Is $700 a good deal for this Computer setup?

[robothawk]

I have been trying my hardest for the past few months to get my parents permission to spend $700 of my own money on these computer parts. I have built computers before and this would be easy for me. I also need this computer for my classes, but my mother dislikes all technology.

Here is the setup:
AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor
Asus F2A85-V PRO ATX FM2 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
Zotac GeForce GT 640 2GB Video Card

and running Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

This would mainly be used for gaming and graphic design/programming. Please tell me if this is a good price and if the video card is good. Also, tell me how much a pre-built computer like this would normally cost.

 

[clutchc]

You can do better if you are building. Buying a pre-made, it would be a so-so deal. But why the APU if you are adding a gfx card? And a gfx card that isn't much more powerfull than the on-die GPU on A10-5800K? The Athlon X4 760K is the same speed and is a cheaper solution. And a bit newer.
A10-5800K: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113280
Athlon X4 760K: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113348

 

[md1032]

That price is high...frankly, you can do so much better with that kind of money. Look at what I cobbled together here in 10 minutes. It comes in under $700 and you'd have a better CPU and most importantly, a GPU that's probably twice as powerful. It's not like all of the parts are bargain basement, either. I own one of the Western Digital 1 TB 7200 RPM Caviar Blue drives and it's easily the fastest HDD I've ever owned checking in at 170+ MB/s read/write sequential.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1H9zP

If you were careful and bought second-hand parts and bought things on sale, I bet you could get those parts I listed for $650 or even less. Micro Center in particular has fantastic prices on CPU's, Motherboards, and RAM, and provides discounts for buying the three together.

 

[robothawk]

Md1032, would 16GBs of DDR3 1866 RAM be too much, I think it would be a good investment for the future. Also, isn't the A10-5800K the same as the I5 and much cheaper?

 

[md1032]

Good question about the RAM. The answer is that for a basic gaming PC, it is. I have never seen any single game of mine (even heavily modded ones like Skyrim) consume more than 4.5 GB of memory and the base Windows 7 OS only consumes 500-1000 MB at idle (with prefetch enabled). My own gaming computer uses two of the cheapest 1600 MHz. 4 GB sticks I could get my hands on for a total of 8 GB.

As for the CPU question...this is a fairly easy one...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=A10-5800K+vs+i3-4130

Click the first link to CPU world, and you may compare the $130 Haswell i3-4130 I selected for you to the AMD processor you mentioned above. The i3 is going to be faster, day-to-day, and gaming. Intel has architectural advantages over AMD right now that AMD is working very hard to address in their next generation, but in the meantime Intel is the undisputed king for gaming, simply because their single-thread performance is the best. I am not going to delve into theory here, you can google that yourself.

As for comparing it to the i5, you can't do that because the i5 is on a different level, price-wise, and performance-wise, compared to both the i3 and the AMD A10-5800K. Let me briefly explain the differences between the i3, i5, and i7 architectures. They are actually very similar. The i3 is a dual-core processor with hyperthreading for a total of four theoretical cores. The i5 is a quad-core without hyperthreading (four actual cores) and with a larger cache than the i3. The i7 is basically just the i5 but with hyperthreading enabled for a total of 8 theoretical cores.

 

[robothawk]

Is the ASUS motherboard good though, because it only supports AMD cards, so is it worth losing the $20 off deal for a Intel card?

 

[md1032]

We are obviously not speaking the same language. Let me put this plainly: I would not pay more than $500 for that machine because in my opinion the graphics card and hard drive are immediate write-offs.

 

[MEC-777]

robothawk,

Just came up with this $700 build as a suggestion for someone else on the forums earlier today. It would blow what you have listed right out of the water. If you don't need a case you can put that part of your budget into the GPU and get a 7950 which is a killer card at the $200-250 price point.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($175.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Raidmax Tornado (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($56.50 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $690.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-25 11:23 EDT-0400)

 

[robothawk]

I need the 2 TB hard drive's space so should I keep it over the faster 1TB?

 

[robothawk]

Thank you so much! This is the revised design I came up with. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1HuXp

 

[MEC-777]

I need the 2 TB hard drive's space so should I keep it over the faster 1TB?

You can swap out the HDD I had in my list for the 2TB version. Just don't get a WD Green HDD. Get a WD Blue or Black or Seagate Barracuda HDD. The greens are slower and not that great.

 

[robothawk]

Should I use the Western Digital AV-GP 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM?

 

[MEC-777]

Should I use the Western Digital AV-GP 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM?

That or a Seagate Barracuda will work fine.

 

[robothawk]

I like to stay as far away from seagate as possible, their stuff breaks down on me more often than not.

 

[MEC-777]

I like to stay as far away from seagate as possible, their stuff breaks down on me more often than not.

No prob. Everyone has their preferences.

I've actually never used a Seagate HDD, but I've heard the Barracuda's are decent. Personally I prefer WD but I wanted to give you options for your build if you couldn't get a WD HDD for the price you were looking for.

