PC Gaming Upgrade

Slksht

Hi guys need some help!

I posted about a month ago looking for help with a self-build I'm planning. However, my brother has moved to England and I now have his old self-build workstation and want to upgrade it and reuse any of the parts that are salvageable.

I don't know a lot about parts yet so I was hoping you guys could help me decide what needs to be upgraded and what parts I might use.

I'm looking to play all releases on around medium graphics so that's the spec I'm looking for to bear in mind.

Currently in the PC:

AMD Phenom II CPU (Am aware this needs to be changed! I was thinking AMD FX8320?)

3.25 GB of RAM, 2.81 GHz Dual channel (Have 4 memory slots)

MSI790 GX-G65 motherboard

On board graphics (ATI Radeon yadada)

596GB Western Digital Blue

Sony DVD RQ DRU-875s

So......

How am I fixed? Have a good monitor and speakers and an acceptable mouse and keyboard (I think). It's running XP which is a balls, so I'll probably need a windows license? (Unless anyone has one they wanna give me or any other suggestions haha)

Cheers!

the_syco

What are you planning to use it for, and how much cash do you have to spend?

Fill out this, and post it here.

Slksht

Okay I wasn't sure because it's not a new build as such, and I wanted to know which of those parts are reusable and which I need to replace.

1. What is your budget? As much as required to achieve a decent standard (will depend on how many parts are reusable)

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming- New FPS and MMORPGs

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? no

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Not sure, was hoping for advice on this issue. Parts are listed in OP

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1920x1080 No

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Not immediately. USB Wireless Adapter needed as PC in different room to Horizon box

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Any

9. When are you purchasing? Before end of January

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Waterford

the_syco

Slksht wrote: »

Okay I wasn't sure because it's not a new build as such, and I wanted to know which of those parts are reusable and which I need to replace.

Yea, no worries. I spent a couple of weeks researching my own build but some of the lads here can produce amazeoballs systems at a blink of their hat.

Slksht wrote: »

1. What is your budget? As much as required to achieve a decent standard (will depend on how many parts are reusable)

Er, yeah. Budget is needed, as no point in us giving you a spec costing €2k when you can only afford €500 :pac:

Slksht wrote: »

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming- New FPS and MMORPGs

If by new FPS, you mean BF4, etc, then

Slksht wrote: »

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Not sure, was hoping for advice on this issue. Parts are listed in OP

I doubt any of the current machine will be of any use. On board won't really run any modern FPS.

Slksht wrote: »

9. When are you purchasing? Before end of January

Probably best coming back then, as prices fluctuate.

Slksht

the_syco wrote: »

Er, yeah. Budget is needed, as no point in us giving you a spec costing €2k when you can only afford €500 :pac:

If by new FPS, you mean BF4, etc, then

I doubt any of the current machine will be of any use. On board won't really run any modern FPS.

Probably best coming back then, as prices fluctuate.

Sorry I'm new to this ha. I don't know if Im being exactly clear or just not understaning. I realise that some or most of the current setup isn't gaming ready but surely some of it is? The case is a CoolerMaster, top of the range at the time (3 years ago) so I thought that would be okay. There are currently 2 sticks of 2 gig ram with the capacity for two more sticks in the mobo so they're reusable I would assume? Dvd drive is fine as well.

So what I'm looking to play are all new release games, the option of the likes of BF4 etc. I am not looking to max these games or anything, but I wanna aim to play them on medium to high, achieving at least 60fps.

My budget will be around 300 but can stretch if needs be to get the parts I actually need.

I don't know how to link parts in the fancy text box that everyone uses but these are some parts I was looking at. I don't really understand mobos and what I need from one so I'm not sure of compatability

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Socket+AM3/68997/AMD+FX-6300+Prozessor%2C+Boxed%2C+Sockel+AM3%2B.article

http://www.hardwareversand.de/2048+MB/57546/Gigabyte+Radeon+HD+7870+GHz+Edition%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+PCI-Express.article

http://www.hardwareversand.de/500+-+600+Watts/113859/Corsair+Enthusiast+Series+RM550%2C+Modular+%2C80+Plus+Gold+550+Watt.article

I think they're all of suitable levels to each other and should be able to perform fairly well from what I've reserached? Again, noob so if I'm well wrong I wont be offended!

the_syco

Slksht wrote: »

Sorry I'm new to this ha. I don't know if Im being exactly clear or just not understaning. I realise that some or most of the current setup isn't gaming ready but surely some of it is? The case is a CoolerMaster, top of the range at the time (3 years ago) so I thought that would be okay.

