AMD Power/Hybrid System Gaming & Silence

[DionTheGreek]

Hello Everyone,

For about a month now I spend several hours a day researching the net, posting on various boards and reading countless reviews on various products with ultimate goal to build a system that will be powerful enough to play the latest games (not necessary on ultra settings) and silent enough to not give anyone in the family a headache.

This is what I came up:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N180UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($16.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($110.98 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR2-140 66.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($16.79 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Lite-On SK-1788/BS Wired Standard Keyboard ($12.98 @ Newegg)
Other: Rosewill RTK-002 Anti-Static Wrist Strap (4.99)
Other: Belkin Standard Mouse Pad 200 X 250 X 3MM (Red) (0.80)
Other: Black E-3lue E-Blue Cobra EMS109BK 1600 DPI LED Light USB Wired Gaming Mouse (7.68)
Other: NZXT Technologies 5.25-Inch Hue RGB LED Color Changing Controller (8c-hue0000-00b) (28.19)
Total: $1347.65
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-08 01:18 EDT-0400)

This is phase 1 to build the system like this (with a budget of <=$1500).
In a later time, Phase 2 will be to buy better peripherals (keyboard, mouse, speakers, headphones, maybe bigger monitor etc.
And finally Phase 3 will be much later (if necessary) and that will be to add second GPU, more RAM, Sound Card etc.

Everyone here might have a better taste on color schemes, or favorite various hardware components. What I am asking is to review this system and tell me what you think and if something will not work like a bottleneck or other compatibility issues.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

 

[Outlander_04]

Use the UD3 Gigabyte board . Performance is identical since they use the same chipset .

The zalman cooler is an older model and much better is available now . Possibly a Corsair H100i if you use the right case , or just a quality air cooler .

No gaming rig needs even 8 gig of RAM so you can cut that to 2 x4 gig and save

With some work you could even include a GTX 770 now

The WD red hard drive is for a NAS , not a desktop PC , even as a data drive

 

[DionTheGreek]

Here is my logic on the choices that you mentioned and please correct me if I am wrong.

I picked the sabertooth because of the updated version, the 5 years warranty and the quality of the board that want me to last for many years. On the other hand the Gigabyte board in newegg showed so many issues by many customers that complained it wasn't a good board with many problems.

Since my Fractal R4 have a window, I wanted a cooler that will be good an fancy at the same time and found the zalman with the blue light to be pretty and good reviews in newegg. On the other hand I was ready to get the H100i but my concern is that if I place it on the top of the case (only pull configuration due to space limitations), it might cause noise since from the top that now was sealed. Another air cooler that considered was the Noctua D14 but is huge and pretty much covers everything (besides the ugly brown fans)

On the Ram most of these boards are having a max of 32gb and my thinking is to load now to 16gb and later add just the rest. If I load 8gb now, I'll have to throw them away (or keep them to max up to 24...). Also read somewhere that 16gb is a good choice for the 8350 and good investment for the future.

I Agree for the GPU and if my budget permit I'll purchase it. (Any idea of company? ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI)

I didnt know that RED series HD is only for NAS. I'll switch to WD (Green or Black?) or Seagate.

 

[DionTheGreek]

I made these changes:

* on my psu (with an eye on future upgrades to handle more drives, gpu)
* lower my memory
* changed my gpu to better one
* update my cooler
* changed my HDD
* got quieter sp fans. (The plan is to move the included fractal from rear to front. replace the H100i with the SP and place the old ones one on the rear and one of the bottom. )


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($71.40 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N180UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($110.98 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($166.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Lite-On SK-1788/BS Wired Standard Keyboard ($12.98 @ Newegg)
Other: Rosewill RTK-002 Anti-Static Wrist Strap (4.99)
Other: Black E-3lue E-Blue Cobra EMS109BK 1600 DPI LED Light USB Wired Gaming Mouse (7.68)
Other: NZXT Technologies 5.25-Inch Hue RGB LED Color Changing Controller (8c-hue0000-00b) (28.19)
Other: Belkin Standard Mouse Pad 200 X 250 X 3MM (0.80)
Total: $1553.24
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-08 14:21 EDT-0400)