Hardware Help with choosing PC components

[Acetic Orcein]

Hello!

I’m really sorry if it’s completely shameless to post ‘please build my PC!!’
but I’d really like some help!

I’ve previously asked this question a few years ago on this very forum, and I’ve had a machine that has kept me going for a fairly long time! Essentially, the major components I have at the moment include:

- Asrock motherboard M3A770DE

- AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series

- AMD CPU AM3 X3 425 2.7GHz 1.5MB

- Only 4Gb of memory!

-Other stuff



However, I believe now is the time to upgrade. I’m quite an avid gamer, however I’m not necessarily looking for something that needs to run max settings on every game. Just something capable of running modern games at a respectable level. I also need a serious boost in computational memory (due to running lots of programming type stuff), which I think this motherboard can’t handle.

As such, I suppose I need a total overhaul? i.e. new motherboard, graphics card, memory, CPU and PSU?
I’m looking for something in the region of £500-600. I will also be sourcing my components from this site:

http://www.aria.co.uk/


If anyone has any thoughts, that would be absolutely amazing and I will be your best friend forever!
I would potentially suggest something myself, but I’d be really embarrassed if I suggested something stupid...

 

[endoverend]

Well the first question would be: what's your budget?

 

[Acetic Orcein]

Well the first question would be: what's your budget?

Thanks for your reply!
As stated, maybe around £500-600, possibly a bit more

 

[Arecaidian Fox]

My primary suggestion would be to go with an Intel/Nvidia setup. I was on the AMD bandwagon for years and then a friend of mine essentially made me try Intel/Nvidia hardware. Now I won't go back. The AMD GPU (an R9 290X) I bought for $400 was weak as hell compared to the Nvidia GPU (a GTX 970) I got for a hundred dollars less.

 

[endoverend]

Thanks for your reply!
As stated, maybe around £500-600, possibly a bit more

If you could up your budget by about 40 pounds, this build is a great value, and it should be able to run all games on max settings. I have it and it works amazingly.

 

[Acetic Orcein]

My primary suggestion would be to go with an Intel/Nvidia setup. I was on the AMD bandwagon for years and then a friend of mine essentially made me try Intel/Nvidia hardware. Now I won't go back. The AMD GPU (an R9 290X) I bought for $400 was weak as hell compared to the Nvidia GPU (a GTX 970) I got for a hundred dollars less.

Ahhh interesting! Yeah I think I've always went with AMD, so that's some great insight. Thank you

If you could up your budget by about 40 pounds, this build is a great value, and it should be able to run all games on max settings. I have it and it works amazingly.

Oooh cool! Thanks for your great suggestion!

 

[Arecaidian Fox]

Ahhh interesting! Yeah I think I've always went with AMD, so that's some great insight. Thank you

No problem, glad to help.

 

[Armadillo]

The AMD GPU (an R9 290X) I bought for $400 was weak as hell compared to the Nvidia GPU (a GTX 970) I got for a hundred dollars less.

Shocking that. Who would have thought a high end card, that came out nearly a year later, would be better than an older one.

 

[Arecaidian Fox]

Shocking that. Who would have though a high end card, that came out nearly a year later, would be better than an older one.

I was speaking from a raw specs and price point of view. The two are actually quite comparable.

 

[Originality]

You can save money from your build by keeping your existing case and PSU. Also, if you can, get a memory kit that matches as closely to your existing memory as possible. You can save a lot by getting an extra 2x2GB memory compared to buying a fresh 2x4GB or 2x8GB kit.

That way, you can put more of your budget into your chosen motherboard, CPU and graphics card. So a Core i5-4690K (or not K, if you want to save up to £20), a half decent Z97 motherboard, a GTX 970 (since it seems you don't want to go to AMD this time round)... should look something like this: partpicker. £583 with this quick build I threw together, and a little room to tweak up or down with each part.

 

[ILuvGames]

Right near the top of your budget and needs a CPU cooler added in.

Intel Core i5-6600K (Skylake)
Asus LGA1151 Z170 Pro Gaming Motherboard
1x8 GB Crucial DDR4-2133 MHZ Ram
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB Windforce

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/4zQ73C

 

[Acetic Orcein]

You can save money from your build by keeping your existing case and PSU. Also, if you can, get a memory kit that matches as closely to your existing memory as possible. You can save a lot by getting an extra 2x2GB memory compared to buying a fresh 2x4GB or 2x8GB kit.

That way, you can put more of your budget into your chosen motherboard, CPU and graphics card. So a Core i5-4690K (or not K, if you want to save up to £20), a half decent Z97 motherboard, a GTX 970 (since it seems you don't want to go to AMD this time round)... should look something like this: partpicker. £583 with this quick build I threw together, and a little room to tweak up or down with each part.

Thank you! I really appreciate your comments. Seems like a good idea too.

Right near the top of your budget and needs a CPU cooler added in.

Intel Core i5-6600K (Skylake)
Asus LGA1151 Z170 Pro Gaming Motherboard
1x8 GB Crucial DDR4-2133 MHZ Ram
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB Windforce

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/4zQ73C

This is also something I was considering. The last time I bought a new PC, it was just when DDR3 was quite new and still expensive..
Seems to be a similar situation now with DDR4. Although it does seem like the price is dropping...

Do you think it's worth going the DDR4 route?

 

[Originality]

The performance gains from Skylake/DDR4 compared to Haswell aren't that great compared to the price jump. That said, the extra lanes and devoted PCIe 3.0 lanes are a godsend for next generation storage platforms. M.2 is really taking off, although still too expensive when most people won't notice the performance jump they provide. Plus since Skylake just came out and Haswell is considered "a dead end", Haswell may see some steep price drops.

You decide.
Edit: the benchmarks I've seen so far (still early days) show no performance gains in gaming.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

If we're suddenly throwing intel into the mix, I would suggest getting an i5 4690k (it's overclockable) and looking at a Gigabyte board of your choice. I don't know much about USD-Pound conversion, but I do know that for the US the i5 is $239 and I managed to find a mobo on ebay for about $99