Building My First PC, Thoughts On Parts List?

[ShazamoTheGreat]

A while ago I posted a few threads about me building my first custom PC and I got a lot of help, so recently I've gone back through my parts list and revised some things and I'd like some feed back on it.
This will be essentially for gaming, of course I'll use it for school and browsing, but 99.9% will be gaming. On this PC I'd like to be able to play lighter games such as Minecraft, Terraria, Legue of Legends, and any PS2 era games on max/ultra settings.
I'd like to be able to play heavier games like GTA V, Watch_Dogs, Call of Duty:Ghosts, and Crysis 3, on mid to high settings.
All of this without any lag (or extremely minimal) at a solid 50fps-60fps.

This is a given, but I want to be able watch YouTube videos at 1080p, no lag. I say this because the laptop I have now can barely show a YouTube video at 480p, and that's with lag. So I'm pretty much stuck at watching Yotube at 360p right now.

Just an extra note about what I'd like to be able to do in Minecraft. I'd like to be able to run shaders (if you don't know what that is, here is a link to a YouTube video) while on max settings. I'm not completely sure of the requirements of shaders, so if this is asking too much, just disregard it. I'd also like to be able to host a small 4-5 person server with a mid sized mod pack.

Here is the link to my parts list, any tips or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for anything you got guys/gals .

P.S. My budget is between $800 and $850

 

[realchaos]

Did you already buy the 7870?

 

[jaraldo]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GyFMTW

The 8320 is only a few $ more and worth the upgrade.
Got you a 280 instead of a 7870
Change the ram to something just as good but $10 cheaper.

Looks good otherwise though

Edit: I assumed you had bought the mobo/psu already or had them from a previous build so I didn't change them. They are fine though.

 

[ShazamoTheGreat]

Did you already buy the 7870?

No, I have not, I haven't bought anything for this build yet.

 

[ShazamoTheGreat]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GyFMTW

The 8320 is only a few $ more and worth the upgrade.
Got you a 280 instead of a 7870
Change the ram to something just as good but $10 cheaper.

Looks good otherwise though

Edit: I assumed you had bought the mobo/psu already or had them from a previous build so I didn't change them. They are fine though.

Actually, I haven't bought anything for this build yet, so if you have a suggestion on a different mobo/psu, that'd be appreciated.
And, just out of curiosity, why did you assume I had already bought or had the mobo/psu?

 

[realchaos]

What's with the custom prices then?

 

[jaraldo]

^---exactly. 😛

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.92 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: HDMI Cable ($9.99)
Total: $809.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

I changed the motherboard to a better one which is overclockable and can handle the 8320. I also changed to the XFX 650w since it's on sale.

You still have $50 of breathing room so you could get a better motherboard like this one for $30 more.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga990fxaud3

Just to mention, if you want to overclock the 8320 quite a bit, get this CPU cooler instead as it will do a better job.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14
If you don't plan to overclock right now, then this can wait.

 

[realchaos]

Jaraldo has a great build above, though I would change one thing:
-Windows 8.1 is more optimized than 7. A good amount of games show fps gains with :Windows 8.1 over Windows 7; some of them go as high as 10fps.

If you do plan to go for a 990FX chipset motherboard, this one would be better for an extra $10 over the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a99fxpror20

 

[jaraldo]

I heard windows 8 was more optimized to, but figured windows 7 would be good enough and they must have chose it for a specific reason. (must be the price 😛)
Didn't know about the increased fps was that much though; that's good to know.

I thought I'd just do an intel build for fairness

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($105.91 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.92 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS/I Snow Edition (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: HDMI Cable ($9.99)
Total: $875.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

There are most likely better motherboards to be had for $20 more, but this is already $20 over your budget so I didn't want to push it.

Thought I'd ask because it's not mentioned above, do you plan to overclock?
If you don't want to, you can get this good Intel build instead. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mxMgQ7

You might never need that 650w PSU, but it's always nice to have just incase,(and is on sale now)
Same can be said for the overclockable motherboard. (moderate overclock)

 

[ShazamoTheGreat]

^---exactly. 😛

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.92 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: HDMI Cable ($9.99)
Total: $809.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

I changed the motherboard to a better one which is overclockable and can handle the 8320. I also changed to the XFX 650w since it's on sale.

You still have $50 of breathing room so you could get a better motherboard like this one for $30 more.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga990fxaud3

Just to mention, if you want to overclock the 8320 quite a bit, get this CPU cooler instead as it will do a better job.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14
If you don't plan to overclock right now, then this can wait.

I really like this build, but I do have a couple of questions. First, is the CPU that you replaced my choice with so much better that I should spend the extra money on it? Like I said, I'm new to this so I'm not completely sure if more cores or more GHz is better.

Second, would it be impossible for me to overclock with the cooler, the EVO, that I had chosen before, because the one you chose, the Noctua, is $30 more than the one I had, so would I be able to over clock with the EVO?

I don't think I mentioned this before, but overclocking isn't a huge priority for me.

 

[realchaos]

-The FX-8320 is a good step-up over the FX-6300/FX-6350. Since it's just a little bit extra, it's definitely worth the upgrade.
-The EVO will allow you to overclock, but the Noctua NH-D14 is one of the best air coolers out there and will allow you to overclock very well. Still, the Hyper 212 EVO should allow you to achieve around ~4.5ghz at least.