Building a whole new gaming PC

[shikharsmc]

Hi all,

I am building a new gaming PC and following is what I have selected as per my knowledge. Any opinions from your side will be highly appreciated.

My choice:
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz
MoBo: ASrock 990FX Extreme 9
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GBx1 1600MHz
PSU: Corsair VS650 650W
GPU: Sapphire Dual-X Radeon R9 270x
Cabinet: Cooler Master Elite
HDD: 1TB Seagate 7200rpm
Keyboard & Mouse: Standard/generic (Logitech or Razor)
Display: Any generic 18 inches full HD

Plz respond if it is OK or should I make some changes.

Thanx in advance

 

[Scizor119]

That will be great!

 

[Scizor119]

Maybe get an aftermarket cooler. A Hyper 212 EVO.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Are you wedded to the idea of AMD? For a mid level gaming build, Intel offers much more powerful processors, an upgrade path, and lower power and thermal requirements.

Something like this would be a good starting place.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: BitFenix Phenom M Nvidia Edition: Black MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $869.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-08 08:02 EST-0500

What is your budget?

 

[Scizor119]

Are you wedded to the idea of AMD? For a mid level gaming build, Intel offers much more powerful processors, an upgrade path, and lower power and thermal requirements.

Something like this would be a good starting place.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: BitFenix Phenom M Nvidia Edition: Black MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $869.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-08 08:02 EST-0500

What is your budget?

He obviously has a lower budget, and to be honest, for gaming, he won't see to much difference. Plus an OC'ed 8350 will beat that i5. This is gonna start a flame war, but it is true.

 

[barto]

He obviously has a lower budget, and to be honest, for gaming, he won't see to much difference. Plus an OC'ed 8350 will beat that i5. This is gonna start a flame war, but it is true.

I'm not trying to continue this never ending discussion, but that's not true. The OC'd 8350 is needed to keep up with an i5 stock performance. And Donkey's build is pretty close to the same price as the OP's build and significantly better.


@shikharsmc, your build is a little unbalanced. You don't need a $160 motherboard for a mid range CPU. That's overkill. I also suggest buying a set of RAM sticks (2 x 4) for dual channel speed.

 

[Scizor119]

He obviously has a lower budget, and to be honest, for gaming, he won't see to much difference. Plus an OC'ed 8350 will beat that i5. This is gonna start a flame war, but it is true.

I'm not trying to continue this never ending discussion, but that's not true. The OC'd 8350 is needed to keep up with an i5 stock performance. And Donkey's build is pretty close to the same price as the OP's build and significantly better.


@shikharsmc, your build is a little unbalanced. You don't need a $160 motherboard for a mid range CPU. That's overkill. I also suggest buying a set of RAM sticks (2 x 4) for dual channel speed.

That is simply not true, an 8350 can keep up with a 3770k. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4et7kDGSRfc

 

[barto]

That is simply not true, an 8350 can keep up with a 3770k. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4et7kDGSRfc

Sigh. Sorry, I'm going to just stop responding. There are hundreds of threads, discussions and benchmarks that prove otherwise. I can post more, but all I did was a simple google search.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1913466/8350-4670k.html
http://www.overclock.net/t/1408955/fx-8350-vs-i5-4670k-in-terms-of-gaming
http://www.overclock.net/t/1478486/fx-8350-5ghz-vs-i5-4670k-4-6ghz-vs-i7-4770k-4-6ghz
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1sxtwy/200_cpu_amd_fx8350_vs_intel_core_i54670k/
http://www.gamespot.com/forums/pc-mac-discussion-1000004/amd-fx8350-vs-i5-4670k-29451185/

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Are you wedded to the idea of AMD? For a mid level gaming build, Intel offers much more powerful processors, an upgrade path, and lower power and thermal requirements.

Something like this would be a good starting place.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: BitFenix Phenom M Nvidia Edition: Black MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $869.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-08 08:02 EST-0500

What is your budget?

He obviously has a lower budget, and to be honest, for gaming, he won't see to much difference. Plus an OC'ed 8350 will beat that i5. This is gonna start a flame war, but it is true.

Even if what you say is true, the OP not using an overclocked 8350, he's using an FX6300. By my calculation, the budgets are similar. If you want to raise his FX6300 to a 8350, I'll raise my 4460 by a 4790K.

 

[Scizor119]

Are you wedded to the idea of AMD? For a mid level gaming build, Intel offers much more powerful processors, an upgrade path, and lower power and thermal requirements.

Something like this would be a good starting place.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: BitFenix Phenom M Nvidia Edition: Black MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $869.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-08 08:02 EST-0500

What is your budget?

He obviously has a lower budget, and to be honest, for gaming, he won't see to much difference. Plus an OC'ed 8350 will beat that i5. This is gonna start a flame war, but it is true.

Even if what you say is true, the OP not using an overclocked 8350, he's using an FX6300. By my calculation, the budgets are similar. If you want to raise his FX6300 to a 8350, I'll raise my 4460 by a 4790K.

Twice as much! TWICE! Do you understand ow much that is. The 8350 will just beat it, and is half their cost. Also so many benchmarks are biased towards Intel, they have come out saying they have rigged tests using their gratuitous amounts of money. I'm not an AMD fanboy either, I have a practically indentical rig to my 8350 one with a 3770K. The i7 is slightly better when OC'ed, and the stock clocked one is blasted by my 8350.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Evidently our math works differently.

This is the OP's build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme9 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 4GB Dual-X Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $678.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-08 09:24 EST-0500

Mine is indeed more expensive, but it is similar. I would like to hear from the OP. They're the one I'm trying to help. I realize, from their PSU, that they are not in the USA and that the price calculus is different elsewhere.

 

[barto]

[Evidently our math works differently.

