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How to: Revitalise an old gaming rig


Daragh

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At this point of time, Z77 boards are already on sale and so will IB on the 29th. My suggestion is you wait for them (it's only 17 more days) while trying to save up as much as you can since by that time, retailers would most likely lower SB chips. That would be a better choice over the FX6100 for overall performance.

I can try, but in that case I would be buying Motherboard and CPU separately (I wouldn't have enough money by then to buy both). My birthday is in May so I'll use any money from that towards the other half of the combo. Then all I need is the case (there is no way in hell I'm putting new components into that coal burning oven of a thing). Its probably the cheapest component in the build so it shouldn't take too long. Thanks for the heads up! As for a SB CPU and Motherboard combo any suggestions? It has to go well with a

Silverstone Strider 750watt

Aerocool Xpredator case

MSI HAWK GT560 Ti 1 gb

Mushkin red/blackline or radioactive RAM

I will be putting closed loop watercooling in

I will be setting up a SSD HDD combo (maybe its on my mind but its a second priority) and a DVD drive. Sales are a bit iffy for me right now, I'll be slow getting the money.

PSU already ordered. I should have around $180 to spend on motherboard, CPU roughly $200-210; shipping isn't inclusive in that budget unless its really high (>$50)

Edited by Daragh

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I can try, but in that case I would be buying Motherboard and CPU separately (I wouldn't have enough money by then to buy both). My birthday is in May so I'll use any money from that towards the other half of the combo. Then all I need is the case (there is no way in hell I'm putting new components into that coal burning oven of a thing). Its probably the cheapest component in the build so it shouldn't take too long. Thanks for the heads up! As for a SB CPU and Motherboard combo any suggestions? It has to go well with a

Silverstone Strider 750watt

Aerocool Xpredator case

MSI HAWK GT560 Ti 1 gb

Mushkin red/blackline or radioactive RAM

I will be putting closed loop watercooling in

I will be setting up a SSD HDD combo (maybe its on my mind but its a second priority) and a DVD drive. Sales are a bit iffy for me right now, I'll be slow getting the money.

PSU already ordered. I should have around $180 to spend on motherboard, CPU roughly $200-210; shipping isn't inclusive in that budget unless its really high (>$50)

 

I'm willing to bet that if Price do go down, you'll be able to get a SB+Board for <$300 (heck you can even get an 2500K + Z68 board for $330 now!)

Edit: Add Australian prices.

Intel Core i5 2500K - AU$ 215

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 - AU$169

 

With the 'jacked up prices' as many of Aussie says here, it really is kinda hard to get some cheap parts.

 

I'm having hard time understanding why you'd need a Water Cooling loop for this. WC setup could cause some real money and it's going to be useless unless you're going to squeeze every last juice of your CPU (in which I think you'd need a proper WC case and better board to support your CPU). Not to be a party pooper but you're on a limited budget and haven't even got the CPU and board sorted out to begin with. I really urge you to reconsider and get a good air cooler instead.

 

Edit:

Instead of the Xpredator, I'd suggest you get something like the CM HAF922 instead. Better airflow for AU$40 less. It's mid-tower but a big one though.

Paired with these RipJawsX RAMs for AU$59 and you should be set to go. :thumbsup:

Edited by vandreadstriker

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I'm willing to bet that if Price do go down, you'll be able to get a SB+Board for <$300 (heck you can even get an 2500K + Z68 board for $330 now!)

If you could tell us the website of the store you're getting your parts from (if any) would help a lot in helping you find better parts.

For now I'm assuming NewEgg (although I'm not sure where you can get an Xpredator in Newegg)

 

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 - $121.99

Intel Core i5 2500K - $219.99

 

If you want Z77 chipset, ASRock Z77 Extreme4 - $139.99 (Not much difference with Z68, plus Z68 prices could still drop)

 

I'm having hard time understanding why you'd need a Water Cooling loop for this. WC setup could cause some real money and it's going to be useless unless you're going to squeeze every last juice of your CPU (in which I think you'd need a proper WC case and better board to support your CPU). Not to be a party pooper but you're on a limited budget and haven't even got the CPU and board sorted out to begin with. I really urge you to reconsider and get a good air cooler instead.

Ah should have said this to start with, I'm in Australia and I'm getting all parts from pccasegear.com (whenever possible of course, I won't limit to just one site when a better deal is elsewhere). The reason for the closed loop is simple, it is actually cheaper than a closed loop water cooler to buy ~50-60 if I shop around (I won't be getting it from pccasegear.com a shop in launceston is selling them cheap), so it makes sense (in comparison the cheapest noctua I can get is in $59). If its only about $330 to buy in america then I reckon I'll import, I usually put aside $30 on shipping in case of overseas buying anyway.

