PC Build Thoughts?

Hardware Build a PC
1

Just wondering if this is a decent build. All thoughts and improvements welcome.
I'd like to keep it below $1300 NZ.

PC Part Picker: http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/nCyr3C

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($193.09 @ Aquila Technology)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($129.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($150.98 @ Aquila Technology)
Storage: OCZ Trion 100 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($228.85 @ PB Technologies)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($239.95 @ Computer Lounge)
Case: Silverstone PS11B-Q ATX Mid Tower Case ($80.96 @ Aquila Technology)
Power Supply: FSP Group 550W 80+ Silver Certified ATX Power Supply ($89.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Total: $1111.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-18 21:58 NZDT+1300

2

if you are using amd you cant use stock cpu cooler and oc at all. you're better off with a fx 6300 which is cheaper and has more cores + oc'ing with a better aftermarket fan.

also dont go 16 gb of ram and a 480 gb ssd then get a cheap gpu. you're better off with less ram/storage and a better gpu. upgrade storage/ram later if you want but the gpu is most of the preformance for gaming.
http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/Gx2G7P

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3

Forget the SSD, you could be doing a fair bit better on the hardware, if your budget's a bit higher you're going to want to go with an i5, and maybe spend a bit more on a motherboard with USB 3.1

PCPartPicker part list: http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/HJmpyc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/HJmpyc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($197.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($157.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($74.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.98 @ Aquila Technology)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card ($427.00 @ Paradigm PCs)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 361 ATX Mid Tower Case ($51.75 @ PB Technologies)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($154.64 @ Ascent Technology)
Total: $1149.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-18 22:36 NZDT+1300

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4

you should get the FX-6300, which has 6 cores and you can still overclock it a bit using the stock cooler, but I'd re command getting a decent one so that you can get more performance out of it.

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5

Thanks for the help everyone. I think I'll drop down to 8GB ram, 240gb ssd and go for a R9 380 and a FX-6300 with an after market cooler and do some over clocking

6

I would personally go for:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.95 @ Computer Lounge)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 103 43.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.00 @ Paradigm PCs)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H DDR3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($148.00 @ Paradigm PCs)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($83.22 @ Aquila Technology)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card ($427.00 @ Paradigm PCs)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($68.70 @ Ascent Technology)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($142.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Total: $1309.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-19 20:37 NZDT+1300

This gives you the best possible gaming performance for the money I think by sacrificing rapid SSD storage. You can buy the SSD later so that you do not sacrifice proper gaming performance now. I think Slightly longer load times are well worth the extra gaming performance which is what matters most.

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7

an i3 will be faster than a 6300 in games

8

I'll still get the performance I want with the FX-6300 plus I want to support AMD.

9

Well then get an 8 core at least so you don't have to worry about not having the upgrade path, but you're probably better off unless you're streaming or doing virtual machine work with the i3/i5

The below is what you'd want from an AMD CPU

PCPartPicker part list: http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/ZJ6hMp
Price breakdown by merchant: http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/ZJ6hMp/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($242.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($219.00 @ PC Force)
Total: $461.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-19 20:46 NZDT+1300

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10

To be honest with the current state of the AMD CPU division they are not bringing what they should. WHen their FX-9590 gets beaten by an I3-4130 in most games even with SLI (Which tends to take more CPU) I see no reason to currently support AMD's CPU's. They are simply under par for most scenario's.

What they are good for though is streaming/encoding on a relatively low budget. They'll get destroyed by an 5820k but of course the 5820k is a lot more expensive.

11

It'll still be a lot more performance than what I'm currently getting plus I run VM's and would like more cores.

Also @Streetguru Thanks for the suggestion, I thought the 8 core was more than that.

12

If you're running VMs then the FX-8320 is definitely a good buy though I would consider a proper aftermarket cooler like an AIO or Dual tower air cooler (NH-D15, cryorig R1) paramount to push decent clocks to offset the lack of STP on the FX platform

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13

http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/bzPkhM if ya on a budget and run VM here is something that I whipped up.

PCPartPicker part list: http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/bzPkhM
Price breakdown by merchant: http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/bzPkhM/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($242.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX 300 55.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($39.00 @ PC Force)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($219.00 @ PC Force)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.16 @ Paradigm PCs)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.98 @ Aquila Technology)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card ($381.00 @ Paradigm PCs)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($71.90 @ Wiseguys)
Power Supply: Corsair VS 550W ATX Power Supply ($89.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Total: $1204.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-19 21:25 NZDT+1300

14

It also might even be possibly worth spending another $100 and getting the Sabertooth board, which is about the best board on the platform without going into completely insane territory, it has a bit better power delivery which will help with overclocking, and a few other features,

Maybe if you're going to go AMD you go all the way at this point, though if the $100 is going to get you a better something else go for that

http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-sabertooth990fxr20

Watch old logan or paul explain

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15

If I ever vacation in NZ I'm packing cpu's, lot's of cpu's

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16

My opinion is still try to fit in your ~500 GB ssd. Samsung 850 Evos can be had for about $150 and I just love SSD's so much. You can store less, but I never come close to that capacity in my gaming rig and most of my non-gaming files are on the cloud. Once you go solid state, you never go back. I use one of those in my work laptop as well.

17

Yeah I have a SSD in my laptop as well, that's why I want one for my desktop. I also have a File Server made with an old computer I got for free and some hard drives from other things I had lying around so storage isn't that important in my computer. Just enough for an OS, programs and games.

18

http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/bQvxnQ

Some parts I couldn't find for your area but I found for here. Dunno if they transfer to your country very well.

FX-8320E: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113376
Gigabyte MOBO: http://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GA-990FXA-UD5-990FX-SATA-Motherboard/dp/B0055QYKQE

Overall you stay under your budget. Again, not sure what the transfer is in money, but I couldn't think it is too terrible much.

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19

ANY PRICES I SAY BELOW ARE IN CAD. Idk how similar it is to where youre from.

Nobody suggested it, but I guess I will. Get an I5 2500/2500k for like $175 (CAD) on eBay, and some used Z series motherboard. If you don't overclock it, the CPU performance is near identical to the Intel 6500 (except for like a small percentage of applications which utilizes the newer chips instruction sets). Over clocking it obviously yields more performance.

As for the rest of the system, get some cheap 8GB DDR3 with a heatsink (don't get corsair dominator, or any other model that's suppidly overpriced/overhyped). Paying more than $10/1GB is not worth it (in Canada/USA at least. The performance difference for the price is nul).

For storage, get a 1TB WD Blue (has fewer drive failures compared to Seagate Barracuda), and some 120GB SSD that ISNT the Kingston V300 series. Most OCZ drives are reasonably priced for the performance you get.

Case is personal preference for you.

Power supply, get something new. Make sure it's AT LEAST 80 Plus, but 80 Plus Bronze is usually worth the $10-30 price difference. You don't want a PSU to kill your whole system!

For CPU cooler, don't get water cooling. Get some cheap $50 or less CPU cooler. More than that, and the price difference isn't worth it.

Lastly, for GPU, try to aim for a 970/AMD 390. Don't bother going above that, because the price difference is quite a lot for a tiny performance in difference. I would know. I've owned 960's, 970's, 980's, and a 980ti.

Hope this helps. Good luck, and please don't buy AMD CPU's. They aren't worth it anymore. They are 4 year old CPU's that are soon going to be replaced and completely forgotten by Zen.