Making a build for a friend, would love for some tweaks/suggestions

FordPrefectV · Jul 13, 2015

Hello!

So I am making a build for a friend, and I've got some parts laid out that could work. We're planning on taking advantage of the Amazon "Prime Day" sale that's happening in a couple of days, but before that, I think it would be better if another pair of eyes could take a look at the build I've got and possibly make some suggestions and tweaks to it

Here she is: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/FordPrefect/saved/LJrCmG
(and yes, it's all in Canadian dollars)

Some things that I'd like to point out is that I know that an Intel CPU would probably be preferable, but I couldn't exactly find an i5 (would prefer i5, not i3) for a similar price point. However, I could just be really stupid and there could indeed be an i5 that is equivalent or better for a very similar price; those are the kind of reasons for why I created this thread!

Budget is ~$1000 (+/-~$50 is perfectly fine), yes we will be overclocking, and we have the majority of the peripheral's (we've got a keyboard, mouse, headphones, and a (temporary) monitor, all of which we will probably upgrade in the future. Although, the monitor is the big issue at the moment, as the one we have is only 1680x1050, and we would much prefer a 1080p monitor. Therefore we will be upgrading it very shortly, so I guess if you've got any suggestions on 1080p monitors below ~$160, that would be very nice too. I should also note that this build is for gaming, so we're looking for at least 60hz refresh rate, low response time, etc.).

That's about it, suggest away!
Thanks!

datguy20 · Jul 13, 2015

If you're willing to remove the disc drive, then this is within budget & Intel http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/8FbJQ7

anti-duck · Jul 13, 2015

FordPrefectV :

The cheapest i5 is a 4460, it isn't overclockable though and you'd need either a H97 or Z97 motherboard unless you have a spare socket 1150 CPU laying about, you could pay a few dollars more and get a 4440 and a cheapo B85 motherboard though and save some money that way. Maybe something like this - http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/dbRd23

The board you're looking at in your current build isn't an overclocking board by the way, you can overclock on it, just don't push it as it has a low power phase.

FordPrefectV · Jul 13, 2015

datguy20 :

Hmm, unfortunately that looks a bit expensive... I'd like to keep it ~$1000, and that's $1150, so I don't think I can do that -- I would also like to keep the disk drive :c

anti-duck :

Hmm, after seeing what you and datguy20 said, I think I'll just stick with the 8320. I would rather keep the general build I've got going with the 8320 than have to switch everything up in order to use an intel CPU that might not even be overclockable.

Alright, so now that that's settled, I started looking at a few mobos to use instead of the one I chose so that I could get some decent overclock potential (would like about 4.5Ghz). I did a bit of research and it seems as though a good option would be this board: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970aud3p . I couldn't find anything for cheaper that had everything I wanted (onboard USB 3.0 headers, supports at least DDR3-1600 memory, a decent amount of memory slots, etc.) but again, I could be wrong. This is a bit higher in price, so if there is a mobo that is a bit less expensive but with a decent amount of overclock potential and the features I've mentioned above (i.e. if it's a decent mobo) I would very much like to take a look at it.

Thanks again!

Edit: I've also been looking into whether I should grab the GTX 970 or the R9 390, and I think the 390 wins it at the moment (especially with those 8gigs of vram, mmmm...). The one that you suggested, priced at $379.99 looks amazing for the price, but I've never had any experience with VisionTek. The only thing that I'm kind of worried about is that I have absolutely no clue how their cooling design compares to other cards... how is it? As long as it's quiet and at a temperature similar to other cards (like Asus or MSI), I think I'll go for it

(This being said, if there is a better sale on the 970 during the Amazon sale, which could very well be the case, I'll probably go for that. Basically I'll go for whichever is cheaper unless it is within ~$10 (if that is the case I will go for the 390))

anti-duck · Jul 14, 2015

FordPrefectV :

datguy20 :

Hmm, unfortunately that looks a bit expensive... I'd like to keep it ~$1000, and that's $1150, so I don't think I can do that -- I would also like to keep the disk drive :c

anti-duck :

Hmm, after seeing what you and datguy20 said, I think I'll just stick with the 8320. I would rather keep the general build I've got going with the 8320 than have to switch everything up in order to use an intel CPU that might not even be overclockable.

Alright, so now that that's settled, I started looking at a few mobos to use instead of the one I chose so that I could get some decent overclock potential (would like about 4.5Ghz). I did a bit of research and it seems as though a good option would be this board: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970aud3p . I couldn't find anything for cheaper that had everything I wanted (onboard USB 3.0 headers, supports at least DDR3-1600 memory, a decent amount of memory slots, etc.) but again, I could be wrong. This is a bit higher in price, so if there is a mobo that is a bit less expensive but with a decent amount of overclock potential and the features I've mentioned above (i.e. if it's a decent mobo) I would very much like to take a look at it.

