My motherboard is distinctly only compatible with AMD processors so for what you're both saying 13 has possibly the better solution to my issue - maybe with a change of plan with the SSD.

Jakub, in a case in which I wasn't going to get a PC from scratch, would you agree with 13 on the hardware he's suggested? Just so I can clarify it's not a bad purchase if I was to go in to it.

Wooopzy wrote This is perfect, thank you.

Do you have any suggestions for a PSU upgrade just off of the top of your head if I was to purchase -

470 GPU & the top monitor option considering I prefer a less wide-screen monitor.

& off the top of my head, i'm pretty sure that you have to back up your data before proceeding with an SSD, right? I can't do that with only one hard drive installed in my system could I or would I have to input it in to a different slot?
(don't I need to reinstall windows on the SSD?)

I'd probably grab an EVGA 650W G2. It's a great quality PSU and gives you XFire support so whether you go with a 470 or 480, with an XFire capable motherboard, you could add a 2nd GPU in the future. Have you ever used an ultrawide monitor? It's better for gaming, watching videos, doing work, and it's a 75Hz panel.

I have no idea what you're talking about with the SSD. You plug the SSD in, format it and then you're good to go. If you want your OS on your SSD, then yes, you'll need to install your OS to your SSD. I have no idea how you've formatted your current HDD so I'm not sure how you can do that. You can fresh install your OS to the SSD and delete the partition of your HDD with the OS, if you've partitioned your HDD. If you haven't partitioned your HDD, you should have, and you'll have to format/delete everything to remove your OS. You can clone your OS to your SSD but I've never looked in to that, I always just re-install my OS from scratch because it's easier and I prefer that anyway. If you don't want to have to re-install your OS though, you don't have to, but this is exactly the reason why everyone should get an SSD first and add an HDD later lol.

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jakub54pl wrote Around the SSD it depends on where you insert it (about windows installation).

With the CPU I will recommend the Intel i5. Make sure that it fits to your motherboard though, before purchase.

Are you planning to make a computer from scratch? If so I could always tell you a computer which when I calculated come up to around £800 which will be able to play 4k relatively easy. Otherwise I would not say the 470 or 480 what so ever. I'd go into changing the motherboard, getting an i5 processor and a gtx 970. you have 8GB DDR3 RAM so there's no need to add more.
My advise is to get this:
Motherboard: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
CPU: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
GPU: [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
This is from Amazon so expect high prices, yet it still comes up to £547.17 so you save a total of £52.83 from your £600 budget, which you could use for other things.

There's many more other ways you can keep going such as checking what processors your motherboard is compatible with.

He has to buy a new motherboard anyway so it makes no sense for him to 'upgrade' to Haswell. If he's not overclocking, an unlocked CPU is a waste. He'd be better off getting a nice GPU/monitor upgrade now(as I said), and then he can upgrade his CPU later once Zen and Kaby Lake release. It doesn't make sense to buy CPUs right now unless you don't have a system you can use for now until new CPUs release. OP stated his budget, and it's not £800. He's not playing at 4k, he has a 1680x1050 monitor right now, so that's irrelevant. a GTX 1060 3GB or GTX 970 are not good GPUs for 4k anyway, so it's not accurate. The 8GB RX 480 is objectively better than the GTX 970 and 3GB GTX 1060. The RX 480 is arguably a better option than the GTX 1060 now that it's basically closed the performance gap through driver updates.

I was also looking to upgrade my heat sink for my CPU as somebody I know in person has seen & suggested for my build considering I'm apparently using the default sink I got with the CPU. Everything you're saying 13 is perfect for myself & I will be planning on undertaking it.

Thank you for everything you've helped me with.

Wooopzy wrote My motherboard is distinctly only compatible with AMD processors so for what you're both saying 13 has possibly the better solution to my issue - maybe with a change of plan with the SSD.

Jakub, in a case in which I wasn't going to get a PC from scratch, would you agree with 13 on the hardware he's suggested? Just so I can clarify it's not a bad purchase if I was to go in to it.

13 has a good idea for a cheap build yes. If you are doing AMD builds get an athlon processor if possible. All I would do then to your pc is change your gpu and cpu. I'd also look into other things that need changing like fans and other things. You should realistically just upgrade ram to 8gb (corsair vengeance edition), get a new gpu and that's it. The cpu isn't bad all it needs is a better cooling solution and be overclocked.

I was also looking to upgrade my heat sink for my CPU as somebody I know in person has seen & suggested for my build considering I'm apparently using the default sink I got with the CPU. Everything you're saying 13 is perfect for myself & I will be planning on undertaking it.


To quote myself above, sorry for recommenting what I have previously, thanks for the post.

Thoughts are currently set on a Cooler Master Hyper 212