Upgrade to €1000 gaming PC (that boards helped me select :) )

thewheel2.0

Reasons I want to upgrade:
Case: Beautiful living room suited design, quiet, air cooling performance
PSU: Modular PSU round the 500w mark
CPU Fan: The Macho is SO BIG! I don't bother with OC too much so I want to down size.
GPU: Is it a good time to upgrade? I want something that will blitz 1080p/hold its own at 4K.

I chose (all amazon):

• Fractal Design R5 Black or Titanium
  Can't decide which colour
• Corsair CX500m
  Anything better than this? Americans are mad about Seasonic! What about Fractals own brand PSUs?
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
  Anything better? The V8 is beautiful but pricey!
  
  
• Gigabyte 4GB GTX970 WindForce
  Couldn't decide between MSI or Gigabyte, went with Gigabyte for consistent 3 display ports if I ever need 3 screens! Hopefully a good choice.

I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on that much! Ivy Bridge CPUs are still grand aren't they?

This is my current rig:
Intel Core i5-3570K
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9
Thermalright HR-02 Macho
Samsung SSD 830 128GB SATA 6GB's NB Upgrade Kit
Sapphire HD7870
Western Digital Hard Drive 1TB

grindle

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

Fractal Design R5 Black or Titanium

This is my case, it's amazing. I went for the black which is kind of charcoal. Get whatever colour suits your room more.

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

Corsair CX500m
Anything better than this? Americans are mad about Seasonic! What about Fractals own brand PSUs?

Tons are better than the Corsair CX series - the Seasonic Gs, M12s and S12s are all a step up.

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Anything better? The V8 is beautiful but pricey!

The 212 is a great value and still gets picked as a known quantity and a great design, but there have been better released since. Scythe, Rajintek, Thermalright, be quiet! and Noctua would all be good brands, some around the same price, some more expensive but aimed for overclockers.

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

Gigabyte 4GB GTX970 WindForce
Couldn't decide between MSI or Gigabyte, went with Gigabyte for consistent 3 display ports if I ever need 3 screens! Hopefully a good choice.

970 for 4k... Not really. There isn't any single card that's actually great for 4k at the moment (considering the prices) better off waiting to see what Nvidia's Pascal offers next year.
For 1080 I'd go for AMD's 390 then upgrade to whatever makes the most sense when proper 4k cards really exist as both the 980ti and Fury X have to drop settings for a steady 60fps @ 4k.

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

Ivy Bridge CPUs are still grand aren't they?

Yep, still good.

thewheel2.0

grindle wrote: »

This is my case, it's amazing. I went for the black which is kind of charcoal. Get whatever colour suits your room more.

Great to hear. Black was £80 on Amazon a while back, now its £96

grindle wrote: »

Tons are better than the Corsair CX series - the Seasonic Gs, M12s and S12s are all a step up.

I think I'll go with the Seasonic M12-II EVO 520W £64 in that case. Fully modular and some people really hate on the CX series

Is it worth the investment for a 80 Plus Gold?

grindle wrote: »

The 212 is a great value and still gets picked as a known quantity and a great design, but there have been better released since. Scythe, Rajintek, Thermalright, be quiet! and Noctua would all be good brands, some around the same price, some more expensive but aimed for overclockers.

I'm lost on this one. I wan't a compact cooler. Noctua is out as they are too expensive for how ugly they are. Thermalright True Spirit looks good but the 120 isnt on amazon only the 90 (Link), I can't find any decent/trustworthy reviews comparing the Evo and True spirit.

True Spirit would suit the black/white theme :pac: What would you go for in the £25-35 range?

grindle wrote: »

970 for 4k... Not really. There isn't any single card that's actually great for 4k at the moment (considering the prices) better off waiting to see what Nvidia's Pascal offers next year.
For 1080 I'd go for AMD's 390 then upgrade to whatever makes the most sense when proper 4k cards really exist as both the 980ti and Fury X have to drop settings for a steady 60fps @ 4k.

Would it make sense to stick with Nvidia for better driver support and efficiency? Is the R9 390 really that much better and it's a small bit more expensive?

grindle

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

Is it worth the investment for a 80 Plus Gold?

