My First Homebuilt PC and I need help/suggestions

[capicua8]

Hello, I was hoping that someone would be able to help me. Like the thread header says, this is my first homebuilt PC and I need help and/or suggestions.

This is my background:

I am primarily going to use this computer to watch online movies, play video games such as Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, WoW and do basic office work. I would also like to try out more intensive games like Battlefield 3 without any issues (even if i have to put it at its lowest settings, idc). But for the most part I will be playing mostly the games that i mentioned first. I would like this computer to last me at least 5 years when I decide to upgrade all over again. Then I would use this computer as a home entertainment computer and put it in my living room.

These are the components that I picked out:

NZXT Phantom Crafted Series ATX Full Tower Steel Chassis, Black
Microsoft Windows 8 OEM 64-Bit
Asus AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card
Asus SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 Motherboard
AMD FX-8350 4 GHz Processor
Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
SanDisk SSD 128 GB Internal SSD Serial ATA-600 2.5
ASUS BW 12B1ST - BD-RE drive - Serial ATA

Can you guys let me know If all this is compatible and I am confused as to what kind of powersupply I should get, Wattage and brand? and if there is anything that i am overlooking.

Thanks so much

 

[Augray37]

Do you have a maximum budget and what resolution will you be playing on?

 

[capicua8]

I dont want to spend no more then $1100.

As far as resolution is concerned, whatever allows for smooth gameplay lol.

My configuration is netting me about $1078 from what Ive seen online.

Is everything compatible with one another? I just dont want to buy everything and find out later that something is not working because its not compatible.

Any suggestions??

 

[ajl2011shooter]

It will all work together just fine. My only suggestion is to go with i5 and compatible MOBO. The AMD you have will be a fine match to the GPU you have picked out but down the road if you ever want to put in a upper end GPU you will be limited by the AMD.

 

[Augray37]

Out of curiosity, why did you pick that high end mobo and CPU? You dont really need them imo. I would look at the fx-6300 and a mobo in the 100 dollar range, and put the pocketed dough towards a better GPU. Youll want it if you want your rig to last 5 years. A good quality psu of about 500 watts will do you fine, more if you would like to crossfire in the future. Look around for some psus and post them on here if you can, im on my phone and its kinda hard for me to post links right now.

 

[Augray37]

It will all work together just fine. My only suggestion is to go with i5 and compatible MOBO. The AMD you have will be a fine match to the GPU you have picked out but down the road if you ever want to put in a upper end GPU you will be limited by the AMD.

I slightly disagree. There might be a little improvement in games, but the am3+ build will be upgradeable while lga 1155 is not.

 

[capicua8]

Out of curiosity, why did you pick that high end mobo and CPU? You dont really need them imo. I would look at the fx-6300 and a mobo in the 100 dollar range, and put the pocketed dough towards a better GPU. Youll want it if you want your rig to last 5 years. A good quality psu of about 500 watts will do you fine, more if you would like to crossfire in the future. Look around for some psus and post them on here if you can, im on my phone and its kinda hard for me to post links right now.

I saw that the CPU and the Mobo both had great reviews when I was researching for my parts, and I saw them both on 2 custom built PC websites. So i figured I would save $400 and build the whole system myself.


If i decide to go with the fx-6300, would i still be able to play games like Crysis 3 and battlefield 3? Only reason I ask is because I would like to try them out even though they are not what I usually play without any issues due to lack of system power.


So with my current set up without changing to the fx 6300 a 500 watt psu would be adequate?

I appreciate your help so much.


Also

You wrote that the am3 setup is upgradeable, so does that mean that It would last me longer then an Fx 6300 with compatible mobo?

Should I buy a cooling fan from another company? or is the stock fan good enough for my purposes?

 

[ajl2011shooter]

I slightly disagree. There might be a little improvement in games, but the am3+ build will be upgradeable while lga 1155 is not.

Thats the point. Why spend cash on something that is iffy at best for gaming when you can spend a small bit more and be good for a long time.

