The Build (For prices and availability please refer to this retailer)
General Info:
I'm building a PC for a friend who is new to PC gaming and doesn't know a lot about PCs in general. We're aiming for a general use and gaming PC, no rendering etc. We're not planning on overclocking the cpu since neither I nor anyone I know has any experience and it does not seem like overclocking is useful in a price/performance orientated build.
Questions:
I. Are there any general changes to the build that you would make? If so which and why?
II. Should I go for the ASUS 280X? According to research I've done it's the most quiet and cool 280X for a reasonable price. (again please refer to http://www.mindfactory.de/ for prices)
III. Is the i5 4460 a good choice for this build? (I really don't know a lot about CPUs)
IV. Seagate Desktop or WD Blue? (Or does it really not matter?)
V. How quiet is the Hyper 212 Evo or does it match the rest of the system in terms of noise? (The case fans, the gpu and the PSU)
-Yes I know I could get a cheaper SSD (M500) but I want to stick with the 840 EVO. (Except you have any good reasons to not do that)
I also apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes since English is not my first language.
Seems you already figure out what you wanted. Intel is a better fit for non oc.
I would go amd route for the price to performance but you have to oc.
Looks great. Since you aren't going to be overclocking, you don't really need a Hyper 212. The stock intel cooler works just fine.
True, but always leave the option. 3 years from now you may want to oc. Psu and heatsink shouldn't be cut short.
HAVE YOU ALREADY BOUGHT FROM MINDFACTORY ?
If you have not , be careful . Only 19% tax (so if not german , massive increase in price ) AND massive shipping costs ( 35€ ) even for close countries .
Add that to a bad warranty , and I would use www.caseking.de over it anytime.
And is silence Really important to you ?
If so , then you should make some changes .
And maybe get a 1231V3 ( xeon ) if not OCing.
Yes I have bought from mindfactory before, I live in Germany and it just seemed convenient to use this retailer again. I'm not sure about the E3 since I don't see the need for hyperthreading (this rig is just for desktop applications and gaming) and it's 50€ more. Also what would you change for silence? I thought the Hyper 212 would be silent enough when not overclocking (running it at lower rpm) and the Asus 280X seems to be the most quiet 280X in this price range. (According to what I know)
your build looks good to me.
However, i would advice to look for a diffrent 280X. The Direct CU II cooler, seems to have some cooling issues unfortunatly. This is a big issue with the 290 series, but i also heard about it with the 280X series, there seem some kind of a surface contacting problem with the cooler, which results in a crappy heatdissipation
280x Cards that i would recommend:
- Sapphire 280X toxic
- Gigabyte 280X Windforce OC. (with the highest clockspeed)
Check this video that i found about the Asus DC2 cooling issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT104_x5ums
Grtz Angel ☺
That's weird. Everywhere I look the temperatures of the ASUS card are fine:
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/29704-asus-radeon-r9-280x-directcu-ii-top-im-test.html?start=5
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5905/asus-radeon-r9-280x-directcu-ii-top-3gb-overclocked-video-card-review/index21.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_280X_Direct_Cu_II_TOP/30.html
Even if I search for "r9 280x directcu ii cooling issues" on google I can only find artifacting issues (which may be related to high temperatures).
Maybe he just got a bad card but I guess it's safer to go for something else.
If I remember right , the bad cooling is the vrm.
But amd coolers are made for nvidia http://media.bestofmicro.com/AMD-Radeon-R9-290X,X-W-415940-22.jpg