8320 gaming? ($1K budget INCLUDING monitor)

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fox01

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Feb 4, 2014
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tl;dr
- Budget: $1k or less preferable
- Willing to overclock: yes
- Need monitor: yes (1080p)
- Primary use: gaming (gta v, etc)

I want to build a computer for gaming, which is capable of running newer games (such as GTA V) reasonably well. I want the total price to be less than $1000 but the lower the better. I don't have a preferred merchant or anything like that. I didn't add a graphics card because someone is donating me theirs when they buy a new one soon so I am just worried about whether the rest of the build is capable.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($134.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($94.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer H226HQLbid 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($125.39 @ Amazon)
Total: $658.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-07 22:23 EDT-0400

I put this together but I think it's rubbish probably. I am willing to overclock as well. I like the idea of the 8-core processor because I like to multi task and do SOME processor heavy things (like converting video files to other formats, etc. But my primary concern is gaming.

Thank you much.
 
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I'm actually surprised no one replied yet. Just quickly looking at your chosen parts, I don't anything that pops out as being wrong. Why do you think it's rubbish? I put together a comparable Intel build. The primary advantages are that the chipset is quite a bit newer, and single threaded applications (or lightly threaded ones) will perform much better with the i5. Other than that, if you prefer AMD, go for it (I know you said you don't have a preferred vendor). What GPU are you going to be getting, anyways?


First, super obvious thing, with no GPU, the intel build still 'works' because it has an iGPU, the AMD doesn't.

Second, RAM is SOOOO cheap in the USA, and you're no where near your budget ceiling, why not get 16GB of RAM, which...
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Robert Pankiw

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Mar 26, 2012
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I'm actually surprised no one replied yet. Just quickly looking at your chosen parts, I don't anything that pops out as being wrong. Why do you think it's rubbish? I put together a comparable Intel build. The primary advantages are that the chipset is quite a bit newer, and single threaded applications (or lightly threaded ones) will perform much better with the i5. Other than that, if you prefer AMD, go for it (I know you said you don't have a preferred vendor). What GPU are you going to be getting, anyways?


First, super obvious thing, with no GPU, the intel build still 'works' because it has an iGPU, the AMD doesn't.

Second, RAM is SOOOO cheap in the USA, and you're no where near your budget ceiling, why not get 16GB of RAM, which should help with video encoding (Besides marginally higher cost, I can't think of a downside)

Third, the PSU I selected is a bit more expensive, but gives added quality. Personally, I don't buy gold rated PSUs to save money, I buy them because they typically contain higher end components that last longer (which is how they are able to reach the higher rating). Does that mean there is anything wrong with a bronze rated PSU? Absolutely not, just personal preference.

Forth, I did NOT research the monitor you picked, aside from going to the Amazon comment section for 30 seconds. It appears to be a fully competent monitor.

Fifth, do you explicitly want to overclock, or is it just something you're willing to do? I'd see if the computer matches your needs THEN and only then would I entertain overclocking components, if only because it voids warranty (It's not as black and white as that but what ever).

Sixth, do you have a mass storage drive? There are some really cheap 1TB or 2TB drives (in the $60 range for a 2TB).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($112.78 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Mushkin Stealth 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($94.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Acer H226HQLbid 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($125.39 @ Amazon)
Total: $838.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-08 01:43 EDT-0400

 
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Solution
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fox01

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Feb 4, 2014
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I just said that because I have no idea what I'm doing and just did my best to throw a build together.

Yes I do have a storage drive I pulled from another computer. I am mostly concerned with picking the right 'core' components (mobo, cpu, etc)

I like the build you suggested better. Thank you for doing that.

What video card would you recommend to go with this build (keeping the price as close to $1k as possible) if I end up having to buy one?
 
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Robert Pankiw

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Mar 26, 2012
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The answer depends on which games you like to play the most. I mostly play Titanfall, DOTA 2 and StarCraft 2, and I'm using an R9 280. I have no issues with maxing out the games (at 1680x1050). My friends have similar GPUs and also max out their games, or at least haven't reported to my any problems.

I forgot to ask, is $1000 your limit, including or excluding taxes? If it is including taxes, I'd hold off on a few things, firstly the CPU cooler (only because it's the easiest to add in later).

