My first build

WrathofKhan · Jul 9, 2014

This is my first attempt at building a pc. I would like to make sure the parts I have picked are compatible. I would also love to hear if you have any recommendations. Please keep in mind I'm on a budget of no more than $800, and that I used pcpartpicker, and some of my own research, to see if these parts will work. I am planning on buying:
-Corsair Vengeance C70
-Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 motherboard
-Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
-Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5"
-Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM HDD
-Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
-AMD FX-8350
-Powercolor Radeon HD 6870; this is temporary, I plan on getting a Radeon 7970 off eBay

Thank you so much for your time!!

byza · Jul 9, 2014

Don't get a CX PSU, the capacitors in them are not very good. Do you plan on overclocking? Do you need OS?

MalakiArtook · Jul 9, 2014

on a $800 build i would not bother with a ssd. that money would go much further with a better GPU. also get a tier 1 or 2 psu
http://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx
other than that it looks fine.

WrathofKhan · Jul 9, 2014

I can get a free copy of windows 8 (I can't remember which edition) for being part of the engineering college at BSU. I don't plan on doing any overclocking to start with. The reason I'm going with a 7970 is because I know I can get one for pretty cheap and it's still a good card. My cousin has a 7970 and can run the majority of his games on ultra (Far Cry 3, Arma 2 (possibly Arma 3), Bio Shock Infinite, etc.). As to regards to the CX series PSU, how big of an issue are the caps in there? Most of the reviews I've seen have all regarded the PSU as a great buy.

WrathofKhan · Jul 9, 2014

Would you say a SeaSonic S12G-650 would be a better buy? What do you recommend?

byza · Jul 9, 2014

Definitely the SeaSonic.

MalakiArtook · Jul 9, 2014

seasonic is #1 in the psu world. anything seasonic or xfx is best in its class.

WrathofKhan · Jul 9, 2014

I looked at the list you posted, extremely helpful by the way, and it said Roswill Capstone PSU's are part of the tier 2 list. Do you think a Rosewill
CAPSTONE-750 would also be a good choice?

GorfTheFrog · Jul 9, 2014

Hi -
Here's a bit more practical insight into why most of us stay away from the Corsair CX series PSUs.

From Corsair's website:
http://www.corsair.com/~/media/Corsair/download-files/at-a-glance-guides/aag-psu-041913.pdf

The CX series is rated for approx. an 80 degree F temp. Inside your box you're likely to have temps much higher than that, especially if you're gaming. I've built with other Corsiar PSUs and had really good luck.

For full disclosure, I did build a box with the CX once. It was for my retired parents. Thier most strenuous applications are email, skype, and YouTube. I put an extra fan on the case as well.

I agree with the above comment to defer on the SSD if you're trying to make a budget.

Also, check out some of the articles on Toms. The System Builder articles have a series on building budget PCs, and Toms releases a monthly article on best graphics cards for the money and best CPUs for the money. If you're budget constrained these will help tremendously.

Hope this helps!

###

byza · Jul 9, 2014

Yes a Capstone is a good choice.

stickmansam · Jul 9, 2014

everything should be compatible

try and get a 7970 that has not been mining

WrathofKhan · Jul 9, 2014

Why would you shy away from a card that has been mining? Are you concerned about miners overclocking their cards?

stickmansam · Jul 9, 2014

mining cards will have likely faced higher temperatures for longer periods of time, potential overclocking and under load for longer

byza · Jul 9, 2014

It's like buying a car that has done 20,000 miles vs 100,000 miles. It could run fine, but it's a lot more likely to conk-out.

WrathofKhan · Jul 10, 2014

Do you think it would be ok to buy a mining card that has only been used for a few months and has not been overclocked?

stickmansam · Jul 10, 2014

a 3 months old mining card is probably at about a year of normal usage
but card was working harder during that time

mining card at 3 months = 3x30x24 = 2160 hours
year of gaming + basic use = 8x30x12 = 2880 hours

I think if you can get a good price for it, it's worth it
and if it's still in warranty with original receipt, then thats even better

byza · Jul 10, 2014

The problem with mining is the cards are under load for very long periods of time, as any down time is lost money. I've got a friend who mines and the computer does not turn off. I wouldn't personally get a mining card, but that being said, it could work great, but the risk is higher that it won't.

