First Pc build, any suggestions?

Hardware Build a PC
1

Hello everyone, well this is my first post and i hope anyone could help me to start building my first PC, right now i just have a old Core2Duo Dell laptop and i think it's time to make an upgrade.
Right now i decided to stay on a budget for this PC because my economic situation is not good at all so i will spend some time saving for this build but in the meantime i will be looking what parts to choose have a better idea what could be the total cost , i would be staying in the 600-630ish usd range right now.

Budget: 600 - 630ish usd
Where do you live: US
Is there a retailer you prefer? No
Do you already have peripherals? Yes, keyboard and monitor.
What will you be using your computer for? Gaming occasionally (because school), school work, programming and everyday use.
Do you overclock or want to get into overclicking? Right now i'm not interested, maybe later or a little oc only.
Water cooling? No

The games i would like to play would be mainly H1Z1, but i would like to play the Fallout series, Battlefield 3 or 4, CS:GO and the like. FPS, well i'm not strictly for 60fps but more that can be playable on a good frame rate, maximum resolution i would go it's 1080p (monitor that i have right now will something like 720p so having the possibility to play at 1080p would be good).

Well now the parts:
(please, i know Intel have better IPC and stronger cores and going for a locked i5 or i3 would be good but because of my budget i would go for AMD now, this is my first build and also i would like to upgrade to an i5 more later).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($98.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($83.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($41.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $318.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-15 19:44 EDT-0400

I didn't listed the HDD because i already have one and for the case i'm going to buy it from a friend it's a Corsair 300R, the only thing that i'm undecided it's the gpu i dont know if to go for the GTX 960 4gb or the R9 280 3gb. If i choose the R9 280 the PSU would be enough?

Any advice is welcome, thanks!

1 Like
2

Someone else will have to help you with the mobo, but why exactly are you going with a 280 in this build? Your budget allows for a 290(x) easily: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131665&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-131-665-_-Product
Or do you simply want to save some money? Any aftermarket 290(x) (preferably from MSI, powercolor or sapphire though) will run circles around the 960 or 280. 620W is also plenty for a system like that, even with a slightly overclocked 6300. The rest seems totally fine to me, if you want the best gaming performance then the 290(x) would be an excellent choice.

3

Hello,
Let me start about what I like:
Seasonic PSU
Kingston Ram
CPU Cooler

Now on to what I don't like:
AMD FX is probably a bad choice at this date and time for a new build. That architecture came out in 2012, and is far slower in every possible metric compared to any Intel offering. I'm not going to start some ZOMG INTEL VS AMD FANBOI discussion. these are the facts and you do with them what you will.

I would get this CPU, an I3 4160:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117447

and this Motherboard, ASRock H97M:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157512

I have personally used both of these parts and they are great.
As for your GPU I vote the GTX 960, it is newer tech by far than the 280.

4

If I were you I would go with something like this if you have any questions and/or concerns feel free to ask.

The Build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2QpsGX

Edit: Sorry I didn't see that you had a case and a HDD you can remove those from the list if you want.

6

Thanks to all for the replies, as for the intel options i was thinking about choosing a locked i5 because it could be more easily to change to another intel cpu but it increases a little my budget of parts i only listed (like 50 usd) and also i will be looking for used in the gpu so i think i see no problem, but my main concern is, how much performance can i get for example in gaming with the 4460 and say, an 280, 290 or 960 4gb? and also for multitasking (because i would like to learn some music recording) is there any difference from that i5 to the FX?
If i choose the i5 4460 i would like to keep the PSU and the CM Evo for future upgrades.
Also other concern is temperatures, in summer the room gets hot and i saw that the 290 is 250W and the 280 is 200W so temps could be a problem with those gpus? or i should choose for the gtx 960 4gb in this case?
And final question, is there any problem with going with a mATX on a Corsair 300R or better go with ATX?
Again thanks for the help!

7

This is what i have put together.
I think this would be a nice setup, i choosed to not add an aftermarket cooler, since the i5-4460 basicly comes with a stock cooler,
so i choosed to cheap out there, since you can allways add a aftermarket cooler lateron if you need to,

Since the i5-4460 is not overclockable, i choosed to go with a H97 mobo.
Which basicly offers the feutures you would need for gaming.
For the GPU i choosed for a EVGA GTX970 ACX2.0.
550W XFX gold powersuply to power this all.

link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CdNmsY

@thrasher1031 let me know what you think.

Grtz Angel.

8

Yes and no...
Honestly, it's an old architecture and everything... Realistically, intel have nothing to offer in this price point... Yeah, core i3...
6300 is just fine...

In that case, Core i3 might just be better starting point, since later on you can just change the CPU and be done with it...
You may also take a look at H150 motherboards with a pentium or something for a start... Don't know if the new 1151 i3 are out yet...

Go 380... It outperforms 960 and 280...
Price to performance you can't bear R9 380 for 150$ and you just opened yourself space for i5 4460 or something...
Check this out:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Qxhpcf
Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Z for features, not OC)
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
PowerColor Radeon R9 380 2GB PCS+ Video Card
SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Base Total: $580.10
Mail-in Rebates: -$40.00
Shipping: $3.99
Total: $544.09

1 Like
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Thanks again for your replies
@MisteryAngel Looks like a nice setup and i wish i could go for a GTX 970 but my right now my budget wont let me afford something like that unfortunately, but thanks for the suggestion.

