[Sephiroth]

Hi all,

I am looking to do some PC upgrades because my 4 year old upgraded Dell runs like a piece of **** due to the horrible CPU and low RAM. I was going to wait until Windows 8 so I can have the latest version but after seeing how bad it looks I think I'll just get 7 so I can upgrade now.

My current spec is:

Core 2 Duo 2.66ghz E8200
3gb DDR2 RAM
Radeon 5830 graphics card
2x 750gb (7200RPM) SATA HDDs
OCZ Stealth Xstream II 600W PSU

I am hoping I can salvage the PSU, the hard disks, the graphics card and build upon that. I do want to leave it open to upgrades as I will want to replace that graphics card when the 78xx series cards are closer to £100. I'm not a big PC gamer which is why I'm not concerned about spending more upgrade it now.

Will that PSU be strong enough to handle a modern PC? That component is less than 2 years old, and was installed with my GPU. It seems power efficency is a big thing with modern components so I reckon it will.

I am looking to make a PC that will last ~5 years. Used for some gaming and lots of multi tasking (I'm a developer) etc.

I've come up with the following spec:

Keeping:

Graphics: Radeon HD 5830 graphics card.
HDDs: 2x 750gb (7200RPM) SATA HDDs
DVD drive: (Guessing it's SATA? Not sure)
PSU: OCZ Stealth Xstream II 600W PSU - Link to spec: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...962&CatId=1483

New:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Socket 1155 (£79.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/351598-gigabyt...ard-ga-z77-d3h

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB (£168.52)
http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-c...bx80623i52500k

After looking on here I've seen an Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket 1155 6MB mentioned on Amazon for £173. Might be worth the extra £5.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Genera...8140082&sr=8-1

RAM: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz (£64.53)
http://www.ebuyer.com/190385-kingsto...600c9d3k4-16gx

16gb might sound overkill, but it's cheap, future proof and 3 years down the line I'd probably regret it if I just get 8, kinda like how I regret just getting 3 on my current system. I'd have been happy with 12 but the motherboard has 4 slots, may as well quad channel. Plus developers are getting lazier as higher RAM becomes the norm and programs start eating up more. Browser use is a good example.

SSD: Crucial M4 128GB SSD (£77.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/266526-crucial...-s-ct128m4ssd2

Total: £391.03

If you can help me with a case and cooling that would be great. Obviously I want a case without a PSU to get more value for money, thinking £50 max total for case and cooling. I've seen some cases for £10 but I imagine they suck.

I saw this http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...5-08300-3.html mentioned on here and sounds like it could be nice. No extra cooling needed?

Tempted to get a DVD-RW drive but I ask myself if I need one. Got by 4 years so far without. Funny part is I have one, it just wouldn't connect to my current PC and I never got round to buying a converter.

Thinking about putting one of the HDDs in an enclosure and using it as an external backup device. What do you think? Been using one of them as a backup disk already but I'm taking a risk using an internal disk for backups, both could fail together. I'd probably swap them round, IE the rarely used disk would become the main data disk in the new machine with SSD for Windows/programs and the current main disk reformatted for backups. Alternative is I buy a new 1TB external disk and use that for backups, but really I've no use for 1.5TB of internal space and never have.

[Darkphilosopher]

You can get the i5-2500k for £147.50 here: http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=43216

[Sephiroth]

(Original post by Darkphilosopher)
You can get the i5-2500k for £147.50 here: http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=43216

Interesting. That makes the choice between the 2500 and 3570 a bit more difficult. Would the 3570 justify £26 more?

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Sephiroth)
Hi all,

I am looking to do some PC upgrades because my 4 year old upgraded Dell runs like a piece of **** due to the horrible CPU and low RAM. I was going to wait until Windows 8 so I can have the latest version but after seeing how bad it looks I think I'll just get 7 so I can upgrade now.

My current spec is:

Core 2 Duo 2.66ghz E8200
3gb DDR2 RAM
Radeon 5830 graphics card
2x 750gb (7200RPM) SATA HDDs
OCZ Stealth Xstream II 600W PSU

I am hoping I can salvage the PSU, the hard disks, the graphics card and build upon that. I do want to leave it open to upgrades as I will want to replace that graphics card when the 78xx series cards are closer to £100. I'm not a big PC gamer which is why I'm not concerned about spending more upgrade it now.