Sorry. The case should be fine. Got a Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 about six years ago, and plan to use it for my next build, so your case should be fine. What PSU is in the case at the moment? Make, model, and wattage; it should be fine if it's any way decent.

Regards the CPU you're looking at, I don't think your current motherboard will cut it.

AM3 supports Athlon II/Phenom II
AM3+ supports Athlon II/Phenom II/FX

And as you'll be getting an FX-6300 I doubt your current board will take it.

Slksht wrote: »

There are currently 2 sticks of 2 gig ram with the capacity for two more sticks in the mobo so they're reusable I would assume? Dvd drive is fine as well.

4GB's of RAM should be okay, but as above, I don't think your motherboard takes the AM3+ CPU's.

Slksht wrote: »

So what I'm looking to play are all new release games, the option of the likes of BF4 etc. I am not looking to max these games or anything, but I wanna aim to play them on medium to high, achieving at least 60fps.

The 7870 should allow Medium, but the not sure about the rest.

Slksht wrote: »

I don't know how to link parts in the fancy text box that everyone uses but these are some parts I was looking at. I don't really understand mobos and what I need from one so I'm not sure of compatability

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Socket+AM3/68997/AMD+FX-6300+Prozessor%2C+Boxed%2C+Sockel+AM3%2B.article

http://www.hardwareversand.de/2048+MB/57546/Gigabyte+Radeon+HD+7870+GHz+Edition%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+PCI-Express.article

http://www.hardwareversand.de/500+-+600+Watts/113859/Corsair+Enthusiast+Series+RM550%2C+Modular+%2C80+Plus+Gold+550+Watt.article

I think they're all of suitable levels to each other and should be able to perform fairly well from what I've reserached? Again, noob so if I'm well wrong I wont be offended!

We're all n00bs at some stage. Have a look at some of these upgrade bundles (please note all package are in pounds sterling) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43&catid=2512&subid=2685 with the FX6300/mobo/ram option being about €230

Maybe keep an eye on Overclockers during the sales after xmas, and see if they drop any nice upgrades cheaply.

marco_polo

Have you any idea what PSU and CPU is in the PC already OP? If you have a decent PSU and something like a Phenom II 955/965/980 you could make a servicable gaming rig with just the addition of a GPU like the HD7870/R9270 and another 4GB RAM, and possibly a CPU cooler for some overclocking. If you have oe of those chips running at 3.8GHz+ it not going to be too far behind the FX6300 (Single player benchmark but I would expect an FX6300/BE980 to be close enough in MP performance as well).

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

Lets not be too hasty about ditching of the AM3 board just yet, especialy as the budget is rather tight. I just couldn't see it would be worth replacing the motherboard just to move from one of the above CPUs to the FX6300 as its not that much of a jump (A Phenom II X2/X3 core is a different story, although a second hand 955/965/980 might be an option if you realy can't afford to replace everything right now).

Slksht

The psu is currently a 400W Corsair model. I can't see the r exact model but I wouldn't imagine it matters too much?

The CPU is an AMD Phenom II...

I appreciate the help lads, I fully expect to upgrade everything as the funds become available but for now salvaging as much as possible would be great, I don't expect a world beaterbbut an average, solid rig should be achievable I reckon?

marco_polo

Slksht wrote: »

The psu is currently a 400W Corsair model. I can't see the r exact model but I wouldn't imagine it matters too much?

The CPU is an AMD Phenom II...

I appreciate the help lads, I fully expect to upgrade everything as the funds become available but for now salvaging as much as possible would be great, I don't expect a world beaterbbut an average, solid rig should be achievable I reckon?

PSU should be ok for a reasonable graphics card, can you right click on Computer and go to properties to find out the exact model or processor? (or install CPU-z).

If it is a Phenom quad core its worth keeping, if its a dual core probably not.

Slksht

I reckon I'd like to upgrade the CPU anyway as I have a certain amount of money and that and the GPU were always on the upgrade list. Currently running on board graphics that aren't up to much .

