PC Hardware Buyer's Guide August 2013

Enthusiast Overclocker August 2013

It's near top-to-bottom changes for our ever-popular Enthusiast Overclocker this time too. The system is somewhat dearer than it was 12 months ago, but is altogether much more potent as a result. We've opted for Intel's new Core i5-4670K, which sits at the heart of our new Haswell-based Enthusiast Overclocker system.



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The 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-4670K isn't quite as overclockable as its Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge counterparts but is noticeably faster clock for clock and by switching from LGA1155 to LGA1150, you're getting a much longer upgrade path too.

We've opted for MSI's Z87-G45 Gaming motherboard as the mainstay of the system. It looks great, is easy to overclock and costs less than £120 too. It's a bit more expensive than some of the cheaper Z87 motherboards available now but we can vouch for its overclocking potential.

Our graphics card choice reflects the best option for a £200 pixel-pusher, which is just as at home at higher resolutions as it is on a 20in or 22in monitor. Nvidia's GTX 760 2GB is a brilliant all-rounder and beats AMD's Radeon HD 7950 3GB in most of our tests.

We've also changed the CPU cooler for our overclocking-orientated system. SilverStone's Argon AR01 is awesomely cheap but offers fantastic cooling, is easy to install and is fairly quiet too. What more could you want from a CPU cooler?


Our choice of case remains faithful to Fractal, thanks to a superb performance from its Arc Midi R2. As we put it in our review it's a 'fine example of a case revision done right'. You've got fan control, USB 3.0 support, dust filters a great layout and cable-routeing plus support for all-in-one liquid coolers or custom water-cooling kits.

For our PSU, we've gone for Thermaltake's SP-530PCWEU, which is much cheaper than modular examples but still offers up over 500W of stable power - more than enough for our Enthusiast Overclocker system. If you must have a modular PSU then we can highly recommend Corsair's HX650, which retails for around £90.

If you haven't got a copy already, you might also want to factor in a copy of Windows 7 - if you're confident that you won't be upgrading much, then an OEM copy should be fine, but serial upgraders need the pricier retail version.