Will that PSU be strong enough to handle a modern PC? That component is less than 2 years old, and was installed with my GPU. It seems power efficency is a big thing with modern components so I reckon it will.

I am looking to make a PC that will last ~5 years. Used for some gaming and lots of multi tasking (I'm a developer) etc.

I've come up with the following spec:

Keeping:

Graphics: Radeon HD 5830 graphics card.
HDDs: 2x 750gb (7200RPM) SATA HDDs
DVD drive: (Guessing it's SATA? Not sure)
PSU: OCZ Stealth Xstream II 600W PSU - Link to spec: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...962&CatId=1483

New:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Socket 1155 (£79.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/351598-gigabyt...ard-ga-z77-d3h

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB (£168.52)
http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-c...bx80623i52500k

After looking on here I've seen an Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket 1155 6MB mentioned on Amazon for £173. Might be worth the extra £5.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Genera...8140082&sr=8-1

RAM: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz (£64.53)
http://www.ebuyer.com/190385-kingsto...600c9d3k4-16gx

16gb might sound overkill, but it's cheap, future proof and 3 years down the line I'd probably regret it if I just get 8, kinda like how I regret just getting 3 on my current system. I'd have been happy with 12 but the motherboard has 4 slots, may as well quad channel. Plus developers are getting lazier as higher RAM becomes the norm and programs start eating up more. Browser use is a good example.

SSD: Crucial M4 128GB SSD (£77.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/266526-crucial...-s-ct128m4ssd2

Total: £391.03

If you can help me with a case and cooling that would be great. Obviously I want a case without a PSU to get more value for money, thinking £50 max total for case and cooling. I've seen some cases for £10 but I imagine they suck.

I saw this http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...5-08300-3.html mentioned on here and sounds like it could be nice. No extra cooling needed?

Tempted to get a DVD-RW drive but I ask myself if I need one. Got by 4 years so far without. Funny part is I have one, it just wouldn't connect to my current PC and I never got round to buying a converter.

Thinking about putting one of the HDDs in an enclosure and using it as an external backup device. What do you think? Been using one of them as a backup disk already but I'm taking a risk using an internal disk for backups, both could fail together. I'd probably swap them round, IE the rarely used disk would become the main data disk in the new machine with SSD for Windows/programs and the current main disk reformatted for backups. Alternative is I buy a new 1TB external disk and use that for backups, but really I've no use for 1.5TB of internal space and never have.

http://www.ebuyer.com/gigabyte-motherboard
£2's more and comes with an aftermarket cooler, so it'll be quieter.

The extra fiver would be worth it.

That much ram, not sure about it unless your gonna be doing some intensive stuff, like I got 4gb, but rarely use half of it.
Plus the low profile versions good for an after market cooler.

Good, reliable SSD make.

You'll definitely need an optical drive, cos I struggled to use my old hard drive to set up windows, it kept crashing, so I hard to re install it. http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/3243/25...e/Product.html
Got this one myself, as it's pretty good.

Your power supply should perfectly be fine and support you in the future for good while, plus the 7xxx series won't come down for a good year or 2.
And why can't you use an internal drive as a back up?

Antec cases are pretty good in general, you got 2 fans with in and speed control. And option for another 3, 2 for hard drives, the other one is useful which is above the graphics card. Zalman Z9 is good and the Sharkoon t9......if you want loads of fan space then get the Novatech Prowler Midi Case V2, which wouldn't make too much difference.

But the aftermarket cooler with the other motherboard link should make things cooler.

[Scott1541]

(Original post by Sephiroth)
pec:

Keeping:

Graphics: Radeon HD 5830 graphics card.
HDDs: 2x 750gb (7200RPM) SATA HDDs
DVD drive: (Guessing it's SATA? Not sure)
PSU: OCZ Stealth Xstream II 600W PSU - Link to spec: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...962&CatId=1483

New:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Socket 1155 (£79.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/351598-gigabyt...ard-ga-z77-d3h

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB (£168.52)
http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-c...bx80623i52500k

After looking on here I've seen an Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket 1155 6MB mentioned on Amazon for £173. Might be worth the extra £5.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Genera...8140082&sr=8-1

RAM: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz (£64.53)
http://www.ebuyer.com/190385-kingsto...600c9d3k4-16gx

16gb might sound overkill, but it's cheap, future proof and 3 years down the line I'd probably regret it if I just get 8, kinda like how I regret just getting 3 on my current system. I'd have been happy with 12 but the motherboard has 4 slots, may as well quad channel. Plus developers are getting lazier as higher RAM becomes the norm and programs start eating up more. Browser use is a good example.

