Need input on upcoming upgrades

[PetrolHead247]

So at the end of the month it will finally be time to buy some shiny new hardware, however i'm not 100% sure exactly what to get in some areas hence why i have posted my current plans here now. I'm planning on keeping my Case, CPU, Mobo, and my HDD but everything else will be upgraded. So, here's the list of hardware that i am thinking of purchasing:

GPU: Either an Asus GTX670 DCUii (or similar non-ref card), or Sapphire 7970 Dual-X (or similar non-ref card).
SSD: Either a 256GB Samsung 830 or Crucial M4
PSU: Be Quiet Dark Power Pro P10 or Silverstone Strider (or a similar modular, quiet and reliable unit). Probably 550W or 650W.
RAM: 2x8GB 1600MHz Kit (Any kit from a reliable brand that looks great and is well priced).
CPU Cooler: Considering the H100 w/SP120 QE's or i might go with an air heatsink such as Phanteks PH-TC14PE
Case fans: Upgrading to Bitfenix Spectre Pro's
I will also be getting some alchemy cables (haven't got time to custom braid cables atm but i might do it sometime in the future), some LED strips and also might do a custom window mod too.

Now, some questions:

I'm torn between the 670 and 7970, both cards have their pro's and con's; The 7970 is a tad faster and has more VRAM, while the 670 uses less power and is a slightly cooler chip too (i think). So at the end of the day it comes down to whichever is cheaper. The important thing tho is the card i buy HAS to be very quiet as my 6850 sounds like a turbine and the temps are terrible (damn AMD reference card)

The SSD is a simple one, both the Samsung and the Crucial are hugely reliable, fast and well priced. Atm they're near identical in price, so again like the GPU's it's a choice of whichever will be cheapest when i purchase the hardware.

Like the GPU the PSU has to be quiet, it also has to be modular too. I will be buying Bitfenix Alchemy extensions but in the future i would like to try custom braiding, hence why the Strider is an option as i hear they're some of the easiest PSU's to custom braid. The Be Quiet is also up there in my top picks as it's near silent.

Any 16GB kit @ 1600MHz 1.5V will do nicely, just needs to be made by a reliable company (Mushkin, for example) and has to fit into my colour scheme. Will be needing 16GB as i will be doing video editing, rendering and also i'll be using Google Sketchup a lot too. Atm i'm chugging along on 4GB's

The CPU cooler is the hardest choice for me. I'm considering a H100 w/2x SP120 QE fans, but it will be quite expensive and on a 2500K i don't think it would be worth the extra money over, say, a Phanteks TC14PE. Just wondering what everyone's opinion is on this.

One final question from me: Seeing as i have all my steam games on my HDD and i plan on moving them to my SSD, can i just plug in my HDD once W7, drivers etc... is all installed and just transfer the games over to the SSD? Just wondering what's the easiest way to do this.

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[seumasbeathan]

Personally I would go with the 670, maybe the windforce

 

[jamesriley94]

670 The DCII, KFA2 and Gigabyte Windforce cards are all silent. If you lock the fans to 30%, even while gaming,max temps are under 70 degrees. Far better than any AMD card.

I'd go with the H100 really. Should be quiet enough.

Mushkin RAM.

As for the games - you cant just do that. But - there is an easy way. If you click file on steam, then back up and restore games, you can make a backup of all the games and they should install back very fast. The games write to the registry too which is why you cant just swap the hard drives, they need to be properly installed

 

[PetrolHead247]

670 The DCII, KFA2 and Gigabyte Windforce cards are all silent. If you lock the fans to 30%, even while gaming,max temps are under 70 degrees. Far better than any AMD card.

I'd go with the H100 really. Should be quiet enough.

Mushkin RAM.

As for the games - you cant just do that. But - there is an easy way. If you click file on steam, then back up and restore games, you can make a backup of all the games and they should install back very fast. The games write to the registry too which is why you cant just swap the hard drives, they need to be properly installed

Yup, that's what i was concerned about. I'm guessing it would work if i backed them up on an external hard drive or something and then restore them to the SSD? Sorry if i sound like a n00b but i've never had to backup my games ever so i don't know exactly how to do it easily.

I am leaning towards the 670 just because it's cooler and uses quite a bit less power, they're not that much slower than a 7970 either, would probably be unnoticeable in games. Locking the fan at 30% and getting 70C would be awesome, my 6850 currently struggles to stay at 70C at 90-100% fan speed

I may just get a H100, it would fit in the roof of my fractal arc nicely and will last me a while

Mushkin ram FTW!

