First Time Building a Computer. How Did I Do?

[naivephilosopher]

CPU- AMD FX-8350 Vishera

Motherboard- ASUS Crosshair V

GPU- HIS Radeon HD 7870

Hard Drive- Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB

Soundcard-ASUS Xonar DX 7.1

Case- Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower

PSU- COOLER MASTER GX Series 750W

Disc Drive- LG Black Blu-ray Model UH12NS30 - OEM

Monitor- ASUS VS Series VS198D-P Black 19"

RAM- Team Vulcan 16GB DDR3

These are the main specs. My budget was $1300, and the total here is about $1258. Opinions or comments?

 

[Sakkura]

The power supply is low quality, but higher wattage than necessary (unless you intend to use two graphics cards in Crossfire).

 

[smorizio]

Most mb have sound cards. Use the money for better case. The r300 are 49 with10 mail in rebate. On parts picker there asus 7870 two gig gig hertz cards for 170. My self I get a 4760k or a locked intel CPU and h mb. And a Ssd.

 

[smorizio]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1GfZf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1GfZf/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1GfZf/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($58.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $985.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-21 21:52 EDT-0400)

 

[smorizio]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1GgkF
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1GgkF/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1GgkF/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($123.25 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($40.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $1121.16
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-21 22:11 EDT-0400)

 

[smorizio]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Ggt3
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Ggt3/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Ggt3/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($71.48 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($40.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $958.38
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-21 22:19 EDT-0400)

 

[Geekkid]

Looks to be a fairly solid multi-purpose build. My main suggestion would be that unless you can state why you need a sound card without google, you probably dont need one.

I would also steer you away from that case because it lacks cable management options. You can get nicer cases (in terms of cable management esp.) for a little less money. I would take the savings from those and either bank them or pump the video card up to a 7950. I run a pair of 7870s and they are great cards but the 7950 has more memory and is significantly faster. (It also opens the future possibility of 2-3 way CFX with that nice motherboard)

 

[naivephilosopher]

Looks to be a fairly solid multi-purpose build. My main suggestion would be that unless you can state why you need a sound card without google, you probably dont need one.

I would also steer you away from that case because it lacks cable management options. You can get nicer cases (in terms of cable management esp.) for a little less money. I would take the savings from those and either bank them or pump the video card up to a 7950. I run a pair of 7870s and they are great cards but the 7950 has more memory and is significantly faster. (It also opens the future possibility of 2-3 way CFX with that nice motherboard)

I'm a bit of an audiophile, and I've never really been impressed with on-board sound. The card will hold me over until I can get a good DAC and amp.

Thanks for the suggestion on the case, I'll definitely look for a better one. And I do plan to get another video card later on, so the power is necessary, but I don't have the funds for it right now. Any specific case recommendations?

 

[Geekkid]

Looks to be a fairly solid multi-purpose build. My main suggestion would be that unless you can state why you need a sound card without google, you probably dont need one.

I would also steer you away from that case because it lacks cable management options. You can get nicer cases (in terms of cable management esp.) for a little less money. I would take the savings from those and either bank them or pump the video card up to a 7950. I run a pair of 7870s and they are great cards but the 7950 has more memory and is significantly faster. (It also opens the future possibility of 2-3 way CFX with that nice motherboard)

I'm a bit of an audiophile, and I've never really been impressed with on-board sound. The card will hold me over until I can get a good DAC and amp.

Thanks for the suggestion on the case, I'll definitely look for a better one. And I do plan to get another video card later on, so the power is necessary, but I don't have the funds for it right now. Any specific case recommendations?

With the AMD 8 core you will need at least an 850 watt PSU to do crossfire, so you may want to consider upgrading that if you plan on crossfiring in the near future. If not you can hang on to the 750w (or even drop down to something in the 650 range although you will lose some efficiency) and upgrade when you get your second card.

As for cases I'm using an NZXT 210 source right now. It holds all the parts and keeps the cables out of the way, but other than that it doesnt have a ton of frills. Most NZXT cases are pretty solid, although Corsair also makes some great products. I also have a couple friends who both use the coolermaster HAF 912 and love it because of the massive airflow you can have. Any well built case with some holes or grommets for cable routing should be a good choice for you though. (Sorry if I didn't narrow it down much)

 

[naivephilosopher]

Looks to be a fairly solid multi-purpose build. My main suggestion would be that unless you can state why you need a sound card without google, you probably dont need one.

I would also steer you away from that case because it lacks cable management options. You can get nicer cases (in terms of cable management esp.) for a little less money. I would take the savings from those and either bank them or pump the video card up to a 7950. I run a pair of 7870s and they are great cards but the 7950 has more memory and is significantly faster. (It also opens the future possibility of 2-3 way CFX with that nice motherboard)

I'm a bit of an audiophile, and I've never really been impressed with on-board sound. The card will hold me over until I can get a good DAC and amp.

Thanks for the suggestion on the case, I'll definitely look for a better one. And I do plan to get another video card later on, so the power is necessary, but I don't have the funds for it right now. Any specific case recommendations?

With the AMD 8 core you will need at least an 850 watt PSU to do crossfire, so you may want to consider upgrading that if you plan on crossfiring in the near future. If not you can hang on to the 750w (or even drop down to something in the 650 range although you will lose some efficiency) and upgrade when you get your second card.

As for cases I'm using an NZXT 210 source right now. It holds all the parts and keeps the cables out of the way, but other than that it doesnt have a ton of frills. Most NZXT cases are pretty solid, although Corsair also makes some great products. I also have a couple friends who both use the coolermaster HAF 912 and love it because of the massive airflow you can have. Any well built case with some holes or grommets for cable routing should be a good choice for you though. (Sorry if I didn't narrow it down much)

Well it helps to have some specifics. I suppose I missed that part about my CPU having 8 cores, so I should probably look into a higher wattage for my PSU. It might be cheaper to just get the 850W now so I can just slip the new card in when I get it. Thanks for the input.