About to Finalize a ~$650 Build (including monitor), want a second opinion

[microapple]

Link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1kjOe

Build:

Spoiler

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (Purchased For $29.99)
Monitor: Samsung S22C150N 21.5" Monitor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $659.91

I'm getting pretty excited! About to pull the trigger on this build, but wanted a second opinion before I do so. (I already bought the PSU because it was heavily discounted)

I will be using this computer mostly for gaming. (I already have a laptop for general use) However, I'll probably be on it 4+ hours / day, so I want it to be fairly stable.

I'm at the upper end of my budget, but am very open to suggestions (especially about the monitor, which I'm quite unsure about...)

Thanks for any help you guys can offer me!

 

[realchaos]

Nice build.
It's a shame you already bought the PSU. The Corsair CX line-ups aren't very great in quality, but it should be able to run this build.

I would change the case: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-s210e001

 

[microapple]

Nice build.
It's a shame you already bought the PSU. The Corsair CX line-ups aren't very great in quality, but it should be able to run this build.

I know. I'm kicking myself for that impulse buy... As it was only $30, I'll probably replace it when Black Friday rolls around.

 

[SNA3]

Link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1kjOe

Build:

Spoiler

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply (Purchased For $29.99)
Monitor: Samsung S22C150N 21.5" Monitor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $659.91

I'm getting pretty excited! About to pull the trigger on this build, but wanted a second opinion before I do so. (I already bought the PSU because it was heavily discounted)

I will be using this computer mostly for gaming. (I already have a laptop for general use) However, I'll probably be on it 4+ hours / day, so I want it to be fairly stable.

I'm at the upper end of my budget, but am very open to suggestions (especially about the monitor, which I'm quite unsure about...)

Thanks for any help you guys can offer me!

Get the FX 8320 or 8350 if you can .. try Squeeze things , like 500G harddisk and 2x2G=4G Ram for now and put them in the CPU , later you can add more ram and another harddisk

 

[microapple]

Get the FX 8320 or 8350 if you can .. try Squeeze things , like 500G harddisk and 2x2G=4G Ram for now and put them in the CPU , later you can add more ram and another harddisk

Hmm... I'll definitely take that into consideration... Would the added hassle be worth the perf increase?

 

[SNA3]

Get the FX 8320 or 8350 if you can .. try Squeeze things , like 500G harddisk and 2x2G=4G Ram for now and put them in the CPU , later you can add more ram and another harddisk

Hmm... I'll definitely take that into consideration... Would the added hassle be worth the perf increase?

OFC .. 2 cores more !!! I d say go for the top

for FX 8350

you can add ram any time u wish ... just $40 when the money comes later...

but you will be stuck with the CPU forever

same for the harddisk , you can easily add a second harddisk any time you want.

 

[realchaos]

I wouldn't try to fit in a FX-8320/8350.
-The price difference between a 500gb and 1tb HDD is very small, only about $5-10. Definitely not worth grabbing a 500gb.
-It's rare to see some good 8gb of ram under $60. It may look ugly, but it's good quality. I won't cut down ont he ram either.

Honestly, all of your components are as low as they go while keeping high quality. Motherboard is one of the cheapest 970 chipset motherboards.
GPU is really cheap for a 7870.
Monitor is as cheap as it goes for a decent 1080p.

 

[microapple-1371565]

I wouldn't try to fit in a FX-8320/8350.
-The price difference between a 500gb and 1tb HDD is very small, only about $5-10. Definitely not worth grabbing a 500gb.
-It's rare to see some good 8gb of ram under $60. It may look ugly, but it's good quality. I won't cut down ont he ram either.

Honestly, all of your components are as low as they go while keeping high quality. Motherboard is one of the cheapest 970 chipset motherboards.
GPU is really cheap for a 7870.
Monitor is as cheap as it goes for a decent 1080p.

That's kinda what I was thinking. Thanks! I've been working on this build for about 2 weeks, so I think I've got it to the point where I'm getting the best performance for my $$$.

 

[SNA3]

I wouldn't try to fit in a FX-8320/8350.
-The price difference between a 500gb and 1tb HDD is very small, only about $5-10. Definitely not worth grabbing a 500gb.
-It's rare to see some good 8gb of ram under $60. It may look ugly, but it's good quality. I won't cut down ont he ram either.

Honestly, all of your components are as low as they go while keeping high quality. Motherboard is one of the cheapest 970 chipset motherboards.
GPU is really cheap for a 7870.
Monitor is as cheap as it goes for a decent 1080p.

when he installs 4 G he will get another 4G in the future not 8G , for total 8 G

and thats for 40$

I know what I am talking about.

and AMD 8 cores is MORE future proof.

and if he is tight on budget , 10 or 15 $ squeeze in Harddisk can get him the 8350.

