£1.3k Custom Build: Looking for advice

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Ajaiix

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Apr 19, 2015
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Hi there!

My partner and I are planning on making two gaming rigs in the next month or so, which will be a first for us. We have a friend helping us with the building process, but at the moment we are still trying to decide on parts.

Our build at the moment is this:
CPU: AMD FX-9590 4.7GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Nepton 120XL 76.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme9 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
RAM: G.Skill Ripsaws X Series 16GB (2x8G) DDR3-1600 Memory
Drives: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5” SSD + Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB 3.5” 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Graphics Card: XFX Radeon RX 480 8GB XXX OC Video Card
Power Supply Unit: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Case: NZXT Phantom 820 Full Tower Case
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Windows 7
( PCpartpicker list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/XDNygL )

We already have two monitors, so those are not included. AMD over Intel is a choice we're eager to try out as we've heard many good things, but we're open to be swayed on this if you have a passionate opinion on it. We've done our best to pick our well-reviewed parts across the board.

Used for:
Gaming (Guild Wars 2, Riders of Icarus, Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Original Sin 2 *when it releases, Borderlands 2, League of Legends, etc etc.)
Video Editing
Artwork

Priorities:

Low temperature case
Reliability

Durability (we game for hours on end at a time)

Meh:
Eyecandy (hence the pricey case)
Overclocking (We're interested but have no clue where to start)

Not priorities:
Noise


Our biggest question is about cooling; we're not sure about going liquid with it. Our friend recommends liquid cooling, but we're not sure. I'm hoping not to trigger a massive debate on air vs. liquid cooling here, but my research on it still leaves me questioning which one would be better, and are looking for an experienced opinion. The general consensus seems to be that air cooling is more reliable and less maintenance, which is a pro for us considering that reliability is a priority and we've never had to maintain a liquid cooler before and would have no idea what we're doing, but that you trade improved cooling for this at a relatively low risk. The price difference between the two is not a major concern, as if we're going to spend money building rigs we really want to have them in a good place. The air cooler we'd go with otherwise is most likely the Noctua NH D15, but we are completely open to alternative options.

Our other questions are about the build entirety; does it seem solid? Do any components stick out as a problem in some way? Is there room for improvement within this budget (or a close stretch that would improve something significantly? Is the speed of our DDR3 RAM okay and is 16GB enough? Has anybody purchased something from XFX before, were they okay?

Thank you very much for reading through, and thanks in advance for any help. We'll be around a bit tonight (UK time) and tomorrow, and we'll try to reply to any questions/comments as soon as we can.
 
Solution
If you're going for a gaming build, you're way off. The FX9590 is probably the single worst decision you could possibly make

It would perform about the same as an i3 6100 for 5 times the cost, heat, and power consumption. Avoid at all costs.

A simple i5 build would come in cheaper and be CONSIDERABLY better in every single way.

CV_Taihou

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Dec 3, 2015
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I've had the dead opposite experience, with 3 dead ASUS boards and 0 issues with 7 MSI ones I've used in personal or family computers. I don't usually recommend ASUS boards for that very reason. On top of that, there's better options for a red/black board from ASUS without spending the money on the Maximus, which is overpriced for what it is and honestly doesn't match the red/black theme all that well (if you were ok with silver/red it would work fine)
 

Ajaiix

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Apr 19, 2015
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Thanks for the clarification here, ideally we don't want to have to set everything up to have to take it apart and send it back if possible, I do love black and red but for the sake of quality over eye candy I'm happy to go with the ASUS mobo, thank you all for all of your input/advice!

 

CTurbo

Pizza Monster
Moderator
Every motherboard brand has it's lemons. The truth is they're all pretty equal. Stay on this site long enough and you'll run across people that swear by one brand and hate another. After a while, you'll "hear" that every brand sucks and has quality issues and every brand is better than the rest.
 

Aeacus

Titan
Ambassador

As far ar MoBo brands go and CTurbo already stated, there's not much difference between them.

I personally don't favour one brand over another. I try to get good aesthetics but most of all, i look the features every MoBo has.

An example: Asus Z170-A vs MSI Z170A Gaming M5
(I'll write the conclusion according to my preferences, your preferences might be different.)

Max supported RAM speed
Asus - 3466 Mhz
MSI - 3600 Mhz
Having max 3600 Mhz RAM on MSI is easier to keep in mind than the 3466 Mhz cap the Asus has, not to mention it's also faster.

Expansion slots
Asus - 3x PCI-Ex16; 3x PCI-Ex1; 1x PCI
MSI - 3x PCI-Ex16; 4x PCI-Ex1
The PCI slot Asus has is outdated technology and replaced with PCI-E. I'd go for MSI for one extra PCI-Ex1 slot while keeping my MoBo clear of outdated components.

Storage
Asus - 6x SATA3; 1x SATA Express; 1x M.2 slot (2242/2260/2280/22110)
MSI - 6x SATA3; 2x SATA Express; 2x M.2 slot (2280)
Even though Asus supports M.2 drives in different lengths (42mm, 60mm, 80mm and 110mm), it has only 1x M.2 slot. MSI has 2x M.2 slots with fixed length of 80mm. While i don't have the flexibility to use different lengths, i favour for the ability to be able to use two M.2 drives. Getting one extra SATAe port is also nice.

Back I/O panel (click on link to view image)
Asus and MSI
As far as rear I/O panel goes, MSI has done a good job by placing keyboard/ mouse ports to the edge of the board for easy access. MSI has also separated USB 3.1 Gen2 rear ports from the rest, while Asus has stuck LAN (RJ45) port over USB 3.1 Gen2 rear ports. It's interesting to see that Asus still offers a DE-15 port (commonly known as VGA port). To me, VGA port is another outdated component that i do not need on my MoBo.

By the features alone, MSI will win for me. And MSI's good aesthetics is a cherry on top.

I'm not saying that you should go with MSI. I'm just pointing out that don't look for 1 or 2 things on the MoBo, but everything that MoBo offers, since it's the foundation of your system.
 

Ajaiix

Reputable
Apr 19, 2015
14
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4,510


You make a lot of great points in your reply, thanks a lot. We'll look in to both boards and figure out what it is we even want out of a mobo! Thanks for pointing out different features for us.