First gaming build advice encouraged

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mas7873

mas7873

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Nov 21, 2014
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So after changing my mind countless times, I've made the decision to go with and AMD gaming build with some better other components rather than the more expensive Intel build I had planned out. So please tell me your thoughts, and I also need a good suggestion for a case. Something with LED fans and preferably under $150 CAD. The items on the build listed as $0.00 are because I already own these components.

pcpartpicker build list

CPU - AMD FX-8350 4.0Ghz 8-Core
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard - Asus Sabertooth 990FX ATX AM3+
Memory - G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866
Storage -
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM HDD
Video Card - Sapphire Radeon R9 290x
Power Supply - Corsair HX850
Optical Drive - ASUS DRW-24F1ST
Case - Undecided - Leaning towards a Corsair 230T because they have LED fans and are only $75, however, still open to suggestions
 
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Tradesman1
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Enthusiast Builder

Enthusiast Builder

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Jan 17, 2014
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In my opinion...
1) You don't need 850 watts for this build. Buy a quality 750 watt psu - I picked one that is rosewill branded, but actually made by Superflower I believe - very good quality for the price
2) You don't need 16gigs of RAM for gaming...you have a dual channel motherboard with four slots, so you could upgrade to 16 at a later date, but for now buy 4x2 gigs.; plenty for gaming.
3) I'd splurge a bit and get the 400R; the LEDs on the front fans are controllable (can turn them off), and the case allows for more stuff than a 230t (which is also a great value). The 400R will accommodate a big radiator if you eventually go down that route, and has other features that - in my opinion - are worth it.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/L74KkL
 
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mas7873

mas7873

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Yeah I was wondering whether I needed that big a PSU or not, so thought I'd be on the safe side. But I'll go check out the PSU you suggested, and with 8gb of ram rather than 16 that frees some money up for a better case as you said. Thanks for the help!
 
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mdocod

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I'm having a hard time comprehending a build that leverages the old version of a motherboard that is selling for $300, when the new version of the board is selling for $180, then proceeds to try to use that $180 board to hopefully "fix" the performance deficits of a $150 CPU.

The build as listed has $450 tied up in CPU/MOBO, enough to easily afford an i7-4790K on a reasonable Z97 board.

Perhaps you could learn something from this: http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/9998402001

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Best performance vs load on the memory controller is with 2 ranks installed per channel. Stick =/= rank. Some "sticks" are single rank, some are dual rank. The memory controller sees the same load with 1 dual rank stick per channel, or 2 single rank sticks per channel. FYI: Most 4GB dimms these days are single rank. A 2x4GB configuration is not necessarily a performance "ideal" with currently shipping DIMMs.
 
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mas7873

mas7873

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The reason I'm going for the Sabertooth 990FX is because my uncle (who builds computers) had this motherboard as a spare, so to save some expenses he's allowing me to use it in my build. If I were to buy a new motherboard I would go with the 2.0 as it is cheaper and newer. And I've tested out some i7 builds and FX-8320/8350's and I don't notice enough of a difference to justify dropping the extra $200 (especially as a student) if I'm not going to be doing a lot of hard core video/photo rendering.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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___________

Not that I've seen, you are also adding additional electrical load to to the channel with two sticks drawing power in each channel vs one. Additionally this is AMD i.e. the FX processors are rated UP TO 1866 at 1 DIMM per channel, using 4 sticks causes a drop in expected freq probability. So for 8GB you will see better performance out of a 2x4GB rather than 4x2GB ...
 
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Enthusiast Builder

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Sorry - I made the notation backwards. Of course I meant two 4gig sticks of RAM, not four 2gig sticks. Hopefully the rationale that I suggested (you can always buy two more 4gig sticks to upgrade to 16 later) made it clear...
 
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