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PC Upgrade

Chronix9
By Chronix9
in New Builds and Planning
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Hi folks,

 

1. Budget & Location
~$1000 AUD as I'm from Melbourne, Australia.

2. Aim
I'm planning to upgrade quite a few parts and was wondering if you could let me know if its the right approach and I'm addressing the correct bottlenecks (which I think is my GPU). The most intensive thing I do on the PC is gaming, so happy to stick with the i5.

3. Monitors
Currently have a single 1080p Asus monitor. Happy to stick with this too.

4. Peripherals
No, got everything including Windows. This is a pure parts upgrade.

5. Why are you upgrading?
Mainly to run it quieter and cooler; plus crank up the settings a bit more in newer games.

 

 

New Parts
- MSI GTX 970 Golden Special Edition 4GB $549 (replacing: 1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7850)
- Intel 730 Series 240GB $155 (replacing 60GB Kingston as Primary OS drive)
- Fractal R5 (leaving stock case fan) $150 (replacing old NZXT that is too small!)
 
Total $949 AUD
 
Old Parts:
- ASRock B75M-GL Motherboard 
- Intel Core i5 3570K with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo (with Corsair SP120 Fan)
- Corsair RM650 PLUS Gold
- 8.00GB Kingston HyperX Dual-Channel DDR3 (need to check frequency) 
- Secondary Drives: 60GB Kingston SSD and 1TB WD HDD

 

- Adding 2 x AF120 Corsair Series Case Fans
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Here are some much cheaper 970's unless you're stuck on that one http://au.pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=186&sort=a7 I recomend the G1 Gaming from Gigabyte. 16GB more for $15 less http://au.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct256mx100ssd1.  @Chronix9

Spoiler

Prometheus (Main Rig)

CPU-Z Verification

Laptop: 

Spoiler

Intel Core i3-5005U, 8GB RAM, Crucial MX 100 128GB, Touch-Screen, Intel 7260 WiFi/Bluetooth card.

 Phone:

Spoiler

TruPureX, Asus Zenwatch 3.

 Game Consoles:

Spoiler

Softmodded Fat PS2 w/ 80GB HDD, and a Dreamcast.

 

If you want my attention quote my post, or tag me. If you don't use PCPartPicker I will ignore your build.

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Thanks for the quick reply EarthboundHero! I've read that the pure copper heat sinks in the Golden Edition runs quieter and cooler or is it not worth it? If not, I might just go with the Gigabyte GTX 970 4GB Gaming Edition for $519. I'll replace the SSD with the Crucial MX100; thanks for that.

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Posted

 

Hi folks,

 

1. Budget & Location

~$1000 AUD as I'm from Melbourne, Australia.

2. Aim

I'm planning to upgrade quite a few parts and was wondering if you could let me know if its the right approach and I'm addressing the correct bottlenecks (which I think is my GPU). The most intensive thing I do on the PC is gaming, so happy to stick with the i5.

3. Monitors

Currently have a single 1080p Asus monitor. Happy to stick with this too.

4. Peripherals

No, got everything including Windows. This is a pure parts upgrade.

5. Why are you upgrading?

Mainly to run it quieter and cooler; plus crank up the settings a bit more in newer games.

 

 

New Parts
- MSI GTX 970 Golden Special Edition 4GB $549 (replacing: 1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7850)
- Intel 730 Series 240GB $155 (replacing 60GB Kingston as Primary OS drive)
- Fractal R5 (leaving stock case fan) $150 (replacing old NZXT that is too small!)
 
Total $949 AUD
 
Old Parts:
- ASRock B75M-GL Motherboard 
- Intel Core i5 3570K with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo (with Corsair SP120 Fan)
- Corsair RM650 PLUS Gold
- 8.00GB Kingston HyperX Dual-Channel DDR3 (need to check frequency) 
- Secondary Drives: 60GB Kingston SSD and 1TB WD HDD

 

- Adding 2 x AF120 Corsair Series Case Fans

 

 

 

Hello Chronix9 and welcome to Linus Tech Tips forum :)
 
The plan sounds good and those parts would surely be a great improvement for a gaming rig. 
I would suggest checking your older drives for errors. It is always a good idea to do that when upgrading :) Each manufacturer has their own recommended tool. I would suggest using WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool for the 1TB WD drive and running both the quick and the extended tests to check its S.M.A.R.T. status as well as for any bad sectors. Here's a link: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=BqvFTm.
 
Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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Thanks Captain_WD! :)

I'm just running the WD tests now; the Quick test came out OK and the Extended Test is being run now.

 

I've been talking to more people and a few changes have been recommended:

- Gigabyte GTX 970 4GB Gaming Edition Graphics Card $519 (I've been informed that the "Golden" version is not worth the extra $50.. so setting for this performance model of the 970.
- Samsung 840 EVO Series 250GB $139 (Cheaper and extra storage)
- Fractal R5 $150 (same)
- Deepcool Fan Control Panel $20 (to help with noise reduction when not running games)
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Thanks Captain_WD! :)

I'm just running the WD tests now; the Quick test came out OK and the Extended Test is being run now.

 

I've been talking to more people and a few changes have been recommended:

- Gigabyte GTX 970 4GB Gaming Edition Graphics Card $519 (I've been informed that the "Golden" version is not worth the extra $50.. so setting for this performance model of the 970.
- Samsung 840 EVO Series 250GB $139 (Cheaper and extra storage)
- Fractal R5 $150 (same)
- Deepcool Fan Control Panel $20 (to help with noise reduction when not running games)

 

 

 

The extended should take you a while. 
Those upgrades seem great for both performance and quietness!
In case you need to upgrade your storage in the future and still look for quietness, I would suggest checking out WD Green, WD Red and WD Purple as they are the quietest drives in the WD line. Although they are with different purposes, they should work great for simple storage drives.
 
Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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Yup, the 1TB is a Green drive in there that's super quiet. I've only used like 10% of it so far so just upgrading the SSD at this stage should be more than enough for me.

 

I want to chuck in an extra fan to make the most of the 3-fan built in controller and not have to install a dedicated fan controller. I was thinking about moving the two stock R5 fans to the front (both 140) and then putting a be Quiet! Silent Wings 2 140 PWM (60.4-102.6 CFM) on the back as an exhaust. However I can't anywhere on the internet what the CFM is for the stock R5 fans (2 x Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 140mm)...

 

Would the 2 x Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 140mm in the front and the be quiet! Silent Wings 2 140 PWM in the back as exhaust be okay? All three hooked up to the built in fan controller. I'll have a Corsair SP120 PWM on the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo (which will probably be the noisiest of them all!)

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