AMD Gaming Build

[Jonathon Thorpe]

Hello All,

I am trying to put together an AMD gaming build that will last me a while (playing current and future games on high - ultra settings). My last AMD build lasted me 5 years, and I am trying to do the same with this build.

Here is my build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/J7wJ

One note, I currently have the Asus Sabertooth 99FX R2.0 as my MB as a place holder. I would like to get the Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0/GEN 3 for the PCIe 3.0.

Will my build be able to achieve this. I am trying to stay at around $2000.

Also, I do have one question, will the power supply that I have selected be enough to power my build (with a little to play around with to add LED lights/RAM cooler?

Thank you in advance for the help.

 

[Jonathon Thorpe]

Hello All,

I am trying to put together an AMD gaming build that will last me a while (playing current and future games on high - ultra settings). My last AMD build lasted me 5 years, and I am trying to do the same with this build.

Here is my build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/J7wJ

One note, I currently have the Asus Sabertooth 99FX R2.0 as my MB as a place holder. I would like to get the Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0/GEN 3 for the PCIe 3.0.

Will my build be able to achieve this. I am trying to stay at around $2000.

Also, I do have one question, will the power supply that I have selected be enough to power my build (with a little to play around with to add LED lights/RAM cooler?

Thank you in advance for the help.

So it seems you're specifically asking if building a computer system around an Asus Sabertooth 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 will last you for a while (i.e. 5 years). If so, I can't think of a better AM3+ motherboard to pick than the one you're holding out for. It's got the one feature that no other AM3+ motherboard offers and that is PCI Express 3.0 (as I'm sure you already know). Some may say a Republic of Gamer mobo is the way to go, but I don't think it's that big of a deal nor do I think the extra cost is worth it.

I wouldn't bother going over 8GB of RAM and I would try to buy a 2 x 4GB kit. That said, I think you should invest in a high efficiency PSU. Platinum if possible. Modular is nice, but not necessary. But a good PSU will cost you. Brands of PSUs I've bought in the past and have been very happy with all of them: Enermax, Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling. The only thing I would tell you is you can skimp on a lot of things but as a rule of thumb, I don't skimp on the motherboard or the PSU.

I'd rather spend the extra money on a high efficiency PSU instead of a light show or RAM coolers. Besides, some RAM modules already have heat spreaders on them.

So i heard that the Sabertooth GEN 3.0 only be a x16/x8 when in crossfire. If that is true should i look at a different Mb. I was thinking of: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130649&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

you will not lose any performance from running a card at 8x pcie3. 8x pcie3 = 16x pcie2, and no card around maxes the bandwidth of that yet, even if future cards do it would probably be a 5% performance hit at most.

So would it be better to just stick with a PCIe 2.0 board (like: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130649 ) instead of the new Sabertooth MB and save/move money to a different part?

 

[campdude]

I dont "think" PCIE 3.0 is a big difference as past experience told me PCIE 1.0 to 2.0 was not a big deal.
The CPU outdated before PCIE 1.0 was. However, I havent looked up benchmarks yet.
I dont have time to look it up now.

You may notice that the CPU is the most important thing in keeping a computer for 5+ years.
Video cards are easy upgrades and bring most preformance....and visuals.. always justified. lol

the whole steamroller is mute point.
15% difference (not even existing upgrade) as predicted is not worth 200+ dollars and since your budgetting; I cant see you justifying the upgrade. Unless something happens for the good in the future which is unpredictable.

 

[stickmansam]

Steamroller was 30% AFAIK but we will see how it turns out

here is pcie scaling, you don't lose anything until you drop top pcie 2.0 x4

 

[DarthBobo]

Amazon is listing the 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 mobo for $205.

 

[Marcopolo123]

Thats the way to go platinum seasonic

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-platinum1000

 

[g-unit1111]

I would get an Cooler Master 812 TPC, same performance as an D14 but like $20-30 cheaper and smaller too

I like Noctua because their heat sinks are among the highest quality you can buy. If you don't want to use the D14 I recommend the U9B.

 

[Outlander_04]

can i ask why you want to use an AMD cpu? Intel has a clear advantage with their I5 and I7 cpu's for gaming.

