R9 390 CPU choice + general first build questions

[jonong]

Hi everyone

I was thinking of building my first PC in the near future for Fallout 4 so I could play it on high/modded at 1920x1080

My current build is an HP Pavilion p7-1449 (http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03520537) from which I added a graphics card and upgraded the PSU

AMD A10-5700
Asus Nvidia GTX660-DC2O-2GD5
XFX 550W TS Series Bronze
10GB DDR3

Since Fallout isn't out yet this may be a little premature, but my old CPU may be below or at the minimum requirements. Therefore my plan was to upgrade the CPU eventually and see how it runs on my 660. I thought I might need a new graphics card however because I'm currently playing modded Skyrim and it gets stuttery sometimes outdoors (not ENB graphics but still high res).

I plan to (if possible) reuse as much as I can from my current build (ram, DVD drive, PSU, HDD) but for now what I've decided on is: (italics are old parts)

Intel i5 4590
Asrock H97 Anniversary
10GB prebuilt RAM
1TB prebuilt HDD
250GB SSD
Asus Nvidia GTX660-DC2O-2GD5 / AMD R9 390 in the future?
NZXT H230 Case
XFX 550W TS Series Bronze
Prebuilt DVD drive
Wireless adapter
Acer H243H
Windows 10

Some concerns:

1. Seems to me like this CPU is overkill for my 660, but I chose it with upgrading the graphics card in mind. Could it still be possible to go cheaper and still run a R9 390 without bottlenecking?

2. Do graphics cards ever drop in price significantly? Like during Black Friday? (In Canada btw for those that may be familiar with Black Friday prices in Canada)
I'm also not sure which brand R9 390 to get.

3. Would my PSU be enough for this build if I swapped in the R9 390? I don't plan on overclocking.

4. The prebuilt comes with some weird half length PCI wireless card. Am I right in assuming I need a specific half length PCI slot and that I can't just put it into one of the PCI x1 slots? Should I just forget about it and buy a random wireless adapter? Any recommendations on which one?

5. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for when choosing a SSD. Since I plan to buy this in the future, I may just chose whatever is on special. Is there any significant difference between them all? Any good ones or ones I should avoid?

6. I need a new copy of windows 10 right? I had 8 and then upgraded to 10.

My budget is ~$1000CAD including the graphics card, but like I said this will be later on so prices will change.

Also any other tips for a first timer?

Sorry for the massive essay and thanks

 

[AmusingUserID]

1. Seems to me like this CPU is overkill for my 660, but I chose it with upgrading the graphics card in mind. Could it still be possible to go cheaper and still run a R9 390 without bottlenecking?

2. Do graphics cards ever drop in price significantly? Like during Black Friday? (In Canada btw for those that may be familiar with Black Friday prices in Canada)
I'm also not sure which brand R9 390 to get.

3. Would my PSU be enough for this build if I swapped in the R9 390? I don't plan on overclocking.

4. The prebuilt comes with some weird half length PCI wireless card. Am I right in assuming I need a specific half length PCI slot and that I can't just put it into one of the PCI x1 slots? Should I just forget about it and buy a random wireless adapter? Any recommendations on which one?

5. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for when choosing a SSD. Since I plan to buy this in the future, I may just chose whatever is on special. Is there any significant difference between them all? Any good ones or ones I should avoid?

6. I need a new copy of windows 10 right? I had 8 and then upgraded to 10.

My budget is ~$1000CAD including the graphics card, but like I said this will be later on so prices will change.

Also any other tips for a first timer?

Sorry for the massive essay and thanks

1. That Cpu isn't overkill at all, get the best you can afford, especially if you are considering the 390 down the line, which after you install fallout 4 on your 660 you prob will consider sooner

2. Not hugely, you may get 15% off if your lucky, they stay pretty stable, they are not like old tellys and rubbish shops need to shift, they hold alot of value, even when the next gen arrives. Any of the Tri-fan ones are good, Sapphire, Gigabyte, the MSI Gaming has probably sold the most I would guess, very popular.

3. You want to upgrade that PSU for the 390 for sure

4. If it has the slot you can reuse this, but have you thought about powerline adapters? if you have to use Wi-Fi, maybe some wifi experts can help.

5. For price performance the samsung 850's are an excellent buy, what a treat an SSD is if you have never had one

6. Just install your windows 8 again, then upgrade. Then any future fresh installs will remember your hardware and activate windows 10. But you need to start with 8 again as your hardware has changed alot.

What ram do you current own?