 

[jamesriley94]

That would work fine yeh.

As for the power supply, what's the budget? I think the Silverstone is the best option

 

[PetrolHead247]

That would work fine yeh.

As for the power supply, what's the budget? I think the Silverstone is the best option

Ah yes the budget, overall i'd like to spend £800, but i could stretch to about £1000 if i need to but i don't really want to ideally. The max i'd like to spend on the PSU is about £100 - £125 or so. The Strider PSU's are apparently easy to braid and are also built like tanks so i have to agree it does look like the best option

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

This should answer your Steam questions.

 

[AverageNinja]

Go for the GTX 670. I think the Windforce 3x is the most quiet 670, and it also looks epic if you'd ask me. Also it's a GTX 680 pcb I think, so if you don't like the Blue pcb, you can buy a 680 backplate.
As for the PSU, I would suggest a AX650 or AX750. The striders are awesome PSUs from what I've read so that would be an epic buy as well.
You could get 16gb Dominator Platinum RAM, if your budget allows you to. You could also buy some Corsair Vengeance Memory or Mushkin RAM.
The H100 with SP120 QE's is the option I would use.

 

[PetrolHead247]

This should answer your Steam questions.

Thank you for the link, helps a lot

Go for the GTX 670. I think the Windforce 3x is the most quiet 670, and it also looks epic if you'd ask me. Also it's a GTX 680 pcb I think, so if you don't like the Blue pcb, you can buy a 680 backplate.
As for the PSU, I would suggest a AX650 or AX750. The striders are awesome PSUs from what I've read so that would be an epic buy as well.
You could get 16gb Dominator Platinum RAM, if your budget allows you to. You could also buy some Corsair Vengeance Memory or Mushkin RAM.
The H100 with SP120 QE's is the option I would use.

I'm leaning towards the 670 very much so, but there has been some awesome deals on non-reference 7970 cards such as the HIS 7970 IceQ X2 which is currently £324 and previously a Sapphire Dual-X which was £330, very tempting deals.

Also, Dominator Platinum RAM does look incredible, but it's quite a lot more expensive than other sets of RAM. But damn it does look good so if i see a good deal on one i may have to go for that if possible. Think i will also be going for a H100 as 1. It is an epic cooler, and 2. It allows me to show off my RAM a bit more and have sets with huge heatsinks which is nice.

I will be getting a white LED kit and white Spectre Pro fans but i'm not sure what colour Bitfenix Alchemy cables i should get. I was thinking either silver, white or black, currently thinking silver would look the best out of three just wondering what you guys think. Also, can anyone recommend a good LED kit?

 

[PetrolHead247]

The 660Ti it out now and i'm seriously considering it instead of a 670 or 7970. Seems like some of the non-reference cards get overclock up to some ridiculous clock speeds. The only issue i have with it is that the memory interface is only 192bit which seems low compared to a 670 with has a 256bit interface and a 7970 which has a 384bit interface. Even my 6850 has a 256bit interface. Not sure how much this will affect performance but it seems to faster than the 7950 and can even put up a fight to the 670, 680 and the 7970 when overclocked so it's very much tempting. £260 for the MSI Power Edition is great so i may go for that.

Done a bit more research and here's a list of Hardware i'm looking at:

GPU: Non-ref GTX660 TI/GTX670/7970
SSD: 256GB Samsung 830
PSU: Silverstone Strider Evolution (750W is the lowest they go on the 80+ Gold units which is quite a bit overkill so may go with a 600W, 80+ Bronze Strider or a 550W Be Quiet P10)
RAM: 2x8GB 1600MHz 1.5V Mushkin Ridgeback or Corsair Dominator Platinum (if i can afford them) or similar good looking RAM
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100 w/ SP120 QE fans for definite

Accessories:
Fans: 3x 140mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro's White LED (2 in front, 1 in rear)
Bitfenix Alchemy Cables in Silver
Bitfenix Alchemy Connect white LED Strips
Will also be buying an external USB 3 HDD, anyone know of a super reliable one? Been looking at the WD drives which seem pretty good

Thanks for the help so far guys GPU wise i'm looking much more in the direction of Nvidia seeing as their cards consume a lot less power.

EDIT: Sorry for the double post, couldn't edit the previous post