Edit:

I mean closed loop as in the prebuilt systems that are being sold now, they are going cheap here in australia from brands like Corsair.

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Ah should have said this to start with, I'm in Australia and I'm getting all parts from pccasegear.com (whenever possible of course, I won't limit to just one site when a better deal is elsewhere). The reason for the closed loop is simple, it is actually cheaper than a closed loop water cooler to buy ~50-60 if I shop around (I won't be getting it from pccasegear.com a shop in launceston is selling them cheap), so it makes sense (in comparison the cheapest noctua I can get is in $59). If its only about $330 to buy in america then I reckon I'll import, I usually put aside $30 on shipping in case of overseas buying anyway.

Edit:

I mean closed loop as in the prebuilt systems that are being sold now, they are going cheap here in australia from brands like Corsair.

 

Ok now it makes more sense.

Honestly, the Corsair Hydro series aren't worth the money. The best Hydro cooler is the H100 which can even outperform the Noctua NH-D14. Problem is the price. The H100 is AU$70 more then the D14 and the performance gain is really a minor one (I'm talking 0.5 - 2C difference). So instead of going for those H40 or H60 which is priced at $75 and $99 respectively, it's better for you to get the CoolerMaster Hyper212 Evo which performs as good as the H60 but only for AU$39.

Edit: this doesn't only cover the Corsair Hydro series but also other pre-built 'water cooling' setup like the Antec Khuler. I normally categorise them as just 'air cooler' since it doesn't match the performance of real water cooled setups :biggrin:

Edited by vandreadstriker

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Do not under any circumstances but a corsair hydro cooler they are overpriced to begin with nd then for some reason Australia is charged double.

 

Custom cooling or kit cooling from xspc or swiftech on the other hand is another issue and imo the fractal arc midi would be the perfect case for one of those 240mm rad kits without getting something super huge.

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Thanks vandreadstriker and Stonerboy, I guess I fell for advertising. I'll go for air and later down the track look at a custom kit (after all other parts). Aside from the Hyper 212 are there any other kits? I'm not saying its bad but I like to have choice. $70 is about the most I'd go (though as usual this would flex if it was a really good cooler)

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I would say start with hyper 212 buy a case that will take a 240rad easy in the future and if your are upgrading to SB and even more so IB you will find that the 212 is more than enough for most things the top line air cooler or custom water is a just because you can sort of thing.

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To be perfectly frank...buying any kind of water cooling is a complete waste when the rest of your rig could use an upgrade instead.

 

Until you're happy with your GPU, CPU, etc, don't waste your money on water cooling of any sort.

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To be perfectly frank...buying any kind of water cooling is a complete waste when the rest of your rig could use an upgrade instead.

 

Until you're happy with your GPU, CPU, etc, don't waste your money on water cooling of any sort.

Well that was the plan, water cooling after GPU CPU everything else upgrade, look earlier in the forum for the list of parts that I'll upgrade to (think I listed the future parts when I asked for a decent motherboard to go with them)

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I would say start with hyper 212 buy a case that will take a 240rad easy in the future and if your are upgrading to SB and even more so IB you will find that the 212 is more than enough for most things the top line air cooler or custom water is a just because you can sort of thing.

And thanks stoner, I'll look at the hyper 212, and I'm on the same track as you anything over 240 would be overkill seeing as even my upgraded components wouldn't be extremely powerful. The case I've chosen supports water cooling quite well so I'll see how that goes.

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Eh, go big or go home with custom water. If you're just going to run a tiny 240mm radiator you might as well not bother. :P The increased performance you get from more radiator area far exceeds the increased cost for larger radiators. A new Swiftech MCR320 is what, $60 shipped? ;)

 

Then again, I'm not much of a good source here. I went from a 240mm radiator, to a 360mm radiator, to two 360mm radiators, all in push/pull. :lol:

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Eh, go big or go home with custom water. If you're just going to run a tiny 240mm radiator you might as well not bother. :P The increased performance you get from more radiator area far exceeds the increased cost for larger radiators. A new Swiftech MCR320 is what, $60 shipped? ;)

 

Then again, I'm not much of a good source here. I went from a 240mm radiator, to a 360mm radiator, to two 360mm radiators, all in push/pull. :lol:

:whoa: Dual 360mm Radiators? Mother of god. I won't go that big but seeing as 360mm rads are so cheap I might look into one of those (I am only a mere mortal after all). It really depends, it won't be for a while so I can't be sure what I'll get, but I'll keep an eye out for something in the 360mm range then. How is the temp difference?

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