Is this a good $750 build/upgrade?

Eliot Ness

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Feb 21, 2015
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I'm planning on upgrading my gpu, getting an ssd, and buying new peripherals this year on black friday. I was hoping that I could get some opinions on the parts I have picked out if they are good or even worth gettting/keeping. My current gpu is an r9 380 4g. Most of the stuff on there I already have and therefore marked purchased, but if it is worth upgrading any part I would like to know ($900 budget), thank you!

Planned build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/sXnMZ8
 
Solution
Here's what I've got.
Chucked in another 8GB of RAM to keep up with newer titles.
The BeQuiet pure rock is a much better and quieter cooler, and is actually cheaper than the 212X.
The RX480 is a good choice, the best GPU you can get without a bottleneck on the FX8320.
A few questions, is your CPU overclocked, and would you be interested in flashing the BIOS of your GPU?
The reason I say this is because it was uncovered that the 4GB RX480 models were actually 8GB models with 4GB of VRAM locked from use. This can be unlocked through a simple process called flashing your BIOS, which is bypassing it.
This does void your warranty however, but saves $50.
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/vtKxGf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/vtKxGf/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK 51.7 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card ($250.00)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit (Purchased For $0.00)
Monitor: BenQ XL2411Z 24.0" 144Hz Monitor ($269.00 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse (Purchased For $0.00)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 598 Headphones (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $789.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-13 22:17 EDT-0400
 
CPU Cooler: I'd ditch out the CM 212X for a Cryorig H7. The 212X is only marginally (at best) better than the EVO but with added fan noise. The H7 outperforms both, and doesn't overlap the RAM slots so if you wanted to upgrade your RAM with a good black friday sale you wouldn't have to worry about what will fit with what.

SSD: Good choice. Keep an eye out for sales on 500GB models tho. Since they just launched a 4TB model, we may see some good deals Black Friday with higher size models.

PSU: You didn't list it for upgrading. I'm just going to hate on it for a minute. The CX line really isn't very good and if you're going to start putting some cash in to the build, this would be a very good place to do an upgrade.

Keyboard: Good model from everything I've read and one I was considering with a new purchase recently. Keep in mind that it comes with different kinds of Cherry switches (Red, Blue, Brown, and Rapid Fire) so keep an eye out for that when buying.
 


OP is likely going to run in to a RAM clearance issue. The be quiet cooler listed has issues with tall RAM and filling up all slots with the Corsair Vengeance will likely run in to the cooler.
 

I think that as long as its working, it should be fine. It has a three year warranty, so if it breaks worst case you can contact Corsair and get a discount or replacement unit.
I would definitely recommend upgrading that to something like an XFX TS or XTR 550w or 650w model though, remains in your budget and gets you a good power supply.

In regards to the cooler, both the H5 and H7 are great coolers, but they have risen in price quite drastically recently, and the Be Quiet Pure Rock performs nearly identically at 60% of the price.
 


Which market are you in? The H7 from newegg is coming in at the same price as the Be Quiet and a good deal cheaper on Amazon.


Also agreed on the PSU. The XTR and TS lineup are solid and a much better choice over the Corsair.
 


Huh, that's strange! was $55 just yesterday, prices must have been adjusted or something. :C
The H7 is definitely the way to go then! xD
Still $7 difference but its probably worth it due to the smaller profile.
Edit: True, Black friday builds are more like whatever's cheap and good quality. Best to leave that up in the air for now.
Second Edit: Nevermind, PCpartpicker lists the H7 as $42, I don't trust it anymore! :)
 

Eliot Ness

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Feb 21, 2015
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Well I'd rather not flash the gpu bios I feel like it isnt worth the hassle/risk for the $50. I've oc my cpu, but it usually has bad temps with anything more than 3.8GHz when tested in prime95. For now I believe I still have it oc at 3.8 GHz and I want to go farther hence a aftermarket cpu cooler. I feel like your suggested parts are pretty solid so thank you for the help.
 


Yeah, unless someone is overclocking a build the performance between them is really just academic. What becomes more and more of a problem I've found with system builds is getting the damn coolers to fit with the memory people want to use. Its why I've become something of a Cryorig fan boy over the last year. No overlap over the RAM slots makes a huge difference. Add to it that their coolers are beating out most other single fan tower coolers, it becomes hard to recommend anything else for budget minded air cooling. $30 is hard to beat from Newegg.
 



In that case, I'd also look at the Cryorig H5 Universal. Better cooling, much better mounting system than the H7/CM 212 lineup, no RAM overlap, and comes in around $48.
 


So this is what we have so far; I think its probably the best you can do for your money.
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/TWyZRG
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/TWyZRG/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($30.00)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit (Purchased For $0.00)
Monitor: BenQ XL2411Z 24.0" 144Hz Monitor ($269.00 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse (Purchased For $0.00)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 598 Headphones (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $613.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-13 22:51 EDT-0400
 
Solution
Here's the adjustment I'd make. PSUs fluctuate in pricing like mad. The XFX TS like we said is a good one, but if you can get an XTR and move towards a semi or full modular system, it'll make your life easier with cable management. Thats said, at today's prices, an EVGA full modular G2 (a step above the XFX TS/XTR line in quality) is only $10 more. Totally worth it to have a top end core part of your build that you can use for future upgrades.

Also I adjusted the CPU cooler to the H5 Universal since you're overclocking. The H7 is still a solid cooler and if there is a good deal on that over the H5 then go for it, but if you can get the H5 Universal I think it'll give you some happier OCing. Just a note keep in mind the H5 Universal is significantly different than the H5 Ultimate in terms of size and pricing is probably wouldn't work well with your build because of RAM issues. I don't know why they named them both H5, probably the marking team that needs a chair thrown at them.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($56.64 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($87.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit (Purchased For $0.00)
Monitor: BenQ XL2411Z 24.0" 144Hz Monitor ($269.00 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse (Purchased For $0.00)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 598 Headphones (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $649.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-13 22:57 EDT-0400