Help me build my first PC

Hardware Build a PC
1

I am planning on building my first PC, I've already chosen all my parts. But since since it is my first build I would like some of your help and advice. I was planning on building a budget gaming pc with high quality parts and good performance. The budget is around 750 euro's. But if you guys can find some better parts, i could stretch it to 800 euro's.

This is the PCpartspicker link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/c7TwD3

For some reason I couldnt find my motherboard there so here is an amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-Corp-990FXA-GD65-990FX/dp/B005A31PVA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409856757&sr=8-2&keywords=MSI+990FXA-GD65

Here are the parts:

  • GPU: EVGA geforce gtx 760 SC with ACX cooler
  • CPU: AMD FX-6300
  • CPU  Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper212 Evo
  • Case: Corsair Carbide 300R Window
  • Power Supply: Corsair CS-M Series 650W
  • Motherboard: MSI 990FXA-GD65
  • RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB DDR3-1600
  • Harddrive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
  • Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95

For those who don't want to read all my explanations here is a short summary

  • Budget is around 750 euro's
  • It should run most games at high settings
  • It should be best value for money
  • I want to be able to overclock the GPU and CPU
  • The system should run pretty quiet and cool
  • I want to be able to do a SLI GTX760 in the future
  • All the parts should be of decent quality and last for at least a few years
  • I want to do a blue themed build
  • I kinda want a better CPU but can't find one that is in my pricerange

Now I'll do some explaining why I choose these parts. Firstly the GPU, I wanted a graphics card that was the best value for the money in my pricerange for the GPU, which is about 200-250 euro's. I looked at some benchmarks and found out that this was the best one. I also really like the ACX cooler because it keeps everthing nice and cool. EVGA also seemed like a good brand because you don't void your warrenty if you overclock, which I do plan on doing because I want the best performance I can get for the money.

I wanted a CPU that didn't bottleneck my GPU and could run the most games on high settings. This is the cheapest processor I could find that fitted these specifications. I also plan on overclocking this CPU, which it should do pretty well according to the reviews I read. I would also like to be able to run some emulators on the CPU. I want to know if this is the best processor for the money, because I would really like a better proccessor if it could fit in my price range. 

The CPU cooler doesn't need much explaining, it was the cheapest/best performing cooler that I could find.

I really like the looks of the Corsair case and according to the reviews the air flow is pretty good. What I am looking for in a case is: Reasonable looks, good air flow, enough space to fit my parts and preferably a window. If there is a better/cheaper case that fit these specifications, I would like to hear it.

I know I don't need so much wattage on my power supply, but I may add a second GTX 760 and run them in SLI in the future. So that's why I have some fudge factor build in. This PSU should also be very quiet, has some quality parts, good cooling, good effeciency and pretty good cooling. I know that it is pretty expensive but I don't want to cheap out one the power supply and have it destroy my componants later on.      

I wanted a motherboard that could be capable of SLI, in case I want to add an extra GPU in the future. I also wanted a AM3+ socket for the CPU and have some overclocking capability. And it should ofcourse fit my blue themed design. This Motherboard should get the job just fine.  

The Ram is pretty simple, it should be blue, should fit in the case with the cooler, it needs to be 1600 Mhz and be 2*4 GB. This is the cheapest ram that I could find which does all of these things.  

The harddrive also is pretty simple, I wanted a good quality 7200 RPM 1TB disk. This one gets the job done and is pretty cheap.

I just wanted a cheap optical drive that was decently reviewed, this one is 20 bucks and is decent quality.

 

So these are my parts and explanation, all tips and improvements are welcome.                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                      

3

Your build looks pretty good to me overall.

I would be tempted to save money by focusing on a single gpu setup long term. Dual 760s in the future might be limited as each card has 2gb of ram and as dual cards work by alternately rendering frames adding a second card still leaves you with 2gb ram which in the future may limit you. A 550w psu would save some money and be sufficient for most gpus on the market. When you feel the need to upgrade you can sell the 760 and upgrade to a card with more ram rather than just increasing processing power by going sli.

I think you could also save some money on the mb by going with a 970 chipset. You still get quite a wide range of features with that chipset. I also think the 8320/8350 would make more sense for a more future proof build. Either that or go intel with a cheaper z87/97 mb and no aftermarket cooler to bridge the price gap. An i5 at stock clocks would still have better single threaded performance than an overclocked fx chip I believe.

An SSD for your OS would be a huge upgrade in terms of the feel of your pc, it will boot up and shut down super fast and be very smooth and snappy. A 120gb or even a 60gb ssd would do the trick if you want to spend the bare minimum.

