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Help Me Upgrade My Computer!

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So I'm probably going for a 500W PSU, which should be enough and will shave me £5 or £10 off the price compared to using a 600W. Amazon has several alarming reviews of the Corsair 500W though - how about an OCZ instead? Or any other recommendations?
 

Raw

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Don't believe those alarming reviews you read

So I'm probably going for a 500W PSU, which should be enough and will shave me £5 or £10 off the price compared to using a 600W. Amazon has several alarming reviews of the Corsair 500W though - how about an OCZ instead? Or any other recommendations?

Hey, do as you will but I have built many, many pcs and I own and constantly run 5 of them at any given time (home and business).

I have some fast gaming systems (well, they all are capable of gaming most current software) and some office systems.

I can tell you from experience the Corsair Builder Series CX 500 watt power supply is an outstanding little unit that works hard and is reliable for a medium level computer that you are talking about building/upgrading. And the CX 600 is only a few bucks more if you need that little bit more of an edge. They are both a great value for the money.

To me and my way of thinking the power supply is the most important part of any build.
And there is the 3 year warranty offered by Corsair to boot.

If you want to step up to an even better PS, look into Corsair's TX line for a little more money.

I love their HX and AX line and use them for my hotter machines (mostly gaming).
Both lines kick ass and take no prisoners.
I don't think you can go wrong with the Corsair brand.
 

TheMailMan78

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So I'm probably going for a 500W PSU, which should be enough and will shave me £5 or £10 off the price compared to using a 600W. Amazon has several alarming reviews of the Corsair 500W though - how about an OCZ instead? Or any other recommendations?

Seasonic X series.
 
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I really want to help, but i don't think i should recommend stuff without knowing the budget you have, and what you intend to do with it.

Besides that, you have some great assistance over here.
 
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Hey, do as you will but I have built many, many pcs and I own and constantly run 5 of them at any given time (home and business).

I have some fast gaming systems (well, they all are capable of gaming most current software) and some office systems.

I can tell you from experience the Corsair Builder Series CX 500 watt power supply is an outstanding little unit that works hard and is reliable for a medium level computer that you are talking about building/upgrading. And the CX 600 is only a few bucks more if you need that little bit more of an edge. They are both a great value for the money.

To me and my way of thinking the power supply is the most important part of any build.
And there is the 3 year warranty offered by Corsair to boot.

If you want to step up to an even better PS, look into Corsair's TX line for a little more money.

I love their HX and AX line and use them for my hotter machines (mostly gaming).
Both lines kick ass and take no prisoners.
I don't think you can go wrong with the Corsair brand.

Corsair CX600 doen't have a very good ripple level, but CX430 and CX500 are very nice PSUs.

You can take a look at OCZ ZT series too, if you like modular PSUs. :)
 

jed

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Raw

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Agreed

Seasonic X series.

Agreed,

Seasonic is also another good PS mfg..

I just never had any experience with them. But from what I have read here at TPU and JohnnyGuru I would also buy one in a NY minute.

:toast:
 
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Cool, I've got some good options there then, thanks guys. And you're probably right Raw, the reviews on Amazon were more than likely coincidental - I did think it was a bit odd. So I won't dismiss the 500W Corsair after all either.

Pato Rodrigues, as you may have seen I have a very outdated gaming PC, that's currently pretty useless and has been sat gathering dust while I've used a laptop instead. I'm going to have some money from several people for Christmas - with this I want to get it in semi-decent shape as cheaply as possible, with room for more improvement but still at a decent standard.

Over next year I'll be gradually improving it further with an SSD, better cooling, perhaps a case replacement and Bluray drive, that kind of thing. But for the time being I want it to be able to play something like Battlefield 3 well for example - something it currently runs at about 10 FPS on bottom settings I believe.

So from my research and all the helpful advice from people in this thread, the plan is to go for an i5 3470/3570k, fairly cheap mobo like a Gigabyte Z77 D3H, 8GB 1600mhz RAM from Corsair, Gskill etc., and a ~500W PSU from Corsair or one of the others suggested like Seasonic. I'll be recycling the case, HDs, DVD drive, sound card etc. If I can't quite afford a replacement yet, I'll have to stick with the ATi 4850 GPU as well, but I'd like to be able to replace this with an upper mid range kinda card, like a GTX 660 or ATi 7850/7870.

So the ballpark figure including GPU would be about £500ish.
 
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jed

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Hey KK,

When you're able to afford the GPU, please check out my thread here. I made a comparison poll with the 660 vs. the 7870 and the 7870 won 20 to 6. I ended up going with the 7950 instead of either of those two, but hope the poll/discussion will help you make a decision when the time comes.
 
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That TX 650 was like $59 on cyber monday. Maybe after X mas
 
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Hey KK,

When you're able to afford the GPU, please check out my thread here. I made a comparison poll with the 660 vs. the 7870 and the 7870 won 20 to 6. I ended up going with the 7950 instead of either of those two, but hope the poll/discussion will help you make a decision when the time comes.

Thanks jed, that's good to know. And here was me thinking Nvidia was usually more popular.

I don't blame you for going for the 7950 in your situation. Sadly, the cheapest 7950 is currently about £60 ($95) more expensive than the cheapest 7870, so I think I'd plump for the latter unless things change.
 
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Oh also, that reminds me - is there a massive difference in different makes of a graphics card? There are sometimes substantial differences in price between different manufacturers and I was wondering if there's a good reason for this. If so, which makes are good? Some of the cheapest 7870s I've seen are currently MSI and Powercolor.
 