Intel do not have even a murky advantage , let alone a clear one

 

[Chris Pasiuk]

Building a very similar rig as well, not really crossfire or as high as 7970's but the rest of the guts are the same. A couple recent revisions I made was to scale back the 2133 ripjaws for the better priced 1866 Sniper series. Timings are not as good, but still close nonetheless. I also went with the H100i corsair closed loop cooler, but that was more due to case restrictions.

For those that are curious, the Sabertooth Gen3 board is supposedly up on Amazon for $205. Not as close to the previous revision as I'd like, but I'm already chomping at the bit to get this done so it's on order. The real question is if it's just a placeholder or if they indeed have stock or if I'm just as stuck as everyone else in waiting for the shipping container to arrive from Taiwan--later is most likely the case with 3-4wk lead time.

 

[g-unit1111]

Building a very similar rig as well, not really crossfire or as high as 7970's but the rest of the guts are the same. A couple recent revisions I made was to scale back the 2133 ripjaws for the better priced 1866 Sniper series. Timings are not as good, but still close nonetheless. I also went with the H100i corsair closed loop cooler, but that was more due to case restrictions.

For those that are curious, the Sabertooth Gen3 board is supposedly up on Amazon for $205. Not as close to the previous revision as I'd like, but I'm already chomping at the bit to get this done so it's on order. The real question is if it's just a placeholder or if they indeed have stock or if I'm just as stuck as everyone else in waiting for the shipping container to arrive from Taiwan--later is most likely the case with 3-4wk lead time.

Expensive motherboards like that really aren't worth it unless you're doing some heavy duty overclocking, setting up a RAID array, or triple SLI configuration, things of that nature. But for most single and dual GPU solutions it's not necessary to get a motherboard that's that expensive.

 

[Jonathon Thorpe]

Building a very similar rig as well, not really crossfire or as high as 7970's but the rest of the guts are the same. A couple recent revisions I made was to scale back the 2133 ripjaws for the better priced 1866 Sniper series. Timings are not as good, but still close nonetheless. I also went with the H100i corsair closed loop cooler, but that was more due to case restrictions.

For those that are curious, the Sabertooth Gen3 board is supposedly up on Amazon for $205. Not as close to the previous revision as I'd like, but I'm already chomping at the bit to get this done so it's on order. The real question is if it's just a placeholder or if they indeed have stock or if I'm just as stuck as everyone else in waiting for the shipping container to arrive from Taiwan--later is most likely the case with 3-4wk lead time.

Expensive motherboards like that really aren't worth it unless you're doing some heavy duty overclocking, setting up a RAID array, or triple SLI configuration, things of that nature. But for most single and dual GPU solutions it's not necessary to get a motherboard that's that expensive.

Would an MB like that be worth it, if you are trying to build a machine that will last you 5 years?

My last MB lasted that long, but started to develop issues last year (continuing this year), and I want something that i know will last.

 

[g-unit1111]

Building a very similar rig as well, not really crossfire or as high as 7970's but the rest of the guts are the same. A couple recent revisions I made was to scale back the 2133 ripjaws for the better priced 1866 Sniper series. Timings are not as good, but still close nonetheless. I also went with the H100i corsair closed loop cooler, but that was more due to case restrictions.

For those that are curious, the Sabertooth Gen3 board is supposedly up on Amazon for $205. Not as close to the previous revision as I'd like, but I'm already chomping at the bit to get this done so it's on order. The real question is if it's just a placeholder or if they indeed have stock or if I'm just as stuck as everyone else in waiting for the shipping container to arrive from Taiwan--later is most likely the case with 3-4wk lead time.

Expensive motherboards like that really aren't worth it unless you're doing some heavy duty overclocking, setting up a RAID array, or triple SLI configuration, things of that nature. But for most single and dual GPU solutions it's not necessary to get a motherboard that's that expensive.

Would an MB like that be worth it, if you are trying to build a machine that will last you 5 years?

My last MB lasted that long, but started to develop issues last year (continuing this year), and I want something that i know will last.

No it really isn't. You'll most likely be replacing that board after three years. My Gigabyte Z68 board has lasted nearly 3 years with a CPU upgrade and it still runs fine.