 

[robothawk]

So, would you agree with this setup? Or are there some other things I can improve?
(I will be adding more video cards to crossfire in the future, and maybe 16GBs of DDR3 1866 ram when I get the money)

 

[MEC-777]

So, would you agree with this setup? Or are there some other things I can improve?
(I will be adding more video cards to crossfire in the future, and maybe 16GBs of DDR3 1866 ram when I get the money)

Looks like a very solid build for the price.

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

Well.. for 700 dollars, you can get a much better build like this one.

+ 6 Core FX 6300
+ highly overclocking potential for future (with a new heatsink of course)
+ Asrock Extreme 4 has a very good overclocking potential.
+ Antec GX700 has one of the best airflows and there is no doubt on thermal cooling performance at all
+ The 7950 is way more powerful for the sub 200 dollar price range it is in. 3GB VRAM, 384 Bit bus and awesome performance.
+ Added a Optical Drive just for ease of installing OS.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL Enhance CORSA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($185.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec GX700 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.25 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $701.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-25 14:43 EDT-0400)

I hope this helps. Take a look at the build and tell me what you think about it. Your feedback would be highly appreciated.

 

[robothawk]

I think I will take your advice with the Video card, and the reason I left out the optical drive it I already have an old DVD ROM and most of my games are on steam, not disk. And I am using the CPU you said in my build, here is the new build specs: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Hxdv

 

[MEC-777]

Yeah, the 7950 is an awesome card! For the price, it just can't be beat. You won't be disappointed.

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

I think I will take your advice with the Video card, and the reason I left out the optical drive it I already have an old DVD ROM and most of my games are on steam, not disk. And I am using the CPU you said in my build, here is the new build specs: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Hxdv

Some changes, I might suggest :

1. I do not recommend that MSI board, just because it has a bad reputation for burning out under load. Just do a google search and you will know.

2. Do not go with the old AV-GP model HDD. Seagate Barracuda would be cheaper and faster.

3. The thermal performance of the Antec case is way better than the thermaltake one. Also it has a fan regulator built into it. It seriously has one of the best thermal performance in the budget.

4. I do not recommend the Corsair CX series. Antec 620 High Current Gamer or the Cooler Master Silent Pro would be much better in terms of quality.

5. Go for the Geil Enhance Corsa RAM. It is cheaper and seriously, RAm does not affect gaming at all. It does not affect anything. Just you need 1600 Mhz with Cas Latency 9. That is enough.

 

[robothawk]

I am sticking with the WD because Seagate kills itself more times than not, the Corsair is a company I like to use because theirs have never burnt out on me. I will look into the MSI problem, the case is one that I have already,.

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

Okay, so if you are going with WD, then go with the WD Caviar Black instead. The AV-GP are their old, almost ancient models which I do not recommend. Go for this one instead. It is the fastest HDD available and it is availabe as a combo offer with the Cooler Master Silent Pro 620W.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($153.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $193.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-25 15:38 EDT-0400)

You know.. this is the best HDD available. Also the PSU is better than the Corsair CX.

 

[MEC-777]

I think I will take your advice with the Video card, and the reason I left out the optical drive it I already have an old DVD ROM and most of my games are on steam, not disk. And I am using the CPU you said in my build, here is the new build specs: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Hxdv

Some changes, I might suggest :

1. I do not recommend that MSI board, just because it has a bad reputation for burning out under load. Just do a google search and you will know.

2. Do not go with the old AV-GP model HDD. Seagate Barracuda would be cheaper and faster.

3. The thermal performance of the Antec case is way better than the thermaltake one. Also it has a fan regulator built into it. It seriously has one of the best thermal performance in the budget.

4. I do not recommend the Corsair CX series. Antec 620 High Current Gamer or the Cooler Master Silent Pro would be much better in terms of quality.

5. Go for the Geil Enhance Corsa RAM. It is cheaper and seriously, RAm does not affect gaming at all. It does not affect anything. Just you need 1600 Mhz with Cas Latency 9. That is enough.

Okay, so if you are going with WD, then go with the WD Caviar Black instead. The AV-GP are their old, almost ancient models which I do not recommend. Go for this one instead. It is the fastest HDD available and it is availabe as a combo offer with the Cooler Master Silent Pro 620W.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($153.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $193.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-25 15:38 EDT-0400)

You know.. this is the best HDD available. Also the PSU is better than the Corsair CX.

If you already have that case, then we can remove it from the list and from the budget. That will make room for better components within your budget.

The price difference between 1600 and 1866 CL9 ram is very little. But I also agree that the performance difference is also negligible.

Considering Sangeet's suggestions, and removing the case from the budget, here's a revised build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 PRO3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($67.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL Enhance CORSA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($144.87 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($185.66 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $701.02
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-25 16:08 EDT-0400)

I've heard only good things about that MSI motherboard, but for this list, I subbed in the ASRock of similar features and value.

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

This is what I recommend without the Case included. Dropping down to a 7870 is not my thing..

+ 7950 is still one of the best (3GB VRAM, 384 Bit bus, ridiculously solid performance)
+ Extreme 4 + good heatsink in the future, like CM Hyper 212 EVO = Good overclocking performance.
+ WD Caviar Black = Fastest HDD in the market

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL Enhance CORSA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($153.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $701.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-25 16:19 EDT-0400)