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Certainly not a massive difference at all. But there's a few things to note.

I've always been AMD for CPU and ATI for GPU. I have heard good things of MSI but not as many from Powercolor. The deal breakers for me with make are usually 1) Customer service and 2) Card quality. All cards are obviously going to come in working order, but some come built out of more solid materials, have better design or just feel better. I have had great success with Sapphire and Asus over the years and am happy to pay 20-30 more for Asus' quality or Sapphire's customer support.

Make sure you read the reviews of each make on Newegg.com and that will tell you a lot. Or if you have another trusted website that puts out tons of owner reviews check them out. Even if a card maker has a bad rep, a certain model they put out might be really successful and have great reviews for that specific card.
 
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How much is a 660Ti over there compared to the 7870?
 

jed

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There all pretty close. The price diff is mainly features, coolers, specials. But everyone has opinions about brands. I personal don't care for XFX or Powercolor. Mainly due to bad experiences. But others will disagree so you have to read reviews. When I bought my 7950 I just bought the cheapest one, HIS and have been completely happy with it.
 
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Yeah, no worries Jed.

CrapDaddy, the cheapest 660 Ti is between £35-50 more than the cheapest 7870 - the cheapest 7870s I'm seeing are a £168 Powercolor and £183 MSI. To be honest, I was initially thinking of going for a 7850 at ~£150, so going over £200 is probably a bit too much unfortunately.
 
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I appreciate how helpful everyone has been so far, thank you. I have a couple more questions:

Is the higher stock speed and overclocking capability on the i5 3570k worth the £23 more than the i5 3470?

I see that the Gigabyte Z77 D3H I'm planning on getting has two PCI-ex slots, but one only runs at 4x speed. I understand this means SLI/Crossfire is not really a good option, but this has never interested me; I'd always rather sell my old card and just buy one new more powerful one. However, does this make any difference to single GPUs that take up two slots?

EDIT: Hang on, I think I'm getting a bit confused. Do many/any GPUs actually take up two PCI express slots, or have I just imagined that?
 
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Agreed,

Seasonic is also another good PS mfg..

I just never had any experience with them. But from what I have read here at TPU and JohnnyGuru I would also buy one in a NY minute.

:toast:

I own a Seasonic X-660 80 Plus Gold, the PSU is impressive, for any future builds i will surely consider Seasonic as first priority. Considering computer components are consuming less power as we move forward, I'm eying this: SeaSonic SS-520FL 520W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS PLA...
 

jed

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I am fairly certain most if not all GPU's only take up one slot. Some might be so massive that they block access to the other slot. I would wait for a more informed answer though as I guess I'm a bit outdated on my info as well.
 
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I am fairly certain most if not all GPU's only take up one slot. Some might be so massive that they block access to the other slot. I would wait for a more informed answer though as I guess I'm a bit outdated on my info as well.

wow, I afraid single slot GPUs are a thing of the past. At the level of gaming he is interested in. :rolleyes: At least not without a water block
 

TheMailMan78

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I appreciate how helpful everyone has been so far, thank you. I have a couple more questions:

Is the higher stock speed and overclocking capability on the i5 3570k worth the £23 more than the i5 3470?

I see that the Gigabyte Z77 D3H I'm planning on getting has two PCI-ex slots, but one only runs at 4x speed. I understand this means SLI/Crossfire is not really a good option, but this has never interested me; I'd always rather sell my old card and just buy one new more powerful one. However, does this make any difference to single GPUs that take up two slots?

EDIT: Hang on, I think I'm getting a bit confused. Do many/any GPUs actually take up two PCI express slots, or have I just imagined that?

They only use one PCI-E slot on the mother board. However the cooler will take up another expansion slot. So two Expansion slots and one PCI-E port on the mother board.

 
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UK
System Name PC
Processor i5 3570k
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
Cooling Stock
Memory 8GB Corsair 1600mhz
Video Card(s) XFX 7870
Storage 120GB Kingston SSD, 2TB HDD
Display(s) Sony 32" HDTV
Case Corsair 230T
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D1
Power Supply Corsair 500W
Software Windows 8 64bit

jed

Joined
May 14, 2011
Messages
356 (0.08/day)
System Name REAPER
Processor AMD FX-8350 x8 @ 4.64 GHz (20x232, 1.4625v)
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
Cooling Corsair Liquid H60. 2 front in, 1 side in, 1 rear out (H60), 1 top out.
Memory G.Skill Sniper 2x4 GB DDR3 1333 @ 1546
Video Card(s) Sapphire HD 7950 3GB @ 1095/1395
Storage Crucial M500 240 GB SSD and Western Digital Green 1TB 7200 RPM
Display(s) Acer H223H 22.5"
Case Antec 300 Black Steel
Audio Device(s) N/A
Power Supply Corsair CX-600 Watt 80 Bronze
Mouse Corsair Sabre RGB Optical
Keyboard Logitech G610 Mechanical
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores 3dMark 2011 - 8965 15210 3dMark06 (old system)
They are both DDR3 @ 1600 MHz and the same timings. I would say just get the cheaper one, both good enough names. Crucial gets good reviews on Newegg which is always my go-to site for reviews.

Looks like Crucial has the same RAM here with 5 eggs over 70+ reviews.

This is assuming you'll be upgrading your MoBo to something that supports DDR3 and 1600.
 
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