First time Gaming PC Build. I need advices, solutions, clarifications, and recommendations.

Royce18

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Dec 2, 2013
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So after I asked for questions, advices, solutions, clarifications, and recommendations. I came up with this Gaming PC Build: (My additional comments is kinda long but it's worth reading to understand what I'm up to and help me better with my problem. Thank you!)

AMD FX-6300 = $119.13 or P5300 (Majestic Computer Sales Price)
Asus M5A97 R2.0 = $94.99 or P4226.11 (Newegg Price)
Sapphire Toxic R9 270X OC = $242.75 or P10800 (Majestic Computer Sales Price)
G.skill RipjawsX 8GB = $78.67 or P3500 (Majestic Computer Sales Price)
Seasonic M12II 620W 80+ Bronze = $87.66 or P3900 (Majestic Computer Sales Price)
Cooler Master Elite 430 = $49.99 or P2224.06 (Newegg Price)
Asus 24D3ST Black 24x SATA = $21.35 or P950 (PC Hub Price [I'm not sure if this is the exact ODD, and price she told me.])

Total = $694.54 or P30900.17 (I just converted USD to PHP.)

Approximate purchase date: 7 months from now (Still saving up money. I went to the retail shops and did a price canvassing, and there were like 10+ of them and got those lowest prices with the "Majestic Computer Sales")

Usage from most to least important: Gaming like BF4, AC4BF, COD: Ghosts, etc. at Ultra settings.

Current GPU and PSU: Sapphire Toxic R9 270X OC and Seasonic M12II 620W 80+ Bronze

Preferred websites for parts:
http://www.newegg.com/
http://www.tipidpc.com/useritems.php?username=Majestic
http://www.tipidpc.com/useritems.php?username=PCHub
http://www.pcoptionsph.com/
http://pcx.com.ph/

Country of Origin: Philippines
Links to the place I went to price canvassing:
http://i.imgur.com/AFL6Ee4.png
https://maps.google.com.ph/maps?ie=UTF-8&q=gilmore&fb=1&gl=ph&hq=gilmore&hnear=0x3397ca03571ec38b:0x69d1d5751069c11f,Manila&ei=-261UrulA6eTige79YGYCg&ved=0CJ8BELYD

Overclocking: No (But I might when I learn about it and how to do it.)

Monitor Resolution: 1360x768

Additional comments:

From what the sellers said, Asus M5A97 R2.0 is hard to find and rarely come available to some retail shops that sells Asus brands, but they have an Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 though I checked the differences between them, and their main specs are the same but the Asus M5A97 R2.0 (non-LE) have more ports and features. Therefore, the Majestic Computer Sales seller recommended me a same-ish motherboard which is Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P (this one have less ports and features and lower rating than the Asus M5A97 R2.0 [non-LE]) since they don't sell Asus brands, he said.

Question is... which one has the better quality and performance? Are there other motherboard would you recommend which has better quality and performance, but has the same-ish price than the Asus M5A97 R2.0?

Links for the motherboards:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/#overview
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_LE_R20/#overview
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4591#ov

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a retail shop that sells a Cooler Master Elite 430, but the Majestic Computer Sales recommended me another case which is Raidmax Cobra. I reviewed the differences between these cases, and found out that Cooler Master Elite 430 have 6x cooling fans (which I like and want to setup [1x front, side, bottom, rear, and 2x top]), smaller dimensions, but no cable management while the Raidmax Cobra have 5x cooling fans (1x front, bottom, rear, 2x top, and no side), bigger dimensions, with cable management, I/O Port 1x USB 3.0, and more features.

Problem is, Cooler Master Elite 430 is hard to find while the Raidmax Cobra is available, but the dimensions are big and won't fit to where will I put it and it doesn't have a side fan which my friend told me that the case need at least to have 1x side cooling fan. Is it alright not to have a 1x side cooling fan? The thermal solution I will make is what is illustrated on the Cooler Master Elite 430 website link below. Are there other mid-tower case would you recommend, but has the same-ish price? By the way, will the Sapphire Toxic R9 270X OC will fit to either cases I mentioned above?

Links for the cases:
http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/case/mid-tower/elite-430-black.html
http://raidmax.com/chassis/cobra.html

Please anwer all my questions and problems. I really need answers for these as well as your advices, solutions, clarifications, and recommendations. It will be very helpful and thankful for me.

Sorry for double posting in different section categories because it seems that my first post was in a wrong section, so I decided to make another one here.

Thank you!
 
Solution
Comparing those 2 cases, I'd go with the Raidmax. Losing the side fan isn't a bad price to pay for gaining cable management options. If you have other fans for you system, you'll get plenty of air flow to make up for the loss of the side fan, but if you don't have cutouts to route cables behind the motherboard tray you can only do so much to clean up the cables in your system. Also, with the cables routed behind, you'll get better air flow in the case too and that helps. The Corsair 200r isn't a bad option either, and it's P2800 here: http://pcx.com.ph/components/chassis/corsair/corsair-200r.html

Another motherboard to consider would be the AsRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0. It's about 84 dollars at newegg, and offers a good selection of...
Comparing those 2 cases, I'd go with the Raidmax. Losing the side fan isn't a bad price to pay for gaining cable management options. If you have other fans for you system, you'll get plenty of air flow to make up for the loss of the side fan, but if you don't have cutouts to route cables behind the motherboard tray you can only do so much to clean up the cables in your system. Also, with the cables routed behind, you'll get better air flow in the case too and that helps. The Corsair 200r isn't a bad option either, and it's P2800 here: http://pcx.com.ph/components/chassis/corsair/corsair-200r.html

Another motherboard to consider would be the AsRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0. It's about 84 dollars at newegg, and offers a good selection of features for the price. It's also a solid motherboard manufacturer.
 
