Building custom pc, advice greatly appreciated!

[Cpt2705]

Hello good people of this fantastic website. Long time reader, first time poster in need of a hand with a new custom build PC (going for PC specialist as Ive been impressed with their service before)

Im looking at the following specs:

AMD FX 6100 Six Core 3.3ghz/6mb cache CPU
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 Motherboard
16GB Kingston HyperX Genesis Dual DDR3 2133mhz RAM
2gb Nvidia Geforce GTX 650 Ti
120gb intel 520 series SSD

600w Quad Rail PSU
Corsair H60 Hydro Cooling
2x 120mm extra case fans

Total price: £780

My knowledge on components is limited, so Im looking for a computer that will last 3-4 years and cope with the newer games (skyrim, witcher II, metro 2033, arkham city etc). I aim to use two HD screens (1680x1050 hd monitor and a HDTV) on occassion (only for autocad, photoshop etc. / internet / Watching TV with ease)

However, my budget is £650... Is there a way I can scrimp on something here that wont affect the power of the machine drastically? / are any components unnecessary? How long will these specs be able to cope with modern gaming?

Many thanks in advance, and apologies if this is posted in the incorrect subsection!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[djosbun]

Any reason why you're choosing an AMD processor over an Intel i5?

 

[dougyfresh]

I would suggest not getting 16 GB of RAM unless you can't save money by reducing it. If you know you can make use of 16 GB RAM, go for it. Otherwise, 8 GB will be the sweet spot for price-to-performance.

Your cooler is almost expensive. I am not saying it's a bad choice. I am just throwing the possibility that the heatsink and extra 8 GB of ram could be channeled into getting a 240 GB SSD instead of a 120 GB.

Are you going for overclocking? I see you chose 2100 MHz RAM instead of 1600 MHz. Check into some benchmarks to see if any games improve from 2100 MHz over 1600. I think it can sometimes be easier to overclock the CPU with better RAM, but sometimes it's unneccessary.

I have heard debates that a single powerful rail PSU is superior. You may want to look into that as well.

Thanks, and good luck.

-

Douglas Rochford

 

[Cpt2705]

Thanks for the swift reply guys!

Djosbun - Force of habit, Ive grown up on AMDs! That, and they appear to have more bang for buck with my budget. Are the i5s considerably better then the choice Ive made? i7s appear to be well out of my budget range too...

Dougyfresh - you've lost me a little, so bear with me. I don't plan to overclock this machine (lack of knowledge largely), and from worry as my last PC was an Q6600 overclocked machine, (pc specialist overclocked it for me) and it burnt out (5 years of heavy use, standard stock heatsink) - which is also why ive chosen the dearer cooling system. Should I be going for overclocking with the specs ive given, even with a cut in ram as you suggest?

8gb to 16gm ram is twenty quid difference if I knock them down to 1600mhz, so thats negligble when it comes to future proofing. Ive had a read, and it would appear the difference is negligble for gaming, good call dougy!

Am i making a mistake going for AMD? Also, there is a 60£ difference between Ti and non-ti versions of the graphics cards. Ive read Ti = full set of shaders enabled leading to stronger performance. Anyone know if its necessary?

Going to get on some research for the PSU, which is the most alien component to me atm!

There wasnt this much choice when I bought my PC the last time!