SSD: Crucial M4 128GB SSD (£77.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/266526-crucial...-s-ct128m4ssd2

Total: £391.03

If you can help me with a case and cooling that would be great. Obviously I want a case without a PSU to get more value for money, thinking £50 max total for case and cooling. I've seen some cases for £10 but I imagine they suck.

I saw this http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...5-08300-3.html mentioned on here and sounds like it could be nice. No extra cooling needed?

This looks like a nice upgrade. As for cases I really like the look of the corsair carbide 300r, but that is my personal opinion. Something like an antec 300 would be fine.

You will only need an aftermarket CPU cooler if you are going to overclock the PC. If you do intend to overclock then you will need something like a Coolermaster Hyper 212, these coolers can heep i5-2500Ks cool at 4.5GHz.

(Original post by Iqbal007)
And why can't you use an internal drive as a back up?

There is no reason why you can't but it isn't the best idea. If a backup drive is in a PC and the PC blows up, gets stolen or something else happens like your PC getting struck by lightening (I have know it happen) then you have lost the original copy of the data and the backup in one go.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Scott1541)
This looks like a nice upgrade. As for cases I really like the look of the corsair carbide 300r, but that is my personal opinion. Something like an antec 300 would be fine.

You will only need an aftermarket CPU cooler if you are going to overclock the PC. If you do intend to overclock then you will need something like a Coolermaster Hyper 212, these coolers can heep i5-2500Ks cool at 4.5GHz.

If you can get that Corsair around £50 that'll be good, but the Antec 300 is equally well known.

I honestly don't think he'll be overclocking, so he save up a bit for later

[Scott1541]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
If you can get that Corsair around £50 that'll be good, but the Antec 300 is equally well known.

The last time I looked it was £53 on OcUK

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Scott1541)
This looks like a nice upgrade. As for cases I really like the look of the corsair carbide 300r, but that is my personal opinion. Something like an antec 300 would be fine.

You will only need an aftermarket CPU cooler if you are going to overclock the PC. If you do intend to overclock then you will need something like a Coolermaster Hyper 212, these coolers can heep i5-2500Ks cool at 4.5GHz.



There is no reason why you can't but it isn't the best idea. If a backup drive is in a PC and the PC blows up, gets stolen or something else happens like your PC getting struck by lightening (I have know it happen) then you have lost the original copy of the data and the backup in one go.

Depends on the case, if the drive is encase.........I never though of it that way, my house is pretty secure and im sure lightening wouldn't strike it looool

(Original post by Scott1541)
The last time I looked it was £53 on OcUK

Hmmm, seems good, I tend to buy a case based on value, so basically the build quality and number of fans i can stick in lool which i dont even use

[Sephiroth]

Iqbal007, that motherboard you linked to is the same one. I assumed the cooler offer had expired after reading a post on HUKD. But it would be nice if not. But then how would I use that? Apparently CPUs come with coolers already attached. The 3570 is £26 more now after someone found a cheaper 2500. Is the better one still worth it?

I probably won't overclock it. At least not straight away. There won't be any point as it should be fast enough as it is.

That Antec case looks nice, only £40. Can't really see why you'd pay £14 more for the Corsair however.

Regarding backups, I had a lightning strike affect my PC about 12 years ago after it hit a telephone wire outside. The main parts survived but a couple of cards were fried. But yeah keeping backups in the same PC as the live data isn't ideal, it's just better than nothing. Best thing is to not even keep them in the same building but that's over the top for home use.

Probably won't be purchasing anything until Wednesday night, hopefully prices won't go up.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Sephiroth)
Iqbal007, that motherboard you linked to is the same one. I assumed the cooler offer had expired after reading a post on HUKD. But it would be nice if not. But then how would I use that? Apparently CPUs come with coolers already attached. The 3570 is £26 more now after someone found a cheaper 2500. Is the better one still worth it?

I probably won't overclock it. At least not straight away. There won't be any point as it should be fast enough as it is.

That Antec case looks nice, only £40. Can't really see why you'd pay £14 more for the Corsair however.

Regarding backups, I had a lightning strike affect my PC about 12 years ago after it hit a telephone wire outside. The main parts survived but a couple of cards were fried. But yeah keeping backups in the same PC as the live data isn't ideal, it's just better than nothing. Best thing is to not even keep them in the same building but that's over the top for home use.