Any idea if my mobo can support AM3+? I don't really know what that is...

marco_polo

Slksht wrote: »

I reckon I'd like to upgrade the CPU anyway as I have a certain amount of money and that and the GPU were always on the upgrade list. Currently running on board graphics that aren't up to much .

Any idea if my mobo can support AM3+? I don't really know what that is...

No it is too old unfortunately, am3+ was introduced with fx processors and an FX CPU isn't backwards compatible with an AM3 board.

the_syco

marco_polo wrote: »

If it is a Phenom quad core its worth keeping, if its a dual core probably not.

On this; I've been using a Q9550 (Intel quad 2.83GHz which came out March 2008) to play BF4. The main reason it's on low is the ATI 4870 (GPU, also 2008). OP, if your current CPU is a good quad, you may get by with just updating your graphics card. And even if it's not, 50 quid could get you a 3GHz quad if you're on a budget.

Slksht

Hm right so where am I at? Marco, do you reckon I can set up a decent system with my own monitor (good Samsung one), my current case, current mobo, my 4gigs of ram?, and my 400W Corsair PSU?

If that's the case, what might you be thinking from a CPU and GPU perspective?

marco_polo

Slksht wrote: »

Hm right so where am I at? Marco, do you reckon I can set up a decent system with my own monitor (good Samsung one), my current case, current mobo, my 4gigs of ram?, and my 400W Corsair PSU?

If that's the case, what might you be thinking from a CPU and GPU perspective?

I'm thinking new gpu and 4gb ram might do the trick. Let me know what the CPU is if it is a decent quad core you'll be ok on the CPU front, if not I'd be looking to pick up a cheap second hand one. I was happily playing all the latest games like Far Cry 3, Crysis 3, Metro LL, Tomb Raider etc with a 965 BE and HD7850 with no CPU bottleneck until I changed recently as I got a very good deal on an i5-2500k

If we need to get a motherboard + CPU and GPU you'll really need 4-500 to get what you want.

Slksht

Thanks for the help man, I'll check out my CPU when I'm back home in a couple of hours and report back! DO you reckon the extra 4gb RAM is better served coming in another two 2gb sticks to utilise all four slots?

marco_polo

Slksht wrote: »

Thanks for the help man, I'll check out my CPU when I'm back home in a couple of hours and report back! DO you reckon the extra 4gb RAM is better served coming in another two 2gb sticks to utilise all four slots?

Slightly better with another 2X2GB as you'll be running in proper dual channel mode then. That or you could always sell your old stuff and buy 2X4GB new.

Slksht

2 x 4GB > 4 x 2GB?

Haha

marco_polo

Slksht wrote: »

2 x 4GB > 4 x 2GB?

Haha

No its more just that it would save the hastle of finding a closely matching kit for your existing stuff, it would probably be only a tenner or so in the difference between 4 and 8 gb if you got say 20-25 for your old kit

dubCouple9

Ok as somebody who knows and not the " hey I'm a expert" brigade, your video card will cost you no more than 50euro ( dx 11 ) anything with fancy printed box and huge fans are a waste, ram no more that 8gb at ddr3 + ( see xbox one) , your MB and CPU are actually second to your HD so spend on the HD and save on the CPU Mb there's great deals out there. You always spot the guy buying the high power rig and a crap tranferr rate to the HD which will kill EVERYTHING dead.

Leaving this here as an example of what a buildkill troll will say. Think of this post as a How Not To Build A PC guide ._.

Needless to say, any more of this horse**** out of this obvious re-reg troll will result in a ban. - Solitaire

Slksht

My HD is pretty good, it's a WD Blue! Graphics card for 50e that's good enough? Any links to one mate?

batman88

I guess you no nothing about graphics card so. A 50 quid graphics card will not max out any new games at 60FPS at 1080P or even 720P. Op if you can get another 2GB of ram you will be fine for gaming. Most games are still 32bit. Find out the make of your processor as Marco said, an X4 would be a nice upgrade. Probably get one cheap enough. Hard drive transfers the game to ram so only affects loading loading times of game, not in game play. Seriously ur embaressing yourself. if you think there's no difference between a 50 quid graphics cards, a 150 euro graphics card your crazy. A 7870 for 150 is the best budget card to get to max out games at the minute but won't get that greats FPS. OP if you are on a tighter budget get a 7770 for around 90.

marco_polo

dubCouple9 wrote: »

Ok as somebody who knows and not the " hey I'm a expert" brigade, your video card will cost you no more than 50euro ( dx 11 ) anything with fancy printed box and huge fans are a waste, ram no more that 8gb at ddr3 + ( see xbox one) , your MB and CPU are actually second to your HD so spend on the HD and save on the CPU Mb there's great deals out there. You always spot the guy buying the high power rig and a crap tranferr rate to the HD which will kill EVERYTHING dead.

