gaming pc

Gaming PC: Antec Case Swap

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After a hectic few months, I’ve finally made the time to sit down and get post prepared. In October, after growing tired of the shear size of my gaming PC and the dangerous urge for a change, I ended up making an unexpected decision. I’ve loved my Antec 1200 case to bits, I’d still like it to go to a good home where it’ll hopefully get a proper kitting out & make someone very happy, but after having it since July 2008, I seriously felt the need for a change. Granted a huge part of this urge for change is feeling the beating call of a new-build on the horizon, but I don’t want to give in to this too soon.

My gaming PC is over 4 years old, it’d hardware’s dated and needing an upgrade, but when I do cave in and upgrade, I want to do it right and have the budget for it. A part of me is just so satisfied squishing every last bit of power out of a dated system and Starfury still meets all of my needs without struggling noticeably. After taking all of this into consideration, I decided to swap out my Antec 1200 case … for an Antec 300!

Antec 1200 PC Case
Antec 1200 just before being emptied.

 

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Tech Pickups: Oct 2012

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After a long debate over what to do when it comes to my gaming PC, I’ve held back on frequent urges to blow a load of cash on upgrading the entire thing. It’s 4yrs old, it’s running an old socket 775, DDR2 motherboard in an Antec 1200 full tower case. Let me begin by saying I’ve LOVED the Antec 1200 case to bits, you’ve no idea the geekjoy I’ve experienced over the years tinkering with hardware in it, but alas its time has come. The case is fantastic, but I’ve reached the point where I’m fed up with the entire thing roaring like an aircraft carrier even with the fans on their lowest setting. It never used to bother me that much, but after building the gorgeously, sleek & silent ANBU earlier this year, I’ve come to appreciate the quiet you can achieve with PCs!

Antec 1200 Case
Antec 1200 Case

Since the hardware’s pushing dated, I’m still adamant I’ll get another year out of it, but I WILL be looking at a full, new gaming build next year. For now, I’ve done a bit of a tidy and stuck a lot of old tech, games, etc up for sale to garner some spare cash for future upgrades and just in time for Christmas. Currently, a new Antec 1200 case still gets around £120! Granted, mine is several years old, but I’ve taken very good care of it and at this point in time I’m feeling the need for a change. This won’t be an upgrade, it’ll be an interim case to fit my needs initially and see me through until the new build next year.

Tonight, to this end, I’ve ordered the following goodies:

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Gaming PC: Proposed Upgrades

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Now, to business! With the release of Guild Wars 2 this week, and World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria expansion next month, I’m feeling the urge to upgrade my gaming PC a little. Nothing major since my Hackintosh project is far more pressing at the moment and alas my budget won’t stretch to building a completely new gaming PC – much as I’d love to! Currently, my gaming rig is as follows:

Starfury Gaming PC
My Gaming PC, Starfury 🙂

Antec 1200 Case
MSI P7N SLI Platinum motherboard
2.4GHz Intel Quad Core Q6600
4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR2 RAM
500GB Seagate Barracuda HDD
2x 512MB GDDR3 9600GT Nvidia SLI
Windows 7 64bit

Firstly I may start tinkering with the overclock on my CPU again to try and get my 3.0GHz back again. Everything was just that little bit more smooth when sporting 4 x 3.0GHz. I originally was running at 3.0GHz, but when I upgraded my RAM from 2GB to 4GB in Feb this year, I suffered a lot of stability issues. I’d upgraded to 4GB RAM, but since my motherboard’s older now, still DDR2, alas RAM is very expensive so I doubt I’ll be upping this to 8GB anytime soon! It cost £49 just to pick up the cheapest DDR2 2x2GB kit I could find, a price to cringe at considering the same 4GB kit as DDR3 only costs £30 and 8GB barely £35-45. So until my next proper gaming build, the motherboard (an MSI P7N SLI Platinum), CPU and RAM will remain as they are.

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