First build ever: tell me everything that's wrong with it

Hardware Hub Build a PC
1

Hi.

I have absolutely no idea how to pick parts for a gaming pc but I did it anyway courtesy of pcpartpicker, I'd like you guys to weigh in and tell me if I'm bottlenecking some parts with others and if you think this build makes any sense whatsover.

I'll mostly be playing indie stuff but I want to be able to play something like a CD Project Red Game or Fallout New Vegas and such.

Here's the list:

CPU

AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor

CPU Cooler

Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler

Motherboard

ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+ ATX FM2+ Motherboard

Memory

Team Xtreem 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2666 Memory

Storage

Plextor M5P Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Video Card
Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB StormX Dual Video Card

Case

Xigmatek Recon ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply

SeaSonic X Series 400W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular Fanless ATX Power Supply

As I said: no idea what I'm doing. Hope you guys and gals can give me your opinions. Don't worry about teling me I made something stupid, I kinda expect it ;)

2

Personally, I'd get a 256GB SSD and a large HDD. 8GB of RAM unless you're doing CAD work, video or heavy photo editing, or leave like 100 tabs open in Chrome.

Use the extra money to get a better GPU and PSU.

You could probably get away with a Hyper 212 with a 760K. The NH-C14 would be overkill if you're just doing a bit of overclocking. Good choice if you're planning to push the chip a bit more, though.

3

I feel like if your going to go AMD you should also buy an AMD gpu. You don't have to, its just a thing. Also thats some fast ram. Are you going to be able to configure it?

4

What's your budget and do you need peripheral and/or an OS?

5

AMD FX-6300 is 20 bucks more, is significantly better, and has AMD+ socket vs the FM2

1 Like
6

I wouldn't get the 750ti. If you can wait, wait until AMD launches their 300 series which should mean the 980ti get's launched. the knock on effect of the pricing should make a 900 series more in your reach. Or if you wish to go AMD (nothing wrong with that at all) a 290 or 290x will be even more affordable. Anyways, that's my 2 cents.

7

I would say the ram leaps out at me.

8
  • 860k cpu is better and cheaper
  • 500gb samsung 850 ssd is waaaaaaay better and cheaper
  • dont need 16gb, 8 gb will suffice for the time being - focus on the gpu
  • psu - nice choice but very expensive for a budget build.
  • when a cpu cooler is almost the same price as your cpu alarms bells should be ringing....
  • that ram, overkill to the max.

This is what your build comes to in PCPP
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XR6PdC - about $1000

that much money you can get yourself a killer rig that wipes the floor with the one above.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mrfR99 - i5, 500gb samsung ssd, 1tb hdd, nice matx case, good mb, 16gb ram (not that you really need it), high end psu (its a seasonic unit under the hood), r9 290 gpu, + cheap cpu cooler.

9

The 290 and the free ram........ that is awesome!

10

Hi man,

thanks for the help.

I forgot to say that I live in Germany so some parts of your build are unavailable here, I tried to emulate it with what I could find:

http://de.pcpartpicker.com/user/Hiroichi/saved/#view=t4KRsY

What do you think?

11

Is the R9 290 not available or in your budget? http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html. This show prive to performance. If you look, there are low end cards first, But the first high end card is the 290. I would suggest getting that, if you could. If you can't, this still looks good..

12

Thats basicly a very good build you made there.
maybe if you could find a 290 for cheap, then it would be a nice step up from a 280X.
But still a 280X isnt a bad choice either.

For the ram, look if you can find a kit, thats somethimes a littlebit cheaper.

13

Swap the CPU for an 860k, Ditch the cooler for a hyper 212 EVO, Too much RAM stick to 8gbs, Too much SSD, drop it to a 240gb+1tb hard drive, R9 280 is where it's at for 1080p gaming atm, PSU is just not right, go for a gold rated modular in the 500W range.

14

I may be wrong, but I don't think the motherboard supports DDR3-2666 RAM. Everything else is fine, be it slightly underpowered. If anything, maybe a larger PSU like 500W would do the trick.

15

well the i5-4460 will be better then the 860k to be honnest.
I´m talking about his second build by the way, not the one in the OP.

16

Budget would be there for that then if he changed the rest.

17

ofc a 860k is definitely not a bad cpu on a budget atall.
But according to his second build, that would definitely be a better option.

I allways advice wenn users searching for help with selecting parts, that they give some important information like, budget, ussage and such.

18

Should be a button that adds a bullet list for new threads in this category. I think there's a sticky, but who ever reads the stickies.

19

Hi
I would have gone for less RAM (8GB) unless you actually need that much (video editing etc.) and you can spend the extra 60 euros to get a better CPU and/or graphics card.
You can always throw in more RAM later if you happen to need it

20

Something I've found when building your first computer is that one of the most painful mistakes you can make in the buying phase is your case. It's perfectly fine for you to get this case if you like it of course, but price does certainly matter. The case I used for my build was the NZXT guardian, which I got for about 60 bucks on Newegg, It is a bit more expensive than the Xigmatek you've chosen, but there are some parts on it that lack in quality, and some parts I don't even use (the front temperature screen has never even been plugged in). While this is a personal recommendation and it doesn't appear to be much of a problem for anybody else. I think you might benefit from a higher quality, sleeker, better built case. It will probably make you more proud to show off your first build as well, because your beastly build isn't sitting in a rustbucket case. ☺

EDIT: i guess i made it seem like you NEED a pricier case, that wasn't really how i was trying to come off as. I just want to make sure you don't rush looking for the right part for anything in your build, but especially the case.