If you have to buy a GPU and still fit in the $1000 budget, I can rework the part list (for example using the bronze rated PSU you selected instead of the gold rated one I selected). To reiterate what I said earlier, there is nothing wrong with the PSU you selected! So there are a few places where prices can be slimmed down.
 
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fox01

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Thank you for your time so far =)

I would like to get the price down as much as possible and so far this is what I have. I am thinking I should probably not skimp TOO MUCH on the motherboard or PSU but I did choose a slightly less expensive power supply since the one you suggested has gone up in price.

What do you think of this? Is this a good motherboard for this build?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($113.78 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card ($203.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VN248H-P 23.8" Monitor ($133.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $991.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-10 22:26 EDT-0400

btw: if I have an old vga monitor with a vga -> dvi adapter, would that work with this setup?

Thanks
 
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turbopiki

turbopiki

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Jan 20, 2014
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($314.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Raidmax ATX-809B (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VN248H-P 23.8" Monitor ($133.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $985.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-10 22:57 EDT-0400
 
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Robert Pankiw

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http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/amd-radeon-r9-series/amd-radeon-r9-280-black-double-dissipation-edition-r9-280a-tdbd

You'd think I'm an idiot that shouldn't know how to use a hyperlink. Clearly I am just dumb. (It's 3:52am, what can I say?)

If you scroll to the bottom, and select SPECS, you'll see the outputs are
Output - DL-DVI-I : 1
Output - HDMI : 1
Output - mini DP : 2
Output - SL-DVI-D : 1
The I in DVI-I stands for stands for interlaced, meaning analogue and digital signal, so yes, that graphics card, according to the manufacturer, is able to work with an old VGI monitor, however, only 1 of them will work, the other is digital out only.

There is an issue with using only a single DRAM stick, being that you will only be in single channel mode. You shouldn't worry too much about that though. Toms did a review on that back in 2007 (no point in linking to such an old article). Anandtech also did a review, much more recently. They showed that in some situations, such as using handbrake to encode video (something you mentioned in the original post) you can see as much as a 30% improvement in performance by using dual channel RAM (keep in mind going from 14.5FPS to 18.9FPS is only a 4.4FPS increase, which really wouldn't be enough for me to care) Article linked below. Others have benchmarks a variety of games, but I'm just going to link 1 article. They showed that dual channel RAM gets you 0.21% (yes, 0.21%) increase in frame rate.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8672/lenovo-thinkstation-p300-workstation-review-haswell-plus-quadro/6
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel/Page-3

Also worth noting is that RAM is only technically rated to work within the set, AKA buying 2 sets of 2 sticks that are identical aren't technically rated to work together (though it's very unlikely that they wouldn't work together).

Searching Google for "GTA V GPU review" should bring up anything you want to know about how your graphics card will perform. Keep in mind that if you see an R9 285, that that is essentially the same as the card you have selected above (you can read a review of that card on your own). You won't hit 60FPS or anything, but, according to some websites you can get 55FPS average at ultra detail. I think that should be more than enough

http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1905-gta-v-pc-fps-benchmark-graphics-cards

<b>WOW that was a lot of words to say do what ever you want.</b>

Below is a non-overclockable build, 1 from AMD and the other from Intel (The AMD one is overclockable, technically)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($134.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card ($203.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($122.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.00 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer H226HQLbid 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($125.39 @ Amazon)
Total: $859.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-11 03:44 EDT-0400




PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card ($203.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($122.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.00 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer H226HQLbid 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($125.39 @ Amazon)
Total: $890.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-11 03:46 EDT-0400

Maybe we're at that point that you should send me a private message? This is getting really really long. If you have questions, just ask!! If you want to know which build I prefer, I'll say the one I originally linked, with the cheaper CPU listed above and no after market cooler.


WOWOWOWOW I am so tired. Please, BEFORE you buy, discuss.


P.S. A lot of the price reductions come in the form of mail in rebates. If you do not get off your butt and mail those in, you will lose out on the money. From my understanding, most people don't mail in those rebates. DON'T BE THAT PERSON!
 
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