Building another AMD system, thoughts please?

vegetablegod

Honorable
Jan 27, 2014
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Hey everyone, new to the forums!

I have been wanting to upgrade for a while, and now I think it's time. I will be sticking with AMD as they are cheaper and to me, the additional specs aren't really worth the extra money. Just how I feel.

My current build:
Phemon II 945 with aftermarket air cooler
Some Gigabyte mATX motherobard lol
MSI Gold Edition 560ti
Patriot 1333Mhz 2x4GB RAM
Diablotek 750W PSU
Hitachi 500GB HDD

I will be reusing the RAM, GPU. and optical drive, from my current computer and I picked up a Corsair CX750M from tigerdirect for $50, after Mail in rebates. I am mainly buying this stuff from Amazon because i'm a Prime member, but I am also looking at newegg and tiger. If you know of any deals please let me know lol

Planned, newbuild:
AMD FX 8350
Corsair H100i
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3
Corsair Black C70 or possibly CM Storm Scout 2
I think I'm gonna go with Windows 8, but I am still on the Fence.
Seagate 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive
Corsair SP120 twin pack.

This is basically maxing my $850 budget for everything I've yet you buy. My main question is, Since I will be doing a little over overclocking, do I really need FX 8350, or can I just buy the 8320 and overclock it past the 8350... It's basically the same chip, isn't it? And do I even need the eight core at all? would the 4300/4350 run just as well? Basic use is mainly gaming and light web browsing.. I do most of my browsing on my tablet.

Can someone also help me with which case I should get from the two I provided? I am kinda picky about cases and I like both of them. I want to push/pull the H100i and I've not been able to find much on being able to do that in the Storm Scout 2.

Could I get away with a cheaper motherboard and still overclock?

I'm also open to suggestions to other components.

Thanks!
 
Solution
Personally I don't think the added cost of the 8350 is worth it over the 8320 especially with an h100i which ought to allow you to overclock an 8320 well past the 8350 @ stock. And, again, the cost difference between an 8320 and either of the 4xxx chips you mentioned isn't substantial enough not to just go with the 8 core, a decision you'll be happy with if you ever need to encode anything.

No reason not to go with 8. Some people complain that it isn't as power user friendly as 7 but that's debatable once you're familiar with the changes.

Can't help you with the case. I have a 500r, an h100i with a single pair of fans and an 8320. Could probably fit push/pull but I'm happy with my OC at this point. Probably more limited on...
If you don't need watercooling why not go with nocturna NH-D14 instead, I believe its 20 USD Cheaper.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002VKVZ1A/?tag=pcpapi-20

I would get the 8320 and save 40 USD Not really that much difference when overclocked.

Just get a cheap 1tb hdd and get an ssd separately or later.

If you are not including the psu in the budget, you could get something like this build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($152.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($78.48 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($136.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.94 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair C70 Military Green (Green) ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $775.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-27 15:56 EST-0500)
 
Personally I don't think the added cost of the 8350 is worth it over the 8320 especially with an h100i which ought to allow you to overclock an 8320 well past the 8350 @ stock. And, again, the cost difference between an 8320 and either of the 4xxx chips you mentioned isn't substantial enough not to just go with the 8 core, a decision you'll be happy with if you ever need to encode anything.

No reason not to go with 8. Some people complain that it isn't as power user friendly as 7 but that's debatable once you're familiar with the changes.

Can't help you with the case. I have a 500r, an h100i with a single pair of fans and an 8320. Could probably fit push/pull but I'm happy with my OC at this point. Probably more limited on my OC by my MB vs CPU heat.
 
Solution


Thanks for the advice and showing me PC Part Picker. That is am awesome utility. I think what I should do is take your advice and forgo the SSHD and doa normal HD/SSD combo, but I will save the SSD for later. I don't need water cooling, I just have been interested in it for a long time, so I'm gonna do it lol. Here's what I think I have decided on is this...

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($152.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($136.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.94 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit - OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ Best Buy)
Total: $641.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-27 16:46 EST-0500)




That is pretty much what I thought. Would make sense to go with the 8320 and clock it past the 8350. As far as Windows goes, we'll see. I may try Windows 8, worst case, it still wouldn't be a catastrophe.

Thanks, both of you!
 
 
Thanks for the input guys. I ordered the final stuff yesterday.

Right now I have the CX750M. Just picked up the H100i from Best Buy today.

This is what I went with...

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($154.93 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($176.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($122.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $744.87

I was gonna get the NZXT H440 case, but it will still be a few weeks before it releases. If I'm not happy with the C70 I'll exchange it for the H400.

Down the road I plan on getting an H55 and the NZXT Kraken G10 to water cool my GPU.