Haswell upgrade

Associate
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21 Jan 2008
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484
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London
Hi

It's been a while since I built my last pc and I know a lot has changed and just wanted some informed opinions on whether what I have in the basket works together and if there's something I should add or change ?

I mainly use PC for gaming and messing about with virtual PC's, hence the amount of memory. I will apply slight overclock but would rather have the PC quieter than quicker.
I will reuse from my existing setup:
Crucial m4 120GB SSD
XFX 750W modular psu
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 TOXIC 2048MB

Budget is £550 so below is just about right. Only upgrade from my basket I have been thinking about and willing to spend more on is a I7 4770k instead of the i5 4670k, but in the end think I may be better off just waiting and maybe get an upgrade in a years time to an i7

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX16C9K2/16X) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £97.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black (CC-9011012-WW) £94.99
1 x NH-U12S Ultra-Quiet Slim CPU Cooler with NF-F12 Fan £52.99
1 x Asus Xonar DGX 5.1 PCI-Express Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp £24.98
Total : £550.90 (includes shipping : FREE).




Any advice on spec/combinations or even build tips, let me know. I've been using review sites to see what other people have used in terms of combinations of cpu/mem/mb/cooler unfortunately the more I look the more confused I get,. Doesn't help that I stumble on things like the a review of a OCUK competitor's PC on a expertreviews and find this
PC1.jpg

Now unless I'm mistaken, that cpu cooler is pushing air to the front of the case. I know some coolers are push pull, but is there any that are just pull or did they mount that wrong ?

Any feedback appreciated
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Nov 2012
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17,934
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Close to Swindon, but not Swindon
I would do something like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD316G2133HC11ADC01) £129.95
1 x MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Series Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £124.99
1 x NH-U12S Ultra-Quiet Slim CPU Cooler with NF-F12 Fan £52.99
Total : £499.32 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Why?
Well, by keeping the case (if you have one), you allow the budget to be used on better components
If you are simply gaming, there will be no need for the sound card
16gb RAM will help with running VM's, faster than 1600 is better, hence the 2133.

As for the above, the fan could be pullling the air to the rear of the case which is fine, but coolers like this allow you to expand to 2 fans. The direction of the airflow is soley dependant on which way you out the fan.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
21 Jan 2008
Posts
484
Location
London
Thanks, I like the msi mb and features. Wasn't sure on the soundcard, just through habit always thought it best to have separate soundcard and have always had. My old SB Xifi died and have been using onboard so far. I will drop the soundcard and replace the mb/soundcard I have with this msi

As for the case, I need a new one. I'm gonna take my old antec p182 case + amd x3 720 cpu/mem/mb and stick in a spare corsair 620w psu, my old 5770 card and a spare 500GB hdd and build this and give this to a family member.
I have my win7 home professional retail for my PC and they have a win7 license for my old PC so don't need this purchased.
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Oct 2008
Posts
5,032
If you're only going for a mild oc and don't plan to xfire/sli in the future then you'd save money by going for the £110(£105 this week only)gigabyte mobo that comes with a free cooler, i'll post the link later as i'm currently on my mobile.
 
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OP
Joined
21 Jan 2008
Posts
484
Location
London
Thanks Fowler002 and Kefan77, free £32 cooler thrown in makes that an absolute bargain. Although it's not quite the quiet cooler I wanted but at that price I'll give it a go.
Wonder why OCUK don't advertise the cooler as free in the title of the mb.
 
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