Probably won't be purchasing anything until Wednesday night, hopefully prices won't go up.

The offer is still on the website, so it means it still stands, getting it would keep temperature and noise down when your cpu is on load.
CPU's come with a small stock cooler, which aren't amazing, but they don't come attached, they come in a separate little box inside the cpu box and needs to be attached by yourself, I think you would need thermal compound though.
With the 3570k it all depends, but the way some of us see it is, we might as well get the latest tech(kind of hard to explain).

Corsair has loads of space for fans in the case, but also the inside of the Corsair seems much more organised looking.

What about surge protection?

[Camoxide]

You can get the 3570K without the stock cooler for £161

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...he-34x-ratio-7

If the hard drives are being run in RAID 0 then you wont be able to save the data from then when moving to a new motherboard.

Antec 300 is over priced nearly £50.

It's one of the most basic cases out there. No cable management or tooless parts. Should be a £30 case really.

NZXT tempest is good value for money

http://www.ebuyer.com/327897-nzxt-te...se-ca-tp210-01

[The Polymath]

(Original post by Sephiroth)
Hi all,

I am looking to do some PC upgrades because my 4 year old upgraded Dell runs like a piece of **** due to the horrible CPU and low RAM. I was going to wait until Windows 8 so I can have the latest version but after seeing how bad it looks I think I'll just get 7 so I can upgrade now.

My current spec is:

Core 2 Duo 2.66ghz E8200
3gb DDR2 RAM
Radeon 5830 graphics card
2x 750gb (7200RPM) SATA HDDs
OCZ Stealth Xstream II 600W PSU

I am hoping I can salvage the PSU, the hard disks, the graphics card and build upon that. I do want to leave it open to upgrades as I will want to replace that graphics card when the 78xx series cards are closer to £100. I'm not a big PC gamer which is why I'm not concerned about spending more upgrade it now.

Will that PSU be strong enough to handle a modern PC? That component is less than 2 years old, and was installed with my GPU. It seems power efficency is a big thing with modern components so I reckon it will.

I am looking to make a PC that will last ~5 years. Used for some gaming and lots of multi tasking (I'm a developer) etc.

I've come up with the following spec:

Keeping:

Graphics: Radeon HD 5830 graphics card.
HDDs: 2x 750gb (7200RPM) SATA HDDs
DVD drive: (Guessing it's SATA? Not sure)
PSU: OCZ Stealth Xstream II 600W PSU - Link to spec: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...962&CatId=1483

New:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Socket 1155 (£79.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/351598-gigabyt...ard-ga-z77-d3h

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 1155 6MB (£168.52)
http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-c...bx80623i52500k

After looking on here I've seen an Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket 1155 6MB mentioned on Amazon for £173. Might be worth the extra £5.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Genera...8140082&sr=8-1

RAM: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz (£64.53)
http://www.ebuyer.com/190385-kingsto...600c9d3k4-16gx

16gb might sound overkill, but it's cheap, future proof and 3 years down the line I'd probably regret it if I just get 8, kinda like how I regret just getting 3 on my current system. I'd have been happy with 12 but the motherboard has 4 slots, may as well quad channel. Plus developers are getting lazier as higher RAM becomes the norm and programs start eating up more. Browser use is a good example.

SSD: Crucial M4 128GB SSD (£77.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/266526-crucial...-s-ct128m4ssd2

Total: £391.03

If you can help me with a case and cooling that would be great. Obviously I want a case without a PSU to get more value for money, thinking £50 max total for case and cooling. I've seen some cases for £10 but I imagine they suck.

I saw this http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...5-08300-3.html mentioned on here and sounds like it could be nice. No extra cooling needed?

Tempted to get a DVD-RW drive but I ask myself if I need one. Got by 4 years so far without. Funny part is I have one, it just wouldn't connect to my current PC and I never got round to buying a converter.

Thinking about putting one of the HDDs in an enclosure and using it as an external backup device. What do you think? Been using one of them as a backup disk already but I'm taking a risk using an internal disk for backups, both could fail together. I'd probably swap them round, IE the rarely used disk would become the main data disk in the new machine with SSD for Windows/programs and the current main disk reformatted for backups. Alternative is I buy a new 1TB external disk and use that for backups, but really I've no use for 1.5TB of internal space and never have.

