New to TPU - Advice on a new system I snagged for £300

[...PACMAN...]

Hello everyone I'm new to TPU and relatively new to PC gaming. I managed to get a great deal on a privately advertised gaming PC which I'll be collecting next Friday (see specs which I have filled out)

I currently game on just an XBox 360 so it should be a nice step up It was only £300 for everything listed there and it has a legitimate copy of windows 8 included.

I have plans for the build and wanted to run them by you guys.

Change out the processor to an FX - 8350
Add better cooling in the form of either an H80 or H100
Get faster memory
Add an SSD or two
Possibly change out the GFX card for something meatier

Obviously on my budget I can't do all of these at once so I wondered which one you would deem to be the most benficial upgrade/change?

Thanks

[RCoon]

RAM is more than reasonable, gfx is 600 what? if its 660 or above, then thats just fine(midrange) as it is, 670 is wonderful for 1080p if you want to go that route of nvidia. You dont need to touch that psu for now.
Processor is alright, 8350 would be a large upgrade, but i personally would put an SSD to the top of the list, you would see more of a difference with that/those. 128 is more than enough for OS and software. I'd recommend a second for your favored games, though i have so many i drop them all on a 2TB HDD and cant complain.
SSD>CPU>CPU COOLER>GFX

[JrRacinFan]

I wouldn't change a thing until you have used it and see if it meets/exceeds your needs. Welcome to TPU. Although the first thing I would nab would be an SSD.

[...PACMAN...]

Originally Posted by RCoon

RAM is more than reasonable, gfx is 600 what? if its 660 or above, then thats just fine(midrange) as it is, 670 is wonderful for 1080p if you want to go that route of nvidia. You dont need to touch that psu for now.
Processor is alright, 8350 would be a large upgrade, but i personally would put an SSD to the top of the list, you would see more of a difference with that/those. 128 is more than enough for OS and software. I'd recommend a second for your favored games, though i have so many i drop them all on a 2TB HDD and cant complain.
SSD>CPU>CPU COOLER>GFX

Oops, meant to put GTX 660...edited now. I'm thinking of an OCZ Vertex 4 128gb initially then based on reviews and price. Any good?

How would an 8350 fare with the current cooling for a small OC to 4.6Ghz ? Thanks

(Edit - thanks for the welcome Jr and yes I intend to give it a good work out before I decide on any potential upgrades. I think he makes a good point on the SSD though, a nice snappy OS would be very nice)

[manofthem]

I definitely say yes to the ssd upgrade, as that will make your system feel so much faster/snappier by it self. I had a 128gb Vertex 4, and it was crazy fast. I haven't heard the same horror stories of the newer OCZ as I did with the older ones. I also favor the Samsung 830 ssds (and thus the newer 840/840 pros), crazy good and reliable. The 660 is no slouch, and it should hold up very well at 1080p for most games.

Add: After using an ssd for about 2 years, I installed Windows 7 on my old hdd, and it horrendously slow, in every aspect. Going from hdd to ssd is really nice. but I'd say to get a big enough one, 256 or there abouts to be able to put your OS, programs, and even a few games. no sense in getting an ssd and then throwing everything on the hdd, as some have done (i even did before when limited by space )

[RCoon]

Originally Posted by ...PACMAN...

Oops, meant to put GTX 660...edited now. I'm thinking of an OCZ Vertex 4 128gb initially then based on reviews and price. Any good?

How would an 8350 fare with the current cooling for a small OC to 4.6Ghz ? Thanks

Samsung drives are awesome - i bought an OCZ agility 3 60gb as my first ssd upgrade when they were first released, and im still using it now for legacy software backups, it runs like a champ. I can say the Sandisk Pro's are pretty damn good, the Corsair Force 3's are also good for the price. A lot of enthusiasts i know roll with the samsung SSD's and the Crucial M4's are very popular for Operating System. (Due to fast read speed, and not needing the fast write speed).

