7 replies to this topic

[R6Nighthawk]

My current tower has served me well for the past 5-6 years, but certainly been showing its age as of late...

I was hoping to just swap out the OS, gpu, cpu, and memory for the most part. Form factor among other things on my tower and psu, however, makes any true "future-proof" upgrading seem pretty unfeasible.

Here's what I'm looking at for gpu, cpu, mobo and memory (if this looks ridiculous, though, feel free to help out with alternatives. I'm a complete beginner at this sort of thing. Brand doesn't matter):

ASRock Z77 Extreme6

Intel Core i5-3570K

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB

The psu and tower, on the other hand, I'll need help with. Would 650w be enough for this? Also, would a mid tower suffice or a full tower be better? This is about all I could come up with so far:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139020

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811147161
OR
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811133197

Anyway thanks for any help that can be offered. Again, advice for not only the tower/power supply but other components is welcome too.

[CPT Helldog]

Go with at least a 850 watt PSU. You will need it when you start plugging in hard drives and optical drives. Also go with a full tower case if you have room. You get better airflow, and more space for your graphics card, you're gonna need it. When you build it you'll also have lots more space to run the wiring... That can be the biggest pain in the ***. FInally get an aftermarket cpu cooler. Hope this helps.

EDIT: Go with 12GB of ram in a triple channel, its pretty cheap and better.

Edited by CPT Helldog, 18 August 2012 - 04:30 PM.

[Landron]

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply .......

is the power supply I use and its more then enough and I run a little more then what you will be running. As for tower it all depends really on what you are looking for........

I use ..... Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock ..........

and it has more then enough room for everything I put in it and the air flow is plenty and there is room for me to put more fans if I wanted.

Edited by Landron, 18 August 2012 - 04:55 PM.

[Vulpesveritas]

CPT Helldog, on 18 August 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

Go with at least a 850 watt PSU. You will need it when you start plugging in hard drives and optical drives. Also go with a full tower case if you have room. You get better airflow, and more space for your graphics card, you're gonna need it. When you build it you'll also have lots more space to run the wiring... That can be the biggest pain in the ***. FInally get an aftermarket cpu cooler. Hope this helps.

EDIT: Go with 12GB of ram in a triple channel, its pretty cheap and better.

First off, 650w is more than enough for his system, even if he does 2x SLI. Second, his processor only uses dual-channel RAM, attempting Triple channel will cause imbalance for the memory controller.

For a full tower, yeah you can get more space and airflow, and are generally nice. However, a Rosewill R5 is a great value case, with good cable managment, airflow, and comes with dust filters.

For power supplies, if you're looking for longevity, I recommend a slightly better one. A Rosewill Capstone 650w modular will give you some more amperage, better efficiency, and modular cables for not much more up-front.

Otherwise, there is the modular version of the PSU you are looking at already for only about $10 more up front.

Also, you may as well save yourself a couple dollars on the RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231544
Or if you want something that is a limited edition bit of RAM for the sake of having it, http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820220705
(also, Patriot is made in the USA should that matter to you at all.)

Lastly, if "future proofing" is your concern, do you intent do upgrade every couple of years or so? If so, then you might consider an AMD AM3+ motherboard, given that you'll have a few more CPU upgrade options in the future. You;ll also save a bit of money up front, along with the money and hassle of a new motherboard down the road. Just something to consider. Or in another aspect, the AMD FX-8000 series chips have more processing throughput in highly threaded applications, so programs in 4-8 years from now will be running better on an AMD system than on a i5. Not sure what way you're looking to "futureproof." Figured I'd toss that in.

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 18 August 2012 - 07:38 PM.

[R6Nighthawk]

Awesome, thanks for the replies everyone.

Vulpesveritas, on 18 August 2012 - 04:58 PM, said:

For a full tower, yeah you can get more space and airflow, and are generally nice. However, a Rosewill R5 is a great value case, with good cable managment, airflow, and comes with dust filters.

For power supplies, if you're looking for longevity, I recommend a slightly better one. A Rosewill Capstone 650w modular will give you some more amperage, better efficiency, and modular cables for not much more up-front.

If I go for the R5 (or the rosewill Blackhawk that Landon mentioned, that one looks great too), might I need any supplemental cooling apart from the 2 front/1 rear fans it has now, such as a cpu cooler?

Edited by R6Nighthawk, 18 August 2012 - 08:03 PM.

[Vulpesveritas]

R6Nighthawk, on 18 August 2012 - 07:47 PM, said:

Awesome, thanks for the replies everyone.



If I go for the R5 (or the rosewill Blackhawk that Landon mentioned, that one looks great too), might I need any supplemental cooling apart from the 2 front/1 rear fans it has now, such as a cpu cooler?

Aftermarket CPU heatsinks tend to be nice, giving more room for overclocking and generally being quieter, but otherwise they are not necessary.

Also, if you don't plan to overclock, I recommend the non-k variant of that CPU.

[ThunderGodThor]

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811129179

Also a very nice case. Goes on sale for 100.

[Landron]

R6Nighthawk, on 18 August 2012 - 07:47 PM, said:

Awesome, thanks for the replies everyone.



If I go for the R5 (or the rosewill Blackhawk that Landon mentioned, that one looks great too), might I need any supplemental cooling apart from the 2 front/1 rear fans it has now, such as a cpu cooler?

The one I told you about has more then enough fans on it as its a 240mm on top 2 120m on front 1 120mm on the side and 1 120mm on the back. Unless its hot in your room the fans are really quiet and you dont even know its on half the time. As for the CPU fans I did a aftermarket one on mine just to ensure it was kept cool enough but really its not needed unless like others have said you plan on over clocking it.