 

[SNA3]

I wouldn't try to fit in a FX-8320/8350.
-The price difference between a 500gb and 1tb HDD is very small, only about $5-10. Definitely not worth grabbing a 500gb.
-It's rare to see some good 8gb of ram under $60. It may look ugly, but it's good quality. I won't cut down ont he ram either.

Honestly, all of your components are as low as they go while keeping high quality. Motherboard is one of the cheapest 970 chipset motherboards.
GPU is really cheap for a 7870.
Monitor is as cheap as it goes for a decent 1080p.

That's kinda what I was thinking. Thanks! I've been working on this build for about 2 weeks, so I think I've got it to the point where I'm getting the best performance for my $$$.

no you are not . and you will regret it .

PS4 is 8 cores machine , and they are AMD , and soon all games will be optimized for 8 cores ... even the Xbox is 8 cores AMD.

I know what kind of Advice I am giving . I am looking 1 year in the future .

in one or 2 months you whill have $40 to add another 2x2=4G

and I doubt you will fill your 500G harddisk b4 having the money to add a 1TB one.

 

[realchaos]

Remember: Getting two 1x4gb ram kits are not guaranteed to work. If there's a problem and they don't work with each other, you can't get a refund because they were not tested to work with each other.

All this talk about future proofing is stupid. You can't future proof your pc unless you come from the future and know what future games will use. Just because consoles are going to use 8 cores DOES NOT mean that games will utilize all cores. They may, or may not.

 

[SNA3]

Remember: Getting two 1x4gb ram kits are not guaranteed to work. If there's a problem and they don't work with each other, you can't get a refund because they were not tested to work with each other.

All this talk about future proofing is stupid. You can't future proof your pc unless you come from the future and know what future games will use. Just because consoles are going to use 8 cores DOES NOT mean that games will utilize all cores. They may, or may not.

really? even today 8 cores are better. but I was talking about Gaming prospective .

and may and may not so what? 8 cores are faster even today .

and we are talking about some 50$ Difference here only between the 6 cores and the 8 cores.

and I said to him get 2x2G not 1X4G

 

[realchaos]

Not worth the extra money in this budget.
$650 budget, $540 due to the monitor.
You're spending nearly half of the budget on the processor.
I'm not saying that the 8cores isn't better, it definitely is. The extra cores and higher stock speed is nice.
However, it's not smart spending so much onto the processor.

Also, getting 2x2gb is even worse. That means he will have 4x2 gb of ram, so there is no upgrade path in the ram. Additionally, the two sets of 2x2gb may not work with each other.

 

[SNA3]

Not worth the extra money in this budget.
$650 budget, $540 due to the monitor.
You're spending nearly half of the budget on the processor.
I'm not saying that the 8cores isn't better, it definitely is. The extra cores and higher stock speed is nice.
However, it's not smart spending so much onto the processor.

Also, getting 2x2gb is even worse. That means he will have 4x2 gb of ram, so there is no upgrade path in the ram. Additionally, the two sets of 2x2gb may not work with each other.

I totally disagree ... when it comes to more cores and AMD , it is worth it... the more cores was the only way AMD could beat the i5 .. any way its his choice.

there is an upgrade path .. he has 4 slots ram memory .. he can add later 2x2 or 2x4 or 2x8

have a nice day

 

[realchaos]

I know that the only way AMD can compete with an i5 is getting the FX-8350, but I would rather prefer a more balanced rig than a rig that had to cut down on other components to grab a stronger processor.

I'm not sure you understand what I mean by the RAM, so I'll try to say it more clearly. A 2x4gb ram set is tested to work with each other and if it doesn't, you can send it under warranty. So if you buy a 2x2gb kit, it will work with each other and you can send it under warranty if it doesn't. However, if you add another 2x2gb kit to the existing 2x2gb, you'll have 2 kits of 2x2gb. Those are two separate kits, so they are not guaranteed to work with each other and you can not send it under warranty because of that.

Yes, it the end it's all up to the OP.

 

[SNA3]

I know that the only way AMD can compete with an i5 is getting the FX-8350, but I would rather prefer a more balanced rig than a rig that had to cut down on other components to grab a stronger processor.

I'm not sure you understand what I mean by the RAM, so I'll try to say it more clearly. A 2x4gb ram set is tested to work with each other and if it doesn't, you can send it under warranty. So if you buy a 2x2gb kit, it will work with each other and you can send it under warranty if it doesn't. However, if you add another 2x2gb kit to the existing 2x2gb, you'll have 2 kits of 2x2gb. Those are two separate kits, so they are not guaranteed to work with each other and you can not send it under warranty because of that.