Don't buy everything from ebuyer - choose around 2-3 stores and you'll save about £50-100 by comparing prices. I wouldn't get 7 just yet, you'll end up smacking yourself - try making do with a free copy of Windows Server via dreamspark or something.

[Sephiroth]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
The offer is still on the website, so it means it still stands, getting it would keep temperature and noise down when your cpu is on load.
CPU's come with a small stock cooler, which aren't amazing, but they don't come attached, they come in a separate little box inside the cpu box and needs to be attached by yourself, I think you would need thermal compound though.
With the 3570k it all depends, but the way some of us see it is, we might as well get the latest tech(kind of hard to explain).

Corsair has loads of space for fans in the case, but also the inside of the Corsair seems much more organised looking.

What about surge protection?

Ah, I guess I will get the 3570 then. Seems Camoxide found that one cheaper although it's only worth going for if indeed I can get that motherboard with cooler. So I guess I should purchase that first and see what arrives.

Surge protection I normally rely on my electrical cables to handle. I don't think I had one back when my PC got attacked by lightning, elthough I think that surge was probably down the phone line rather than electrical so wouldn't have helped in that case. Back then I had a modem which went from PC to phone line, unlike the routers these days that act as a middle ground.

(Original post by Camoxide)
You can get the 3570K without the stock cooler for £161

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...he-34x-ratio-7

If the hard drives are being run in RAID 0 then you wont be able to save the data from then when moving to a new motherboard.

Antec 300 is over priced nearly £50.

It's one of the most basic cases out there. No cable management or tooless parts. Should be a £30 case really.

NZXT tempest is good value for money

http://www.ebuyer.com/327897-nzxt-te...se-ca-tp210-01

Good find.

I am confused by your HDD bit however. Why would I lose all my data when moving to a new motherboard? I thought it would just be a case of plugging the disk in and I'd have access to it in the new PC.

That case seems to be discontinued, perhaps it wasn't when you posted though.

(Original post by Junaid96)
Don't buy everything from ebuyer - choose around 2-3 stores and you'll save about £50-100 by comparing prices. I wouldn't get 7 just yet, you'll end up smacking yourself - try making do with a free copy of Windows Server via dreamspark or something.

Why? Do you think 8 is going to be that much better? I hate the lack of start menu, transparency on windows, rounded corners etc. Or maybe you can enable all that ****.

What if I borrowed Windows 7 from a friend? Or is that illegal?

And yeah I probably was going to shop around, was mainly just using eBuyer to form a spec. Although I'm doubtful the savings will be £50-100 it's still worth it as others have shown.

[The Polymath]

(Original post by Sephiroth)
Ah, I guess I will get the 3570 then. Seems Camoxide found that one cheaper although it's only worth going for if indeed I can get that motherboard with cooler. So I guess I should purchase that first and see what arrives.

Surge protection I normally rely on my electrical cables to handle. I don't think I had one back when my PC got attacked by lightning, elthough I think that surge was probably down the phone line rather than electrical so wouldn't have helped in that case. Back then I had a modem which went from PC to phone line, unlike the routers these days that act as a middle ground.




Good find.

I am confused by your HDD bit however. Why would I lose all my data when moving to a new motherboard? I thought it would just be a case of plugging the disk in and I'd have access to it in the new PC.

That case seems to be discontinued, perhaps it wasn't when you posted though.



Why? Do you think 8 is going to be that much better? I hate the lack of start menu, transparency on windows, rounded corners etc. Or maybe you can enable all that ****.

What if I borrowed Windows 7 from a friend? Or is that illegal?

And yeah I probably was going to shop around, was mainly just using eBuyer to form a spec. Although I'm doubtful the savings will be £50-100 it's still worth it as others have shown.

I certainly saved about 60 quid when I built mine in the summer, so there's no reason why you shouldn't too

It's not that I think 8 will be better, just that you'll start lagging behind support wise (especially if you're building a PC, you'll want to stay up to date). Windows 8 will be mod-able to make it into pretty much Windows 7 again, too.

Take a look at Windows Server, though, it's what I'm running for free from Dreamspark, and it's FAR better than the normal editions.

[Sephiroth]

(Original post by Junaid96)
I certainly saved about 60 quid when I built mine in the summer, so there's no reason why you shouldn't too

It's not that I think 8 will be better, just that you'll start lagging behind support wise (especially if you're building a PC, you'll want to stay up to date). Windows 8 will be mod-able to make it into pretty much Windows 7 again, too.