I hope for your sake you're just trolling because that is the literally the worst advice ever posted on this forum by quite some margin.

Slksht

marco_polo wrote: »

I can hope your just trolling because that is the literally the worst advice ever posted on this forum by quite some margin.

Hahaha

dubCouple9

batman88 wrote: »

I guess you no nothing about graphics card so. A 50 quid graphics card will not max out any new games at 60FPS at 1080P. Op if you can get another 2GB of ram you will be fine for gaming. Most games are still 32bit. Find out the make of your processor as Marco said, an X4 would be a nice upgrade. Probably get one cheap enough. Hard drive transfers the game to ram so only affects loading loading times of game, not in game play. Seriously ur embaressing yourself

Hmmmmm you don't really understand transferred rates do we, without wanting to insult, and as a graduate of computer science and electronics servicing degree, you are as slow as your slowest part. Most put all cash into A: CPU B: ram C: MB and least into HD and as Sdd is practically itself ram you can see how this translates. Games do not load completely into ram that's mad, and thats why the new Xbox is 8gb not 50gb. And if you cannot get a gfx card for 50 quid you really are out of the loop. it always surprises me why people pay so much for gaming rigs, go figure

dubCouple9

batman88 wrote: »

I guess you no nothing about graphics card so. A 50 quid graphics card will not max out any new games at 60FPS at 1080P. Op if you can get another 2GB of ram you will be fine for gaming. Most games are still 32bit. Find out the make of your processor as Marco said, an X4 would be a nice upgrade. Probably get one cheap enough. Hard drive transfers the game to ram so only affects loading loading times of game, not in game play. Seriously ur embaressing yourself

Hmmmmm you don't really understand transferred rates do we, without wanting to insult, and as a graduate of computer science and electronics servicing degree, you are as slow as your slowest part. Most put all cash into A: CPU B: ram C: MB and least into HD and as Sdd is practically itself ram you can see how this translates. Games do not load completely into ram that's mad, and thats why the new Xbox is 8gb not 50gb. And if you cannot get a gfx card for 50 quid you really are out of the loop. it always surprises me why people pay so much for gaming rigs, go figure

batman88

dubCouple9 wrote: »

batman88 wrote: »

I guess you no nothing about graphics card so. A 50 quid graphics card will not max out any new games at 60FPS at 1080P. Op if you can get another 2GB of ram you will be fine for gaming. Most games are still 32bit. Find out the make of your processor as Marco said, an X4 would be a nice upgrade. Probably get one cheap enough. Hard drive transfers the game to ram so only affects loading loading times of game, not in game play. Seriously ur embaressing yourself

Hmmmmm you don't really understand transferred rates do we, without wanting to insult, and as a graduate of computer science and electronics servicing degree, you are as slow as your slowest part. Most put all cash into A: CPU B: ram C: MB and least into HD and as Sdd is practically itself ram you can see how this translates. Games do not load completely into ram that's mad, and thats why the new Xbox is 8gb not 50gb. And if you cannot get a gfx card for 50 quid you really are out of the loop. it always surprises me why people pay so much for gaming rigs, go figure

Oh dear God, How do you do a facepalm on boards?

marco_polo

dubCouple9 wrote: »

Hmmmmm you don't really understand transferred rates do we, without wanting to insult, and as a graduate of computer science and electronics servicing degree, you are as slow as your slowest part. Most put all cash into A: CPU B: ram C: MB and least into HD and as Sdd is practically itself ram you can see how this translates. Games do not load completely into ram that's mad, and thats why the new Xbox is 8gb not 50gb. And if you cannot get a gfx card for 50 quid you really are out of the loop. it always surprises me why people pay so much for gaming rigs, go figure

I'd love to hearing your explaination of the first graph on this page so, layman terms will do fine for the hard of understanding like myself.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-rift-ssd,3062-13.html

dubCouple9

batman88 wrote: »

dubCouple9 wrote: »

Oh dear God, How do you do a facepalm on boards?

