Building a custom system - looking for a pro's approval?

[WyattGarr]

Hey everyone,
So, I've decided to build my own system. I will be using it for gaming and photo editing. I want to buy specs above what I necessarily need, as I would like this computer to last for a while. Here's what I've scouted out.

Case:
Cooler Master HAF 912
Mother Board:
Asus M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970
CPU:
AMD FX 9370 8-Core
CPU Cooler:
Corsair Hydro H60
GPU:
EVGA GeForce GTX760 2GB GDDR5 256bit
HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 3tb SATA
Ram:
16gb (2x 8gb) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 Mhz
PSU:
Corsair CX Series 750 Watt ATX/EPS

And a few case fans.

Let me know what you think of my set up, with critiques? Thank you!

 

[Outlander_04]

I would want a better cooler than the H60 . The H100i probably

Make sure the mb is not the LE version

 

[Computerchap]

Good build, but overboard on the PSU, a 600 watt would work fine, I suggest the Corsair TX 600. I would also advise going to Intel, but that's mostly preference, but if you want to stay AMD the 8350 is cheaper, and around the same performance area. I would suggest upgrading to a GTX 770 if you want it to last longer. Oh, and that case doesn't have USB 3.0, just so ya know, if you don't care, great case. Excellent motherboard choice, ASUS is the best there is for motherboards. I can't say much on the CPU cooler, as I don't know much about them. Great RAM.

 

[zeph_yr]

Like Computerchap said, you could probably downgrade to an FX-8350 without noticing much difference. If you're going to spend $250 on the CPU, might as well just get an i5. Everything is compatible and should work great as it currently is though.

 

[dempy19]

For the CPU you can save 40$ and get the FX-8350, it is easily overclockable and you wont be seeing much of a difference from the 9370. But when it comes to rendering and better performance youll want to look into an i5 and then look for a corresponding mobo from Asus. As stated above the h60 wont be enough, these chips run very hot because of the TDP AMD chips have. an h80 can do the trick, but if you can get an h100 for a good price, i would suggest it.

For photo editing you will want more than 2 GB on your GPU, if you want to stick with the gtx 760 than this one would be good for you:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125494

As for storage, it would also be a good idea to cut dorwn on the 3 tb HDD you have there and get an SSD and a smaller 1-2 TB HDD. You will get better performance while photo editing no doubt about it.

Try this motherboard outr for size, much better for the future and your CPU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131851

 

[apologetic_zombie]

So I recommend that you just go with a lower clocked cpu such as the amd fx-8350 and get a better cooler like the guy above said. If you are only picture/photo editing maybe 8gb ram is enough and spend the extra money on a ssd for an OS and a few programs.

 

[Computerchap]

Dempy is right on the storage, didn't think of that. It's a really good idea.

 

[WyattGarr]

Outlander, Okay, I will definitely look into the better cooler. Especially if I can get a good deal on one. Also, the MB I'm looking at is NOT the LE version, but may I ask what the difference is/why I wouldn't want the LE?

Could I get a second opinion on the PSU? Computerchap, I don't doubt you, I would just much rather have a little too much power than not enough. As far as AMD v Intel goes, I'm partial to AMD, just because I've always used it. Even if I was planning to over clock the 9370, would the 8350 still be a better choice? I will definitely look into upgrading to the GTX 770, especially if I'm saving some money with the CPU.

Dempy, you're right - I didn't think about the storage; I'll probably drop it to 1tb and pick up an SSD. I tried a quick comparison between the MB I chose and the one you suggested, and didn't see much of a difference at first glance - could you enlighten me a bit?

and Apologetic, again, could I get a second opinion on the Ram? I won't be doing heavy gaming, and it is really mostly for photo editing.

Thank you guys so much!

 

[zeph_yr]

Outlander, Okay, I will definitely look into the better cooler. Especially if I can get a good deal on one. Also, the MB I'm looking at is NOT the LE version, but may I ask what the difference is/why I wouldn't want the LE?

Could I get a second opinion on the PSU? Computerchap, I don't doubt you, I would just much rather have a little too much power than not enough. As far as AMD v Intel goes, I'm partial to AMD, just because I've always used it. Even if I was planning to over clock the 9370, would the 8350 still be a better choice? I will definitely look into upgrading to the GTX 770, especially if I'm saving some money with the CPU.

