• Upgrading PC for modern gaming (GTA5 etc)
    6 replies, posted
I'm upgrading my PC which at the moment is used for light gaming and as a HTPC in order to play more modern games on it. My current rig is as follows: Biostar H61 MLB m-atx motherboard: [IMG]http://www.biostar.com.tw/upload/Motherboard/b20110503.jpg[/IMG] Intel Core i5 2300 @ 2.8Ghz 4GB DDR3 ram ATI Radeon HD 6670 1TB SATA HDD 300GB SATA HDD Awful 10 year old case with no case fans Humongous CPU cooler to counteract the awful case airflow I'm thinking of buying this case: [IMG]http://static.scan.co.uk/images/products/2275502-a.jpg[/IMG] [URL]http://www.scan.co.uk/products/aerocool-dead-silence-black-gaming-cube-tower-microatx-case-2xusb3-200cm-black-quiet-fan-w-o-psu[/URL] Which looks like it has pretty good airflow and is a generally nice looking case. I have made a few assumptions and would like to know if what I'm planning makes sense: 1. If I get the above case, everything that I currently have will fit, most likely apart from the CPU cooler which is approximately the size of a double decker bus - I assume I will need to get a slim cooler? 2. The above case will happily accommodate the two hard drives, and an optical drive when I decide to get one - likely a blu-ray drive 3. The above case can handle modern graphics cards. I'm thinking of getting an R9 270 such as - [URL]http://www.ebuyer.com/663141-msi-r9-270-gaming-2gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-r9-270-gaming-2g[/URL] 4. Adding another 4GB stick to match the currently installed one would be a good option for increasing the current amount of RAM Have I made any glaring errors here? Anything that I would be better reconsidering? Thanks for reading!
Basically my questions are: 1. Should I get this case? 2. Should I get the R9 270 or is there a better choice in the same price range? 3. Should I buy a slim cpu cooler? If so, what would be a good choice? *Edit*: The spec for the case states that it will accommodate a CPU cooler upto 190mm tall. In my current case the cooler is mounted sideways, I've measured the width of the case and its ~18cm wide, so I'm pretty sure the CPU cooler will fit in the new case 4. After adding the R9 270 and another 4GB of RAM, will I have a pretty solid setup for gaming? If you can help with any of these please post your thoughts!
Yeah, you should be good with those changed. I personally though haven't found Aerocool's cases to be of particularly good build quality.
[QUOTE=Levelog;46882565]Yeah, you should be good with those changed. I personally though haven't found Aerocool's cases to be of particularly good build quality.[/QUOTE] Thanks for the feedback, is there any alternative case that you would recommend for a similar price tag? I'm not totally set on getting that one, it just looked like it would be a big improvement over the one I've got at the moment.
It is a bit more, but [URL="http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/Micro+ATX/Corsair+Carbide+Series+Air+240+High+Airflow+MicroATX+and+Mini-ITX+Cube+Case+-+Black+%28CC-9011070-WW%29+?productId=62000&source=pcpartpicker"]this[/URL] is an excellently made case. The looks aren't for everyone, but I personally like it.
Not sure I like the aesthetics as much as the other case but I know Corsair have a pretty good reputation so will definitely consider that one. Thanks for the help Levelog.
For anyone that is interested (probably not likely), I ordered the following upgrades: [URL="http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-xfx-radeon-r9-270-boost-28nm-5600mhz-gddr5-gpu-900mhz-boost-925mhz-1280-streams-dp-dvi-hdmi-plus"]1. XFX Radeon R9 270 Boost 2GB [IMG]http://static.scan.co.uk/images/products/2278717-a.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-corsair-ddr3-pc3-10600-(1333)-non-ecc-unbuffered-9-9-9-24-15v"]2. Corsair Memory 4GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop [IMG]http://static.scan.co.uk/images/products/1282890-a.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL="http://www.scan.co.uk/products/aerocool-dead-silence-black-gaming-cube-tower-micro-atx-case-2xusb3-200cm-black-quiet-fan-w-o-psu"]3. Aerocool DS Cube Black Edition Silent Cube/Tower Micro-ATX/Mini-ITX Case No PSU [IMG]http://static.scan.co.uk/images/products/2275502-a.jpg[/IMG][/URL] They arrived on Saturday and I transferred everything over to the new case, installed the new GPU and RAM and fired it up. Apart from the case being slightly larger than I had imagined (my fault, can't complain), I'm really pleased with my new setup. The R9 270 is great and I've been playing GTA4 and Bioshock Infinite maxed out at 1080p. Really happy with the upgrade, thanks again to those who commented above! Just got to keep myself busy now until GTA V is released :zoid:
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