I thought so

batman88

dubCouple9 wrote: »

batman88 wrote: »

I thought so

Have a look at Marcos link and explain that. Thought so.

dubCouple9

batman88 wrote: »

dubCouple9 wrote: »

Have a look at Marcos link and explain that. Thought so.

Oh yes you are right and I am wrong, I will dismantle my PC and any I have built and buy over priced goods instead. You know when you walk into a shop and think " Jesus who'd pay that price"i know now how those stores exist now.

batman88

dubCouple9 wrote: »

batman88 wrote: »

Oh yes you are right and I am wrong, I will dismantle my PC and any I have built and buy over priced goods instead. I know now how those stores exist now.

Might get a cheap second hand laptop and stick an SSD in there, Will I be able to max out Crysis3 then. Who knew an SSD would improve you graphics and make your processor 10 times better. Heck it could turn a 720P monitor into an 1080P monitor. An SSD can cure aids. An SSD can prevent War. An SSd can end world hunger!

dubCouple9

If anyone wants to go to hardwaresversand you can see some decent deals plus a Google search will quickly find more. tomshardware is defo not the place to go only if you think 100euro more means 100 better. Don't you just hate when a lack of knowledge turns to argument. Anyway I built a dx11 functioning machine for 200euro without display there.

marco_polo

dubCouple9 wrote: »

If anyone wants to go to hardwaresversand you can see some decent deals plus a Google search will quickly find more. tomshardware is defo not the place to go only if you think 100euro more means 100 better. Don't you just hate when a lack of knowledge turns to argument. Anyway I built a dx11 functioning machine for 200euro without display there.

But you're not arguing as you completely avoid my last question, you are just soapboxing.

Anyway as I don't wish to derail Slksht thread any futher, I think I am done here for now.

dubCouple9

batman88 wrote: »

dubCouple9 wrote: »

Might get a cheap second hand laptop and stick an SSD in there, Will I be able to max out Crysis3 then. Who knew an SSD would improve you graphics and make your processor 10 times better. Heck it could turn a 720P monitor into an 1080P monitor. An SSD can cure aids. An SSD can prevent War. An SSd can end world hunger!

Its like talking to a child. Lad you know nothing and believe all the crap you hear, I havent got time to teach you and I'm here to tell the others (no you) how to build a cheap gaming rig. You stick to being amazing at installing ram and finding f8 on boot up ok. Night night PC world will ring you tomorrow about all the new things you need to buy so your tag line specs can list how "impressive" your PC is and as a consequence how large your knob is, in the mean time I'll be using the mistycal 1080p you speak of and curing aids(what a gimp) on my unheard of own build that PC builder didn't guide me on.

batman88

dubCouple9 wrote: »

If anyone wants to go to hardwaresversand you can see some decent deals plus a Google search will quickly find more. tomshardware is defo not the place to go only if you think 100euro more means 100 better. Don't you just hate when a lack of knowledge turns to argument. Anyway I built a dx11 functioning machine for 200euro without display there.

Yes everyone uses hardwareversand on here. Best of luck with gaming at 1080P on it. What graphics card and processor did you get. Lets look at some gaming benchmarks.

Everyone on this forum buys from hardwareversand and builds there own pc. I have a computing degree too, it pays the bills. Make a nice living from it too.

Slksht

Here are the links to two pics of my system atm lads now that I'm home. It seems I have three cores... I actually didn't even know that existed

marco_polo

Slksht wrote: »

Here are the links to two pics of my system atm lads now that I'm home. It seems I have three cores... I actually didn't even know that existed

Thats actually not too bad actually, its definitely the next best thing, if you are going to be playing mainly graphics intensive, single player games then 95% or the time 3 cores will be as good as 4. It would do just fine when paired with a sub €200 GPU like a HD7870 or GTX 660 at very high settings. At a guess it might struggle a bit (but remain playable) if you had 64 player BF4 multiplayer in mind.

One option would be to just hang onto it for a year or so and look to get a new CPU/mobo combo later on.

Slksht

7870 on Pixmania atm for 150 seems like a pretty good deal! Do you reckon I'd get away with just throwing it in now with current CPU?

