Need Help with 1st PC Build!

Hardware Build a PC
1

So like the title says this will be my first attempt at building a PC and I would like to get some advice on what to get. First off I would like to keep it at a good budget if possible under $1.5k but anywhere between $1k and $2k will work. So far by what I learn and know I plan to use these parts but nothing is 100% so I may change my mind if you can persuade me. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qaFa

CPU: AMD FX-8350

Mobo: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2 (May change if there is anything better/cheaper)

GPU: I have no idea. I want the best bang for the buck. What I see maybe the GFX 650ti but not sure if an AMD card is better as I don’t know where they compare at.

Memory: I would like 16GB (2 x 8GB) again best one for the $

HDD&SSD: most likely a 1TB HDD, best SSD?

Case: I like the Corsair 600T but any case with lots of wire support and airflow also windowed to display the parts and futrue lights.

PSU: I was thinking an 850W was good but not sure what I need? Want a nice efficient PSU that will last and can handle OC and dual GPU’s for future upgrades.

CPU Cooler: ?

Other Parts: ?

                                                                                                                                                                               

2

Alright, here is my list for you

CPU: AMD FX8350. Great proccessor for it's price especially, it will be able to do just about anything you want, and a lot of people say 8 cores are useless in games but considering the XBOX720(might) and PS4 will have AMD 8 core proccessors I think game devs will start to take advantage of it and us all 8 cores, it's also great for multitasking. I love this proccessor I have one for myself.

Motherboard: The sabertooth is a great mobo, not much to complain about here, will have everything you need for a pretty okay price. If you want to go a bit cheaper you could get the Asus M5A99fx pro r2.0 which is about 150 but the 20 dollar difference means you might as well get the sabertooth.

Memory: Just get some Corsair Vengeance 16GB 2x8 kit 1600mhz good memory and good company if a bit overpriced.

HDD/SSD. Alright so if you want an okay HDD with okay speeds just get any Toshiba 1TB hardrive but better speeds just get an WD Caviar Blue or Black 1TB or Seagate Barracuda 1TB. I don't have much expierence with SSD's as their price keeps me away but I have used them and for boot times they are pretty dang fast. I would say just get an Adata 128GB or OCZ Vertex 128GB or Kingston HyperX 128GB.

Case: 600T is a very nice case. More cases that are good price, ATX, good airflow and good cable managment would be the Fractal Design Define R4 I am sure you have heard of it, everyone and their mama has one. Another would be the 500T and C70 from Corsair, they make some great cases all around. All of these cases besides the 600T are about $120.

PSU: If you want really nice qaulity PSU's go for Seasonic and NZXT. That doesn't mean Corsair or CM or EVGA don't make good PSU's it just means I prefer those. 850w is good for an overclocked GPU and CPU, you will be able to get some good preformance out of them, only get 80 PLUS PSU's never get one that's not, too risky and stay away from cheap Inland PSU's. Really just look online for an 850w 80 PLUS certified PSU and just choose one to your liking. Modular or non modular.

CPU Cooler: If you want a nice one NZXT Kraken and Corsair H100i are good ones, they will run you about $120 but if you want a little cheaper just got for an Corsair H80i or something for about $70-$80.

GPU: Now I put GPU last because there are a lot of variables and you didn't specify what you want to do. You said Nvidia 650ti but with your budget you can really just get something better. If you want to play games get a good Gigabyte or Asus 7970 ghz edition card, they are about $449-$469 depending where ya get em, if you want to play games and get something cheaper just get any Asus 7870 ghz edition for about $230 or 7950 for $330. If you have no interest in gaming or anything like that, maybe you just want Adobe premier and Photoshop and all that good stuff get the 650ti, as for stuff like that I would say you rather get an Nvidia card because photshop utilizes CUDA, I hear more programs are getting around to better support for OpenGL but I couldn't tell ya. If you want to play games and use photoshop and all that good stuff, get a Asus, EVGA, Msi, or gigabyte Nvidia GTX 670, not going to lie the 670 is kinda pricey for what ya get but it's still a great card, it will be able to run just about any game (besides Crysis 3) on max setting at 1080p with 50 fps to 70 fps on most shooter, you can get these for about $430-$460 . At the same times you could get a 7970 and it would play games better for the same price (usually) but the cost of preformance on photoshop.

Total prices:

AMDfx8350, Asus Sabertooth 990fx r2, Corsair Vengeance 16GB 2x8 1600mhz, 1TB HDD/128GB SSD, 850w 80PLUS, NZXT Kraken/Corsair H100i, Corsair 600T and the Gigabyte 7970 ghz edition will add up to about

- $1560 avg for all those parts

- $1420 without the SSD

- $1480 with the 500r/c70/R4 and SSD

Now if you want a  different GPU just pick which price you want from my list and cut the 7970 and it's price and just add whatever you feel.

