Is this a good PC for $700?

[NotionCommotion]

My daughter and I were planning on building our own PC which will be used for animation, some gaming, and other things TBD.

Went to Fry's to look around, ended up selecting components (they say they match Internet prices), got overbudget and overwhelmed (stupid video cards!), and ended up buying a prebuilt CybertronPC Hellion XFire Gaming PC (http://www.frys.com/product/8692380#detailed) for $700.

Did we make a mistake?

Also, I tried to backward engineer it into pcpartpicker, but couldn't find all the parts. Am I doing it right? http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kcLrJx

Thanks!

http://www.cybertronpc.com/customkititems.asp?kc=GMHELXFIRE25WT&view=customize

AMD AMD FX 6300 3.50GHz Hexa-Core AM3 RET2
CLX Quench - Single 120mm Liquid Cooler
Gigabyte GA-970A-D3P Gigabyte AM3 2x16 XFR 4D3 M32 GL R ATX
PATRIOT 8GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800
AMD Radeon R7 360 2 GB
Seagate 1TB/8GB Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive
24X DVD±RW Dual Layer Writer Optical Drive
Aerocool Aerocool 1 Bay Front Fan Control Panel
Aerocool XPredator X1 White Accent Kit
500 Watt Ultra
10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Onboard
Logitech Logitech Desktop MK120 Mouse & Keyboard Combo
No Mouse Pad
No Game Controller
No Headset Selected
Microsoft Windows 10 Home
No UPS
1 Year Warranty On Labor & Parts

 

[smorizio]

the amd fx cpu been dead for 2 years now. there no upgrade patch for it. the next amd cpu the zen cpu not going to use the same mb that in your pc now.

 

[superninja12]

yes itys not smart and heres why.
you get an unreliable powersupply which will decrease the lifespan of your components and this can lead to failures.
also the motherbaord is not the best.

i assume this costed you around 600 dollars , let us help you and build a good quality one that will stay fast for long.

 

[smorizio]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LrgX99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LrgX99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.77 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 88R MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($17.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($85.49 @ OutletPC)
Total: $757.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-18 10:03 EDT-0400
better gpu for the money newer intel cpu and mb let you upgrade latter on.

 

[geofelt]

If the pc does what you need, you did not make a mistake.
The time to ask such questions is BEFORE you buy.
But... that said, I think you could have done much better.

I think you did the partpicker properly.

1. FX is old technology and the individual cores are some 40% slower than modern Intel chips.
2. There is no cpu upgrade. The motherboard is a cheap one, not fit to handle a FX-8xxx upgrade. And adding 2 more cores does not help for gaming anyway.
3. A one stick ram kit will run in slower single channel mode. You need 2 sticks for dual channel. Particularly with a amd processor.
4. A liquid cooler is no more effective than a similarly priced air cooler.
On an Intel cpu, even the stock cooler does the job.
5. A hybrid drive is rarely a good option. The 8gb of solid state is not sufficient to hold most of what you need. Such a drive may be appropriate to a laptop which has limited space for drives. A better option would be to use a 240gb ssd and plan on adding a hard drive if you ever need the room.
6. Ultra is no a great quality psu. It is only tier 4 on this list:
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx?Redirected=true
7. The R7-360 is only a mediocre graphics card. It is barely stronger than the integrated graphics that comes with skylake.

If you can return the pc and build your own, I would.

 

[logainofhades]

Agree with the return if possible. That system is not worth $700.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H170A-X1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.77 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT SW RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($85.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $699.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-18 10:32 EDT-0400

 

[iammrbrock]

The AMD FX-6300 is quite old and is beginning to show its age. You could get a much better CPU for only a slightly higher price. AMD CPUs in general are really only relevant for sub-$500 budget builds. Of course this is until AMD releases its new Zen line of CPUs in October. In a $700 budget, one can fit a much better CPU.

This is the same for the GPU. While the R7 360 may be okay for light gaming, it may struggle a bit playing games at higher settings, especially more recent ones. Consider the 360's benchmarks here: http://goo.gl/M3WsQn

Looking at your purchase from an objective stand point, yes, you made a mistake. I would try to sell it if you can if you're interested in a stronger build, possibly back to the store if you can? I'm not sure how that would work though.

 

[NotionCommotion]

Thank you all. I will share your posts with my daughter when she gets home from school, and we will figure out what to do. It was purchased pre-assembled (i.e. it wasn't assembled for us) and in the box yesterday, and the box hasn't been opened so I don't expect returning it will be an issue.

 

[superninja12]

leave your toughts on this thread were online as good as 24/7 , maybe we can give you some advise around your budget and your preferences.
everyone agrees here to rma it actually 😛