Is the $800 budget for the build including GPU or plus GPU?
For $800 included I think you'd be better served by this
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($127.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($249.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $812.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

New GPU so you know it hasn't been OC'd or worked too hard. Scratch the SSD, it's not worth it in an $800 build and can add one easily later. Get a cheaper case, $110 out of an $800 build again is not worth it. CPU cooler, quieter than stock and ready to OC, and a quality budget PSU.

stickmansam · Jul 10, 2014

^ pretty much that but you can save $15 by getting a XFX 650W (made by seasonic)

byza · Jul 10, 2014

stickmansam :

I actually meant to select the XFX, but I must have forgotten to click...
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)

WrathofKhan · Jul 10, 2014

My $800 build includes the gpu. This is US dollars, in case anybody reading this is from Canada. I wasn't originally intending to buy a cooler because I wasn't planning on overclocking. To me it didn't seem necessary. I saw benchmarks for a stock FX-8350 that were very comparable to Intel's 4770k stock. I have personally seen the performance of the 7970 and it runs just about any game on ultra settings. If I am not overclocking I don't believe I will need anything other than the stock cooler. Please correct me if I am wrong. If any of you were wondering why I am leaning toward buying a gpu on eBay is because I have seen some pretty fantastic deals on there, deals I couldn't find if I were buying a card new.

WrathofKhan · Jul 10, 2014

Why do you think the XFX psu would be a better choice?

byza · Jul 10, 2014

It's cheaper and a very good PSU. In a budget build, you really need to look for bang for your buck and the XFX delivers that.
That being said, if it were me, i'd spend a little extra to get a full or semi-modular PSU, but i'm a neat freak when it comes to cable management, even if I can't see it.

You don't need a, after market CPU cooler if your not overclocking, stock is fine. But you said "not yet" to OC, so i figured if you're going to do it later, buy the cooler now as it's a bit of a hassle to change.

I understand why you would buy a card off ebay, especially on a tight budget. I personally would get a new card, but if you want to buy one from ebay, then thats your choice. But if you want us to create a build and you want to buy certain used parts, then give us a budget minus what those parts will cost you and tell us what parts to leave out or our recommendations. Most of us don't even trust some brands with new parts, so we're not going to recommend a used part as we can't be sure you'll get a quality component.

As far as the FX-8350 vs i7 -4770, the 8350 performs well on some synthetic benchmarks, but its real world performance doesn't mirror these results. The 4770 is considerably better, but it's price/performance is less than the 8350. Pretty much if you got the cash, Intel have better CPU's, but for a budget build you can't go past AMD.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/11/06/amd-fx-8350-review/6

And actually now that i've looked at the price your paying, i'd get an Intel i5-4690 w/ Asus H97 Fatal1ty Killer if you're building the PC for gaming.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($115.91 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($249.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $790.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

MalakiArtook · Jul 10, 2014

As far as the gpu thing goes a card used to mine for a few months is fine. especially if it was over the winter. a card running for hours or even all day at a consistent temp isn't actually that bad for it. What is bad is rapid heating and cooling of the card which is much more likely to happen in applications such as gaming or stress testing. Basically don't worry about buying a used card off ebay that may or may not have been used for mining. More likely than not the card has been threw the ringer and came out the other side strong meaning is a good card. You can get a 280x of ebay for $175 right now or even less

stickmansam · Jul 10, 2014

most games

i7=i5 >f x8350 > 8320

applications and 3d stuff and rendering and encoding

i7 > fx 8350 > 8320 >=i5

WrathofKhan · Jul 10, 2014

As far as the benchmarks go I did look at some artificial ones, but the benchmarks I really looked to were benchmarks performed by Linus from Linus Tech Tips. He benchmarks cards and CPU's by putting them through their paces in game (in the same scenario repeatedly per game). He showed the 8350 was pretty close to the 4770k, performance wise, in a few games. I'm pretty sold on the 8350 based on its price per performance. I should also note I do not plan on doing anything like video editing so hyperthreading would not be that great of an advantage to me. It is my understanding hyperthreading, while giving some performance boost in games, is primarily intended for things like video editing where the computer know what is coming next.
I realize I should have specified that I am not going to spend over $150 on a card on eBay (my cousin got his card for $130). The cards I am looking at are Saphire 7970's (primarily) and 290/290x's by windforce, Saphire, and Gigabyte (primarily). You guys can leave the gpu out of your recommendations.
If at all possible I would like to avoid changing my case from a Corsair C70. I fell in love with that case for multiple reasons. It has great airflow, tons of room for expansion, great cable management, comes with 3 fans, handles are a plus (I will be hauling this case around for LAN parties), but also it looks freaking amazing (in my opinion).
I do have a question for you guys. Why do you feel an SSD would not benefit my build?

My first build

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