My first build for entertainment

sootysax

Honorable
Jan 30, 2014
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10,510
Hi,

I want to build a PC for entertainment purposes, which includes gaming, watching movies etc. The PC will be put in my living room, which is why I will choose for a small footprint (µATX), and will be hooked up to my 1080p LCD TV.

I know this build might be a bit overpowered at the moment, certainly because of the type of games I play (racers, FIFA, Tomb Raider etc.), but I'd rather build a PC which will last me a few years (5?) instead of building/upgrading a new one every two years. On the long term, overclocking might be something I want/need.

The core of this build consists of a mobo with Z87 chipset, an i5 4670k, 8 GB ram 1600Mhz and a Sapphire R9 280x. However, the cheaper, the better. So my main question is: is there a better or similar but cheaper mobo/cpu/gpu combination I could opt for? E.g. would an FX8350 suffice for my needs or maybe replace the GPU with a GTX 760? I read up on this forum about this subject, but I can't find a straightforward answer (maybe there isn't?)..
FYI: I already have a laptop which I use for heavy duty tasks (rendering audio/video).

You'll find the complete build over here:
http://azerty.nl/winkelmandje/winkelmandje/?legen=1&product%5B620113%5D=1&product%5B553207%5D=1&product%5B582388%5D=1&product%5B653741%5D=1&product%5B614052%5D=1&product%5B624164%5D=1&product%5B649114%5D=1

Another question: will the power supply suffice?

Thanks in advance!
 
For the games you will play you can go with FX8350 no problem, and FX8350 can easily handle the new games for the next 5 years, i would leave the rest as it is, Z87 mobo's are the best for overclocking if you plan on doing that at some point and they are all pricy, and change the PSU for this http://azerty.nl/0-1073-398419/xfx-core-edition-pro550w-voe.html the one you picked is a Corsair's budget series PSU with not that good components
 
Solution


Thank you! So do you think this would be a cheaper build with similar/better performance:
http://azerty.nl/winkelmandje/winkelmandje/?legen=1&product%5B553207%5D=1&product%5B653741%5D=1&product%5B614052%5D=1&product%5B649114%5D=1&product%5B509882%5D=1&product%5B563663%5D=1&product%5B398419%5D=1

I have to admit I really don't know the difference between all those mobo's.. so i picked the cheapest one (also because I don't think I'll be needing more than 16gb in the near future).

Will the stock cooler of the CPU suffice?
 


hehe no worries, all those will work just fine, however the mobo is not for overclocking if you intend to do so in the future, for the games you play i'd say stock cooler is enough, but you can buy the budget cooler "CM hyper 212 evo" if you wanna feel safe
 


Thanks. Unfortunately, it seems I can't find a AM3+ micro-ATX mobo that is suitable for overclocking. Do you have any suggestions?
 


not really looked into Micro ATX, but found this http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A88M/
 


Thank you. Unfortunately, no µATX board with an AM3+ socket seems to be suited for overclocking.
If I choose for an ATX mobo, my build costs as much as my original Intel-based build (even a bit more with the aftermarket cooler):
http://azerty.nl/winkelmandje/winkelmandje/?legen=1&product%5B553207%5D=1&product%5B653741%5D=1&product%5B649114%5D=1&product%5B563663%5D=1&product%5B398419%5D=1&product%5B427528%5D=1&product%5B604176%5D=1&product%5B455750%5D=1

So maybe it's best I'll stick to Intel. Or would overclocking an FX8350 be unnecesary for my needs?
 


overclocking is never necessary, you only overclock normally if your cpu is bottlenecking or you run really cpu heavy programs, for what you'll use it for OC'ing will not be necessary, and there's minimal differences in gaming if you have 3,6Ghz or 4,4Ghz, just go with FX8350 it's cheaper than 4670k
 
Allright, thank you. I thought overclocking might have been necessary in the future to extend the lifespan of my PC.
So I guess if I won't overclock, the aftermarket cooler becomes obsolete.

I did some research on forums and apparently, the FX8350 even might have the edge over the 4670k for future games because of the comparable technology used in Xbone and PS4.
 


if you wish to overclock in a few years if you suddenly change game genre and play heavy CPU demanding games then you can think about changing mobo, but don't bother with Z87 mobo's now when you play FIFA and Racing games, would just be a waste of money and mobo :) i don't know about future games, but both will come out good i guess because of high overclock possibilities, anyway good luck
 
Occasionally I like to play games like Far Cry or Crysis too, but I guess the CPU/GPU can handle them at 1080p. But I don't mind setting the graphics on high instead of ultra, if necessary. Thank you very much for your help!
 


you can run those on Ultra no problem :) i'm playing BF4 with my 280x and everything is on max with 90-130FPS and i'm pretty sure the graphically demand is higher than in those you mentioned :) anyway pick a solution so people know it's solved and you can pm me if you have further questions