I can get my 8350 at 4.7ghz on my H80 water cooler, and that hits 54 degrees on benchmarks. AMD FX's max safe temps are 62degrees. If you're looking to breach towards those speeds, im relatively sure you would want/need a closed loop water cooler like the H80 or above, im not sure what you can achieve on air - just keep it below 60 degrees

[...PACMAN...]

Originally Posted by manofthem

I definitely say yes to the ssd upgrade, as that will make your system feel so much faster/snappier by it self. I had a 128gb Vertex 4, and it was crazy fast. I haven't heard the same horror stories of the newer OCZ as I did with the older ones. I also favor the Samsung 830 ssds (and thus the newer 840/840 pros), crazy good and reliable. The 660 is no slouch, and it should hold up very well at 1080p for most games.

Add: After using an ssd for about 2 years, I installed Windows 7 on my old hdd, and it horrendously slow, in every aspect. Going from hdd to ssd is really nice. but I'd say to get a big enough one, 256 or there abouts to be able to put your OS, programs, and even a few games. no sense in getting an ssd and then throwing everything on the hdd, as some have done (i even did before when limited by space )

Good to know, I can't believe the price of SSDs have come down so much since the last time I was looking, dreaming of PC gaming lol

[XL-R8R]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

I wouldn't change a thing until you have used it and see if it meets/exceeds your needs. Welcome to TPU. Although the first thing I would nab would be an SSD.

This, totally.


Changing the CPU would be a waste of money to be honest... for the gains it'd net you the money would be better spent else ware... same goes for RAM upgrades.



However, a solid PSU that isn't just "800w" would sound like a much, much better idea....

Thought about that route yet?


Edit:

Also, a nice CPU cooler seeing as those AC units aren't the best, at all, and are usually noisy while doing a sub-par job.

[...PACMAN...]

Originally Posted by XL-R8R

This, totally.


Changing the CPU would be a waste of money to be honest... for the gains it'd net you the money would be better spent else ware... same goes for RAM upgrades.



However, a solid PSU that isn't just "800w" would sound like a much, much better idea....

Thought about that route yet?


Edit:

Also, a nice CPU cooler seeing as those AC units aren't the best, at all, and are usually noisy while doing a sub-par job.

Yeh I need to find out precisely which PSU it is and whether it needs to be changed out for a solid corsair unit or the like.

Ideally I want a quiet but powerful cooler, not really too fussed if its water or air just as long as it fits in the HAF 912 and allows me to clock the snot out of the processor Any ideas on some good ones people?

[Fourstaff]

Get SSD, check www.hotukdeals.com to get one at good price, or pray Amazon does another £100 for M4 "Black Friday" deal

[...PACMAN...]

Any good cooler suggestions meeting my requirements 2 posts above peeps?

[Crap Daddy]

If you already paid that money (which is a very good deal) just relax and see what the machine is capable of as it is. It really depends on what games are you playing, what are your expectations and how much money you are prepared to put in it on top of what you got. A SSD would indeed be a good start if money is burning in your pocket.

Welcome here!

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Try out the rig first to see what you actually need to upgrade. If it was me, the cpu would be the first to go. Hell a Phenom II x6 would be a hell of a upgrade to the fx4 series. And welcome to the best damn site on the net.

[manofthem]

Originally Posted by ...PACMAN...

Any good cooler suggestions meeting my requirements 2 posts above peeps?

I believe that 912 has space for 2 120mm fans on the top, so you could throw up an H100/i or the like, or a single fan cooler h60/80 on the exhaust 120mm fan. That's if you want to go with closed water.

[qubit]

You put "Windows 8 Home Premium 64 Bit" in your specs. There's no such animal, only Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. So, are you sure that's legit, or was it a typo?

[STCNE]

If you're new to PC gaming, spend that money on some games. If you're going to be using the computer just for gaming see how it does with whatever games you play and go from there. You've got a really nice PC there and there isn't anything really calling for an upgrade IMO.

