New build and I have no idea what I'm doing

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1

Hey,

Prepare yourself for some silly questions...

I've been looking at building a PC for a while now, mostly for gaming, some Photoshop work, web surfing etc. I have a budget of around $1k (ish). I am mighty confused though. Is it better to have x2 slower GPU's or one slightly faster card? Liquid cooling or no liquid cooling? I am looking at AMD stuff primarily. Here's a list of stuff that the friendly guy in my local PC Emporium showed me today... http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1yTU5. I was looking at buying / building this over the next couple of days. Is there any way I can do it better for less money? I have to buy a monitor / mouse / keyboard too. I was going to go Windows 7 also. But how do I install this without a dvd drive? 

Thanks,

 

 

2

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Killerfrenzy96/saved/2iMq

3

Ok, dont make mistakes I did. Dont go for a fancy water cooloing kit because its "water". Go for a hyper 212 evo because its inexpensive and gets the job done well with room for overclocking. I have the same motherboard and stick with the 7950. The two inexpensive card will suck because they will take more power and have micro stuttering.  

4

For the GPU's definetly get  one over two because that adds more power consumption, you lose a pcie slot, and you can always add another card later.  Unless you plan on doing extreme overclocking watercooling is not necessary.

5

blub http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1yVDy

why would you pay 250 dollars for a 7950 if you can get them for under 200?

Id only recommend sli/crossfire if you really need the performance. 2 cards will never run 2x as fast as 1 card, mostly about 1.7 as fast. Sometimes it will not run at all and you run into all kinds of issues. also it sucks more power, is louder and hotter than 1 card.

You might want to think about a ssd, you could certainly fit one in the budged.

6

Thanks! An SSD will come later, I think. I would rather put the money into a GPU and add stuff down the road. Question is, is a 7950 right for the budget? Or would I be better going for an i5 and a nvidia GPU?  I'm trying to put something together that will be good for at least three years before I need to significantly upgrade it. At the moment I go through a $1000 laptop every three years or so, that's getting expensive....

7

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/BETAx64/saved/2iMl

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1yWdj

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1yWdj/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1yWdj/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-8150 3.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($52.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($67.23 @ Outlet PC)

Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($18.99 @ Amazon)

Case: Thermaltake VL800P1W2N (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Microcenter)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.90 @ Amazon)

Monitor: Dell S2240M 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($119.99 @ Microcenter)

Keyboard: SteelSeries 6GV/2 Wired Standard Keyboard ($73.89 @ Amazon)

Mouse: Razer ABYSSUS Wired Optical Mouse ($31.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $999.89

8

Ok since you said you will be doing a little photoshop...

I would bump the speed of the ram to 1866 and use an Nvidia GPU.

The Nvidia GPU that would be a good start would be this : EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST SuperClocked 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0

but if you have slightly more cash to play with go for this: EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5

Your other base build parts look fine, can't go wrong with that AMD CPU you picked as it can be over clocked like hell. just make sure your power supply is at least 550watts with 80 Plus Bronze so you can power it all and not worry about stomping the flames out of your new rig. LOL

PS..

Also no need for 2 cards. if you are thinking about running a 3 monitor suround set up just pick the Nvidia eyeFinity addon!

9

Thanks for the help. I'm going to watch some reviews of stuff on youtube, and see if I can't cobble this together over the next couple of days. I'll be watching Logan's build guides too. I'll be back with a build log, unless I balls it up and / or get all sheepish... :)

10

put together a little build myself, its just over $1000 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1yWEp

11

Also don't be afraid to use that AMD CPU with an Nvidia GPU. everything these days is interchangable and there is no benefit in staying loyal to just ONE manufacture. I run an AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU's in ALL the rigs I build. I have to over haul my rigs every 5.5 to 6 years . matter fact I am just about ready to over haul my current rig as it is past its life span. I can't over clock my Ram/CPU/GPU anymore.

I actually will be using that same exact CPU you picked and the GeForce GTX 760 2GB in my next build!

Lol will hold me over for another 5 to 6 years !

12

some adobe application profit more from amd (open cl support), some more from nvidea (cuda), both are fine.

Id still go for the 7950 since its got the best price/performance ratio right now and comes with 3 games, the 760 performs about the same.

I wouldnt trust the raidmax psu, better get the OCZ or spend a little more for another good brand.

Other then that another mobo might be a wise choice, the 8320/8350 can suck a lot of power (over the rated tdp, even more so with oc) and your mobo is only rated for 125w tdp, the  Gygabyte ga-970a-d3 is rated at 140w tdp and is only 93 dollars

 

13

Hello! I still haven't built it. :( under orders from her indoors, this thing is going to have to be quiet, too. am looking at this stuff, with maybe a Bit Fenix Ghost or similar case. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136259

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

HP Smartbuy LV2311 Black 23" 5ms Widescreen LED-Backlit LCD Monitor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130637

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130637

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126192

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416550

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026

 

Is it worth waiting for black Friday to buy all this crap? My laptop is hanging in there. Just...

14

It looks like you have a better idea of what to go for with this build. I would recommend a better mouse though for both gaming AND photoshop. Higher sensitivity and precision really helps.

I also noticed that you seem to be stuck on newegg, so I will put together a build on that and pcpartpicker and you can decide which you want to use based on price.

This is a non-overclocking build

You can add taht $130 monitor to this if you need it. I think I forgot ram, so add in for that too.. ($50)

Here is my PCpartmaker build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

You can mix and match parts if you want. I changed things up on the case (the fractal design case is better). and the mouse and keyboard to try to keep the price down with overything included.

Its important to know that PCpartpicker includes shipping where newegg doesnt.

15

Thanks, man. I got some saving up to do, lol. The first build was based on me walking into my local Fry's Electronics and saying "ok, what ya got?" Obviously that was the wrong approach to take :). I've got a good direction to go in now, so thanks to everyone who helped!

16

fudge me.... I linked the URL rather than the permalink... and my uploaded photo doesnt seem to work...

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1DvXG

Here is about what I had before. its $23 over budget, but its got everything you need.

**note this is not a overclocking build. If you want to overclock, look at the asrock 970 extreme4 and a cpu cooler. Otherwise this is still plenty powerful for both games and photoshop.

17

How's this for $1000.68? http://pcpartpicker.com/user/jruelas11/saved/2krQ

18

That looks good, but its missing a mouse, keyboard, and copy of windows... which the OP wants.