Take a look at Windows Server, though, it's what I'm running for free from Dreamspark, and it's FAR better than the normal editions.

I think I'd rather just stick Vista on until Windows 8 than go for Windows Server to be honest. But upgrading OS will be a pain regardless, tempted to just hold off the computer upgrades until Windows 8. It's out in a few months isn't it?

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Sephiroth)
Ah, I guess I will get the 3570 then. Seems Camoxide found that one cheaper although it's only worth going for if indeed I can get that motherboard with cooler. So I guess I should purchase that first and see what arrives.

Surge protection I normally rely on my electrical cables to handle. I don't think I had one back when my PC got attacked by lightning, elthough I think that surge was probably down the phone line rather than electrical so wouldn't have helped in that case. Back then I had a modem which went from PC to phone line, unlike the routers these days that act as a middle ground.

Yeah if you get the 3570k and the motherboard with the free after market cooler it's a good deal and your pc will be quieter and cooler.

Oh, we got surge protection for the lan connection as well, depends on which plug extensions you get.

[Intriguing Alias]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
Yeah if you get the 3570k and the motherboard with the free after market cooler it's a good deal and your pc will be quieter and cooler.

Oh, we got surge protection for the lan connection as well, depends on which plug extensions you get.

And since he's going for the aftermarket cooler he can get the OEM 3570k that comes without a cooler for ~£160 on Scan.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by hassi94)
And since he's going for the aftermarket cooler he can get the OEM 3570k that comes without a cooler for ~£160 on Scan.

GIGABYTE Z77 D3H
MOTHERBOARD comes with a Artic cooling freezer 7 pro, which won't hurt his budget at all

[Camoxide]

(Original post by Sephiroth)
I think I'd rather just stick Vista on until Windows 8 than go for Windows Server to be honest. But upgrading OS will be a pain regardless, tempted to just hold off the computer upgrades until Windows 8. It's out in a few months isn't it?

*quoting you on this one because I cba to delete walls of text.

Basically if you go into "My Computer" and it comes up with two 750GB(ish) drives then you don't have to worry.

The only issue if they've been "combined" together to form one virtual, faster Hard Drive (RAID 0)

Case is probably out of stock.

Shame really. Good case and was £10 cheaper than everwhere else on Ebuyer.

This bundle is pretty good

http://www.ebuyer.com/270605-cm-stor...-1000-kwa-650w

Case might not be to your taste though, looks wise. I'll have another look round if its not.

Also: There's two ways to get free shipping with SCAN.

#1 Sign up to AV forums and after 14 days you'll be intilited to free shipping on orders over £100

http://www.avforums.com/forums/forum...amme-back.html


#2 Sign up to Hexus forums and make 20 posts, then you'll get free shipping on orders over £20 (exc VAT)

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...tup-guide.html

[Sephiroth]

(Original post by Camoxide)
*quoting you on this one because I cba to delete walls of text.

Basically if you go into "My Computer" and it comes up with two 750GB(ish) drives then you don't have to worry.

The only issue if they've been "combined" together to form one virtual, faster Hard Drive (RAID 0)

Case is probably out of stock.

Shame really. Good case and was £10 cheaper than everwhere else on Ebuyer.

This bundle is pretty good

http://www.ebuyer.com/270605-cm-stor...-1000-kwa-650w

Case might not be to your taste though, looks wise. I'll have another look round if its not.

Also: There's two ways to get free shipping with SCAN.

#1 Sign up to AV forums and after 14 days you'll be intilited to free shipping on orders over £100

http://www.avforums.com/forums/forum...amme-back.html


#2 Sign up to Hexus forums and make 20 posts, then you'll get free shipping on orders over £20 (exc VAT)

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...tup-guide.html

Oh right. They come up as 698, 688 and 10. The 10 is labelled recovery and is a partition of the main disk. Not sure what it's for, I've always ignored it. Doesn't look like they've been combined together however.

That bundle is no good because I've got a good PSU already and it would be silly paying for another.

It's a shame you have to wait 14 days for free delivery at Scan. They must lose a lot of money through people choosing to shop elsewhere. Probably works out cheaper to just pay the delivery in some cases however. Making 20 posts on Hexus is probably faster but then you'll have mods deleting them for being too short knowing you're just trying to get to 20.