What's up everyone. First post on these forums. I'll try to keep this concise.
I'm planning on getting back into PC gaming after after a long streak of gaming exclusively on consoles. I already have a suitable monitor, mouse, keyboard, and a copy of Windows 7.
I plan to primarily game with this PC. I may muck around with ArcGIS from time to time as well, but this is not a major concern. Games played will mostly be modded Skyrim, Arma 3, miscellaneous other FPS, and Eve Online.
Here is what I came up with the other day: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1RXDN
I plan to buy the majority of my parts on cyber monday. The 7950 could be had for about $180 just a day or two ago, so I'm counting on it dropping in price again. If not, I'll probably grab a 7870 or R9 270X depending on what's least expensive/available.
So my questions are:
1) Does this look like a solid build considering my budget?
2) Will this PSU be adequate for a moderate overclock? Or would it make more sense to spend a little more for 500W? This will be my first experience with overclocking, and I probably won't be going much beyond the 4.1 GHz turbo. I don't intend to run a second GPU in the future.
I'm open to any suggestions on different motherboards, etc.
Highly suggest beefing up the power supply. The card reccomends a minimum of 500W for the whole system. I recommend at least a 650 Watt. You'll have some more head room for future cards and you can overclock it a little.
I think it's a great build! The power supply is not enough... for 7950 I would go 600W for a bronze supply. That card is about 150 W, and your processor I believe is 125 W. CX600 is a minimum, and a Seasonic G series would be better.
Make sure the motherboard supports the TDP of your processor and any processor you plan to put in it. AMD's CPUs are power hungry but today I believe they max out at 125 W.
Thanks to both of you, I knew I would probably overlook something. I like the idea of some extra headroom in case I get a sound card or something down the line. Will probably go 650W.
The overkill is not necessary on very efficient supplies that are built really well and rated at higher temperatures. There are several reasons we usually overspec power supplies:
1) Many inexpensive power supplies are over-rated and can't actually supply their rated power.
2) You want to put the power draw (275) where the PSU is most efficient, that's 50-75% of full load. This is to reduce heat and reduce electricity use and reduce fan noise.
3) The 275W is all on the 12 Volt rail so the PSU's "total Watt rating" doesn't tell the whole story. People always look at the total Watt rating, but that is not how we are matching PSUs with power requirements!
4) 275 W is not an absolute maximum, it's average sustained draw under heavy use.
I recommend taking a look at jonnyguru.com if you want to learn more about PSUs.
One more thing on my answer to the other dude... so, a Seasonic G series 550 Watt would be fine, I believe the efficiency of that unit is > 90%, and it is a good unit. A really good 500 Watt would be fine --- but, it might start to run the PSU's fan loudly when playing games!
The other thing that happens with cheap PSUs is that ripple increases at high loads and can even go out of spec. That can damage devices over time.
Gotcha, I'll definitely get a PSU with some headroom. I'd much rather spend a little extra now for the added peace of mind, and to avoid unexpected costs down the road if something were to fail.
You may want to wait a little while to get a better price for that card. Just last week you could get it for something like $180 dollars with a rebate.