Advice for my girlfriend and I on building our first gaming PC?

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1

My girlfriend and I have decided to build the same gaming PC each.
We used to use the xbox 360, and both think the new consoles are a waste of money once compared to the PC.

What do you think of this selection?

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XxFhrH

I can't go much over the $600/£400 price (Which is just under what this build would come to)
I already have a hard drive, case and other peripherals, so this would be all I'd need in terms of actual components (I think?)

I'd like some opinions on it and maybe some advice on what I should swap out for something else if necessary, or if one of the components are overkill etc;
Perhaps it's all good, I'm not sure.
I've built a PC before, but as far as optimising it for gaming I'm a newbie.
The selection is based on what I've Learned through a few days of research, so apologies if I'm way off with this.

Obviously, given the budget, I'm not trying to build an incredible machine here, I'm just looking for something that will run most games well at 1080p, and also something that's somewhat future proof - hence the slightly bigger power supply than is necessary, and support for a second GPU via crossfire later on down the line.

Would very much appreciate some opinions and some advice.

Thanks very much!

EDIT: One more thing I forgot to mention. If possible, I might have to change the mother board.
I'm not sure weather it has one of the old PCI slots or not, and I'd have liked to have one of those for an older sound card I have.
Also, with the CPU, I was thinking of perhaps changing it for an one of the 6 core models in the FX line.
I wasn't sure weather that would give me much benefit now, but I've read a couple of times that it's a more future proofed chip - how true that is I don't know.

Obviously, I know true future proofing is impossible, but I'm trying to strike a balance so I have something that's reasonably priced, but that I' not going to be needing to change not long after I bought it - the same sentiment applying to all the parts, I suppose.

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I think you've spec'd a great little machine for your money.

I wouldn't go for 6 core, by the time games make good use of them, your rig will be outdated most likely.

Seems like the MOBO does have 2x of the old style PCI slots, so you are good to go there.

People will now enter the thread with their recommendations, but to be honest it will be pure personal preference.. there is nothing wrong with your spec. Just asking, but what about HDD/SSD space. I'd def get an SSD of some kind if you don't have one ready. For £40+ you can something very decent that will give you one of the biggest performance boosts in your system.

Good luck!

1 Like
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Get a decently sized case to make cable management easier. I would recommend a cube case if you can afford it.

Bad cable management can cause high temps and thus ruin the experience.

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Very nice build. The CPU is a tad weak, but I'm a huge snob with hardware, so I'm probably being picky. For gaming it should treat you just fine.

I have a FX 8350 in my home theater PC, and use a micro ATX gigabyte motherboard, and it has treated me very well. I like your choice on the MOBO for the price.

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Thanks for the reply. glad about the two PCI slots, also.

In terms of storage, I have an empty 1TB hard drive I got a while ago that I haven't used yet, so I was going to throw that in there.
i looked into SSD briefly, but wasn't totally sure on how it worked.

presumably you'd just use that for all your games, and your regular mechanical hard drive for the OS and peripherals?

Thanks again.

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I'm going to use a case from the PC I built a few years ago. It's decently sized, so it should be fine, hopefully.

Thanks very much for the advice!

1 Like
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Thanks for the reply.

Is there a CPU you'd recommend other than this one?

If it's fine though as you've all suggested then I'll unlikely be swapping it, but just wondered.

And yeah! I thought that board hit the sweet spot for the price really. Good upgradability for the future with the crossfire support, and as PoshGeordie pointed out, the two PCI slots are a nice feature as far as backwards compatibility for older hardware goes, should you want it.

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It seems I'm on the right track here with this, then.

I'm surprised actually that I got it more or less right first time. Thought I'd make a bit of a mess of it! haha!

As far as actually running games go, does anyone know what sort of performance I'd be getting with a system like this?

Thanks again for the replies.

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The only other recommendation would be the Athlon x4 860k, the only downside is it won't be compatible with that motherboard. The 4300 and Athlon are, as far as I know, similar in performance. I think you'll be just fine with that CPU choice for gaming. :)

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Upgrading from HDD to SSD was probably the most noticeable boost to my system overall. From boot times to load times on games and also just basic pc stuff. I really don't see the point anymore in owning an HDD.

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GO ahead and see if you can get a good Core i5 system.. it will beat the snot out of an AMD system... Single thread performance wise.. Plus you can get z97 :D

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That will not fit his budget, unless there is some kind of dark magic I am missing here.

By the way, nice Person of Interest profile picture. :)

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Personally, I'd install your O.S. Programs and Games onto the SSD, keep your files on the hard drive.

at the bottom end, something like this 128GB for £40:

for an increase in performance you could get the popular 850 evo for £49.95:

for double the space, the 250GB version for £79.70:

To be honest, you can't go wrong with any of them.. just work out how much space you need/want to install Windows/Apps/Games.

I can't comment on your expectations of performance, but 1080p gaming shouldn't be an issue for most games and turning down filters and such will keep you at 1080p on the more demanding stuff. I'd imagine this will keep you right for a few years.

As someone mentioned the CPU earlier.. I wouldn't worry about increasing core count this time round.. maybe in 2-3 years on your next build.

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Ya I would have to agree I would only go with an Intel core i5 or i7 if my budget was over $1000 anything lower amd makes more sense.

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Just to 'tease' you a little. For £100 more, you could upgrade to Z97 with an i5...

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/kqrCcf

I'm not sure you need that right now, but just throwing it out there! :)

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uhm core i5s are cheap lols

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They have gotten cheaper then they used to, but there is no way he can fit it into a $600 budget. Gaming overall needs a better GPU then a CPU, and he can't get a GPU like the R9 280x if he has to pay for a CPU that costs at least two times what he will pay for the 4300, and a motherboard that will be more expensive as well. I'd say an I5 at this budget would be more appropriate if it was more for just video editing/rendering.

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I believe the 860k is a bit faster than the 4300, but I don't know what the price difference is in your area, they're priced almost the same here.

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Hmm.. Ive done a 600 dollar one before with an i5... 4670K but That was a while back

Come to think of it.. it was black friday/weekend haha..

Lols you could build an old LGA 1366 system and still beat AMD to this day.. Heck.. why not go sandy bridge... youd still own AMD

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The build actually looks ok. You can save a couple bucks by going with an Athlon X4 860k. It's about 10% faster than the previous Athlon X4 760k mostly due to the shrink in manufacturing from 32nm to 28nm. I'm not too sure how this compared with the FX-4300 though, since the FX-4300 has some L3 cache.

I'm not a huge fan of the NEX series of power supplies. They're based on an old FSP design using 4 +12V rails(which really isn't needed in such a low wattage power supply like this) and voltage droop is on the mediocre side. I went with a lower efficiency power supply, but performance is great and the OEM is Seasonic.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/rrjQnQ