Though if you're going to do something I'd first make sure you've got a good name brand PSU in there, and then I'd go for the SSD. Depending on what you use the PC for you may not get much, if anything, out of a CPU or GPU upgrade. I'd suggest using it as is for a few months before deciding on anything. You'll know what needs upgrading by that point.

And you got a really nice deal on that PC. congratz

[...PACMAN...]

Wow alot of responses since I last looked, I'm going to like it here I can tell

Where to start...

@ Crap Daddy - Yeh it's an awesome deal and he's a really nice guy. I have a good selection of games already to try it out with (next weekends going to be a hoot) These include BF3, Borderlands 2, Gta series, FIFA 13, Crysis 2, Crysis, Witcher 1 & 2 and a few others so just need the hardware now I'm thinking a good brand name PSU and at least an SSD for the OS.

@ Madshot - Thanks for the welcome and I think I'm just going to clock this processor as hard as I can until I feel the need to upgrade. Hell, I'm coming from a 30fps console @720p to a nicer system running at 1080p

@ manofthem - That's good info to know as I'm not familiar with the case so thanks for that.

@ Qubit - Not sure which one it is until I get it next Friday but I shall edit it to just Windows 8

@ STCNE - Thanks for the congratz and I'm chuffed. Also I'm pretty much going to do what you said and maybe just make sure it has a solid PSU in it.

EDIT - When I get the system up and running next Friday I shall post a few pics and benchies just to share with you lot and celebrate the fact that I will finally be a PC Gamer lol

[...PACMAN...]

So the fun begins on Friday when I pick up the PC. However I have subsequently found out that the PSU is a steaming pile of crap.

800w Storm PSU......no, I'd never heard of it eiher

He assures me he has played BF3 on ultra for hours on end and has stress tested it without a hitch but it doesn't rest easy with me.
Therefore, it will be the first part I change. I need recommendations for good PSUs under £80 that would handle future upgrades -

Overclocked FX 8350
2 x SSDs
2 x HDDs
1 x BluRay
GTX 670 or HD 7970
5 x LED Fans
2 x 8gb DDR 3 Sticks

Any help would be much appreciated. Amazon UK or ebuyer would be my etailers of choice.

[JrRacinFan]

I hope the ram is DDR3 and not 3 kits of 2x8GB DDR (just kidding)

Looks good my friend. Corsair or Seasonic 650W or above would be plenty. 750W or above for future. Also 1 bigger SSD would be fine.

[TheMailMan78]

Get a better PSU ASAP. Skip the SSD for now. Don't go cheap on the PSU. All those goodies will be a garbage if a cheap PSU frys them.

[XL-R8R]

Corsair TX750M 750W Modular PSU | Ebuyer.com


Link for you, Sir.

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by XL-R8R

Corsair TX750M 750W Modular PSU | Ebuyer.com


Link for you, Sir.

No. Get a Seasonic or something with low ripple.

[PatoRodrigues]

Welcome!

What a bargain there... nice machine for the price.

Really, a SSD would be fantastic for your rig. But i think you should get a better PSU because you must protect all of your investments.

I'm just throwing it out, but OCZ Vertex 4 prices are dropping and are great SSD's. Would be a really nice upgrade.

If you don't mind, i'll give you a air cooler suggestion: EVGA Superclock (i think it's compatible with AM3+...)

[...PACMAN...]

Its the only thing I'm buying initially, those other parts are just prospective upgrades that I would like the PSU to handle when the time comes and yes I realise the importance of the PSU.

What does low ripple mean mailman?

[XL-R8R]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

No. Get a Seasonic or something with low ripple.

Post a link then, MM lol


For the choice of units on eBuyer, and his budget, not much comes close to the Corsair.


Besides, this unit doesn't have any noticeable problems with ripple, as you suggest.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/TX750M/

Quote: Ripple/noise suppression is very good on all rails, regardless the load and the operating temperature. Overall excellent performance here, which can easily compete with the Seasonic-made Corsair TX units.