@psycho_666 I think i would go for that list, about the mobo it's ok to go for that Gigabyte or to go with the Asrock H97 PRO4?
About the upgrade, it would be like an i5 unlocked cpu but more more later, this 4460 i think it's a good choice for this first build.

Also, a 2gb gpu would be plenty? As i said i think the max. resolution i would go it's 1080p and right now i don't really focus to play games on ultra and that kind of stuff, instead on some kind medium-high settings. If it's enough, i think i would go for the 380 2gb version.

10

Welcome to tek-syn bud! :3

Just out of curiosity are you going to use windows or linux? If you don't have a CD for windows already you should figure that into your budget / price point.

Just a suggestion: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VF9ggs
Little bit over, but you get a good setup. I was going to try and figure out a 12 GB ram bundle because the little bit of breathing room is nice :P you might be able to find some ram somewhere eventually.

And, in case a certain someone on this forum pipes up that the 380 will be bottlenecked, it should not.
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2688168/8350-390-bootleneck.html

Also if the microATX board doesn't suit you (like if you need the extra PCI slots or something) then you should be able to find a normal ATX board for not too much more. This is the board I will be upgrading to soon.

Edit: If you can fit in some case fans on your budget, I would try to do that. I have an Iceblade cooler and having it line up with some extra fans really keeps the temps down on my phenom. I idle at around 33-35 C.

11

The only CPU upgrade I see in that machine is i7... Changing i5 for i5 is... Yeah... Having a Ferrari and changing it for lamborgini... Both will get 0-60 for 4 s...
You can basically go whatever motherboard you like.. I dislike Intel's behavior towards low end spectrum of their products, like having only 2 cores in cheaper CPUs or heavily cut down motherboards features in H series. Some manufacturers have added extra controllers and stuff to get the extra functionality, but I'd rather go low end Z chipset than high end H chipset on the motherboard.
One problem is that the insane promotion 380 for $150 is over, so now I would just get the cheapest 380 4gig version available. As for can you play games with only 2GB of Vram, I have GPU with 2 gigs Vram and my issue was never the Vram. And I have 1080p... Still, I am going for 380 4gig not for the extra Vram, but simply because it's a better gpu than what I have now... And it have some sweet things, like Freesync and Frame Rate Target Control...

12

Okay no problem, you can of course also go a step lower for a R9-380,
or maybe you might be able to find a 290 for a good price.

Something like this for example.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QkzQJx

13

He does have his case included at $80 in the original post though, which you don't have in your part listing.

The closest I can get with a R9 390 is still a bit over: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rmBkMp

With a GTX 960 it's much more feasible: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/d9BkMp

Some of the games you listed will benefit a decent amount from better single core performance, so a locked i5 would be pretty great. Games like H1Z1 like single cores. CS:GO has had some FPS issues after some recent updates as well since it's not using all the resources available to it.

I recently did a build with an i5-4690 + B85M Gaming 3 and they performed quite well for the price.

If you keep an eye out and don't mind possibly buying used/scratch & dented cards, EVGA B-Stock could also be an option. I got my GTX 980 here for $359, and a GTX 970 for the i5-4690 build mentioned above for $250. Solid prices, no issues with either card.

14

About that build that you did I have some issues that I have with it.
1. The motherboard VRMS will not work well with FX CPUS intense power draw which will probably end up cooking the VRMS in the long run. These AM3+ MATX motherboards were not designed to handle the power draw of the FX series and were made for the Phenoms.
2. The heatsink is at least better than the stock that comes out of the box but it will still run quite warm on that cpu. There is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO which goes for the same price and performs better than the Ice Blade or the Cooler Master TX3 which is about 10 dollars less and still slightly performs better than the Ice Blade.
3. Didn't you read about the comment that Some_Tech_Noob told you about that Kingston V300 SSD Now in another post. The speeds are horrible as you will better be off spending that SSD money on another 1TB hard drive.

That is all I got to say.

15

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jMrNCJ

Here is something that I whipped up. The reason is that I went with an aftermarket cooler over the stock one is to keeps the temps low and quiet.

16

Thanks again for your replies, well i came up with this list:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($62.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card ($183.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $555.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-18 15:53 EDT-0400

I think it would suit my needs and also it's on my budget, i wasn't sure if to go for the 2gb version or that one, but the MSI option it's the cheapest of the 4gb so i think it would be a good choice. I kept the Seasonic psu to have more room for future upgrades and also the CM Evo to keep low temps as @MrChumps said.
As for the case i didn't put it in the list because i'm going to buy it from a friend.
So i think this would be the definitive list. Any comments or suggestions are welcome and also thanks to all for the help i really appreciate it.

1 Like
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Looks solid.

18

Yeah, You got the "Tek Syndicate community favourite" list of parts there.

19

looks good to me.

20

Hi everyone, so recently i've been looking for different parts mostly in the used side from local forums or groups to see what i can found. So i preferred to go used on the cpu and motherboard side, maybe the ram too and just get the PSU and GPU new. The cpus i looked are 2nd or 3rd gen intel and for a good price also some will come in a motherboard combo (if i'm lucky with ram also), but my main concern is should i be worried to buy an used cpu, mostly the unlocked ones? I'm looking to get an 2nd/3rd gen i5 or even i7(the 2600 to be exact) if i found one cheap. Also i don't have much experience about the motherboard chipsets of 1155 socket so i would like to know which are the ones that would be good to choose?
If i go in that direction i think i would save some money and maybe get a little better gpu like a GTX 970.