One more thing, do you have a 1920x1080p Monitor? If you have these specs you damn well better get one. If you don't just get one for about $150-$300. The same goes with a mouse and keyboard, honestly these don't matter as much and usually you can get a logitech or whatever mouse and keyboard bundle for like $40 bucks.

Hope you find what you need!

 

3

Thanks Looks good. and yea the Pc will be bastically for gaming but also uploading videos etc.. Once I have my first gaming Pc i plan to test it out on what I can do like live streaming, Let's play's etc i know that ain't much but once i get a feel for the new hardware i may try to learn new things to get the most out of the computer.

So bascially AMD GPUs are the best gaming/cost effecient cards and the 7870 is the best one for around the $200 - $300...  just wondering as i went a head and put my budget limit a little higher then want i would like to spend just to see if there is any trade offs..I am willing to spend the money if there cost effecient changes in the higher parts. Also I like to start building soon as i save up the money probally buy things in steps so i probally build a good decient PC and maybe in a year or so upgrade once i have more money.

 

 

4

Why would you build an AMD rig on a $1k-2k budget?  I don't understand.  I'd honestly recommend Intel at this budget, but I'll give you some options to work with.

INTEL Build:

[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wg67]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wg67/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wg67/benchmarks/]Benchmarks[/url]

[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i73770k]Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] ($320.94 @ Amazon)

[b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-cpu-cooler-havik140]NZXT HAVIK 140 90.3 CFM CPU Cooler[/url] ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)

[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z77extreme4]ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard[/url] ($134.99 @ Amazon)

[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31866c9d16gxm]G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory[/url] ($110.50 @ Newegg)

[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/a-data-internal-hard-drive-asx900s3256gmc]A-Data XPG SX900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk[/url] ($199.99 @ Newegg)

[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr797oc3gd]Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card[/url] ($399.99 @ Newegg)

[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-c70arcticwhite]Corsair C70 Arctic White (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] ($109.99 @ Newegg)

[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850bnlg9]XFX ProSeries 850W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply[/url] ($119.99 @ Newegg)

[b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas124-04]Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer[/url] ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)

[b]Total:[/b] $1474.35
[i](Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)[/i]
[i](Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-10 00:40 EDT-0400)[/i]

AMD Build:

[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wg80]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wg80/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wg80/benchmarks/]Benchmarks[/url]

[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-fd8350frhkbox]AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor[/url] ($189.55 @ Amazon)

[b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-cpu-cooler-havik140]NZXT HAVIK 140 90.3 CFM CPU Cooler[/url] ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)

[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-990fxextreme4]ASRock 990FX Extreme4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard[/url] ($139.99 @ Amazon)

[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31866c9d16gxm]G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory[/url] ($110.50 @ Newegg)

[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/a-data-internal-hard-drive-asx900s3256gmc]A-Data XPG SX900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk[/url] ($199.99 @ Newegg)

[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr797oc3gd]Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card[/url] ($399.99 @ Newegg)

[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-c70arcticwhite]Corsair C70 Arctic White (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] ($109.99 @ Newegg)

[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850bnlg9]XFX ProSeries 850W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply[/url] ($119.99 @ Newegg)

[b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas124-04]Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer[/url] ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)

[b]Total:[/b] $1347.96
[i](Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)[/i]
[i](Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-10 00:42 EDT-0400)[/i]

There's no need to put a "high-end" all in one water cooler in your build.  The NZXT Havik 140 will do a great job at cooling.  Check out Logan's review.  He even said it performs equal to and occasionally outperforms his H80.

The HD 7970 is one of the best GPUs $400 can buy.  I'd recommend it over the GTX 680 due to price/performance.  GTX 680s usually run around $500+.

I also gave you the option of getting the i7 3770k and the FX 8350.  The i7 3770k typically outperforms the FX 8350, but it also costs quite a bit more.  Just choose whichever one you think will get the job done.  From what I've read in the comments of this thread, it sounds as if the FX 8350 would suit your needs better.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.  I'll do my best to get back to you, but don't be surprised if it's a couple of days before I do.  Keeping track of who has replied to what is really difficult on this site.

5

Well the i5 3570k and AMD fx 8350 are both pretty much tied in what they do, overclocking, go AMD, streaming go AMD. Rendering go Intel. i5's can overclock like a champ aswell but I mean fx proccessors are very good for OC'ng. I do however think the 8350 is going to be way more future proof because of the whole console 8-core and longevity. Either way if you go Intel i5 3570k or the AMD fx 8350, you are going to be happy with them. At the end of the day just go with what your gut tells you (be smart about what you buy though) and yes the 7870 is a good card. To be honest just cut the price, get the cheaper graphics card and the cheaper case and the ram. Might as well save money for when the new stuff comes out, like the 700 series by Nvidia and the Hasewell by Intel, and I am sure AMD's Radeon will come with something new as well. Holding off and spending less money won't hurt. Good luck with your build!

6

Thanks guys.. I keep looking into it.