is this good build for £600?

First of all, you're supposed to be over 13 to post on this site but whatever...

Right I'm not an expert on computers... I've done my fair share of research and I know that this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-Builder-Series-Modular-Certified/dp/B00ALYOTTI/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1365539597&sr=1-1&keywords=corsair+modular modular PSU is worth the extra cash - the cables can be taken out meaning there is less excess cables in your case and it results in better airflow.

My friend actually purchased your CPU and I purchased its rival, this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Generation-i5-3570K-3-40GHz-Technology/dp/B007RUZKK6/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1365539817&sr=1-1&keywords=3570k
The i5 is actually better than the FX for gaming. Believe me, I spent weeks arguing with him, sending him benchmark results from multiple respectable tech websites until FINALLY he accepted that the i5 is superior for gaming. My friend only purchased the FX because he planned to do some video encoding which the i5 can do very well, just not as well as the FX.
So... I say go with the i5 3570k and this motherboard http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-Z77-DS3H-SKT-1155-Z77-DS3H-Motherboard/dp/B007KZQFOS/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1365540003&sr=1-1&keywords=z77 its the best chipset (z77) for the ivy bridge series, it allows you to overclock your CPU (which I don't recommend you do until you feel the lack of power).

Your RAM is the same as the RAM two of my friends purchased. In real life, day to day gaming YOU WILL NOT NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAM clocked at 1333Mhz to about 2000Mhz so extra cash spend on that RAM is just a waste. Of course you'll see the difference in benchmarks but the differences are so miniscule it just ain't worth it! here buy this instead http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT2KIT51264BD1339-8GB-4GB-Memory/dp/B005LDLV3Q/ref=sr_1_43?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1365540262&sr=1-43&keywords=crucial+8gb
just try to get your hands on RAM ASAP, the prices are on the rise so HURRY!!

PS apart from the parts mentioned it looks good! The link to your GPU doesnt work this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Club-3D-7870XTV-JokerCard-Graphic/dp/B00BF9EYFM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1365540689&sr=8-3&keywords=7870 is what I recommend
Your case looks nice. The HDD would be too small for me but its your call. If its enough its enough

Do you have a budget? If you have a limited amount of money, then stick with AMD. If you have no limit (you are a lucky kid ) then go with the i5.

Beyond that, it looks compatible, yes.

Yeah, for your budget, your choice would be a good build, but james is right about the i5 and the motherboard he picked. IF you can squeeze more money out, then go for that. If not then stick with what you have.

Don't touch that AMD stuff kid, especially when it comes to processors. Go with an Intel processor, no matter what. AMD FX processors can be...deceiving. My intel I5 can run circles around that 8 core with half the cores, it's all about efficiency. Trade in that FX series processor for an Intel I5. As for the graphics card, I hate to be a fanboy here but the features Nvidia has on their cards are just a bit more appealing to me personally. You have a lot more games optimized for them, the have PhysX and Cuda technology. Go with a GTX 660 if you can. The trick to getting more performance for less money is in the non essentials, make sure that's the best price you can possibly get on RAM. Think, "do I really need this case, or can I cut out some money here?" When on a budget fight for every dollar (or euro in your case) Cut out euros anywhere and everywhere you can and throw your money into essential parts. That's what I did. My mouse may not have LED's all over it, and my keyboard may just be the lowest priced razor out there, but my damn this b*tch runs ARMA II Operation Arrowhead at 52FPS like a bawss! And that's a game with 500sq mile maps! Just make sure your games run smooth as butter and you'll be fine. It's about throwing money into essentials and drawing it from non-essentials. Trust me, you only need a 500w or 450w power supply there. And you can go with 1333mhz RAM, unless you plan on having a 10,000 man battle on The Elder Scrolls Online, you don't need super fast RAM. As for your mobo, all you need is something with USB ports and a PCI input and the right socket. Everything else will take over and rock your computer regardless of the mother board you choose. The motherboard is like the wiring, you can get copper wiring, or gold wiring, (metaphorically) but it doesn't really make a difference when all you are making is a power cord. I hope This helps and gives you a nice full explanatory answer. (I'm in the middle of the ultimate PC challenge for my friend, an all around computer that will run any game smooth for $600, I know what I'm talking about)

Hi Sam,

I think the build you've suggested is good for the money. In respect to Kris-H22 it is true that Intel's I5 processors are faster in games- however they also cost more. The fact is that an AMD '8' core cpu is actually 4 'modules' that happen to be similar in size and performance to a single Intel 'core' (when running 2 threads). This means that you need an '8' core fx to match a '4' core i5, they are roughly equivalent. Due to the difference in approach the i5 wins in single threaded applications but is slightly slower when all threads are used.

The downside of the i5 however is that unless you get the top 'k' series part they are locked down, and at £160 for the cpu you are not going to get the unlocked chip. If it were me, I'd actually buy the slightly lower specced amd FX 8320- it is much cheaper (ebuyer have it for £125), and this chip is fully unlocked so you can boost it up to the speed of the 8350 with little effort on the stock cooler. There is nothing in Intel's line up that can match it for that price point and it would free up a little more money for the graphics card (which will make more difference to games performance).

With respect to RAM it is true the speed doesn't make much difference to performance- however when looking at the prices 1600 mhz ram is often cheaper than 1333 these days so go with what's cheapest (the main thing is to make sure you have enough ram- 8gb should be fine).

The graphics card you've chosen is a good option, as would be a gtx 660 as Kris suggested. With regard the 'added value' of physx and cuda- these are proprietary solutions from nVidia and its worth noting that a Radeon board can do all the same things through the standardised open CL code path. The Radeon boards are actually much more powerful than the nVidia 6xx series at computational work so I don't really view these as much of a benefit these days. There is one situation where an nVidia board is better- and that is if you intend to add a second card in the future in 'SLI' to boost performance. AMD offer an equivalent system known as 'Crossfire' however the performance of Crossfire is much less predictable than SLI. If you only intend to use a single card however the Radeons are generally better value for money at the moment and there's also the benefit of the nice free games bundle.

On the power supply side of things the key isn't the number of watts in total, but the amount of current the supply provides on a SINGLE 12V rail. A good quality 500W supply (e.g. coolermaster GX) will have a single 32A 12V rail. This is what supplies the graphics cards. There are allot of cheaper power supplies available that have several lower current (usually 18A) 12V rails and they simply cannot handle the current draw from a high power graphics card.

Final thing, I disagree totally with Kris regarding the motherboard. Cheap motherboards will work fine for a few months, however they use poor quality components in particular for the cpu power circuit. The end result is that 6 months down the line things like capacitors start failing and the whole system will start to suffer from unexpected problems like lock ups. A cheap motherboard is fine with other very cheap low spec components however when you're talking about a 125 W 8 core fx chip and a 200 W graphics card you're going to run into problems. The key things to look for on a decent motherboard are: Solid state capacitors for the VRM (the circuitry that supplies the power to the CPU) and dual bios (this means the board won't get bricked if there is a problem during bios upgrades in the future). The board you've selected looks OK however I can't find any information about the components used on the Asus website so I would look at other similar priced options that do specify the solid state capacitors (the better Gigabyte boards all tend to offer this).

I would go for something like this, it's slightly over but you get a very good GPU that will give you excellent 1080P performance.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz 6-Core Processor (£100.39 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.49 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£61.80 @ Dabs)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£38.91 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£50.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (£239.98 @ Dabs)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.94 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.41 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£10.59 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £627.50
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-21 21:00 BST+0100)