I've been thinking about a build i'm ready to order for, and taking in advice from a few sources (here mostly, and reading up on others builds) and it has me thinking.
This is my first build by myself btw.
I am looking to order the new FX 4300, and my personal limit is $800, with the build i have right now in my list, the shipping bumps it just over that. I have also been thinking of just spending the extra 80 - 100 and getting the 8350 instead, which will push me way over the limit i set.
I am contemplating also that it uses more power, and generates more heat... more heat = i need a good aftermarket cooler, which means more money again...
i could also overclock the 4300 a little bit and still use less power and get less heat in return correct? then the cooler then comes into play again. if this is the case, any recommendations on a worthwhile cooler? i'm not sure on which to pick as there are many, and watching the xigmatek dark knight vid has me partial to that one. would that handle a good overclocking on either cpu? and is it small enough to fit in an average size mid tower case? the case is 7.7 (196) wide
.... I'm going crazy and I need advice!
Where are you based? What are you needing the build for? You've mentioned dollars, so I'm assuming you're based in the US. Is there anything you can reuse from your old build? Case, HDD, PSU?
If all you need the build is for GPU bound games then you could focus your budget on a good but non-overclockable CPU and invest in a decent GPU. If you're into playing MMOs you'll need a more powerful CPU for sure since they're CPU bound.
I am in USA, and yes, it is for gaming.
MMO's, Modern highly intensive games, and indie. Pretty much everything, i'm already going in for a 7870 with looking to the future for possible crossfire.
I've also heard the recommendation for the 8 core for streaming, which i might be doing as well, the 4 core should still be able to handle this just fine right?
Yeah the 4 core is plenty fine for streaming. If you are not going to overclock you could save yourself a load of money and be within budget. I'd go for a non-K i5 in this case, which would still be fine for streaming. The 8350's are still quite cheap though. I'll look at a build in a few mins, lunch time calls here in the UK.
Also I wouldn't bother with crossfire at the moment. They are a massive headache!
Forgot to mention that yes, I already have the case and PSU and optical drive already incorporated into the budget. the rest so far has been Kingston Beast 1866 ram 8gb, an XFX or HIS 7870, a WD blue 1tb drive (I also already have 2 external usb 3 drives at 500 and 750gb) a couple extra case fans, and the possibility of a cpu cooler. the mother board i am going to use is the Asus M5A99x Evo R2.0
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Eimm
Quick little build i put otgether for you, should be able to handle anything you throw at it, the cooler can OC your CPU no problem and i even managed a nice little colour scheme of red & black for the most part.
The 6300 could be the perfect median, and the cooler looks a little pricey and i'll see how I can work that, or a little cheaper one, into my budget. I could still use some recommendations for other coolers as well.
The case I have already is the Thermaltake Versa II (not on pcpartpicker) and a power supply i bought on sale, 750 watt 80 +silver
I was planning to crossfire, but i've started to see reviews of headaches with them not working properly on some games. Thanks for the tip on that Drudgery!
You already have
Case
PSU
DVD drive
Do you have the Operating System?
You need (is your budget $800 for these components?)
CPU
Motheboard
RAM
Cooler (if you plan to OC)
GPU?
Budget is total, I have $160 already into the PSU and case and optical drive.
That leaves $640 left for the remaining.
Motherboard takes up $140 then a 20 rebate so say $120 leaving $520 left for CPU, Ram (which i plan on the Kingston 8gb), GPU, Cooler, Case fans, and Hard Drive.
It's possible if I see a good enough stable system with the best performance / dollar i could run up my budget a bit.
Seems like you're set on an AMD build, not a bad choice considering their performance with games like Trine, Crysis 2 and streaming through xfire. Still for MMO's an Intel platform might an option if you're willing to look into it. Also are you dead set on overclocking?
Overclocking should be the best bet at getting more out of less,so yes :p
AMD was my view going into this already, the GPU is up for grabs, although i don't use any Adobe programs so Cuda cores mean nothing to me. MMO's aren't that big of a deal, the most of my games will be like Skyrim and Morrowind and Metro 2033, along with simple indie games like Binding of Isaac, along with Torchlight, etc.
Crossfire or SLi is what i was planning to do, though a good number of reviews on crossfire have been negative towards issues with getting them to work properly, i don't know if these have been worked out yet.
1 card now, upgrade to a 2nd card in the future.
Atleast AMD is what I've planned everything out for, the Motherboard is and Asus am3+ and the CPU i was just tossing around the idea of the new 4300, 6300, and 8350. The 6300 looks like a good choice for a median and then overclock it to 4 ghz maybe a tad more. Other viable builds within this budget i could look at and it wouldn't hurt.
This is what I came up with, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ej7K , pretty sure everything in the $520 you mentioned is here, and I put in the 6300 instead of the 4300
Well in that case then
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ej9M
=$640
Forget the case fans and CPU cooler for now. You can always add those later. If you opt for a cheap CPU now to invest in case fans and CPU overclocking, you'll see no improvement in GPU bound games. The Sapphire 7870XT is probably the best bang/buck card at the moment and very overclockable thanks to its excellent fans. It's certainly better than the Powercolor option which has a weaker and louder fan.
One thing to note however, because the 7870 XT uses the Tahiti chip, you can only xfire these cards with other Tahiti chips, i.e. the 7970s, 7950s and 7870 Tahitie LE cards only. You'll have no luck with Pictairn based 7870s.
This is a bit off topic, but could you explain to me the difference between the XT and normal 7870 perfomance wise?
That build looks the best to top out my build so far, I'm just wanting to make sure now that the cooler will fit inside the case.
It looks like it should with the cooler being 160mm tall and my case being 196 wide!
I believe i've seen someone already with a video on how to overclock this specific CPU, but if not it's the same general principle so I should be alright!
And Drudgery, I like your build too but i still need the HD ;)
I could just use it as-is for the time being and upgrade the cooler later as you said too.
Case fans are cheap, I might have some old placeholders for the time being as well.
Another question with your build if I go that route too, If i get the GPU you recommended, will it work in crossfire if I upgrade to a 7970? 2 seperate cards?
Yes you could xfire a 7970 with that 7870XT to improve overall GPU performance. It's one of the very few benefits going with AMD over Nvidia.
In terms of the HDD, that will certainly complicate matters. It will be impossible to stay in budget and one thing or the other has to give then. If you're mainly into GPU bound games then the CPU has to give and maybe you should opt for slightly slower/cheaper RAM. The speed of the RAM shouldn't matter too much, even on an AMD platform using a discrete GPU.
The 7870 XT uses the same chip architecture as the 7950s and the 7970s. It's weaker than both of those models ofcourse. The product lineup
High Tier - 7900s
Medium Tier - 7800s
Low Tier - 7700s
The 7870 XT sits somewhere between the Medium and Top Tier of cards. Performance wise it's better than a stock 7870 since it's memory is clocked higher and it has a higher transistor count (the same number as the 7950s and 7970s). They've been causing quite a stir at the moment because they perform as well as a stock 7950 when overclocked and with current AMD drivers, the 7870XT will surpass a GTX 660ti, which is significantly more expensive, whereas a Pictairn based 7870 (the original one) will trade blows with a GTX 660.