Upgrading my first build (from Feb 2014)

portach king

Hello Lads,

A few years ago, thank to some help on board I built my first gaming rig. Honestly, it's been almost perfect for me since. We live in an apartment, so I have it hooked up to my TV too. That's where I play games with a controller. At 1080p. I don't overclock. I like to keep things simple.
Here it is:
Component|Hardware
Case|Corsair Carbide Series 200R, ATX, ohne Netzteil
PSU|Corsair Builder Series CX750 80PLUS Bronze, 750W
Motherboard|ASRock Z87 Pro3, Sockel 1150, ATX
RAM|8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9
CPU|Intel Core i5-4570 Box, LGA1150
GPU|Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 OC Windforce 3, 4GB DDR5, PCI-Express
SSD|Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s
HHD| WD 4TB


I did say almost though. Two main things come to mind.

1. At this stage, it is starting to show it's age so I'd like to set it up to get another few years out of it. I'm not sure what needs to be replaced though. I'm hoping you can advise me here.
2. That GPU noise... My goodness! It's the one part of my system I've never been happy with. And neither has my fiancee, who has to tolerate it. The card sits at 40-50C on idle, which is quiet, but ramps up to high 80s and low 90s when under any kind of load. The card can handle that temp, it's meant to, but the noise those three fans make is unreal (@4000+rpm). In the last few years I've installed two extra noctua fans into the case (one on the side blowing in and and an exhaust in the roof) to try and help but it didn't do much, if any, good. No harm all the same.

As I said, this is my first big upgrade so I'm not 100% on what needs changing. I'd like to future-proof it for another few years. My hunch tells me that my Case, Motherboard, PSU and hard-drives are good to stick around, but again, I'd like to hear some feedback on that. That really leaves me with the job of replacing my GPU, CPU and RAM.

• For the GPU, noise is definitely my main concern, while at the same time I'd like a decent card too. I was thinking about a 1080 or it's equivalent, but I'd again love some advice.
• The CPU. My current CPU is using the stock cooler that came with it, but from what I've been reading online you'd swear I'm lucky this thing hasn't caught fire on me. It leads me to think I should get a separate custom cooler with my next CPU, but this is an area I am a bit behind on. What would be a good CPU right now? How should I be cooling it?
• Lastly, RAM. I think I can figure this part out alone. At the moment I'm planning to swap out my 2x4GB DDR3 sticks for 2x8GB DDR4. I am assuming this won't be a problem?

Since the first build, I've been saving for this upgrade so I have around €1000 to play with. I don't plan to spend all of that.

Thanks for reading this and for any advice you can offer.

TerrorFirmer

Replace i5 with a 2nd hand i7-4770K (if you're not into overclocking, an i7-4770 non-k or 4790 be fine).

There's also incredible deals on Vega 64 at the moment - top notch Vega 64 Nitro for £399 with free Resident Evil 2, Division 2 and Devil May Cry 5.

Huge upgrade on an R9 290 and the Nitro is an excellent card, very quiet and good performance. Nvidia equivalent would be RTX2070 broadly speaking - it's a little better but also more expensive and no free games.

I've a Windforce 390X as my spare card and it's an utter joke as well. Shoulds like someone using a hand vaccum while playing games. Not sure how Gigabyte got away with using a terrible cooler over and over.

Should get about €150 for your i5 and 290 together 2nd hand.

portach king

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Replace i5 with a 2nd hand i7-4770K (if you're not into overclocking, an i7-4770 non-k or 4790 be fine).

There's also incredible deals on Vega 64 at the moment - top notch Vega 64 Nitro for £399 with free Resident Evil 2, Division 2 and Devil May Cry 5.

Huge upgrade on an R9 290 and the Nitro is an excellent card, very quiet and good performance. Nvidia equivalent would be RTX2070 broadly speaking - it's a little better but also more expensive and no free games.

I've a Windforce 390X as my spare card and it's an utter joke as well. Shoulds like someone using a hand vaccum while playing games. Not sure how Gigabyte got away with using a terrible cooler over and over.

Should get about €150 for your i5 and 290 together 2nd hand.

First of all, thank you! Glad I'm not alone on hating that cooler! Also, excellent card recommendation, though it recommends a 850W PSU. I have a 750W. Should I sell that too and upgrade?

Serephucus

Nah, you'll have boatloads of room with a 750W unit. I'm running similar components to yourself (4790K and a GTX 1070) on a 600W unit, and even that's a little overkill at stock.

portach king

Serephucus wrote: »

Nah, you'll have boatloads of room with a 750W unit. I'm running similar components to yourself (4790K and a GTX 1070) on a 600W unit, and even that's a little overkill at stock.

That's fantastic. Seem's like it might be a solid direction to go.

K.O.Kiki

If you're looking for a cheap & quiet air cooler, the be quiet! Pure Rock Slim only costs 23-26 euro & should do ye grand.

Skerries

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

There's also incredible deals on Vega 64 at the moment - top notch Vega 64 Nitro for £399 with free Resident Evil 2, Division 2 and Devil May Cry 5.

I've just pulled the trigger on this card and it is due for delivery tomorrow so I can tell you what the noise levels are like when I test the card with 3Dmark

portach king

Skerries wrote: »

I've just pulled the trigger on this card and it is due for delivery tomorrow so I can tell you what the noise levels are like when I test the card with 3Dmark

Thank you! I didn't pull the trigger and it's out of stock now. D'oh!
I'm eyeballing deals websites in the hope of a black Friday deal happening.