Thoughts about my Build?

I'm building a Gaming and Office PC for my mate and chose this parts:

  • Processor: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core | 183€
  • Motherboard: M5A99FX PRO R2.0 | 132€
  • RAM: Kingston KHX2133C11D3K4/16GX 16 GB 2133 MHz 1.65V | 130€ (Not sure)
  • HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB | 73€
  • SSD: Samsung 840 Series Basic intern SSD 250GB | 148€
  • Graphics: Sapphire Radeon HD7870 XT with Boost 2GB | 220€
  • Cooler: Alpenföhn Himalaya (have it in my Build, its really good) | 60€
  • Case: Lancool K62 Midi-Tower | 90€ (Not sure)
  • PSU: Corsair TX750M Modular 750W | 110€ (Changed)

I'm not sure about the RAM and the Motherboard.
The Case has a quite good Airflow and the Fans are already preinstalled (3 x 140mm and 1 x 120mm).

What would you change? Can you recommand something? Do you have bad experience with any part?

BTW, this is my first post here on Tek Syndicate.

THX!

What all do you use the system for?

 

And welcome to TekSyndicate! 

Welcome to TekSyndicate :)

Yes, there are a few things I would change. First of all, the biggest thing I don't like is the PSU. XFX is known for generally skimping on the quality of the PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), which could end up screwing your system over. For not much more, you can get a good Corsair or SeaSonic fully modular PSU that will be much better quality and extremely reliable. Remember, the PSU is one of the few things that you will be carrying over from build to build, so don't ever skimp on it. The wattage is good, however. You won't ever use more than 750W even in 2-way SLI or Crossfire.

For that money on the RAM, I would get 16GB (2x8) of DDR3 G.SKILl Trident X 2400mHz memory. Here in the states, it costs $139.99, so it is even cheaper than your HyperX memory you chose. Also, a side note - I think that HyperX memory is horrendous, but that might just be me ;)

That Samsung SSD will be good, but in the Samsung product chain, the 830 is better. The quality/speed goes 840, 830, 840 Pro. A good alternative is the ADATA SX900, which is about as fast or faster than the Samsung 840, but much cheaper, especially for the 512GB model. I found that my SSD (120GB) filled up really quickly. For $190 (about 142 euros), you can get a 256GB ADATA SX900. I would highly advise getting 256GBs of whatever SSD you end up getting -120/128 fills up quickly.

Gor not much more, or possibly the same, you can get a 7870 XT/Tahiti LE, which uses the 7900 series GPU, which is faster and more robust. It is practically a 7930. They can be found all over the place - I know that Sapphire makes one for pretty cheap. If you can't swing that in your budget (which they aren't really that much more), then the 7870 standard (not Super/Overclocked by the factory) is a great way to go; still very powerful for the money.

If you like that case, go for it, but I personally love Fracta Design cases. i have the XL USB 3.0 and it is the best case I have ever built in. The new Fractal Design R4, which is a standard mid-tower caes, is about the same price as the one you chose, but I think it looks much better. I don't have personal experience with the one you chose, but I can assure you of Fractal's design and build quality, especially in the R4 and XL R2.

Also, just a quick question - why are you buying two 1TB HDDs? You could save some money by just getting a single 2TB HDD and putting the rest into a larger SSD. And, just to giver perspective, I bought a 2TB HDD when I built my new system. I have been torrenting like crazy (legal stuff... yeah...), archiving audio and film, and still, I haven't filled up 500GB. If you just get a single 1TB HDD, or a 2TB which will be about $20 (~15 euros) more, you could fit room in the budget for a 256GB SSD. Or, if you want, get rid of the HDDs entirely and get a 512GB ADATA SX900 SSD ;)

Overall, the build is very well thought out. There aren't many things I would change. Still, if you built it as is, it would be a very nice computer, but there are ways to make it better for little or no more money. Cheers and welcome to TekSyndicate!

 

Brennan Riddell

It all looks good to me good choices on all the parts, RAM isn't really an issue it's all the same crap. You could drop it down to 1866 if you're worried about price at all, and the mobo is good but if you want cheaper* not sure if it's cheaper from where ever your spending your colour coded smedbucks at, would be the ASRock extreme4 990fx a friend of mine has it and it has plenty of features for the price, works great, and overclocks like a champ.

I disagree with the poster above me on the powersupply however, XFX powersupplies are quite good and most of the parts in them are from SeaSonic, derp.

Also gigabyte isn't amazing on their graphics cards, might want to look at XFX or Sapphire if they're similarly priced.

First of all, the biggest thing I don't like is the PSU. XFX is known for generally skimping on the quality of the PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), which could end up screwing your system over


 i know EXACTLY what you mean...Friend had a psu from XFX that exploded. As in, boom fire boom boom shrapnel middle east noise. Was a fun phone call from him xD I still dont judge XFX on that one situation , though. I am a bit of a fan of em

The system is for my mate, who wants a Gaming PC that is quite Future proof and can handle games at 1080p. He will also use it for basic office work and programming.

I would say it would be a good idea to upgrade to the 7970 instead of the 7870. You'll have to drop a bit more cash but the extra power should be worth it.

Also for that rig I would recomend an 850 watt to give some headroom for overclocking and more GPU's. The Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 850w is an outstanding psu.

Thx for you're reply, the 2 x 1TB HDD was a typing mistake, because he only needs 1TB and adding a second hdd is no problem. I will look at the AData SSD, tough i made good experience with the samsung 840 i have in my notebook.

I will also look at the Graphics Card you suggested and an other PSU.

Thx!

 

Why would you choose 2400MHz RAM instead of 2133MHz (example: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB)? Is it important to take 2 x 8GB instead of 4 x 4GB?

There is no way he will ever use 850W, even with 2 or 3 way SLI/Crossfire. People have run 3x GTX 670s on a 750W PSU! Oversizing the PSU won't hurt the build, but it could hurt your budget. I made the mistake of getting an 850W Corsair HX PSU for my system which has a single EVGA GTX 680 and i7 3770k. I use 300W max, with everything overclocked...