If I were to get the funds and stretch to a new mobo and CPU to go with the 7870, what combo might you recommend?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-179-OE&groupid=43&catid=2512

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-232-OK&groupid=43&catid=2512

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-231-OK&groupid=43&catid=2512

Three interesting bundles from Overclockers

marco_polo

Since you don't have a quad core Phenom, I think you would probably be gaining enough performance and extra longevity over the X3-720 to justify spending €160 or so (ex shipping) to bump up to the FX 6300 and Pro3, with another 30 or so for a decent cooler if overclocking is something you'd like to try. The FX4300 isn't enough of a step up either to justify a new motherboard IMO, its a considerably inferior CPU to the FX6300.

It'd be the guts of 280 minimum to go all the way up to an overclockable i5-4670k/z87 board combo.

If overclocking is not something you would like to try (extra OC performance gains is why the FX6300 is unmatched in the €100 price bracket) then and I'd go with an i5-4570 and B75 board for just under €240.

Slksht

http://www.pixmania.ie/graphics-card/sapphire-technology-radeon-hd-7870-ghz-edition-2-gb-gddr5-pci-express-3-0-11199-16-20g/20902832-a.html

Marco, how you feeling about that 7870? Few more around as well but not sure about the overclocked cards without more cooling

Solitaire

Just a quick word: If dubCouple comes back and attempts to derail this (or indeed any other) thread again, report away. I will give his latest alt a holiday from the forum if he causes any more trouble.

marco_polo

Slksht wrote: »

http://www.pixmania.ie/graphics-card/sapphire-technology-radeon-hd-7870-ghz-edition-2-gb-gddr5-pci-express-3-0-11199-16-20g/20902832-a.html

Marco, how you feeling about that 7870? Few more around as well but not sure about the overclocked cards without more cooling

Thats definately one of the best bank for buck deals around at the moment, you'd be getting pretty decent performance there for €150, I have a 7950 Dual-X myself ATM, and it is very decent cooler (I'd imagine the version on the HD7870 is of a similar caliber).

Slksht

Right HD7870 on the way from Pixmania, as is my new Corsair Cx 600w PSU. 218e for both.

Now, who wants two point me in the direction of 8gb RAM?

Where can I sell my old 400W Corsair psu and 4GB ram? Adverts?

Slksht

Have decided with a bit left over that I can afford to look at mee ram, cpu and Mobo. What combo would you recommend? Suitable with my new 7870

marco_polo

:P

Slksht wrote: »

Have decided with a bit left over that I can afford to look at mee ram, cpu and Mobo. What combo would you recommend? Suitable with my new 7870

Can you stretch to about €240, you could do worse than this lot, if you could throw another €30 in for a cooler like the Hyper 212 for overclocking even better again.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C9OPYWE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009O7YORK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002X578GE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

And adverts is as good a place as any for selling your old stuff.

Slksht

Right so my new PSU and 7870 arrived yesterday! Installed and running perfectly. There's been a few developments since I posted last so I'm back to ask for some further advice. I've agreed to sell the old PSU, current MOBO, Ram and CPU to a chap from Adverts. So I need to order my new parts rather urgently, hopefully tonight.

I'd love some opinions on these parts. The budget will be about 250. Marco's suggestions look nice and may go with those but would like to hear if anyone has any other suggestions?

batman88

For your budget the only other option is non overclockable i5 but I would probably stick with fx6300/8320 and overclock it. Get the 212 evo cooler for the processor and overclock.

Slksht

So, this build has come a long way since I started this thread, much thanks to everyone who helped. I've read more about computer components than I even knew existed!

Fx 6300, 8gb corsair vengeance, asrock Mobo and evo cooler just arrived in the door! The feeling of parts arriving is actually far too addictive! Christmas all over again...

Slksht

Hey guys quick question. I've just installed all my new gear but windows wouldn't boot as expected. It's in the middle of a clean install now, is there anything I have to do/ should do?

How does this affect all my drivers etc.?

Slksht

Problem. It keeps frezzing up and I have to perform a hard reset. CTRL ALT DLT doesnt even work, cant move the mouse... Happens after about 5 mins each time?

SterlingArcher

Does this happen when computer is left doing nothing.

If no what web browser are you using.