Minor questions, first time building a computer

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VOLT Overload

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Dec 29, 2012
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10,510
Well, hello there. I was planning on building a computer, mainly for gaming, and a little bit of media stuff... Either way, I've checked with a few sources, and they seem to agree on most of the parts listed here: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yv46qs, but I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions on any of it, the two areas I really would like to look into in particular are, 1) if there is a cheaper case... While I know the R4 is a good one, it's a bit pricey for me, and one of the few areas I'd want to cut down on. 2) I want to know a bit more about the SSD, since I do want one, great boot times, and good for games with lengthy loads, all that good stuff, but I am not sure if Crucial's good, or if a Samsung is really THAT much better, or if there are any other major contenders... If any of you could help, it would be much appreciated.
 
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ksham
Depends on the application that you use. Even an i7 (quad-core with Hyper-Threading) is a top card for data processing. Similar with the Xeon processor (quad-core with HT). The virtual cores in HT do not equate to actual physical cores though. So the hexacore is more than capable of doing that.

Having said that, I would like to mention that the individual cores on the i7 and Xeon are superior than those in the FX-series. While the FX-series CPU have more cores, each individual core is weaker than the ones in the i3, i5, and i7. This means that for most tasks that are only using a few cores (1-2 cores), the Intel CPUs will stomp the FX all day. And most tasks on your computer are single threaded. Even light to medium media processing do...
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V

VOLT Overload

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Dec 29, 2012
24
0
10,510
Well, i was going to get that PowerColor card, but there's an XFX with the same chipset and same GHZ for around the same cost, slightly more. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/shxn8d. I wanted to keep it to $1050, and as you can see in that link, it's $1075. So, are there any places you see something I could/should cut down on?
 
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ksham

ksham

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Mar 29, 2013
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How does this look?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ TigerDirect)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($83.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB ACX Video Card ($235.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.48 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: BenQ GL2460HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill N900PCE 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1049.01
 
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V

VOLT Overload

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Dec 29, 2012
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10,510
Thanks for the suggestions on all that... While I agree with most of it, and don't wanna sound like I'm complaining here, is the GTX that much more worth it than the 7870? And the 6300, that would get everything I needed done as well? I'm just thinking that if I did stick with the 7870 or a slightly greater card for lesser price than that, I can get some decent peripherals as well, unless you think that this is objectively that much better, that the pricing differential is worth it.
 
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ksham

ksham

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Mar 29, 2013
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It's possible that I misunderstood your request. If so, please be more specific. Here is my knowledge on your thread: $1050 build for gaming, and some accessories included.

So I took what you had and worked with it. I didn't increase the price or remove any peripherals (other than one case fan which you don't need). I kept what you had but re-allocated where money is spent. I upped the quality and lowered the cost to your specifications.

Most games use only two cores. The additional cores do help in a few select games like Crysis 3, Watch Dogs, and BF4. But for your budget, I opted for a hexacore, which is more than sufficient and will not bottleneck the GPU.

The GTX 760 is about 10-15% faster than the HD 7870. That number may sound small, but when the GPU has to do millions upon millions of instructions in a very short amount of time, that 10% can add up.

For a $1050 budget and the build is primarily for gaming, I put forth the best build that I think is worth $1050. It may not be the best price/performance build.
 
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V

VOLT Overload

Honorable
Dec 29, 2012
24
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10,510
Well, thanks for clarifying the changes you made, and no, that budget doesn't really have to include periphery. I have a sufficient keyboard and mouse, just, I dunno, being stingy on the graphics card I guess? Either way, yeah, I can see your reasoning behind the better GPU, and on the CPU... Yeah, I can see what you mean. Wouldn't really need 8 cores for anything except higher-up media processing... And 6 cores is still better than a quad
 
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ksham

ksham

Splendid
Mar 29, 2013
8,398
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29,960
Depends on the application that you use. Even an i7 (quad-core with Hyper-Threading) is a top card for data processing. Similar with the Xeon processor (quad-core with HT). The virtual cores in HT do not equate to actual physical cores though. So the hexacore is more than capable of doing that.

Having said that, I would like to mention that the individual cores on the i7 and Xeon are superior than those in the FX-series. While the FX-series CPU have more cores, each individual core is weaker than the ones in the i3, i5, and i7. This means that for most tasks that are only using a few cores (1-2 cores), the Intel CPUs will stomp the FX all day. And most tasks on your computer are single threaded. Even light to medium media processing do not use up many cores. Only high-end and extreme cases will you see all cores being used in great efficiency. And that is when the FX may win over Intel.

Anyway, that's a bit of a tangent. The upgrade to GPU is always good depending on when you do it. if you paid $120 for a GPU and wanted to upgrade, you would have to spend the extra cost of the full GPU. But if you can fit it into your budget to upgrade by spending an additional $100, then it may be worth it. Peripherals are cheap and you can get them whenever as they are not as crucial. GPUs are a lot more expensive, especially if you're deciding between a $200 and $300 GPU, thinking the $200 is not so much less powerful than the $300 so you buy the $200 but if you want to upgrade, you'll end up spending an additional $300+ later. You can try selling your existing one if you can find someone to buy it. There's a fine line there on what is optimal spending. But 10% increase are quite a big deal in the GPU world apparently. So a HD 7870 is about 50% slower than a GTX 780 Ti. So you're thinking -- with the speed of technology nowadays, 50% is like milliseconds without considering the amount of processing that a GPU has to do. So 50% adds up to so much.
 
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