Opinion on hardware for new system under $900 budget

ndfan62 · Apr 5, 2016

I am building a new system and was wondering if you all think what I have purchased and plan to purchase is agood enough for a system I can stream movies from and use as a everyday computer. Eventually I would like to add 3 or more hard drives and do a RAID setup.

I am going to set up Plex to stream my movies/shows/music from. I want to be able to log into this remotely to stream if I am not at home. Is this overkill for what I need or will this setup be just fine for what I need it to do. I don't want it to be sluggish.

So far I have purchased the power supply, case, SSD, and motherboard.

Parts List:

CPU - AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0 GHz (4.2 GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W FD8350FRHKBOX Desktop Processor $159
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284

CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan $28 (Is the stock one fine or do I go with this)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Motherboard - ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ AMD 760G + SB710 USB 3.0 HDMI uATX AMD Motherboard $55 (Purchased)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131942

Video Card - ?? not sure on what card to purchase

Hard Drives - 1 SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E250B/AM $85 (Purchased)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147372

1 - WD Black 2TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD2003FZEX $123
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Performance-Desktop-Hard-Drive/dp/B00FJRS628?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

Power Supply - FSP Group Hydro G Series HG650 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply $89 (Purchased)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104200

Case - Rosewill CHALLENGER-U3 - Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Dual Front Mounted USB 3.0 Ports, Three Preinstalled Fans: 1 x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1 x Top 140mm Fan, 1 x Rear 120mm Fan $59 (Purchased)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147060

OS - Windows 10 $100

Thank you for your input.

logainofhades · Apr 5, 2016

As you have already ordered the board, I would just go with the FX 8300. For your usage, you are not going to see much of a performance difference. That board really isn't suitable for those hotter 125w chips. Personally, I wouldn't have went with FX at all. Current gen FX is going on 4yrs old, and is on a dead platform. Board doesn't have SATA 6.0, so you will not get the full potential, out of that SSD, either.

ndfan62 · Apr 5, 2016

logainofhades :

What motherboard would you suggest? I can send it back.

Dark Lord of Tech · Apr 5, 2016

That board won't handle that chip , should only run a 95W CPU on it.

Has a poor power and thermal design.

logainofhades · Apr 5, 2016

ndfan62 :

I would suggest a current gen Intel cpu, for this. You have the budget for an i7/Xeon E3. Depending on how demanding the plex server becomes, multitask wise, it may be in your best interest to go with one.

Last gen Xeon, basically an i7 4770, without IGP.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($57.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Mushkin Reactor 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($118.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R5 230 1GB Core Edition Video Card ($36.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Rosewill Challenger-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($86.86 @ Amazon)
Total: $845.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-05 13:17 EDT-0400

Or if you really want current gen, leaving open the possibility of CPU upgrades.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($313.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Reactor 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($118.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill Challenger-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($86.86 @ Amazon)
Total: $899.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-05 13:18 EDT-0400

If you don't think you are going to need the multitasking capability of Xeon i7, an i5 will do. You can replace the Xeon with an i5 4590, and the i7 6700, with an i5 6500. Wouldn't really need the graphics card, with the i5/i7. It doesn't sound like you are doing anything demanding graphically. The Xeon build needs one, as there aren't any graphics on the CPU.

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Opinion on hardware for new system under $900 budget

ndfan62

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logainofhades

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ndfan62

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Dark Lord of Tech

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