Only if you tend to keep PSUs for more than 5 years or your PC runs at full wattage 24 hours a day (unlikely), then the cost might be justified.

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

I'm lost on this one. I wan't a compact cooler. Noctua is out as they are too expensive for how ugly they are. Thermalright True Spirit looks good but the 120 isnt on amazon only the 90 (Link), I can't find any decent/trustworthy reviews comparing the Evo and True spirit.

True Spirit would suit the black/white theme :pac: What would you go for in the £25-35 range?

I have the Mugen 4 which isn't much smaller than the Macho so I totally get what you mean about the large coolers. They're a pain in the hole to build around as well. "Oh, the fan header is tucked into the top-left corner between the case and the fins - great!"

If I wanted to go small and cared about the looks I'd probably grab either the True Spirit or preferably the Rajintek Themis.

thewheel2.0 wrote: »

Would it make sense to stick with Nvidia for better driver support and efficiency? Is the R9 390 really that much better and it's a small bit more expensive?

It's a bit better, by just a few percent. Is it dearer on Amazon or something? I generally go by Mindfactory prices where 390s usually cost 10% less than a 950
If you're sticking with a sub-600w PSU I'd go Nvidia, 650w is a sweet spot for OCing the 390 & i7 & RAM.

AMD can be slow with the drivers alright but I'm not a first-day buyer of games (apart from a few indie devs who don't really make demanding games) so drivers coming a month or two later doesn't wreck my head like some people.

thewheel2.0

Thanks so much for your advice! I really appreciate it

grindle wrote: »

Only if you tend to keep PSUs for more than 5 years or your PC runs at full wattage 24 hours a day (unlikely), then the cost might be justified.

Ok, fair enough. Should be safe to go with the Seasonic M12-II EVO 520W 80+ Bronze so.

grindle wrote: »

I have the Mugen 4 which isn't much smaller than the Macho so I totally get what you mean about the large coolers. They're a pain in the hole to build around as well. "Oh, the fan header is tucked into the top-left corner between the case and the fins - great!"

If I wanted to go small and cared about the looks I'd probably grab either the True Spirit or preferably the Rajintek Themis.

Glad I'm not alone on this one! They are just too large, look at how cramped it is in there! http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=81229840&postcount=1500

They aren't impossible to install but it does end up smearing thermal paste all over the processor because its centre of gravity is off as you install it. Instead of just lowering the cooler on and tighten, it shifts all over the place while screwing in.

Finally I found a review on the Hyper Evo v True Spirit (latest rev A) v Raijintek Themis.
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/922-23/recapitulatif-delta-t-vs-db-a.html
It looks like the True Spirit comes out on top and also suits my case the best. Brilliant

(There's a good few people getting confused and not recommending the True Spirit because they had a "True Spirit 120" released in 2011 that the Hype Evo destroyed. Now the new model (black and white) seems to be king.)

grindle wrote: »

It's a bit better, by just a few percent. Is it dearer on Amazon or something? I generally go by Mindfactory prices where 390s usually cost 10% less than a 950
If you're sticking with a sub-600w PSU I'd go Nvidia, 650w is a sweet spot for OCing the 390 & i7 & RAM.

AMD can be slow with the drivers alright but I'm not a first-day buyer of games (apart from a few indie devs who don't really make demanding games) so drivers coming a month or two later doesn't wreck my head like some people.

Yeah 970s seem to be slightly cheaper on Amazon.

Now I'm looking at ordering:

True Spirit 120 | £30.30 | Scan
Seasonic M12II EVO 520W | £57.02 | Scan
Fractal R5 Black with window | £86.46 | Scan
GTX 970 Gigabyte Windforce | £260 | Amazon

Thanks again

thewheel2.0

Pulled the trigger today on Amazon.de both from seller "ATELCO Computer":

Fractal R5, Black with Window €121
Thermalright True Spirit 140 BW Rev. A €45
Shipping €15
Total: €180.99

Cheapest in Europe for those two parts shipped together. I will hold off for the PSU and see if I can go fanless Seasonic when I can afford it.

I might as well fully buy into the idea of a quiet computer.