My first budget build - Please review

[luca3113s]

Hello. I'm looking to get myself a gaming computer for this Christmas holiday. I have a limited budget, which is about 600-630 euros. What I want to do with this build is mainly play games such as Battlefield 4 on ultra and browse the net. I've looked around and came up with two possible solutions. I'd like you to review them and tell me if it's even possible to combine these two similar rigs up to get the best one for this budget. I may decide to overclock sometime in the future.

1.
CPU: AMD FX 6300
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0
RAM: G.Skill 8GB 1866MHz
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
GPU: Gigabyte R9 270
PSU: Corsair CX 750W
Case: Zalman Z9
Optical Drive: LG DVD/CD Writer

2.
CPU: AMD FX 6300
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB Blue
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB
HDD: Seagate 1TB Desktop Drive
GPU: MSI R7870-2GD5T - OC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 600W Modular
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS-I Snow Edition
Heatsink: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo
Optical Drive: LG DVD/CD Writer

 

[Vic 40]

From these two i would say this one,look carefully I made a change to the gpu,

2.
CPU: AMD FX 6300
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB Blue
[strike]HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB[/strike]
HDD: Seagate 1TB Desktop Drive
>GPU: Gigabyte R9 270<
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 600W Modular
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS-I Snow Edition
Heatsink: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo
Optical Drive: LG DVD/CD Writer

Where do you live,the pcpartpicker has a few european countries where it can be set at.Maybe there is more in your budget.It's not easy to pick something when you don't know what it costs.

 

[luca3113s]

Italy. Also, do you think the R9 270 performs better than the HD 7870 GHz edition? I've read some stuff over the net. Some say it does, some say it doesn't. I've also read that GSkill Ares perform quite similarly to the Corsair Vengeance so I thought I'd go for it to spare some money up. The costs of all the components on Amazon Italy sum up to around €680 so I was wondering if you knew about a site with convenient prices that does not necessarily need to be located in Italy but has to deliver in Italy.

 

[Vic 40]

Italy. Also, do you think the R9 270 performs better than the HD 7870 GHz edition?

It is neck to neck so if the price difference is to big go for the 7870.If they are the same price go for the newer type.

The costs of all the components on Amazon Italy sum up to around €680 so I was wondering if you knew about a site with convenient prices that does not necessarily need to be located in Italy but has to deliver in Italy.

I got it for €642 on amazon although i chose a different case,

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (€98.90 @ Amazon Italia)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS10X OPTIMA CPU Cooler (€29.84 @ Amazon Italia)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (€93.30 @ Amazon Italia)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€74.24 @ Amazon Italia)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€52.16 @ Amazon Italia)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card (€163.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Case: Enermax Hoplite ST ATX Mid Tower Case (€50.40 @ Amazon Italia)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€57.23 @ Amazon Italia)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (€22.00 @ Amazon Italia)
Total: €642.06
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-22 17:11 CET+0100)
you could choose the next faster ram for about the same price but it's red what isn't the best combo with the blue from the motherbopard and the case with a window,
http://it.pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f317000cl11d8gbxl


With the next set-up=different motherboard you would be under the €630,

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (€98.90 @ Amazon Italia)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS10X OPTIMA CPU Cooler (€29.84 @ Amazon Italia)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (€72.56 @ Amazon Italia)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (€75.14 @ Amazon Italia)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€52.16 @ Amazon Italia)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card (€163.99 @ Amazon Italia)
Case: Enermax Hoplite ST ATX Mid Tower Case (€50.40 @ Amazon Italia)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€57.23 @ Amazon Italia)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer (€22.00 @ Amazon Italia)
Total: €622.22
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-22 17:20 CET+0100)

I don't know another site to order from.

 

[luca3113s]

Alright, one more question. Do you know where can I find an online shop that sells PC Power and Cooling products? Also what do you think about Corsair CX PSUs?

 

[Vic 40]

Do you know where can I find an online shop that sells PC Power and Cooling products?

