Budget Upgrade Build

[mj_brooks]

This build really isn't anything special on its own, but it's certainly special to me because it's mine!

Earlier this year I decided that I wanted to try and build a Hackintosh. The build started these same parts aside from a GT 240 instead of a GTX 760, and with a 500W Cooler Master PSU that made a bunch of noise. I recently scratched the Hackintosh idea (little use for it anymore, plus Yosemite in my opinion is more ugly than Leopard). I installed Windows 7 to my SSD and got right to work again with Windows. 

 

This is an upgrade-based build, not an all-at-once thing, so you'll probably notice that some of the part-matching might be pretty awkward. It is haha. I will say, though, that for a Dual-Core, the Pentium G2030 is awesome. It has a high clock speed, and since most games only use 2 cores anyway, it's worked out for me for a long time. I got the GTX 760 during Black Friday (it's the SC ACX cooled edition, so it's actually very nice), and the PSU was a Christmas gift, preparing for future upgrades.

 

As far as the future of this system goes, I'd actually like to make the switch over to AMD, at the same time switching to the ATX size from the current mATX configuration. I mostly do gaming, music production, and some light video editing type of stuff on this computer, so I was thinking of an FX-6300 unless the 8350 gets a really nice deal. Of course I'll also have to buy a new motherboard switching from Intel, and I was thinking of either the Gigabyte GA-FXA990-UD3 or the Asus M5-A97 R2.0. I also have purchased a Corsair 200R to put my components in, as the new PSU is pretty cramped

 

Please let me know what you think! As far as the components that are already in here now or as far as the future of the computer goes; I'm just really getting into this whole thing, and wouldn't mind hearing whatever advice anyone would have to offer!

 

Here's the build with some pictures:
 

• CPU
  Intel Pentium G2030 Ivy Bridge Dual-Core 3.0GHz
• Motherboard
  GIGABYTE GA-B75M-HD3 (rev. 1.0)
• RAM
  G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB DDR3 1600
• GPU
  EVGA GeForce GTX 760 Superclocked w/ EVGA ACX Cooler
• Case
  Cooler Master Elite 341
• Storage
  Crucial M500 240GB, Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM
• PSU
  EVGA SuperNOVA 850 B2
• Display(s)
  Acer H6 Series H226HQLbid
• Cooling
  Stock fans

[KayTees]

 

This build really isn't anything special on its own, but it's certainly special to me because it's mine!

Earlier this year I decided that I wanted to try and build a Hackintosh. The build started these same parts aside from a GT 240 instead of a GTX 760, and with a 500W Cooler Master PSU that made a bunch of noise. I recently scratched the Hackintosh idea (little use for it anymore, plus Yosemite in my opinion is more ugly than Leopard). I installed Windows 7 to my SSD and got right to work again with Windows. 

 

This is an upgrade-based build, not an all-at-once thing, so you'll probably notice that some of the part-matching might be pretty awkward. It is haha. I will say, though, that for a Dual-Core, the Pentium G2030 is awesome. It has a high clock speed, and since most games only use 2 cores anyway, it's worked out for me for a long time. I got the GTX 760 during Black Friday (it's the SC ACX cooled edition, so it's actually very nice), and the PSU was a Christmas gift, preparing for future upgrades.

 

As far as the future of this system goes, I'd actually like to make the switch over to AMD, at the same time switching to the ATX size from the current mATX configuration. I mostly do gaming, music production, and some light video editing type of stuff on this computer, so I was thinking of an FX-6300 unless the 8350 gets a really nice deal. Of course I'll also have to buy a new motherboard switching from Intel, and I was thinking of either the Gigabyte GA-FXA990-UD3 or the Asus M5-A97 R2.0. I also have purchased a Corsair 200R to put my components in, as the new PSU is pretty cramped

 

Please let me know what you think! As far as the components that are already in here now or as far as the future of the computer goes; I'm just really getting into this whole thing, and wouldn't mind hearing whatever advice anyone would have to offer!

 

Here's the build with some pictures:

• PSU EVGA SuperNOVA 850 B2

 

Is a 850 PSU really necessary?

[NoticeMeRage]

You should get the i5 4690k, I got mine at my local Micro Center for a whopping $180. Then, I would probably get a Z97 board. Actually, I shouldn't be saying probably, as currently I have a GTX 760, with a i5 4690k and a Z97 board- it's damn sweet. 

[mj_brooks]

Is a 850 PSU really necessary?

Not exactly, it is pretty overpowered, but I felt that with upgrades to come, I won't need to change that out for a while.

[KayTees]

Not exactly, it is pretty overpowered, but I felt that with upgrades to come, I won't need to change that out for a while.

Ah totally worth it but its bronze D:

[mj_brooks]

Ah totally worth it but its bronze D:

It's still a big upgrade from what was in there before haha the other thing was ugly, loud, and old.

[mj_brooks]

You should get the i5 4690k, I got mine at my local Micro Center for a whopping $180. Then, I would probably get a Z97 board. Actually, I shouldn't be saying probably, as currently I have a GTX 760, with a i5 4690k and a Z97 board- it's damn sweet. 

That would be awesome! Although I don't know if my budget calls for that much, that's sort of a $300-$350 upgrade in parts for me, and would be a bit overkill for my purposes.

[NoticeMeRage]

That would be awesome! Although I don't know if my budget calls for that much, that's sort of a $300-$350 upgrade in parts for me, and would be a bit overkill for my purposes.

 

If it's too much for your budget, then yeah go with AMD since Intel has barely anything much between a dual core i3 at around $100 and a quad core i5 at around maybe $150 or $200. 

[mj_brooks]

If it's too much for your budget, then yeah go with AMD since Intel has barely anything much between a dual core i3 at around $100 and a quad core i5 at around maybe $150 or $200. 

Yeah, that's what I'm planning on doing, at least for now. If it wasn't for the need for a motherboard change, I would be a lot more apt to staying with Intel, but the price to performance just isn't what I want right now.