First New build in 10 years! AMD FX6300

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BobMad925

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Nov 13, 2013
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Hi folks, I'm first time posting so be gentle! It's been a while since I've been on a forum. I've been stuck in laptop land for years so I'm wanting a desktop for general day-to-day stuff and I'm thinking about starting up a bit of gaming again now I have some free time (kids are growing up...) The last system I built was in 2003 so I'm rusty and stuff has changed alot since then. Budget is £400 (about $650US) so it is an AMD based system. I'd considered the A series APUs but I think I'd rather have discreet graphics.

MB - MSI 970A-G46 AMD 970A
CPU - AMD FX 6300 black
RAM - Patriot Viper "Sapphire Blue" 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-1866
SSD - Kingston V300 128GB (don't need one but I'd like one!)
GPU - MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5
PSU - Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze'

The above comes to £350ish. I already have a monitor, HDD and DVD drive (and 7.1 speakers gathering dust somewhere) - I'll sort a case out depending upon how much cash I have left. I'll be using the copy of Windows 7 I have on my dead laptop (retail full version so should be OK to use?)

I think this'll be a nice starter system with room for adding oomph later if I decide to get a bit more into this, plus theres a bit of overclocking potential should I want to try that later, I'm not bothered about that for now. Opinions gratefully welcomed :) Thanks.

 
For your budget I'd rather you get a better PSU and video card rather than an uneeded SSD. Get the 650 Ti and the corsair cx600 if you can save some more money. And if you can save even more money up then get a 7870 ghz edition.
 
Hi thanks for the reply.

I know what you mean, the SSD is a bit of an unneeded luxury I just really want one. I'll have a look at the parts you've suggested. In terms of graphics I'm really out of my depth - to be honest I'm clueless. After much googling I keep seeing 7770 (or equivalent) as a minimum so I guess that's why I chose the one mentioned before.
 


This computer could game at medium-low settings at good fps but nothing more. This is a tight budget computer though.
 
Yes it is a tight budget - I could spend more on it long term but due to my laptop dying a death I need to get up and running with a new computer fairly quickly. I'd rather spend the money I have on a modest computer that can be improved upon now than a cheap laptop, which is the other option. I'm currently borrowing a laptop from a family member until I get sorted and he wants it back soon lol.

In terms of gaming the monitor I'll be using is limited to 1400x900 so we're not talking 1080p displays here and I'd rarely get chance to hook it up to the HD TV. Anything is an improvement over what my laptops have been capable of to be fair!
 


Well then it looks good to me.
 
Ha cool. I've got a week or so before I have the cash together, I'll keep hunting the net til then.Thanks for your replies
 
Been doing some sums, I do need a drive - the HDD I have is a laptop unit (I'd forgotten that) which sucks. I can pick up a 60GB SSD cheap enough for the OS and use that laptop drive for everything else (it is 500GB) GPU-wise I can stretch to the GTX650ti but most likely the 7870, for the sake of a few quid its pointless spending on a lesser card.

But - I can go haswell i5 4670K if I don't get a graphics card. Problem there is its likely to be a few months until I can scrape the cash for a GPU to go with that (family comes first and all that) so I'll be stuck with the IGP until then. Its probably worth it long term but short term I want something usable now. I'm sure the FX with a 7870 will be just fine, but I've seen a good price on the i5 (£150!!) and its so tempting!

Damned tempting stuff tempting me lol
 
Stay fx. This being because it is still a good cpu for gaming and you don't use it as a doorstop for 3 months. I'm not sure if a laptop drive works in a computer but I guess it does because it's 2.5 inch. Def the 7870 ghZ edition over the 650 time. It is a very good value oriented card
 
Yeah the laptop drive will work fine in a "desktop" system thanks to sata, it should plug in and work. But slower compared to its "desktop" counterparts.

I think you're right I'm best sticking with the fx and going for the 7870, they're similar a price as the gtx650ti's but seem better performance wise. Also I'll be at minimum spec'ing a 550W corsair for the PSU, I don't want to risk the new stuff on an under perfoprmer though so I'll see about a slightly higher power one (650W?) Hopefully this build will be done within a week or so, just waiting on payday!
 
According to his funds this guy might not get a case with a lot of room. Be a Semi or fully modular power supply would be better for his building and reduce a lot of stress of sorting the wires.
 
Thankyou for your suggestions, something modular will be best I'm hoping for mid tower rather than full size case so the fewer cables to hide the better.

This is the first time I've ever been worried about a PSU. In the past I just stuck with whatever cheap nasty PSU came with whatever cheap nasty beige case I had at the time lol

Oh yeah, the budget has increased a little bit - just about enough to cover the PSU and GPU improvements, Case-wise it'll unfortunately be a cheap one, there will be little cash left maybe £30-£40 but I'll try to find one thats not *too* cheap and nasty.
 
Hey, well I've finally put the order in, spent a little more than originally intended but it's likely worth it lol

Asus M5A97 R2 (I like Asus better)
AMD FX 6300 (stock cooler for now, will upgrade after Christmasish)
Crucial Ballistix 8GBx2 (10% off at ebuyer on this one 😉)
AMD R9 270 OC 2GB GPU
SanDisk Ultra Plus SSD (using an existing 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Momentus laptop HDD for the "junk")
Samsung DVDRW (the one I had was beige = no good)
Cooler Master K280
Corsair CX500 PSU

I also chucked in a couple of case fans, a longer DVI cable and a couple of sata cables... Came in at a shade under £500. Kids are getting sweet FA for Christmas, but I'm happy lol.

Gone a bit under on the PSU, but I think the 500W Corsair will be OK. Graphics card is a grey area, I couldn't stretch to a 7870, the R9 270 hopefully will be almost as good.... We'll see. This lot should be here by the weekend, and I'm off work so I can start building. Having never done cable management before I'm looking forward to the challenge, lol especially with it not being a modular PSU.
 
The graphics card can be upgraded so not much of a problem there. But if you are upgrading you might want to look towards a stronger PSU. Something like a Corsair CX600 can pretty much handle any upgrading but if you want to Crossfire in the future you should get a 650w.

Your current PSU is fine though.
 
Yeah cheers, absolutely if I go for a graphics card with more grunt in the future I'll upgrade the PSU too. But for now on my now (extremely) stretched finances I thought it best to go with a known quantity PSU wise, even if its admittedly a little on the weak side. And it was cheap!

I'm hoping the 270 will be enough for now - having read a few articles and reviews it's close enough to a 7870 for me I think. I could've got a 7870 but they were from makes I've never heard of and the little info/reviews I could find online seemed mention them failing quickly and/or overheating badly. Plus the 270 uses a single 6 pin for power which is convenient with this PSU.
 
Cheers dude! Thabks again for your input too, most helpful.

As for gaming - I have a copy of GTA IV I could never play because my laptop was so sucky. Several years later it's finally getting played this weekend lol.
 
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