Yes, it the end it's all up to the OP.

lol RAM isnt an excuse to let GO a 8 core CPU .. he cant check compatability list or get from famous vendors like Crucial or Kingston who allways keep making the same modules.

this is the right thing to do ..

 

[realchaos]

Honestly, the 8350 just doesn't fit a small budget like this. You're not suppose to spend half of your budget on a processor in a gaming rig. The difference you get from upgrading from a 6300 to 8350 is about ~5fps. Not worth cutting down on other components.
(By the way, cutting down on the ram will only save $20, you need $80-90 to upgrade the processor. $20 from ram, $10 from HDD, there's still a lot of money that the OP needs to save in order to get the 8350).

 

[SNA3]

Honestly, the 8350 just doesn't fit a small budget like this. You're not suppose to spend half of your budget on a processor in a gaming rig. The difference you get from upgrading from a 6300 to 8350 is about ~5fps. Not worth cutting down on other components.
(By the way, cutting down on the ram will only save $20, you need $80-90 to upgrade the processor. $20 from ram, $10 from HDD, there's still a lot of money that the OP needs to save in order to get the 8350).

lol we are talking about 40$ here

I dont care about 5fps , this is a PC as well , he will see the benefit the time he start encoding a movie or editing it. we all have movies on our phones now right ?

and he does not have Intel Quick sync to encode faster.. he will need more cores..

people are all thinking about games games games .. well fine but dont forget it is a PC as well.

Personally I never come near AMD if they dont have 8 cores at all they SUCKed b4 the 8 cores CPU.

now I can Recommend them instead of i5 after they released the 8 cores ...

when you give some advice , keep in mind Other things a pc can do outside games , EVEN if it is a gaming machine .. he WILL use it for Music and Video Editing 1000%

 

[realchaos]

Let the OP state it then. I know lots of people who don't do anything except game and the very basic stuff, no music or video editing. It's not like everyone is obligated to do music or video editing when they build a new pc.

Additionally, the fx-6300 is $110. The fx-8350 is $190. That's a huge price difference....

 

[SNA3]

Let the OP state it then. I know lots of people who don't do anything except game and the very basic stuff, no music or video editing. It's not like everyone is obligated to do music or video editing when they build a new pc.

Additionally, the fx-6300 is $110. The fx-8350 is $190. That's a huge price difference....

lol you missed the FX-8320

I said to him TRY to get the TOP .. but he can get the FX-8320 very easy

 

[realchaos]

No point. Unless the OP does something that actually needs the extra cores (Video rendering, editing, photoshop, etc.) there's no point in getting the 8320 since it will get the same fps in games.

Additionally, if he does do video rendering or movie editing, the 4gb of ram will bottleneck the processor by a lot. So still, it's still a bad idea.

 

[SNA3]

No point. Unless the OP does something that actually needs the extra cores (Video rendering, editing, photoshop, etc.) there's no point in getting the 8320 since it will get the same fps in games.

Additionally, if he does do video rendering or movie editing, the 4gb of ram will bottleneck the processor by a lot. So still, it's still a bad idea.

and who does not edit videos today ? we all capture videos with out phones.

and why are uoi playing zigzags with me ? it is about the 40$ difference. you said 90$ difference . I said you missed the close 8 core one,

you need to undertand this is not a race to win argument, it is for HIS benifet ...

 

[realchaos]

I don't edit videos. None of my friends do. My parents don't. I don't know anyone who edits videos. You're assuming everyone does, including the OP himself.

I'm not playing zigzags. I know the FX-8320 is only a $40 difference. I understand that the OP can get it. But does he really want to? So he gets the 8320 for video editing, but at the cost of getting 4gb of ram instead of 8gb. The 4gb will extremely bottleneck and it may even make video editing slower compared to a 6core and 8gb.

I'm done here. I said what I wanted to say.

 

[SNA3]

I don't edit videos. None of my friends do. My parents don't. I don't know anyone who edits videos. You're assuming everyone does, including the OP himself.

I'm not playing zigzags. I know the FX-8320 is only a $40 difference. I understand that the OP can get it. But does he really want to? So he gets the 8320 for video editing, but at the cost of getting 4gb of ram instead of 8gb. The 4gb will extremely bottleneck and it may even make video editing slower compared to a 6core and 8gb.

I'm done here. I said what I wanted to say.

I do edit videos and all my friends do and all the family ..

have a nice day