Dempy, you're right - I didn't think about the storage; I'll probably drop it to 1tb and pick up an SSD. I tried a quick comparison between the MB I chose and the one you suggested, and didn't see much of a difference at first glance - could you enlighten me a bit?

and Apologetic, again, could I get a second opinion on the Ram? I won't be doing heavy gaming, and it is really mostly for photo editing.

Thank you guys so much!

Concerning the RAM, you'd probably be okay with only 8gb, as long as you aren't editing multiple pictures at once or keeping lots of instances of Photoshop open. I think starting at 8 to see if it meets your needs would be a good decision.

 

[WyattGarr]

Outlander, Okay, I will definitely look into the better cooler. Especially if I can get a good deal on one. Also, the MB I'm looking at is NOT the LE version, but may I ask what the difference is/why I wouldn't want the LE?

Could I get a second opinion on the PSU? Computerchap, I don't doubt you, I would just much rather have a little too much power than not enough. As far as AMD v Intel goes, I'm partial to AMD, just because I've always used it. Even if I was planning to over clock the 9370, would the 8350 still be a better choice? I will definitely look into upgrading to the GTX 770, especially if I'm saving some money with the CPU.

Dempy, you're right - I didn't think about the storage; I'll probably drop it to 1tb and pick up an SSD. I tried a quick comparison between the MB I chose and the one you suggested, and didn't see much of a difference at first glance - could you enlighten me a bit?

and Apologetic, again, could I get a second opinion on the Ram? I won't be doing heavy gaming, and it is really mostly for photo editing.

Thank you guys so much!

Concerning the RAM, you'd probably be okay with only 8gb, as long as you aren't editing multiple pictures at once or keeping lots of instances of Photoshop open. I think starting at 8 to see if it meets your needs would be a good decision.

Okay. Would there be a noticeable difference between 2x 4gb Ram, or one 8gb?

 

[zeph_yr]

Outlander, Okay, I will definitely look into the better cooler. Especially if I can get a good deal on one. Also, the MB I'm looking at is NOT the LE version, but may I ask what the difference is/why I wouldn't want the LE?

Could I get a second opinion on the PSU? Computerchap, I don't doubt you, I would just much rather have a little too much power than not enough. As far as AMD v Intel goes, I'm partial to AMD, just because I've always used it. Even if I was planning to over clock the 9370, would the 8350 still be a better choice? I will definitely look into upgrading to the GTX 770, especially if I'm saving some money with the CPU.

Dempy, you're right - I didn't think about the storage; I'll probably drop it to 1tb and pick up an SSD. I tried a quick comparison between the MB I chose and the one you suggested, and didn't see much of a difference at first glance - could you enlighten me a bit?

and Apologetic, again, could I get a second opinion on the Ram? I won't be doing heavy gaming, and it is really mostly for photo editing.

Thank you guys so much!

Concerning the RAM, you'd probably be okay with only 8gb, as long as you aren't editing multiple pictures at once or keeping lots of instances of Photoshop open. I think starting at 8 to see if it meets your needs would be a good decision.

Okay. Would there be a noticeable difference between 2x 4gb Ram, or one 8gb?

Getting two sticks would allow dual channel mode, boosting the speed, so yes. If you get 2x4gb, you can still use the other slots on your motherboard to upgrade to 16 in the future.

 

[Computerchap]

Yep, definitely get 2x4, and the PSU I recommended is actually 650 watt, not that it makes much of difference, but it counts.

 

[iceclock]

I'd get antecedent high gamer 750 watt ps. Corsair h80i cooler, 2x4gb of ddr3 rip jaws 2100mhz. Asus 990fx pro evo mobo u should beset

 

[WyattGarr]

Yep, definitely get 2x4, and the PSU I recommended is actually 650 watt, not that it makes much of difference, but it counts.

Okay, so if I follow you guys' suggestions, my build would be:

Case:
Cooler Master HAF 912
MB:
Asus M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970
CPU:
AMD FX 8350 (wondering if this is worth the $40 I'm saving if I had planned to overclock the 9370)
CPU Cooler:
Corsair Hydro H100i
GPU:
EVGA GeForce GTX760 2GB GDDR5 256bit
HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 1tb SATA
SSD:
Kingston Digital 240gb SATA 3
Ram:
Kingston HyperX 8gb kit (2x 4gb)
PSU:
Corsair Builder CX 600

How is it looking now?

