Help upgrading basic pcspecialist build

pablo-jericho

Item | Type
Processor (CPU) | Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3570 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard | ASUS® P8H77-M: M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM) | 8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card | 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 - 2 DVI, HDMI, VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory | 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
Power Supply | 450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling | INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Operating System | Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1


Hey guys.

Just wondering if I could implore some advice about how best to upgrade this build as cost effectively as possible. Its not too bad all things considered but its starting to lag behind a bit and I doubt it can hold up with BF4 released and next-gen-ness etc. Budget would be €500 or so.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

cherryghost

TBH the only thing that I see that would probably need a bump is the graphics card. You'd be looking at circa 200 euro for a card that would bump your settings past 60fps. The CPU is still fantastic.

justsomebloke

also an SSD if you don't have one already

pablo-jericho

Thanks for the replies. Now, heres where I enter murky water. What level of card would future proof me for a few years? I could spout out some models I know or was looking at but its irrelevant to my humbling level of knowledge, thus the reason I bought pre-made instead of building. Also is there issues with the 450w PSU? SSD is a good idea alright, I keep forgetting they're (finally) coming down in price a bit

kevovek

How about this:
Sapphire Vapor X 280x
+
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB

Comes to about €455 + Parcel motel

Would the 450w PSU still be ok for the 280x OC'd?

pablo-jericho

I have no idea, anyone else care to weigh in?

marco_polo

Should be ok, I can't see the PSU on PCSpecialist anymore but apparently the "450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU" was a decent enough FSP build unit, in that case it should manage an r9 280x and i5-3570 combination (or similar GPU) just fine.

pablo-jericho

Thanks man, would it be worth upgrading the PSU for peace of mind? And would a lack of power damage the hardware or just not function correctly?

marco_polo

pablo-jericho wrote: »

Thanks man, would it be worth upgrading the PSU for peace of mind? And would a lack of power damage the hardware or just not function correctly?

On the assumption above that is a pretty decent unit, no need as the R9 280X combined with your i5 which cannot be overclocked shouldn't be drawing a great deal more than 300-350W from the wall (you can factor in about a 15% less to account for PSU efficiency to estimate the actual DC load on the rails).

Even the system in the review below was only drawing 372W peak with an i7-4770k @4GHz and 1244MHz overclock on the GPU.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_r9_280x_toxic/16.htm

pablo-jericho

Ok, so we're good to go! Anything else that compares to the 280x in a similar price range or is it as good as it gets for what I have there now?

pablo-jericho

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-Toxic-1100MHz-Express-Graphics/dp/B00FOQZZ9G/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1387219959&sr=1-1&keywords=280x

Is this a better model of the same card (47% off)? And it looks like it'd need the added PSU, is it worth the hassle?

Moon54

No, looks like that card's price has actually been hiked up due to the lack of availability.
That card was £238 a couple of weeks ago;
http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Sapphire-Toxic-1100MHz-Express-Graphics/product/B00FOQZZ9G?context=browse

Also, the Vapour-X price looks to be hiked up as well;
http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Sapphire-Vapor-X-Radeon-GDDR5-Graphics/product/B00FL8FD3A?context=browse

overclockers.co.uk do have stock available right now.

Slksht

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00CY5GP08/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1387245128&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165

With the price drop the Gtx 770 must be the better option?

pablo-jericho

Ah, okay. Cheeky devils. Yeah I'm not adverse to different models, I just don't want to get the "wrong" one, if ya get me. I might get a new case and PSU now too to get it out of the way, I have some slight cooling issues with the current case and a new card will surely only exasperate that.