Thoughts on this build for a gamer who is completely new to PC, not just PC Gaming...

[rhysneville]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1CafJ

Something along those lines.

I've been PC gaming properly for about 2 years now and I'm going to build him a PC, the intel system I had in mind for him - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1BSgY seems a bit OTT when he's new to PC's, so I think AMD would do the job, right?

Only problem is, I am completely unfimilar with AMD so I'd be a bit hasty with it and not sure if I could help him if anything went wrong, but I'm sure I could work it out!.. (Also heard AMD's support isn't as good as intels, but don't shoot the messenger) 😉

Thanks,
Rhys.

 

[tiny voices]

The first build is great. You could change the motherboard because that board is overpriced. Look at gigabyte.

Either get a 128gb SSD or drop it.

I am not a fan of closed loop liquid coolers.

 

[rhysneville]

The first build is great. You could change the motherboard because that board is overpriced. Look at gigabyte.

Either get a 128gb SSD or drop it.

I am not a fan of closed loop liquid coolers.

It took me literally like 5 minutes to create that build, I don't want him to have liquid cooling at all, so I'll get ride of the H100,
Also he'd only need 64GB to hold his OS, that's the main reason for the SSD. Mine is 240GB and 40GB is the OS and the rest are just for recordings from Dxtory, he won't be recording at all 😛

 

[tiny voices]

Personally I think an SSD for JUST the OS is a waste. It will help boot times and that is about it. A 120gb SSd will allow you to put some games you play frequently on it.

 

[g-unit1111]

If you plan to play graphically intensive games, and on your budget, I would not go with an AMD FX processor. Intel will get you better frame rates in the long run than AMD will. I would do this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£179.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler (£41.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£121.91 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£102.79 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£48.36 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£327.67 @ Dabs)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case (£84.96 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£75.36 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £1055.48
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-10 23:38 BST+0100)

 

[rhysneville]

Personally I think an SSD for JUST the OS is a waste. It will help boot times and that is about it. A 120gb SSd will allow you to put some games you play frequently on it.

It's the same principle though, an SSD for games will just help boot times for them haha!

I changed from using a 2TB 5400RPM drive to boot to an OCZ Agility 3 240GB to boot and there was faster boot times and it was faster overall when opening up programs on the D drive rather than the SSD. I used that SSD for my OS and recordings only!

 

[rhysneville]

If you plan to play graphically intensive games, and on your budget, I would not go with an AMD FX processor. Intel will get you better frame rates in the long run than AMD will. I would do this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£179.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler (£41.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£121.91 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£102.79 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£48.36 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£327.67 @ Dabs)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case (£84.96 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£75.36 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£12.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £1055.48
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-10 23:38 BST+0100)

Why would intel give better frames and how much of a long run are we talking here?

I have two friends who have more or less the exact AMD build I posted and they said it can max out any game thrown at them, with the exception of games like Crysis 3 where it's hard to max out @ 60fps.