Could you guys help me design a new PC. I am planning to keep my 1.5Tb hard drive and my i5 CPU. Everything else I want to change. My budget is around £250 or around $400. I know it's not a lot but could you guys recommend a motherboard, RAM, GPU and PSU for that price range. For the case I will probably go for the fractal design Arc Mini R2 and I will be using a triple monitor setup too. Quick question, if I'm using the same HDD will I be able to just put this all together and switch it on without messing about with the OS, would it be that easy?
I need a CPU cooler, the socket is 1155. Do I need an OS if I'm keeping the same hard drive and not changing it? (Will probably want to re install Windows though). Will want to change my case. I really like the look of the Fractal Design Arc Mini R2. Will change keyboard and mouse later. I do live in the UK but still not sure where is the best place to buy. Looking around Amazon have the best prices so far. (I live in Glasgow in case anyone knows any good shops around there). Not too bothered about games. All I really play is counter strike but that's not too demanding.
So, Imo I'd forget about the case for now and do a solid upgrade to your PCs internals. You can then take it from there and get your case afterwards, buy a used 3770k at some point, and so on.
Here's what I'd get:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hkBBxr
The Motherboard upgrade will give you USB 3.0 and SATA3 as well as Ivy Bridge-Support for later. The SSD gives you a solid overall performance boost if you run your OS and applications on it (yes, you need to reinstall). The R9 270X will run your games well enough and is capable of driving you two monitors with ease. Your power supply needs a makeover and was probably a shitty one in the first place. That's just how it works with companies like Advent and such.
That RAM configuration they put in your computer isn't optimal either(4+2GB), but not a major issue at this point. You can later go up to 8 or even 16GBs.
I will go with your solution but what do you think about this- http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/b4LmQ7 (for that I would probably go with 2 of those graphics cards)
Defenitely NO. Those GPUs are old old old and only have 1GB of VRAM. Even those 30 pounds would be a waste to spend on them.
There is a general rule to buying GPUs. Always get the best single card you can afford, and maybe get a second one later. Plus, if you run two or more cards, either SLI or Crossfire, you'll always have only as much VRAM as the single cards have. VRAM doesn't add up.
That Motherboard you picked will do just fine, it might even fit your case a little better than the ASUS I picked, so go ahead on that.
For the PSU I'd stick with the 600W version to have some overhead for overclocking and other hardware later. The RAM is fine but also something I'd do later down the road if the budget it tight right now.
Thanks, didn't know about the GPU's there. You just saved me. Will go for the 600W PSU. Also, as you can tell, I know very little about PC's. This should be fairly straight forward to setup yeah? And the OS and Hard Drive should be fine? Again thank you so much for your support.