Here is the hierarchy chart for cpu's. The FX 8350 is on par with some of the i3's . Why spend all that cash on a cpu that is not as good?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

 

[capicua8]

Thats the point. Why spend cash on something that is iffy at best for gaming when you can spend a small bit more and be good for a long time.

Here is the hierarchy chart for cpu's. The FX 8350 is on par with some of the i3's . Why spend all that cash on a cpu that is not as good?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

What graphics card would you recommend, because i thought that 7770 was upper midrange of graphics cards.

 

[Augray37]

Thats the point. Why spend cash on something that is iffy at best for gaming when you can spend a small bit more and be good for a long time.

Here is the hierarchy chart for cpu's. The FX 8350 is on par with some of the i3's . Why spend all that cash on a cpu that is not as good?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

According to the hierarchy, the stock fx-6300 is on par with, at minimum, the core i3-3225, which is currently 15 dollars more than the fx6300. The core i3 isnt really overclockable, while the fx is unlocked and easily overclockable. The fx has six cores, the core i3 has two. Am3+ has another generation left in it, lga 1155 is dead. Could you show me some benchmarks that definitively say that the fx6300 "isnt as good"? Im willing to be educated.

 

[ajl2011shooter]

The i5-3570K for a little bit more than the FX 8350 is a much better gaming CPU. You can say all you want that amd is as good for gaming but it's not. it's about a $40 difference. Well worth every penny.

 

[g-unit1111]

According to the hierarchy, the stock fx-6300 is on par with, at minimum, the core i3-3225, which is currently 15 dollars more than the fx6300. The core i3 isnt really overclockable, while the fx is unlocked and easily overclockable. The fx has six cores, the core i3 has two. Am3+ has another generation left in it, lga 1155 is dead. Could you show me some benchmarks that definitively say that the fx6300 "isnt as good"? Im willing to be educated.

The bad thing is that AM3 / AM3+ is an incredibly aging socket that has been around for seven years. It's the reason why Bulldozer wasn't able to keep up with Sandy Bridge. SB was based on a new socket and chip set, AMD tried to introduce a new CPU on a socket that couldn't handle it. Pile Driver is a step in the right direction but they really need to dump AM3 and the 990FX chipset before they can even begin to compete with Intel.

 

[Augray37]

The bad thing is that AM3 / AM3+ is an incredibly aging socket that has been around for seven years. It's the reason why Bulldozer wasn't able to keep up with Sandy Bridge. SB was based on a new socket and chip set, AMD tried to introduce a new CPU on a socket that couldn't handle it. Pile Driver is a step in the right direction but they really need to dump AM3 and the 990FX chipset before they can even begin to compete with Intel.

hmmm...that's an interesting take on it. can't say that i've heard it put quite that way, but seems reasonable to me.

 

[g-unit1111]

hmmm...that's an interesting take on it. can't say that i've heard it put quite that way, but seems reasonable to me.

Yeah AM3 and AM3+ are just rehashes of AM2 which was released in 2007. AMD hasn't done much to evolve the socket to keep up with the times and that's really what led to their downfall. At least they have credibility in the GPU market by making solid GPUs that match or beat their NVIDIA counterparts for less money.

 

[Brom954]

well personally I would recommend an i5 processor because they are mid range and will last you a good 5 years. AMD are better at some things but not everything. I may just be a fanboy of intel and I haven’t had that much experience with AMD but lets just say theres a reason apple never put AMD CPU’s in their rigs. I would recommend looking up “amd vs intel tech of tomorrow” on youtube. As for the PSU I would go to http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp and put in all your parts once you are final about them, and it will calculate your PSU. Take your result and round it to the nearest hundred watts and you have your PSU wattage. As for PSU brand I would recommend going with Corsair. As for your graphics card I would recommend getting something like a GTX 660 ti or the AMD HD 7950, which are both mid range cards priced around $200, and will last you a while playing on low settings. Currently you need something around a GTX 460.