Currently using: Q9550 in a Striker II Extreme, 8GB RAM

Will be keeping from that machine: Fractal R4 case, GTX650Ti, 1TB SSHD, 2X WD Velociraptor, a crappy but serviceable PSU

Mainly used for: Professional audio sequencing, graphics, some games from time to time but nothing major on that front.

Want: A quiet system! New motherboard with USB3, CPU, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Win 8.1 64-bit OEM (c. £58) and a CPU cooler (ideally BeQuiet's Dark Rock Advanced or similar). Do not want SLi/Crossfire, will consider a small form factor motherboard since my R4 will accept mini boards.

I have about £500 to spend on this, but could go higher if I wait. My current machine is really suffering though, and I've got work to do, so ideally I'd like to buy ASAP within this budget. If I can bring it in sufficiently within budget, I'd love to get a new, quiet PSU as well.

So far, I've been considering:

http://www.scan.co.uk/3xs-overclocked-bundles

3XS FM2 OC10
AMD A8 6600K Black
(4.2GHz overclock is probably my maximum, since I'd like the PC to be near-silent if possible)
Gigabyte GA-F2A85X-D3H
BeQuiet Dark Rock Advanced
16GB 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance RAM
Win 8.1
£407.62
+ £100-ish for 256GB SSD
£508

3XS AM3 OC5
AMD FX 6300 Black (second option)
(4.2GHz overclock is probably my maximum, since I'd like the PC to be near-silent if possible)
Gigabyte GA78-LMT
Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro V2
16GB 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance RAM
Win 8.1
£368.16
+ £100-ish for 256GB SSD
£468

The overclocked Intels are all out of my price range if I am to get an SSD, and I really want that SSD. So instead I'd be going to the Value range for the only one I can sensibly consider...

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/configurator/vb20i

VB20i
i5 4440, no overclock possible
Asus H81M-Plus
be quiet! Shadow Rock Performance Cooler
16GB Corsair Vengeance LP - 1600MHz
Win 8.1
£427
+ £100-ish for 256GB SSD
£527

... but I can make almost the same thing for less at Overclockers:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=43&catid=2512
"Xenon H81M" Configurable Intel Pentium / Core i3 / i5 Micro ATX Home PC Bundle
i5 4440 (no overclock possible)
accept Intel stock cooler but replace with Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Topflow SR1 CPU Cooler
16GB 1600MHz mystery RAM
£294
+ £58 for Win8.1 OEM
+ £40 for BeQuiet cooler
+ £100-ish for 256GB SSD
£492

So, what would you advise I do? Thanks!

The bundle is basically the same as buying your own parts. Plus I would definitely get a new PSU if your current PSU is not that great.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

The bundle is basically the same as buying your own parts. Plus I would definitely get a new PSU if your current PSU is not that great.

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Thanks!

There does appear to be a saving as well. When I put together the parts in a cart by themselves, they come up as more expensive.

Plus, I had a bit of a strange time with the build I have now. I've built all my PCs since 1997, but never got into OCing until the last one. I chose the parts because the automatic overclock settings in the BIOS were supposed to be decent, but they proved not to be. It's probably no coincidence that when I set my own manual overclock, the voltage settings and the reported voltages were significantly different. So I had to guess at settings and then find out what I'd got by viewing the BIOS monitor on the next restart until I'd got a stable result. So, if I'm going to have it overclocked, I'd rather have someone else do it, which is why an overclocked bundle would be better for me.

How do these Richland AMDs compare with the i54440? Given that simple speed ratings don't mean "faster" is better than "slower", that software companies don't necessarily address the extra cores in some AMDs, and that no reviews benchmark an overclocked AMD versus a stock Intel, I'm a bit confused about how to spend my money best.

I'd probably opt for the I5-4440, purely because it should be easier to cool whilst giving you superb performance for what you need. Also you can get away with spending money on a cheap 1150 based board if you don't need all the features from the Z87 chipset. Socket 1150 will open up later generations of chips from Intel; you may pay a bit more for this setup though.

The Richland based system is pointless as you won't use the onboard iGPU. It's a good setup but probably won't suffice for your requirements. You do have the option of opening up the goodies with FM2+ with this platform however.

The FX option is good, however overclocking will cause noise, more heat and less efficiency if you are concerned about that. Also you'll need a discrete GPU no matter what. A plus side is the features you get with the chipset, it'll save you a big amount of cash however. Also there isn't any upgrade path on the AM3+ socket for future generations.

But as CAT mentioned definitely replace your PSU.

Excellent advice, I think that's what I'll do then! Thank you, Mike.

For the type of use you're considering single thread performance is probably more important than multiple cores, which means I too would lean toward the i5, however those bundles are generally not a great deal. Buying things separately makes more sense, unless you're deathly scared of plugging things together. Particularly don't pay for any overclocking service.

For that type of usage, and if you're keeping the existing card, then one of the 1150 xeon's makes a lot of sense. e3 1230 is an i7 4770 for i5 4670 money. You loose the overclocking functions of the 'k' cards, but if you're not going to overclock an i5 then you may as well grab that.

On a separate note, 2*velociraptors do not make for a quiet system. TBH, you're better binning them anyway, even in RAID an SSD is faster.

Thanks Herulach, that confirms it then. I'm now scaling down my aspirations a little because otherwise I'll be making bad decisions for the sake of a tenner here and a twenty there. I've decided to piece it together myself, and I'll keep the 8GB RAM I'm using now until I can get a fresh 16 later.

I'll take a look at that Xeon!

I didn't realise Velociraptors might be part of my system's noisiness. They're not the 1TB ones that people usually talk about - these are early models, 280GB each. I use them for storage only, so they don't get a lot of use. I'll see what their effect is when connected and unconnected, and think about ditching them if they're a problem.