Building this Piece by Piece- Input/Opinions?

CynicalAhole

Reputable
Feb 15, 2014
17
0
4,510
I'm piecing this together over the next couple months- So far the CPU, motherboard, and SSD are the only parts that are locked in. I may change my video card choice to the new R7 265 when it releases, provided they don't shift the price-point way up like they have been doing lately...

Some of my thoughts behind this build: I enjoy gaming but don't have much time for it, So I've been staying about 2 years behind. (Right now I'm playing The Witcher 2 and the Dragonage series.) I'm hoping this build will stay relevant for the next couple of my gaming years, at which point I will likely put the board into a micro case with an apu and use the onboard hdmi connector to stream to my TV. This was the reasoning behind getting a mobo with integrated HDMI.

When it comes time to upgrade again in a couple years, I should still be able to use the liquid cooler, SSD, and possibly RAM.

Disregard the PSU on the list. I just clicked the first one that matched the wattage of the one I already have.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2V0E0
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2V0E0/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2V0E0/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($88.94 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A55M-HD+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($56.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($84.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: CoolMax 600W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($18.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $574.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-17 17:56 EST-0500)
 

CynicalAhole

Reputable
Feb 15, 2014
17
0
4,510


I looked into the FX4130, but most of the benchmarks showed the 760k as being slightly faster.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/88/AMD_Athlon_X4_760K_vs_AMD_FX-Series_FX-4130.html

Not sure how much faith I can put in these online benchmarks, ideally I'd love to be able to see 2 otherwise identical systems running side by side.

The major deterrents from the FX4130 were the higher TDP and potential for higher heat generation when overclocking, and the phasing out of the AM3+ socket.
 

allanitomwesh

Honorable
Jun 27, 2012
1,610
0
11,960

CynicalAhole

Reputable
Feb 15, 2014
17
0
4,510


I just clicked the Coolermaster because it matched the wattage listed on mine. The actual PSU I have is this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817822004
 

CynicalAhole

Reputable
Feb 15, 2014
17
0
4,510
I'll look into the XFX. I noticed last night that the Diablotek seems to struggle with 4 hdd's connected to it. My 1.3v was coming in at 1.24 in the bios on my current system.
 

CynicalAhole

Reputable
Feb 15, 2014
17
0
4,510
Looks like the low voltage was related to the old board. I test fired the new board, cpu, and a cheap stick of ram, and everything looked perfect.

On a side note- the stock cooler sucks bad on this cpu. It will jump to 61C at 20% usage. I don't dare to do my stress test until I put a better cooler on it.
 

CynicalAhole

Reputable
Feb 15, 2014
17
0
4,510
Decided to try out the Cooler Master 212 instead of the liquid cooler. Idle temps stay between 38 and 41C at idle and get up to around 64 at full load.

Reinstalled Windows 8 on the SSD-- It is blazing fast! Granted, I was using an older 5400rpm drive before so I expected some decent gains, but overall system performance is a night and day difference!

I have a 32gb USB drive that I had been using for Readyboost- after my reinstall I plugged it in, only to have Windows tell me that Readyboost was disabled because the SSD was so fast.