Is this a good build? I'm planning on using this as my first gaming pc build. Mid budget

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clickwizard

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I've been looking at building a good gaming pc, so I can play RPGs, MMOs, MOBAs, etc. I have about a $700-$800 budget for this pc but I can bump it up a bit if it is necessary. I've already purchased the motherboard and the case.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3gKRP6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3gKRP6/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar Challenger-W ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.25 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($100.00)
Total: $704.70
 
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0nard00


When it comes to Intel gaming builds, I've always seen i5-4690K recommended by a lot of people. MSI GTX 970, G.Skill 8GB 1600mhz, at least a Samsung 250gb SSD, For the board, best ask around. that should be around 700$ easy.

Check out PCpartpicker...
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IntelTurtleFan

IntelTurtleFan

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Intel CPU + AMD Graphics is going to be a lot better for you as the cheapest i5 and a lot of i3s are beating the FX chips in every game test. Since you already got the motherboard you are stuck. The PSU needs to be changed regardless so I would go with something like this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($90.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar Challenger-W ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($100.00)
Total: $712.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-03 15:31 EDT-0400

or

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($90.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar Challenger-W ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($73.80 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($100.00)
Total: $707.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-03 15:31 EDT-0400

Both PSU's are far better.
 
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clickwizard

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Thanks! But in the future, would you recommend me to upgrade the motherboard so I can get an intel CPU? Or would my current build (with the improved PSU) be fine for a while?

 
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IntelTurtleFan

IntelTurtleFan

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You will see about a 10-25% improvement in games/tasks. And it should last more than a year. If you can return it. I will post the Intel builds you can pick from as well.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.80 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar Challenger-W ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($73.80 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($100.00)
Total: $849.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-03 15:45 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.80 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($309.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cougar Challenger-W ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($73.80 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($100.00)
Total: $839.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-03 15:46 EDT-0400
 
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0nard00

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I'm gonna tell you ahead of time, I tried the FX-6300 + GTX 970, it gave me a very noticeable bottleneck. Compared to a GTX 960 4GB that I switched too--- the 960 felt a lot smoother. Then, considering you have a 500W PSU, which raises concerns--- I would suggest at least going up to 600, or 630, 650 max with this build.

I'm about 90% sure you'll get a bottleneck, cuz it happened to me with an OC'd 6300 (4.2ghz)

a GTX 960 4GB version should be more than enough for most games out today. + Windows 10 makes everything run a lot smoother--- even at max settings with an FX-6300+ 960 4gb.

Best of luck.
 
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IntelTurtleFan

IntelTurtleFan

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FX 6300 will not bottleneck the GTX 960 or 970. The issue is the length that the CPU will last. Current games are optimised for using 4 cores. So having 2 extra cores will not help in most cases. Take the difference from the i5-i7. There is some improvement in games but not a whole lot. Same with the difference from i7 consumer to the 6 core LGA2011v3 chips.
 
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0nard00

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I got the bottleneck, it clearly showed it with the 970. Slowed down my whole system at the time. I would still stick with the 960 4gb.

No point forcing a move to Intel, way too OP, and to be honest, just about the same performance--- depending on use --- of anything below the i7 series. Rather save the money for the electric bill, which at 95W is no biggie.
 
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clickwizard

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So what I've been seeing, is that the FX-6300 is more bang for your buck in some areas. But would it be worth the extra money to move to intel or should I just stay with the 990FXA motherboard and the AMD 6300FX 6 core?
 
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0nard00

0nard00

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If you have the budget to go higher, I'd move for the best i5 build you can get. Just a heads-up... Holiday's are arriving, i5s can go as low as 150 below, from what I saw last year. Might even be lower this year.
 
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clickwizard

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Do you have any recommended builds?
 
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0nard00

0nard00

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When it comes to Intel gaming builds, I've always seen i5-4690K recommended by a lot of people. MSI GTX 970, G.Skill 8GB 1600mhz, at least a Samsung 250gb SSD, For the board, best ask around. that should be around 700$ easy.

Check out PCpartpicker. https://pcpartpicker.com/ so you can get a clearer view of your system.
 
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Wisecracker

Wisecracker

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:lol:
You were duped with a lower-clocked locked i5 and cheap H97 motherboard into dumping a 990FX Gigabyte motherboard capable of clocking the FX-6300 beyond 4.5 GHz. Along with some guys anecdotal hooey ...

I will admit that the 990FX could be a bit of over-kill if you don't need things like 42 PCIe lanes, CrossFire/SLI and 2 x eSATA, but you are still faced with these simple facts:

AMD FX-6350
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P
8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866
Combo Deal: $239

CPU_01.png
From TechSpot

So. Is that extra cash worth that 1 FPS? :lol: Before over-clocking the FX CPU ?

If it can push an R9 290X, it can push a GTX 970, or even a (gasp) Radeon R9 390.
 
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clickwizard

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Actually I thought about it some more and It would just be a pain in the butt to return the motherboard, so I might just go with the AMD. Anyway, Intel is pretty expensive. So no, I'm not returning th motherboard. I'll just go with the build with the improved power supply and see how it goes :D It's only my first gaming pc anyway. The improval doesn't look like too much for 100 extra dollars, and I can't spend too much on this, so I'm just going with my other build. Thanks everybody for the help!
 
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0nard00

0nard00

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Good choice either way. Save the money and just overclock. If you feel your PC should be faster than it feels, then that's the 970 getting bottlenecked. But you might not see it if you don't have a standard to base a speed off of.

All the luck!
 
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