Best Upgrade? (budget friendly)

Hardware Build a PC
1

Current Specs:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/WhiteBerry/saved/sPdMnQ

Note: I have a Sapphire 7850 1 GB not a Gigabyte card. 

For £30-50 what should I upgrade? My Athlon is at 4.3 GHz using the STOCK cooler :(

I could:

  • Add 4GB of RAM and save the rest of the money (for future upgrades)
  • Install water cooling (heard bad reviews though)
  • Install (Noctua) air cooling

I'm hesitant to go for a memory upgrade and cooling upgrade as I want high quality cooling and Noctua is the best out there for air cooling - it is pricey though. If you are quoting the price of a part please provide a link as to where to buy the part - it would be appreciated. :)

2

4GB of RAM is a good upgrade I think. After that I would go with a cooler, maybe not the Noctua NH D15, but perhaps something low to mid range such as the CM Hyper 212 Evo.

Ideally, I would recommend a better CPU (core i5 most likely - which would mean new MB), 4GB of RAM, and a good CPU cooler. But all of that together is, of course, way out of your budget.

3

Can I ask why you would recommend going for the hyper 212 instead of the noctua? There are a few Noctua coolers for £40-50 available. 

4

I'd say add another 4GB stick so you can have 8GB of RAM. Then get a better cooler. The Noctua's are good but may be a little overkill unless you're doing some extreme overclocking. Then OC that CPU and get a better GPU. That should give you the most benefit for your dollar.

If you do have more cash than like Morg said you could go to an i5. It would preform better generally but the changes ingame won't be dramatic. So IDK if that is the best way to spend your funds. 

5

Well, unless you plan on reusing the cooler on a future build or different cpu, any of the more popular Noctua coolers would be kind of overkill for a 760k. Sure, if the price difference is negligible and the performance is better, then go Noctua and ditch the 212.

6

When I get a new processor I do intend to reuse the cooler. :) I might just go for the hyper 212 evo now, then upgrade the RAM next month. That way I can have both, better cooling and more RAM. Quick question: How am I going to clean the mess off of my CPU before installing the 212 evo?

7

Run the computer for a bit to soften the paste. Turn it off. Pop the cooler off. Then coffee filter and rubbing alcohol. Should do the trick. 

8

Thanks man :)

9

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NqGdD3

Get both and be done. This is the flagship cooler that I used until I went water cooled. Its regarded as the industry standard 120mm cooler and will be within 1-10c of any noctua in your price range. This opens up the availability to get 4gb ram and cooling.

10

Do you not have an HDD? :o

11

Nope, I don't have a HDD. Livin' the 120 life. I still have like 60+ gb free with watch dogs installed lol. @Kevin I know the hyper 212 is standard but I want it to be quiet. And sexy.

12

If storage is not an problem and you do not mind having 4GBs of ram, cooling is the only thing left. I would go with more ram. Please do not buy a cooler you don't really want (so go with the Noctua if you desire so). It is up to you though.

13

I don't mind using 4 Gigs of RAM because currently my PC isn't used for a lot of gaming. Yes, I've been playing Watch Dogs (barely lol) but even then I don't feel the NEED to upgrade my RAM. So yeah, I'm going to go with the cooling right now because it gets extremely noisy, Thanks for the advice @klarkie, "Please do not buy a cooler you don't really want" - I'll definitely be following it.