 

[Jonathon Thorpe]

Building a very similar rig as well, not really crossfire or as high as 7970's but the rest of the guts are the same. A couple recent revisions I made was to scale back the 2133 ripjaws for the better priced 1866 Sniper series. Timings are not as good, but still close nonetheless. I also went with the H100i corsair closed loop cooler, but that was more due to case restrictions.

For those that are curious, the Sabertooth Gen3 board is supposedly up on Amazon for $205. Not as close to the previous revision as I'd like, but I'm already chomping at the bit to get this done so it's on order. The real question is if it's just a placeholder or if they indeed have stock or if I'm just as stuck as everyone else in waiting for the shipping container to arrive from Taiwan--later is most likely the case with 3-4wk lead time.

Expensive motherboards like that really aren't worth it unless you're doing some heavy duty overclocking, setting up a RAID array, or triple SLI configuration, things of that nature. But for most single and dual GPU solutions it's not necessary to get a motherboard that's that expensive.

Would an MB like that be worth it, if you are trying to build a machine that will last you 5 years?

My last MB lasted that long, but started to develop issues last year (continuing this year), and I want something that i know will last.

No it really isn't. You'll most likely be replacing that board after three years.

Ok, but the thing is I would not be able to replace my board in 3 years. Pretty much 5+ years is the min, due to budgetary circumstances. Because of that I want something that will last (or have a great warranty). I also would like to OC a little as well (for those demanding times). Like I mentioned before my current board is almost 5 years old.

 

[Chris Pasiuk]

Building a very similar rig as well, not really crossfire or as high as 7970's but the rest of the guts are the same. A couple recent revisions I made was to scale back the 2133 ripjaws for the better priced 1866 Sniper series. Timings are not as good, but still close nonetheless. I also went with the H100i corsair closed loop cooler, but that was more due to case restrictions.

For those that are curious, the Sabertooth Gen3 board is supposedly up on Amazon for $205. Not as close to the previous revision as I'd like, but I'm already chomping at the bit to get this done so it's on order. The real question is if it's just a placeholder or if they indeed have stock or if I'm just as stuck as everyone else in waiting for the shipping container to arrive from Taiwan--later is most likely the case with 3-4wk lead time.

Expensive motherboards like that really aren't worth it unless you're doing some heavy duty overclocking, setting up a RAID array, or triple SLI configuration, things of that nature. But for most single and dual GPU solutions it's not necessary to get a motherboard that's that expensive.

Would an MB like that be worth it, if you are trying to build a machine that will last you 5 years?

My last MB lasted that long, but started to develop issues last year (continuing this year), and I want something that i know will last.

No it really isn't. You'll most likely be replacing that board after three years. My Gigabyte Z68 board has lasted nearly 3 years with a CPU upgrade and it still runs fine.

Nope. In the many MANY years of building and upgrading systems, the one constant I've run into is that the MB/CPU rarely ever get replaced separately. Buying a good MB and upgrading the CPU never really works as by the time you're up to doing it, new architecture has been developed that either won't be supported by your MB or will be hampered by it defeating the purpose. AMD is much more forgiving than Intel in this area, but the issue is still there. The reverse is even worse, as it's an even bigger pain to replace a MB to begin with so once you get to that point, might as well up the price a bit and just do both.

The point of this exercise is to get something that will most likely last a good 5 years. As much as it may pain me to spend more than $200 for a MB, in this case I'm (actually we) are gunning for the latest tech that's hitting our shore so it'll last for longer than a typical 2-3yr lifecycle. Because it's new and hot, there will obviously be a bit of a premium in price. The Sabertooth series markets itself as a rugged platform with many options for the enthusiast but it's not the flagship line. I certainly won't go the route of a $300+ Formula series MB as those really are designed for crazy level enthusiast that will spend more than $1200 just in video cards alone. A new or updated GPU is more likely to happen within that 5yr span and being able to crossfire another 7950 when they hit the sub-$150 price point is much more probable.

My older systems get deprecated to the wife as she's not nearly as big a gamer as me, and the generation before that is usually doing a media server roll.

 

[Outlander_04]

AMD MIGHT be the exception to cpu updates . In 2014 a current AM3+ motherboard should still be current , while cpu cores could be as much as 30% stronger

But generally I agree that you replace cpu/RAM/mb at the same time