4

Try this on for size ... just under 750 euro

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

I tried to keep with your black & blue theme

Or This build ....
cheaper PSU Fractal Design 500w 80+ Bronze

and upped the GPU to ... Gigabyte R9 280X 3GB Windforce ... Kills the GTX-760

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

a few euros over 750

6

It just says how old my keyboard is lol ... but then I'm not sure if I would know it if I saw it. I think I'll stick to USD and GBP . 

7

There are some really good suggestions here, this is my build now after some adjustements. I am still hesitating about some parts, but this build should be pretty solid.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BVK8P6

I have one question left: Can the high heatspreader on the RAM interfere with the CPU cooler, otherwise I think I'll get this RAM: G.Skill Ares Series, which should definitely fit. 

I also looked up all the prices for the parts where I can buy them and came up with a total price of €776, which isn't that bad for this kind of PC, I think. If you think you can still improve the build, any advice is appreciated.

 

8

Try pressing the left alt button (alt GR) and then pressing 5. It works for me and I have my keyboard set on international (US).

9

I have found a pretty good motherboard with the 970 chipset and also put the 8350 in my build and I also choose a cheaper power supply, so thanks for the good suggestions.

As for the SSD I don't think it will fit in my budget now, is it possible to upgrade to one in the future, or is it really a hassle to transfer my operating system and other files from my HDD to my SDD. 

11

Have you finalised your build yet?

With regards to the SSD personally I would get a 120gb SSD such as the Samsung 840 Evo or similar which would provide sufficient space for a few games to be installed. I would then when you have a little more cash, in a month or 2 head to a local IT shop and see if they have any cheap used hdds, I picked up a 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm drive for £35 the other day from my local IT shop to use for storage.

12

Or you could easily upgrade to an SSD later. Just reinstall Windows on the SSD, delete all windows files from the hdd leaving everything else. Then you can either copy across documents etc or add them to libraries so my documents for example will show C:\documents and F:\documents or whatever drive letters you have used. You can add the steam library on the hdd easily as well.

13

PDzephyr I made the best that can be made ...  it took hours of searching but ... this is the one you want.

Total ..............€748.34 ............ €1.76 under budget     :)

http://de.pcpartpicker.com/p/gDwkqs

  • CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (€151.90 @ Caseking)
  • CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (€32.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
  • Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste (€6.90 @ Caseking)
  • Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard (€86.89 @ Home of Hardware DE)
  • Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (€84.34 @ Home of Hardware DE)
  • Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€50.39 @ Pixmania DE) 
  • Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card (€224.89 @ Pixmania DE)
  • Case: Fractal Design Define R4 ( - Silent - ) ATX Mid Tower Case (€94.84 @ Amazon Deutschland)
  • Power Supply: Rosewill 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply 
  • Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (€15.29 @ Amazon Deutschland)
                    Estimated Wattage ..........  484W  ......... just under 80% usage                                  
EDIT:........
 I would recommend This ASUS instead of the Asrock mobo.   
I thought I would be OK with CHEAPING OUT TO keep BUDGET  
but I'm not. It's bugging the shit out of me.          
But it's your Rig Do as you wish ... my Job is done.            
Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+    .....    €135.70

And if you want to use the budget case you like ... I am good with that.    lol           
and maybe get ... Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5"SSD ...... €66.90+
http://de.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te120bw


14

http://de.pcpartpicker.com/p/ZV7G23

Should hit the majority of your points, but I'd take an R9 280 over a GTX 760.

15

My last shot at keeping the 280X GPU and adding Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD and the good Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard .... Total: €819.00

PCPartPicker part list: http://de.pcpartpicker.com/p/R74Yf7

  • CPU: AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz 6-Core Processor (€104.90 @ Caseking) 
  • CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (€32.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
  • Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (€135.70 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
  • Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (€84.34 @ Home of Hardware DE) 
  • Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€66.90 @ Caseking) 
  • Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€50.42 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
  • Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card (€224.89 @ Pixmania DE) 
  • Case: Cooler Master N300 ATX Mid Tower Case (€38.76 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
  • Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€64.90 @ Caseking) 
  • Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (€15.29 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
  • Total: €819.00

Estimated Wattage .........   489W

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.

And to answer your question about the heat spreaders ...  the CM 212 evo will clear

 

16

This build looks amazing. I'm probably gonna get the video card second-hand, which will  bring it down to my budget. Thank you for investing your time in helping me with this build, I really appreciate it and I will definitely recommend this forum to my friends. Have a nice day everyone.