 

[dempy19]

ok so for the motherboard, the one you had there has an older chipset, the 970, whereas the one I suggested has a 990fx, its newer and will give you better performance. there are 4 PCie x16 slots compared to the 2 you had on yours, meaning its fully ready for a multi gpu setup. also it has an extra Sata 6gb port which can come in handy depending on everything youre going to be plugging into your system in the future. The main attraction however would be the 990fx chipset.

As for your dilemma with the cpu, the 9370 is just an overclocked 8350. pretty much the whole design of the chip is the same and therefore will omit very similar results. so by overclocking the 8350 to the level of the 9370, youll have basically the same chip but with less power consumption and less heat. Id suggest reading into it a bit more if youd like but less heat and less power with almost identical results is good enough for me! also keep in mind that the gtx 760 above is a 2 gb version and will not yield as good results as a 4 gb one would when doing multi layer photos or rendering videos since most programs like cs6 are very needy programs.

Edit: as for the cooler if you want to save some cash to put towards a better gpu then go with the h80 since the 8350 wont need as much cooling as the 9370 would.
Cheers

 

[Computerchap]

Yep, definitely get 2x4, and the PSU I recommended is actually 650 watt, not that it makes much of difference, but it counts.

Okay, so if I follow you guys' suggestions, my build would be:

Case:
Cooler Master HAF 912
MB:
Asus M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970
CPU:
AMD FX 8350 (wondering if this is worth the $40 I'm saving if I had planned to overclock the 9370)
CPU Cooler:
Corsair Hydro H100i
GPU:
EVGA GeForce GTX760 2GB GDDR5 256bit
HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 1tb SATA
SSD:
Kingston Digital 240gb SATA 3
Ram:
Kingston HyperX 8gb kit (2x 4gb)
PSU:
Corsair Builder CX 600

How is it looking now?

Pretty damn good.

 

[WyattGarr]

ok so for the motherboard, the one you had there has an older chipset, the 970, whereas the one I suggested has a 990fx, its newer and will give you better performance. there are 4 PCie x16 slots compared to the 2 you had on yours, meaning its fully ready for a multi gpu setup. also it has an extra Sata 6gb port which can come in handy depending on everything youre going to be plugging into your system in the future. The main attraction however would be the 990fx chipset.

As for your dilemma with the cpu, the 9370 is just an overclocked 8350. pretty much the whole design of the chip is the same and therefore will omit very similar results. so by overclocking the 8350 to the level of the 9370, youll have basically the same chip but with less power consumption and less heat. Id suggest reading into it a bit more if youd like but less heat and less power with almost identical results is good enough for me! also keep in mind that the gtx 760 above is a 2 gb version and will not yield as good results as a 4 gb one would when doing multi layer photos or rendering videos since most programs like cs6 are very needy programs.

Edit: as for the cooler if you want to save some cash to put towards a better gpu then go with the h80 since the 8350 wont need as much cooling as the 9370 would.
Cheers

Awesome, thank you so much for the explanation. I will definitely go with the new MB. And thank you for the breakdown of the 8350 v 9370. I'm going to go with the overclocked 8350. I will also upgrade to a 4gb gpu.

Again, thank you so much to everyone!


Updated build:
Case:
Cooler Master HAF 912
Mother Board:
ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX
CPU:
AMD FX 8350 (OC)
CPU Cooler:
Corsair Hydro h100i (Sticking with the h100 because it is roughly $10 more, and if/when I upgrade in the future, I wouldn't mind having it.)
GPU:
EVGA GeForce GTX 760 4gb GDDR5 256bit Dual-Link
HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 1tb SATA
SSD:
Kingston Digital 240gb SATA 3
Ram:
Kingston HyperX 8gb kit (2x 4gb)
PSU:
Corsair Builder CX 600

Critiques/suggestions are still more than welcome!

 

[dempy19]

You're very welcome, glad I could be of assistance!
Good luck with your build, its going to be a great one based on the post above. Also be sure to post up some photos after you're done in the members system gallery, I know I'd love to see it once its done.

Enjoy!