In April I started seriously concidering upgrading my computer. The parts that needs upgrading are the motherboard, cpu and ram. So a big and costly affair. Along with that I'll also be getting an aftermarked cooler for a quieter computer and overclocking capabilities, as I'll probably be trying that out. Aswell as a new case with more modern features, such as better cable management, left turned harddrive bays ect. Also it will probably be time for my yearly new harddrive. As I said I started thinking about it in April but soon decided to wait untill after the summer, as I won't be using it when at parents place for summer and such, and hopefully prices will fall a bit.
So this is what I'm looking at, at the moment:
- Case: Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced
- Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
- CPU: Phenom II X4 955 or 965
- RAM: 2x2 gb Crucial BallistX
- Cooler: Zalman CNPS 9900 MAX (unreleased)
The CM 690 II case is the only one with the features and structure that I want, and also looks good, while still leaving room for case modding as I'll be trying out. Therefore the color of the parts is also playing a factor when choosing them, ofcourse as long as it doesn't comprimise quality. The motherboard is a pretty expensive one and maybe a bit overkill, but I'm choosing it because of the nice color scheme, built in X-Fi soundcard, nice auto overclocking features and it has the newest chipset and futureproofed with stuff like USB 3 and SATA 3 ect. Was looking at the Zalman CNPS 9900 NT at first because of the nice look and color fitting my color scheme, and ofcourse good reviews, then saw a new version was comming which seems to fix the few bad things mentioned about it in reviews. The 965 CPU was in April when I started looking the best AMD on the marked, and still an affordable price (later the 6 core has been released, but it's still pretty expensive). However some say the 955 is pretty much as good, especially when overclocking, so might aswell save the 200DKK. The Crucial RAM is getting good reviews and still close to the cheapest ones. Was going for 8gb at first, but a Tom's Hardware article about RAM requirements made me change my mind to 4gb. More is only really needed if using multiple big applications like photoshop at once, which is quite rare for me, and can always upgrade later ofcourse.
Still might change some ofcourse if pricing changes, but I think this is very close to what I'll be getting. Might get the case and start casemodding while at my parents place for summer so I can use my fathers tools and such. The rest will probably be in August, September or when I have the money (so 2014).
