Component know-how

[Bagnaj97]

CS:GO and LoL run well at 1080p on an A10-5800k. I've tried. Dota 2 I've not tried but I don't imagine there would be any problems. For your needs you've got plenty of budget and if you're thinking of future game-proofing you'd be better off putting more of your money into the graphics card than the CPU.

Intel vs AMD arguments are all academic really. At the high end I don't think anyone will argue against Intel having the upper hand, but other than that AMD are competitive and generally lower cost. Some games run better on Intel, but slower AMD chips are still more than fast enough - 80fps on AMD FX6350 vs 100fps on an i3 doesn't make the slightest real world difference. On the other hand modern games are becoming more heavily threaded and so more cores are becoming more important. On these modern and future games it's likely that the higher core count on AMD will be faster than the lower core count+hyperthreading on Intels.

Because of this trend towards more threaded games, especially with PS4 and Xbone being 8-core, I'd recommend an FX6350 over an i3 and until someone shows me a game that's unplayable on the AMD but fine on the Intel I'm not going to change my mind. AMDs are good enough, then it's all about the GPU.

All that said, in your situation I'd even be tempted to keep your CPU for now. Get an SSD, decent PSU, another 4gb stick of ram (doesn't matter about speed, as long as it's not slower) and the best graphics card you can afford (without going overboard, performance/£ drops off above the 7970/GTX 770). Then see how you get on - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and you'll have saved a decent chunk of cash. Worst case is you then buy a new mobo+cpu afterwards, no harm done.

[Pob255]

XFX make some decent quality units that aren't a lot more expensive so I'd strongly recommend picking from one of those instead.

that's because XFX don't make psu's, they psu's xfx rebrands are made by seasonic, they are the S12II bronze psu's that have had their PWM control chip tweaked for higher 12v loads by reducing 5v load regulation.
They are great psu's for the price, reminiscent of the old corsair VX models which where the Seasonic S12II 80+ inside.
This is one thing I don't like about corsair psu's when they started they sold great psu's cheaply, but now they cost more and their cheap low end units are good but nothing special (with the very cheap CS range just scraping mediocre)

[ConnorLowe]

I've decided that rather than building a new computer, I'd rather upgrade my current one as it's a learning curve and also cheaper.

As mentioned in previous posts, I would need to buy a new PSU and GPU. Possibly need a new case and an SSD would be handy.

These are the components that I'm looking at:

PSU:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...-quiet-fan-atx - Seems like an approved PSU

RAM:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-c...-9-9-9-24-150v

GPU:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-g...1098mhz-cores-
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-g...8-dport-dl-dvi
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-m...s-1344-dp-hdmi
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-g...plusfree-games

Cases:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...e-case-w-o-psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/shark...gement-w-o-psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...e-case-w-o-psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...g-case-w-o-psu

SSD:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb...56mb-cache-85k
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/128gb...ite-535mb-s-92
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/256gb...0mb-s-73k-iops
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/128gb...b-s-80k-iops-m

Don't require an SSD straight away, but it would be nice to have one!

[Domestic_Ginger]

HUKD lists a 660ti for £165. http://www.cclonline.com/product/869...ptor-/VGA0714/ with CCL who I have bought one item from and service was very good. Your monitor is quite small and a card in this region would be wasted if you're still using your 18.5 inch monitor.

Theres an SSD at ebuyer for £63. note the slightly slower speeds; probably not noticable though but worth doing background check. http://www.ebuyer.com/411692-kingsto...sv300s37a-120g

Hows your case in terms of ar flow. I haven't read all the thread :/ I got my P183 from ebay very cheap, local collection. It turned out he was not as local as he said he was and was quite poor in bundling the screws etc with it. I really like it though as it is very quiet. The door is godsend as my 2 year old has not figured out how to open it yet!

Comwales have the PSU for £50; I would like to see someone try them! They seem legit.

[ConnorLowe]

For the links above, I'll go and find them at the cheapest price etc - Just for reference at the moment

My current case isn't the best let's put it that way. It gets pretty hot inside the case but I've not checked my fan. I have removed the side panel from my case to try and help the air flow but at the moment, I could do with an extra fan.

[chuckskull]

RAM and PSU spot on.

660 TI and 7850 are both great cards. At the resolution you're running they'll last you a long while too. I wouldn't bother with a 256GB SSD, you just don't need that much fast space, I say that as a heavy gamer who bought a 256 drive. 128 and a secondary storage drive(the old 400gb). one thing to remember you only have SATAII on your motherboard so you'll not be getting it's maximum speed til that later upgrade, it will still be an order of magnitude faster than your current drive, but worth bearing in mind.

I've never used any of those cases so can't really comment, but If you're stretching to £60 for the case check out the Corsair 300R, building a PC in one for a mate is why I bought the bigger version for myself. Solid, easy to work on, great temps. Not sure if you'll like the looks though, compared to what you posted; http://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsa...usb-30-w-o-psu

[ConnorLowe]

Unsure on what monitor to buy, don't really need a new one at the moment, but it will be upgraded soon

As for the SSD, I posted the 256GB SSD as it wasn't that much more expensive than the Corsair 128GB Force Series SSD but double the size.

Case wise, I don't mind the appearance it's always nice to have a bright and colourful case with LED's etc, but as long as the case suits what I need and helps to keep my PC in working order, I really don't mind I'll look in to the Corsair 300R

[ConnorLowe]

In fact, I like the Corsair 300R - I'll be looking to price it all up very soon and start buying hopefully

Opinions on the Corsair 330R?
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cas...-330r-review/1

[martober]

For ssds the sandisk extreme line seems to be reliable and relatively good value. Samsung 840 (non pro) are good value too, but they use lower endurance memory so the smaller capacity drives may wear out too fast. I wouldn't recommend going below 120gb as speed and endurance both suffer with smaller capacity drives.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would also look at the Plextor M5S which used decent NAND and general are solid drives.

Has the OP considered this case:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fract...ng-noise-absor

It has soundproofing and can fit a graphics card upto 11.4" long.

[shaithis]

Opinions on the Corsair 330R?

I've built a few PCs on the 300R, including one of my own, absolutely love the case. Everything seems to fit in easily, very screwless, lovely anti-vibration bays, amazing cooling.

Could do with being a tenner cheaper but then I guess you can't have everything!

[martober]

The only big issue I've heard of with corsair's cases is that the fans they use are low quality and liable to fail (particularly those alligned horizontally in the roof). You may end up having to replace them at some point, but aside from that the cases are well made and easy to build in.

[ConnorLowe]

The Corsair case looks promising but that Fractal case looks quite appealing, tough decision!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Corsair case looks promising but that Fractal case looks quite appealing, tough decision!

This is a picture of a build I did a while back in an R3:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...IX61045TPC.jpg

The front has a door which means the drives are stealthed:

http://imagescdn.tweaktown.com/conte...eview_full.jpg
http://imagescdn.tweaktown.com/conte...eview_full.jpg

It was originally a £75 to £80 case,but it has been replaced by the R4 which has some changes including support for longer graphics cards.

[ConnorLowe]

Corsair 300R:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsa...usb-30-w-o-psu
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/chassi...s-300r/?page=7

Fractal Design Define R3:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fract...ng-noise-absor
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cas...ne-r3-review/3

Seems like both cases cool quite well, although the 300R can be a little noisy at time.

I won't be overclocking so my PC temperature may not even rise as high as the ones tested above.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Fractal is cheaper,is quieter,and looks nicer(which maybe a matter of opinion though)!!