Thanks again!

Edit: I've also been looking into whether I should grab the GTX 970 or the R9 390, and I think the 390 wins it at the moment (especially with those 8gigs of vram, mmmm...). The one that you suggested, priced at $379.99 looks amazing for the price, but I've never had any experience with VisionTek. The only thing that I'm kind of worried about is that I have absolutely no clue how their cooling design compares to other cards... how is it? As long as it's quiet and at a temperature similar to other cards (like Asus or MSI), I think I'll go for it

(This being said, if there is a better sale on the 970 during the Amazon sale, which could very well be the case, I'll probably go for that. Basically I'll go for whichever is cheaper unless it is within ~$10 (if that is the case I will go for the 390))

The 970A-UD3P is an awesome board

I'm not sure about prices, but two other really good boards are the MSI 970 Gaming, which has an 8+2 power phase too, or there's the ASUS M5A97 EVO and PRO with a 6+2 digital power phase, you could maybe get the EOL 970A-UD3 in a clearance sale or second hand for really cheap.

I Haven't got a clue about that VisionTek R9 390 to be honest and there's practically no information out there other than on VisionTek's site, but the cooler does look decent, it has copper heatpipes, looks pretty beefy and the fans look exactly the same as the one's that XFX use for their Double Dissipation cooler. The only issue I'd be concerned with is whether it would fit in the 200R, I couldn't find the dimensions of the card anywhere.

FordPrefectV · Jul 16, 2015

anti-duck :

FordPrefectV :

datguy20 :

Hmm, unfortunately that looks a bit expensive... I'd like to keep it ~$1000, and that's $1150, so I don't think I can do that -- I would also like to keep the disk drive :c

anti-duck :

Hmm, after seeing what you and datguy20 said, I think I'll just stick with the 8320. I would rather keep the general build I've got going with the 8320 than have to switch everything up in order to use an intel CPU that might not even be overclockable.

Alright, so now that that's settled, I started looking at a few mobos to use instead of the one I chose so that I could get some decent overclock potential (would like about 4.5Ghz). I did a bit of research and it seems as though a good option would be this board: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970aud3p . I couldn't find anything for cheaper that had everything I wanted (onboard USB 3.0 headers, supports at least DDR3-1600 memory, a decent amount of memory slots, etc.) but again, I could be wrong. This is a bit higher in price, so if there is a mobo that is a bit less expensive but with a decent amount of overclock potential and the features I've mentioned above (i.e. if it's a decent mobo) I would very much like to take a look at it.

Thanks again!

Edit: I've also been looking into whether I should grab the GTX 970 or the R9 390, and I think the 390 wins it at the moment (especially with those 8gigs of vram, mmmm...). The one that you suggested, priced at $379.99 looks amazing for the price, but I've never had any experience with VisionTek. The only thing that I'm kind of worried about is that I have absolutely no clue how their cooling design compares to other cards... how is it? As long as it's quiet and at a temperature similar to other cards (like Asus or MSI), I think I'll go for it

(This being said, if there is a better sale on the 970 during the Amazon sale, which could very well be the case, I'll probably go for that. Basically I'll go for whichever is cheaper unless it is within ~$10 (if that is the case I will go for the 390))

The 970A-UD3P is an awesome board

I'm not sure about prices, but two other really good boards are the MSI 970 Gaming, which has an 8+2 power phase too, or there's the ASUS M5A97 EVO and PRO with a 6+2 digital power phase, you could maybe get the EOL 970A-UD3 in a clearance sale or second hand for really cheap.

I Haven't got a clue about that VisionTek R9 390 to be honest and there's practically no information out there other than on VisionTek's site, but the cooler does look decent, it has copper heatpipes, looks pretty beefy and the fans look exactly the same as the one's that XFX use for their Double Dissipation cooler. The only issue I'd be concerned with is whether it would fit in the 200R, I couldn't find the dimensions of the card anywhere.

From what I've found, it should fit in the 200R. After looking around a bit it seems that the length of the card is 13.6 inches, where the maximum length of card that the 200R can take is 16.5. I think I'm going to go for it. I will start ordering parts soon, though I think I will wait a little while for the case and hope that the 200R goes back down in price, it's up at $69.99 again

Thanks for all your help!

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Making a build for a friend, would love for some tweaks/suggestions

FordPrefectV

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datguy20

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