Please rate my gaming PC build

[Nanoshade]

So I decided to build my first PC for around £450 and decided to use these parts. However, I don't know whether this build is good as I am unsure about some parts like the PSU or the RAM.


Graphics card: Sapphire Vapor-X R9-270x (£139.99) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FOR007C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Processor: AMD FX-6300 (£71.52) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009O7YORK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 (£49.62) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0054U7HIO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

RAM: HyperX 8GB 1333MHz (£53.99) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CHHE1KE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Power Supply: Corsair CXM 500w (£45.76) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ALK1GFC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Hard drive: WD 1TB 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive - Caviar Blue(£39.41) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0088PUEPK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

DVD drive: Samsung 24x Retail SATA DVD Writer (£12.21) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CC6YN6M/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Case: Corsair Spec-01 (£37.99) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00I6BJATW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

This comes to a total of £450.51

 

[Sanjay Srivastava]

5/10

 

[Nanoshade]

5/10

Why 5/10?

 

[LavyDunois]

Since the motherboard is an dual channel architecture and since gaming (not sure if you plan to game) does benefit from 1600mhz RAM it's better to grab a 2x4gb RAM kit on 1600mhz. You will get full bandwith to these chips. You will still be able to upgrade to 4x4 for a total of 16gb in the future if you ever fancy it.

Put a better and more reliable PSU in this composition then the corsair one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($49.79 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Vapor-X Video Card ($194.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($85.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $655.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-03 09:45 EDT-0400

Price is a bit under £400 but i couldn't find the black case on the site.

Furthermore about the build, it can run stuff. Not on ultra or anything crazy like 1440p resolution. But it should do some games on a 30~60fps with high settings (depending on game ofcourse).

 

[Nanoshade]

Since the motherboard is an dual channel architecture and since gaming (not sure if you plan to game) does benefit from 1600mhz RAM it's better to grab a 2x4gb RAM kit on 1600mhz. You will get full bandwith to these chips. You will still be able to upgrade to 4x4 for a total of 16gb in the future if you ever fancy it.

Put a better and more reliable PSU in this composition then the corsair one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

What about this RAM: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00J8E9334/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE. Also, I only got the 1333mhz ram because apparently you have to overclock the motherboard to get your ram to 1600mhz or something and because it was cheaper.

For the PSU, I had a hard time finding a good supply like a XFX on amazon that was in my price limit. However, I did come across a EVGA 600w but I don't know whether it is good quality.

 

[Nanoshade]

btw I do plan on playing games like arma3, dayz, perhaps bf4.

 

[LavyDunois]

Should run those on high 1080p.

Overclocking RAM is pretty easy using the new BIOS. Manual of the motherboard should also contain info about that.

PSU Tierlist
Try to get a Tier 1 or 2 model.

 

[Nanoshade]

Ok, How about a Zalman ZM 550w psu. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00949HJ5C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE The Zalman ZM series are on the list in tier 2 that you linked and the ZM 550w is around the same price as the cxm 500w on amazon. Would you recommend this psu? I'm not too sure whether Zalman is a good power supply brand.

Also, thanks for the list of the power supplies, it was helpful

 

[LavyDunois]

Most likely a rebrand from a good Seasonic unit. Which most PSU's by brands like Corsair, Coolermaster or anything else are.

I'm not to familiar with Zalman PSU's. I do know they make good cheap cases. But if it's on the Tierlist it's solid.
Personally i'd go with a bit more expensive Corsair branded PSU as i've dealt with their tech support on parts a while back. One of the best.

You can try looking up reviews on that Zalman PSU aswell.

 

[Nanoshade]

Trying to find reviews for the zalman psu, but there's hardly any.But, by any chance would you know if the Corsair CS 550w would be of any better than the cxm 500w. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CP-9020076-UK-Builder-Series-Semi-Modular/dp/B00GN8VTVW/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1407077910&sr=1-1&keywords=cs550m.

Also, would the airflow of the system be ok since the case has only got one fan?

Sorry, If I'm asking too much!

 

[sora]

Should run those on high 1080p.

Overclocking RAM is pretty easy using the new BIOS. Manual of the motherboard should also contain info about that.

PSU Tierlist
Try to get a Tier 1 or 2 model.

Why would you overclock RAM though? It isn't really useful at all in my opinion.

 

[Sanjay Srivastava]

your processor will bottleneck your graphic card and the frequency of ram is not great
your mobo will bottleneck your GPU's Bandwidth

 

[Nanoshade]

your processor will bottleneck your graphic card and the frequency of ram is not great
your mobo will bottleneck your GPU's Bandwidth

Would my motherboard seriously bottleneck my GPU's Bandwidth by a lot? If so what motherboard would you recommend for around that same price? I was think about getting a Gigabyte 970A-DS3P but decided not to get it because of the bad customer reviews.

I read on other forums that the fx-6300 won't bottleneck the r9 270x and if it does it wouldn't be a lot.

 

[Sanjay Srivastava]

well go for fx 8350