First build-

[dakine792]

Aloha--- I've been on this site off and on for a while and now that I am about to construct my build I made an account to get comments criticism and any insight you guys can give me. Im sure I'll be on the help section too in no time....

Case--- Nzxt phantom--- http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7335349&Sku=A406-2054

MOBO- ASUS Crosshair V Formula AMD 990FX ROG Motherboard - ATX, Socket AM3+, AMD 990FX Chipset, 2133MHz DDR3 (O.C.), SATA 6.0 Gb/s, RAID, 8-CH

SupremeFX Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, CrossFireX/SLI Ready

POS- Apevia ATX-WA1100W Warlock 1100-Watt ATX Power Supply - SLI and Crossfire Ready, 135mm Fan, Clear Sides

RAM- Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 Vengeance 16GB PC12800 DDR3 RAM - 1600MHz, 4x4096MB, Non-ECC, Unbuffered

CPU--- FX 8150 3.6 ghz

hdd-- boot 500 gb momentus hybrid
barracudda 2 tb sata 3 5400 rpms

Liquid cooler: corsair hydro 80.

GPU-- EVGA GTX 570 2.5 gb


ok thats it. Let me know what youse think.
Thanks!

 

[CaedenV]

lol, yep you are new at this, but dont worry, we can fix ya

Processor: If doing video editing or other thread heavy applications then you picked a good processor. However, for gaming and other small threaded programs it is completely useless. Even the phenom2 x4 will beat the new fx cards for things like gaming, or single thread apps. For games I would suggest an i5 2500 or 2500k if you are the overclocking type, or an i7 2600/2600k for video work. They are both cheaper and use less power than the FX chips, while being much faster under most workloads. Phenom2 chips are good if on a budget, but they are old and they are beginning to end production on them.

Power Supply: Do not go cheap with your power supply, and do not get a power supply that is overly large for your needs (though also not too small for future upgrades). An i7 with 2 570s will take ~700W, so a quality 750W power supply is good for that. Perhaps a 800-850W for an FX chip in a similar combination.

Ram: Good ram but go for the low profile versions as the over-sized heatsink is unnecessary and can interfere with large heatsinks on the CPU. Also 8GB is overkill for most users (no game out now, or even in planning will take 8GB of ram). Anything over 8 is for video editing and large 3D projects. Some benchmarks even point towards decreased performance on some applications with 16GB of ram, so only get it if you intend to use it. Though as a video editor I have to say that 16GB is just the beginning as I managed to use 12GB on my first project on the new rig (Used a total of 14GB with OS and other programs included). Cant wait for 8GB dimms to drop in price!

Cooler: The hydro 80 is fine, but there are cheaper, quieter, more effective normal coolers out there like the hyper 212.

HDDs: As you may have noticed, HDD prices are crazy high right now due to flooding. I would suggest waiting on the larger HDDs until next summer when prices go back down. The 500GB HDD I would replace with a decent sized SSD. I personally like OCZ for their price/performace/GB, but many also like Intel for their reliability, or Crucial for their stability. Trust me, whichever path you choose you will be blown away by the loading speed they provide.

GPU: I love my 570, but again, if it was not for video work, I would have gone with AMD. I choose the 570 due to the support for the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine support. That CUDA processing is truly awe-inspiring when used properly; just be aware that CUDA is used by few programs, and the AMD cards will give better performance per dollar while using less power. However the 580 will out perform the fastest AMD cards in most applications. There is no need for extra ram with 2 exceptions:
1) 3 monitor setups
2) large 3D content creation projects
There is literally no performance increase by having extra ram for any other situations.
EVGA makes great cards, cant really go wrong there.

Can't say I like your case, but to each his own, and from a technical standpoint it is a good one.

I have only once built an AMD system, and it was a simple Semperon one a while back, so I cant really say that I can comment on the board. I will say it looks nice, but I could never justify paying that much for a motherboard.

 

[danraies]

I agree with what CaedenV says. The only thing I have to add is that brand name makes a difference in a PSU. CaedenV hinted at that when he says you don't want to go cheap, but that usually means getting a good brand.. My short list is Corsair, Antec, and Seasonic. Some people put PC Power & Cooling and XFX on that list.

The main reason I commented was to see if CaedenV has a review that says that performance sometimes decreases with 16GB of RAM. I'm not disagreeing - I've just never heard that before and would be interested in reading about it.

 

[Emelth]

Yep Caeden pretty much hit the needle on the head, if your on a budget for RAM stick to 2x2GB sticks but most of us here see RAM as cheap and dont mind spending the extra couple dollars to get 2x4GB sticks