Hardware upgrade - possible?

[HansV]

(I have a box somewhere with leftover nuts and other thingies from IKEA. I won't be able to use them for anything of course...)

[Argus]

That's why I picked the Define R5 from Fractal Design. It's the very latest in self-assembly! Open the box, toss the pieces on the floor and a within a minute you have a case ready to be used. Truly amazing. Something with exposure to light, they say.
(I've heard that some customers found the case already assembled when they opened the box; the explanation I've read is that the force is so strong that the parts start the process within 30 days even if inside a dark box.)

Sorry for following the path, laid by others to OT-land, Keith. Guess we need some more questions, a conundrum, something.

No matter if you decide to change only the CPU & motherboard + RAM, or to go all-in, there are some sites where you can compare CPU performance (they certainly don't tell us everything, and some sites only measure one benchmark, but when comparing CPUs it can tell us something about performance). For example:

Passmark's CPU Benchmarks.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CPU-World
http://www.cpu-world.com/benchmarks/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[viking33]

Those Fractal Design cases appear to be a great design engineering job. A lot of thought has gone into these things. Also reasonable price. Makes me want to go get one, even though I don't really need a new case! My present case gives me good cooling factor with very quiet fans and adequate space allotment, so I'll just have to keep them in mind for my next upgrade. Thanks for the tips, Jay and Argus.

[Argus]

Yes, Bob, I think they have done a great job on several points, and they have a couple different design lines. I like the Define, as Jay, for the mix, balance, between silence and cooling; and there's lots of space for cooling, HDDs & SSDs, and they were quite early known for good cable management (especially space on the back). As I guess most modern cases it's toolless (apart from the motherboard standoffs, and I my case, I think, for removing the 5.25" cage, everything else is thumb screws).

Of course there are a couple of other brands out there ..., with quite sharp competition; Corsair, Cooler Master, NZXT, Phanteks etc. and they do pick up ideas from each other. But I definitely like Fractal Design for their focus on function combined with a minimalistic design (I'm a Swede after all ); and with a Swedish company behind the design it was an easy decision.

(BTW, forgot to mention, the mouse pad is apparently "designed" in Denmark. A square piece of cloth and rubber.)

[aekyall]

Thanks Argus - Those two comparison sites very useful