Solution
Your plan is reasonable, but premature.
In 7 months, there will be new products and pricing.

Some comments:
In principle, budgeting twice the cost of your cpu for a graphics card is appropriate.

Seasonic is one of the best quality psu's and can run about any graphics card out there.

8gb of ram is about right. Make it a 2 x 4gb kit to get dual channel operation.

A case is a personal decision. Buy one you like to look at. All will function adequately and hold your parts.

If you will be overclocking, buy an aftermarket cpu cooler. the cm hyper212 is a good value.


 
I forgot it was 7 months in advance. By that time both Intel and Amd should have released new Cpu's and that will greatly affect your decision. The case and power supply are some things you could buy now though, because they won't change in that time frame. Tech though, Cpu/Motherboard/Gpu and possibly Ram will.
 

Royce18

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Dec 2, 2013
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As what you've said, "losing the side fan isn't a bad price to pay for gaining cable management option," so the only problem now is how will I fit it to where will I put which is on top of a drawer lol with a 21" length which has the same length of the Raidmax Cobra. I like the Raidmax Cobra, but it will force me to buy a new computer table that this case would fit as well as the monitor I'm planning to upgrade to 21"-27" inches with 1920x1080 resolution, and my room is small with not enough space for a new bigger computer table. The Corsair Carbride 200R is good too and I guess it's available here in my country, yet I'm not sure if it's available though.

As for the motherboard, here's a similar thread I found http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1696867/asus-m5a97-asrock-970-extreme.html, but someone recommended the GA-970A-UD3 and picked it as the best solution.

Which of these motherboards is the best when it comes to quality, performance, and maybe the price also: Asus M5A97 R2.0, Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P, Gigabyte GA-970A-UDR, Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P, and AsRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0.

I'm kinda confused between their differences between quality, performance, durability, price, etc.

Links for the motherboards:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme3%20R2.0/
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4717#sp
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4396#ov
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4591#ov
 
Well, another possible option is if you are willing to spend a bit more on the Cpu/motherboard combo you could buy a micro-atx motherboard and get a micro-atx case.

These are newegg prices for an mAtx setup.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus P8H77-M LE Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $281.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-21 12:43 EST-0500)

To answer your question about the other motherboards, I'd buy Asus, Asrock, Gigabyte, Msi in that order generally. I've used all of those brands, and have actually had the most problems with Asus, but I'll continue to buy them still.
 

Royce18

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Dec 2, 2013
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I couldn't spend any more than $670-$785, and I think that build isn't available on some retail shops I went recently.

I think that Asus M5A97 R2.0 would be my priority choice while the other motherboards: AsRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0, Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P, Gigabyte GA-970A-UDR, and Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P in that order would be my other choices if Asus M5A97 R2.0 is still not available, or hard to find.

Anyway, it will be 7 months from now before I buy this build. Like what you've guys said, there will be new products and pricing that will greatly affect my build decision. I'm just trying to keep my build up-to-date like until the time I'm ready to buy this build with some changing with these parts as they introduce new products and pricing.
 

Royce18

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Dec 2, 2013
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Here's a price update with my build. This time, I canvassed the prices from their websites, and not from what the seller told me at their retail shops.

List of their websites:
http://www.newegg.com/
http://www.tipidpc.com/useritems.php?username=PCHub
http://www.tipidpc.com/useritems.php?username=Majestic
http://www.pcoptionsph.com/
http://pcx.com.ph/

The build:
AMD FX-6300 = $124.30 or P5530 (PC Hub Price)
Asus M5A97 R2.0 = $94.99 or P4226.11 (Newegg Price)
Sapphire Toxic R9 270X OC = $247.22 or P10999 (PC Hub Price)
G.skill RipjawsX 8GB (4GB x2) DDR3 1600 MHz = $92.38 or P4110 (PC Hub Price)
Seasonic M12II 620W 80+ Bronze = $89.89 or P3999 (PC Hub Price)
Raidmax Cobra = $57.99 or P2580 (PC Hub Price)
Asus 24D3ST Black 24x SATA = $21.35 or P950 (PC Hub Price)

Total = $728.12 or P32394.11

Other choices:
AsRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 = $91.03 or P4050 (PC Hub Price)
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P = $99.99 or P4448.56 (Newegg Price)
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P = $84.74 or P3770 (PC Hub Price)

Cooler Master Elite 430 = $49.99 or P2224.06 (Newegg Price)
Corsair Carbride 200R = $68.33 or P3040 (PC Hub Price)
Thermaltake V3 Black Edition = $46.08 or P2050 (PC Express Price)
Thermaltake V4 Black Edition = $47.43 or P2110 (PC Express Price)

I replaced the Cooler Master Elite 430 with Raidmax Cobra since it is the most available on those retail shops, but it still won't fit on top of my drawer where will I put the case lol, thus, forcing me to buy a new table for this great case.

I'm thinking of replacing the Asus M5A97 R2.0 with AsRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 since the PC Hub is the only retail shop whose selling it from their website. Because the Asus M5A97 R2.0 is hard to find and like Swordkd said, "it (AsRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0) offers a good selection of features for the price. It's also a solid motherboard manufacturer."