I looked and found this,
http://www.pcpower.com/wheretobuy/europe/it/

Also what do you think about Corsair CX PSUs?

I think they're alright.They may not be the best,but if you're on a tight budget they will do and shouldn't give problems.

 

[luca3113s]

Oh, thank you so much for that link. I finally found the Mk III Series 600W. According to a lot of reviews PC Power and Cooling seems to be a great brand. Anyway, I managed to build a possible rig for 650 euros. How much should shipping through Amazon cost? I'll be buying everything but the PSU from there. Here's the set up I've come up with. What do you think?


CPU: AMD FX 6300
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 2x 4GB 1866 MHz
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Video Card: HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB DDR5
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS-I Snow Edition
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer

I've pretty much based myself off your 2nd list. I've picked the Hyper 212 Evo because it's 2€ cheaper and have read a lot of good reviews about it. I've kept the Asus MOBO and used the blue blocks of G Skill ram instead. I preferred the Thermaltake case over the one you suggested as I like its esthetics way more.

What do you think, which one between WD Caviar Blue and Seagate Barracuda is better? WD costs 1€ more only so if it's more reliable or something, I don't mind spending that extra one.

 

[Vic 40]

In the partpicker list it says behind most things "free" for shipping so it shouldn't cost a lot.
I would stick with the seagate hdd.
Looks like a nice build,have fun with it!

 

[luca3113s]

Thanks. I'd like to ask some more question, though, hope you don't mind. What is the actual difference between OC HD 7870 GHz edition and R9 270? I found the R9 270 for a better price but I saw it's got like 950MHz against 10xx MHz of the 7870 GHz edition.

 

[Vic 40]

The r9 270(X) is,from what i know,a rebranded hd 7870 with probably some modifications,it has the same amount of shader units,the same gpu=pitcairn,the same memory controller=256bit etc.,it's just clocked a bit slower for memory and gpu speed depending on the type=X or not.
There is one other difference,the normal r9 270 only needs one-6pin pec connector for power,the r9 270X and the hd 7870 need two.
There is one oddball and that's the following one,
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr927oc2gd
this one needs two peg connectors while beeing a regular r9 270 (without the X).
If you can get this one i think it will overclock better,even if you don't,get the r9 270 anyway when it's cheaper.It should perform as good as the hd 7870 and it can still be overclocked anyway.

 

[luca3113s]

Hello again guys. I decided it'd be good to spend a few more bucks on the GPU. So I need to decide between either one of these two: Gigabyte R9 270X or Sapphire R9 270X Dual-X. Which one is better?

 

[Vic 40]

That depends imo on price,clocks and cooler.The gigabyte would be my choice because of the clocks and cooler if the difference in price isn't that big.

 

[luca3113s]

Hi again. Could you try making a build with the prices of either one of these sites? Since components are cheaper, something better might come out.

http://www.taocomputer.it/
http://www.e-key.it/
http://www.hardwareversand.de/

Thanks!

 

[Vic 40]

Like i said it would take some time,but the next two are my options,

amd build/luca3113s:
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=27192
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=26479
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=25881
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=23158
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=25968
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=29763
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=26156
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=26640

intel build/luca3113s:
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=30860
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=25968
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=29763
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=26156
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=26640
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=27361
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=26713

I just wanted to give the option to choose,but i think you will pick the amd,anyway you pick which one.I put the amd as first because that's what you asked for and it has a gtx 760 in it,which in the end is the better card,instead of the amd r9 270 in the intel build.
I did this because i'm still not sure which is the better cpu.

I couldn't find a dvd player on that site,look for this yourself.If you need to save money for that on the amd build you could choose the next case too,
http://www.taocomputer.it/shop2007/scheda.asp?id=25649

 

[luca3113s]

Thanks a bunch, Vic! I will decide soon.

 

[Vic 40]

You're welcome.

The amd build probably gives you the most and the cpu you can still overclock.