This is the OP's build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme9 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 4GB Dual-X Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $678.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-08 09:24 EST-0500

Mine is indeed more expensive, but it is similar. I would like to hear from the OP. They're the one I'm trying to help. I realize, from their PSU, that they are not in the USA and that the price calculus is different elsewhere.

Don't sweat it. Changing the GPU to the Dual 270x puts the build at $700. That's only $20 more and that's still better than the 6300 or the 8320 in it's place.

 

[shikharsmc]

Thanx for the responses and yes my budget is a slightly on lower side thats why i am not going for an i5. And also I have selected R9 270x with 2Gb GDDR5 not 4Gb. And one more thing is that i am not from USA. I am from india. Based on current converaion rate the system cost me around 700$ from online site but in market the price will be somewhere around 550$. Thats where my budget lies.

 

[shikharsmc]

And this is my first experience with building a PC myself. Earlier I have purchased 3 PCs which were pre assembled. So I am bit tensed that any wrong step may cause me severe loss.

 

[shikharsmc]

He obviously has a lower budget, and to be honest, for gaming, he won't see to much difference. Plus an OC'ed 8350 will beat that i5. This is gonna start a flame war, but it is true.

I'm not trying to continue this never ending discussion, but that's not true. The OC'd 8350 is needed to keep up with an i5 stock performance. And Donkey's build is pretty close to the same price as the OP's build and significantly better.


@shikharsmc, your build is a little unbalanced. You don't need a $160 motherboard for a mid range CPU. That's overkill. I also suggest buying a set of RAM sticks (2 x 4) for dual channel speed.

Thats a good point you raised as I was quite confused between a 1x8GB or 2x4GB sticks. Which will be better and why? Cost wise 1x8GB is cheaper. and suggest me a good MoBo then with atleast 4 RAM slots (64GB total memory for future upgrades) and atleast 3 PCIe slots (again future planning).

 

[DonkeyOatie]

In that case, you will need a Z97 or older Z87 board to handle two or more GPUs and an ATX form factor to get the the PCI-e slots.

Something like the AsUS Sabretooth Mk 2 would do, but you will likely be able to go cheaper locally. (What part of the world? Can you post a link to a site you might buy parts from?)

For AMD ASRock 990FX Extreme 3 would do the job.

 

[barto]

Technically 2x4 is better because of dual channel technology. There is single, dual, tri and quad channel memory. Depending on the chipset dictates the availability of these technologies. The technology enables the amount of bandwidth utilized. With single channel, the bandwidth is 64. With Dual, it's 128 and so on. The 1150 only has the ability to use single or dual channel. The 1366 socket has the ability to use single, dual and tri channel. The 2011 socket can use single, dual or quad channel.

Basically, faster performance. Cost wise, it doesn't really cost more. A few bucks is not a deal breaker, not matter what your budget is.

As for future planning. I have yet to find a reason when gaming to have more than 16GB. In most situations, 16GB is overkill. 8GB is what will be needed for almost any situation. Considering your current budget, planning for 64 GB of RAM isn't necessary.

What reason do you need 3 PCIe slots?

 

[Scizor119]

Technically 2x4 is better because of dual channel technology. There is single, dual, tri and quad channel memory. Depending on the chipset dictates the availability of these technologies. The technology enables the amount of bandwidth utilized. With single channel, the bandwidth is 64. With Dual, it's 128 and so on. The 1150 only has the ability to use single or dual channel. The 1366 socket has the ability to use single, dual and tri channel. The 2011 socket can use single, dual or quad channel.

Basically, faster performance. Cost wise, it doesn't really cost more. A few bucks is not a deal breaker, not matter what your budget is.

As for future planning. I have yet to find a reason when gaming to have more than 16GB. In most situations, 16GB is overkill. 8GB is what will be needed for almost any situation. Considering your current budget, planning for 64 GB of RAM isn't necessary.

What reason do you need 3 PCIe slots?

I don't think he does.

 

[shikharsmc]

Its just for future planning if I have to add another GPU to match up with the trending games.

 

[shikharsmc]

@DonkeyOtie i am from india. The site i selected is www.flipkart.com or ebay.in they both are among top online shopping sites in india. Talking about local price then yes its quite lower here compared to online site. Dont know the reason but it is.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

OK.

I have been working in flipkart and an AMD 6300 system, meeting your specifications, costs 50100 Rs, and one with an i5 costs 3634 Rs more, with all other parts the same except for motherboard and CPU.

 

[barto]

Its just for future planning if I have to add another GPU to match up with the trending games.

Well think about it like this. The average system life is about 5 years. In that time, you can have 2-3 generations of CPUs and GPUs. If you aren't going to get another GPU within the first year and a half, forget about SLI or CF and simply upgrade the single GPU. It might not be a bad idea to switch over to an Intel i3 due to the fact AMD has not plans for the FX line.

 

[shikharsmc]

OK.

I have been working in flipkart and an AMD 6300 system, meeting your specifications, costs 50100 Rs, and one with an i5 costs 3634 Rs more, with all other parts the same except for motherboard and CPU.

Can you plz post the whole list of part you selected cuz when i made an estimate it was over 65000 rs. And i will prefer sticking to AMD

 

[shikharsmc]

@barto
I have never ever used a pC with a GPU. So i am a bit unaware of these things. So if you realy mean that within 5 year of time my PC will be outdated then i think i must go for single gpu only. Thanx.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

AMD FX6300 7229
ASRoc990FX Extreme 3 10112
Kingston Hyper X memory 5120
Seagate Barracuda 3941
Cooler Master Elite 311 2599
Seasonic Eco 600W 5000
Sapphire Dual X R9 270X 16799
TOTAL 50800
Keyboard Mouse Monitor, your choice.

Sorry about the 50100, I misread my notes.