Feedback on Upgrade plans

[slovenlyjimmy]

HI,

I built my first gaming rig about 6 months ago and have been enjoying the switch from console gaming to PC gaming immensely. However at the time of building my rig I had a very tight budget, helped by being lucky enough to win a GTX 680

I've now got a bit of money to spend, roughly £250 and I'm desperate to replace the horrible mix of budget and 2nd hand parts that surround my now beloved GTX 680. Additionally I have a couple of niggling issues with my PC, that I suspect are a result of using 2nd hand parts.

1. Case and CPU Fans keep spinning after shutdown
2. PC refuses to wake from sleep

My current build is below, with details of what I'm planning on doing as an upgrade. What I would love to know, is if you guys think this is the way to go with the budget I have? My rig is only used for gaming and watching movies/TVand is plugged into my 46" 1080p TV. Ideally I'd like it to be as quiet as possible since it resides in our main living room.

Current Rig

Case : Zalman T2 Micro-ATX (Really cheap case and dreadful airflow )
Mobo : Asus P8B75-M LE (2nd Hand)
CPU : Intel i5 2400 @ upto 3.4GHz (2nd Hand)
CPU Cooler : Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro V2
RAM : 4GB Kingston Hyper X Blue 1600MHz
GPU : EVGA Geforce GTX 680 Superclocked
PSU : Coolermaster GX 650W 80+ Bronze (2nd Hand)
HDD1 : 250GB 5200 rpm Laptop Drive (found in the back of a cupboard, but had Win 7 installed)
HDD2 : 500GB 7200 rpm (Reconditioned unit)
Optical : None Installed

Planned Upgrade

Case: Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 (was also looking at the Corsair 200R)
Mobo : Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
HDD : Sandisk 128GB SSD
PSU : Corsair CX 600W

I realise this won't actually give me noticeable performance boost, but it does replace the majority of my cheap and 2nd hand parts and gives me a motherboard that will allow me to upgrade to a K series i5/i7 once I can afford it.

Ideally I wanted to stick to a Micro-ATX case, but I can't find one I like. Unless anyone can find a Fractal Design ARC Mini R2 for sale anywhere?

Would love your thoughts on whether this is a good plan or not.

Cheers

 

[s3ns3]

80+ bronze 650W to a bronze 600W is not an upgrade.even if its sh. you could keep the psu,sell the mobo and cpu and with the money you have get the i5 4670K and with the money from the mobo and sandy cpu get a good z87 mobo.because that i5 2400 is good even now.it doesn`t bottleneck your 680. or buy the ssd atleast and save for haswell

 

[Mathius]

Got to agree.....bare in mind, a new mobo will mean a new Windows.

Sell the Case, Mobo and I5-2400, lets say you get £150-180 for em (bundled)

Add that to your £250 budget = £400-430.

NEW upgrades...
CASE - FD Arc Midi R2 or FD R4

Motherboard (MSI Z87-G45 Gaming)

i5-4670K

Sandisk 120GB SSD

This takes you to £462, so £30 quid over budget....... Still shop around, as Aria offers Free Delivery to forum members, and overclockers.co.uk off Free Delivery as well (if you meet a few requirements

The 200R Case is around £15-20 cheaper which helps towards your budget too

 

[slovenlyjimmy]

Got to agree.....bare in mind, a new mobo will mean a new Windows.

Sell the Case, Mobo and I5-2400, lets say you get £150-180 for em (bundled)

No issue with Windows as I'm going to have to switch anyway as I don't have the retail key for the Win 7 copy on the laptop drive, so as soon as I add the SSD.... I'm planning on running Win 8.1 Preview in the first instance, and hoping MS do some deal when it officially releases.

I did look into selling, but £150 is way more than I could hope for .

I paid £25 for my mobo on ebay originally and I'm pretty sure it's the reason for my shutdown and sleep issues, so no selling that really. The case would cost more to post than I could sell it for so that's not going to help. Then, unfortunately my i5 2400 is selling for around £90, which after fees etc... will leave me with around £75.

I might just try and live with my mobo issues for a few months and get a new case and SSD, then save for a Haswell

 

[Mathius]

Try putting the mobo and CPU as a bundle on the likes of Gumtree, and hope to sell it locally for £120-130, the same could be done with the case.

When I 1st built mine, I had no clue what was good or not, and I bought a cheap £25 mATX case, realized that I wanted/needed a Mid Tower so sold the case through my local paper for £35 agreed it might take a little while longer, but the potential is there

 

[NeverBackDown]

Selling it either way will go you a bigger budget even if it's a tiny budget increase, better than nothing. It will be easiest to do an upgrade all at one rather than overtime. As for the case Fractal Design should be offering the Mini Arc R2 and R4 mini as well within a few months. If not then the Define mini will suit you well(its an r3 though).

 

[slovenlyjimmy]

Well, I just saved myself a few quid by picking up a bargain from Novatech's outlet store on Ebay.

Got a Corsair Carbide 200R for just £22!

That gives my budget a little more breathing room!

 

[Mathius]

Well, I just saved myself a few quid by picking up a bargain from Novatech's outlet store on Ebay.

Got a Corsair Carbide 200R for just £22!

That gives my budget a little more breathing room!

Result!

Hopefully you'll be able to get a few more cheaper parts as well..... I did notice that when I posted my first reply, aria out-did ebuyer all be it by only a pound and a few pence, but it all adds up. Keep at it.....I'm sure you'll find a nice gem while you are bargin hunting....