 

[jonong]

Hi thanks for the quick reply

4. Wow didn't know these were a thing. So it basically makes the electrical wiring act as an ethernet cable and also provides another wireless signal? if so these will definitely help both me and others in my house.

6. Forgot to mention that my windows 8 came with the prebuilt. I've looked around and read that starting with 8 OEM ones aren't tied to your hardware anymore?. I'm not sure how it would work if I've already upgraded to 10 though.

For the ram, I've looked around and found that it says it's DDR3-1600 and PC3-12800 MB/sec, but "runs at PC3-10600 in this system" and is DDR3-1333. So I'm not if there is something holding it back in the ram itself or if its just something with the prebuilt. It's also 2x4GB and 1x2GB

Thanks again

 

[AmusingUserID]

Hi thanks for the quick reply

4. Wow didn't know these were a thing. So it basically makes the electrical wiring act as an ethernet cable and also provides another wireless signal? if so these will definitely help both me and others in my house.

6. Forgot to mention that my windows 8 came with the prebuilt. I've looked around and read that starting with 8 OEM ones aren't tied to your hardware anymore?. I'm not sure how it would work if I've already upgraded to 10 though.

For the ram, I've looked around and found that it says it's DDR3-1600 and PC3-12800 MB/sec, but "runs at PC3-10600 in this system" and is DDR3-1333. So I'm not if there is something holding it back in the ram itself or if its just something with the prebuilt

Thanks again

4. Yes you can get ones that act as a wifi point as well but just stick one cat5 into your router then the other end into one of the adapters, then have the 2nd one next to your rig and have a direct connection to the wall. Pings are much better over PL adapters than wifi will ever be. Best thing I ever bought as running 20metres of cable is not an option and I hate WiFi

6. Do you have the windows 8 serial number? install fresh windows 8 then just upgrade, then windows 10 will be tied to your new hardware and you can fresh install windows 10 anytime after that.

So you have 10gb of ram? I take it you have 2x4gb and a 2gb?

Looks like you have 1600mhz ram running at 1333, I wouldn't worry about that now but when you use them on your new build be sure to change the XMP profile in the bios so that you get them running at full potential. Just use profile one and it should set them to 1600mhz along with the best timings. just use a pair, I wouldn't bother with the 3rd stick???

 

[jonong]

Hi thanks for the quick reply

4. Wow didn't know these were a thing. So it basically makes the electrical wiring act as an ethernet cable and also provides another wireless signal? if so these will definitely help both me and others in my house.

6. Forgot to mention that my windows 8 came with the prebuilt. I've looked around and read that starting with 8 OEM ones aren't tied to your hardware anymore?. I'm not sure how it would work if I've already upgraded to 10 though.

For the ram, I've looked around and found that it says it's DDR3-1600 and PC3-12800 MB/sec, but "runs at PC3-10600 in this system" and is DDR3-1333. So I'm not if there is something holding it back in the ram itself or if its just something with the prebuilt

Thanks again

4. Yes you can get ones that act as a wifi point as well but just stick one cat5 into your router then the other end into one of the adapters, then have the 2nd one next to your rig and have a direct connection to the wall. Pings are much better over PL adapters than wifi will ever be. Best thing I ever bought as running 20metres of cable is not an option and I hate WiFi

6. Do you have the windows 8 serial number? install fresh windows 8 then just upgrade, then windows 10 will be tied to your new hardware and you can fresh install windows 10 anytime after that.

So you have 10gb of ram? I take it you have 2x4gb and a 2gb?

Looks like you have 1600mhz ram running at 1333, I wouldn't worry about that now but when you use them on your new build be sure to change the XMP profile in the bios so that you get them running at full potential. Just use profile one and it should set them to 1600mhz along with the best timings. just use a pair, I wouldn't bother with the 3rd stick???

6. I don't think I have a serial number. I may have to call microsoft support or keeping looking around for someone that would know for sure if the license can carry over.

Yes the ram is 2x4GB and 1x2GB. Is there any reason not to use the extra 2GB?

 

[AmusingUserID]

The 2x4gb won't run in dual channel with the additional 2gb

I would just stick with the matched pair and flog the 2gb

not sure about carrying over the license, maybe make a specific topic on it

 

[jonong]

Thanks for everything. I will try to find out about the license. Also forgot to ask about the PSU. After I had everything thrown into PC part picker it mentioned i needed only ~470 watts. Is there a certain amount of extra wattage I should leave?

 

[AmusingUserID]

No problem

Yes, grab a quality 650w is what most will recommend for that build.