First Build Advice - $1200

[RazeTheSky]

Hello, I am interested in making my first gaming PC. I'd like to know if these parts are any good. I feel I might've gone a little overkill on parts for my intended use. Haven't really decided on a chassis yet, looking around for one with a lot of drive bays, was thinking about putting in a hot swap system(hdd+module not listed). I don't plan on overclocking for the time being, maybe another day. Budget of ~$1200; can spend more, just don't really want to, but willing to do so if worth it. Games: Titanfall / BF4/ DayZ / Skyrim. Also do a bit of 3d modeling, not too much. Also, I'll worry about peripherals later.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($81.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($70.65 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($319.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($172.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.26 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DSX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($51.98 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-AC68 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1200.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-18 13:48 EDT-0400)

 

[Immaculate]

For $1200, you could get way better.

Are you close to any Microcenters? - http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx

 

[RazeTheSky]

For $1200, you could get way better.

Are you close to any Microcenters? - http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx

Unfortunately no, I am not

 

[barto]

Power supply is a bit overkill. You don't need a platinum rated PSU (unless you really want one). Seasonic is a good PSU brand.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-s12g650

Save that money on the PSU and get a larger SSD. Samsung EVO....

 

[RazeTheSky]

Power supply is a bit overkill. You don't need a platinum rated PSU (unless you really want one). Seasonic is a good PSU brand.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-s12g650

Save that money on the PSU and get a larger SSD. Samsung EVO....

Duly noted on the PSU, but I was also thinking about having a small ssd as a boot drive, then a seperate hdd, is it still worth it just to get the larger ssd?

 

[barto]

Duly noted on the PSU, but I was also thinking about having a small ssd as a boot drive, then a seperate hdd, is it still worth it just to get the larger ssd?

Personally, yes. SSDs don't help with gaming performance but they do help with load times. When I play BF4, I'm either the first or second person to spawn, every time. Now that may not matter to you, but I thoroughly enjoy everything loading fast. One thing you should know about an SSD, you only want to fill it up to about 75%. That's because of how they work performing Random R/W. The more you add to an SSD, the slower it can/will get. Keep that in mind. I tend to usually suggest a 120GB SSD just for OS and a game or two. Right now, I have a 250GB EVO and pretty much everything is installed on it. But my main data storage is a 500 GB HDD.

 

[RazeTheSky]

Hmm... I'll swap the psu for the one you listed, and change storage to a 120 gb samsung 240 evo. That brings the price down to 1173.73. Also wondering, is it worth it to get the sound card, or should I just keep integrated sound from mobo; also whether to get a cheaper network card, because my internet is usually overloaded as is, so I probably won't be able to take advantage of ac protocol.

 

[Immaculate]

Do you already have HDDs or something? I noticed you didn't include any OP. What you should do though is wait for Z97 chipset which is right around the corner and Broadwell compatible.

MicroATX

Already has WiFi capabilities and great onboard sound - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3c87n

With a better CPU cooler - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3c8bj

ATX

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3c8j3 - better onboard sound and NO WiFi.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3c8nD

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3c8pW

 

[barto]

To add to Immaculate's point, is there a reason you are going with AMD over Intel?

 

[RazeTheSky]

Can't say there really is, I just saw a lot of people saying the fx 8320/50 was really good for price, but then now that I think about it, might as well invest the couple of extra dollars on Intel

Edit: And yes, I do already have HDDs, but I might buy some new 10000 RPM ones