Tax Return 2013 Build

[Kass]

Budget: Around 1000-1200

 

Brand Preference: AMD (CPU and GPU), ASUS or MSI, Corsair

 

Plans for the machine: Gaming and HD video.

 

Place to get parts: Frys and/or Newegg

 

Parts I already have: AMD FX 8120 CPU and AMD Raedon 7850 Black

 

Parts I need: Motherboard (Preferably ASUS), Power Supply (Corsair Preferred, around 800-900 W and must be modular), RAM (Corsair Vengeance or GSKILL, 16GB max), Case (Full tower, preferably with modular/hot swappable drive bays), SSD (No Intel drives), Liquid Cooling (Eyeing the H100i)

 

Overlock: Possibly. Would like to ramp the CPU to 4.0-4.5 Ghz

 

OS: Yes. Either Win 7 Ultimate or Win 8.1 Pro (Can get both for free from school)

 

Suggestions welcome. No flame wars (i.e. AMD is teh sux)

 

It's been 3, almost 4 years since my last build.

[T_Yamamoto]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($104.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Sandisk 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($69.99 @ Microcenter)

Storage: Crucial M500 480GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($269.00 @ Amazon)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.99 @ NCIX US)

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: OCZ ZT 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $778.92

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-01 18:56 EST-0500)

 

Reasoning behind the parts

 

CPU Cooler: The D14 will perform just as good as an AIO water cooling system. Also it will be quieter. This is because the AIO systems produce noise VIA the fans cooling the radiators. Noctua (if you don't know already) is an outstanding company and has great customer service. If Intel/AMD was to release a new layout for their cooling systems that required a new bracket or some sort, they will ship it to you for free.

 

Motherboard: It gets the job done. Although it is not an ASUS its still a board with more than enough features.

 

Memory: Cheapest 8gb module right now.

 

Storage: Okay, this may get complicated. The 128GB SSD is for your OS and some programs. the 480GB is for your games and programs. Then the 3TB is for storage.

 

Case: This is my personal preference. This case is a breeze to work with and looks clean. Also this case is large enough for everything you need.

 

Power Supply: Modular, and you only need this much power for your stuff. People tend to OVER estimate when it comes to power supplies.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Hoodrow Thrillson

[BranHorse]

Budget: Around 1000-1200

 

Brand Preference: AMD (CPU and GPU), ASUS or MSI, Corsair

 

Plans for the machine: Gaming and HD video.

 

Place to get parts: Frys and/or Newegg

 

Parts I already have: AMD FX 8120 CPU and AMD Raedon 7850 Black

 

Parts I need: Motherboard (Preferably ASUS), Power Supply (Corsair Preferred, around 800-900 W and must be modular), RAM (Corsair Vengeance or GSKILL, 16GB max), Case (Full tower, preferably with modular/hot swappable drive bays), SSD (No Intel drives), Liquid Cooling (Eyeing the H100i)

 

Overlock: Possibly. Would like to ramp the CPU to 4.0-4.5 Ghz

 

OS: Yes. Either Win 7 Ultimate or Win 8.1 Pro (Can get both for free from school)

 

Suggestions welcome. No flame wars (i.e. AMD is teh sux)

 

It's been 3, almost 4 years since my last build.

What games do you play? Also any programs like 3ds max maya etc.

You have a nice budget for not having to buy a cpu so I would suggest upgrading the gpu (still will be in budget). Idk if the guy above me knows what a partition is, but yeah...no need for the small ssd just for the OS in your case haha. Windows uses about 45 gb after years of updates etc (this is the most I have seen on someones pc). Mines only about 20 haha.

My two cents (using frys because I assume you live near one like I do and I am sure you know how amazing it is)

1-http://www.frys.com/...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG This board was my baby. Had a ud5 (have an intel ud5 currently) and it was a monster for ocing my amd chips. All the features you need/want none of the useless crap you don't. Can't really go wrong with most amd 990fx boards, but stay away from the low end asus/msi/asrocks.

2-http://www.frys.com/...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG For the price this is the best FULL modular psu. Same as its seasonic brother.

3-http://www.frys.com/...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Tight timings on these sticks easy overclocking

4- http://www.frys.com/...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG Best drive out atm. Grab a 512gb one if your really down to hit your budget.

Then grab a wd black 1 tb for 100 bucks

5- Case is up to you. My favorite atm is the NZXT switch 810. The larger new phantom is decent also. I stay away from the Haf x even though everyone goes threw one in there building life just to realize that it has to much aggressive childish whatever on it. Stick with the cleaner looking stuff. cosmos SE, 750d whatever you want. Go to frys and check them all out.

5- Gonna say this once. Stay away from AIO units. Seriously. They live for a year and die. The pumps can't hang if you want a WC unit then go custom. I can link some stuff if your interested, but beware of the AIos.

Either custom or air.

Air units that are nice- http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835709011 Best out for air right now. Beware this is a beast along with the d14 and silver arrow.

Practical and best looking air cooler

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835242008 Comes in black but newegg doesn't have it atm. check frozencpu.com etc. Pair with some decent fans and you'll be happy.

Total: 804 give or take 200 for the heatsink and case.

About $1,000

Edited December 2, 2013 by BranHorse

[T_Yamamoto]

What games do you play? Also any programs like 3ds max maya etc.

You have a nice budget for not having to buy a cpu so I would suggest upgrading the gpu (still will be in budget). Idk if the guy above me knows what a partition is, but yeah...no need for the small ssd just for the OS in your case haha. Windows uses about 45 gb after years of updates etc (this is the most I have seen on someones pc). Mines only about 20 haha.

My two cents (using frys because I assume you live near one like I do and I am sure you know how amazing it is)

1-http://www.frys.com/...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG This board was my baby. Had a ud5 (have an intel ud5 currently) and it was a monster for ocing my amd chips. All the features you need/want none of the useless crap you don't. Can't really go wrong with most amd 990fx boards, but stay away from the low end asus/msi/asrocks.

2-http://www.frys.com/...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG For the price this is the best FULL modular psu. Same as its seasonic brother.

3-http://www.frys.com/...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Tight timings on these sticks easy overclocking

4- http://www.frys.com/...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG Best drive out atm. Grab a 512gb one if your really down to hit your budget.

Then grab a wd black 1 tb for 100 bucks

5- Case is up to you. My favorite atm is the NZXT switch 810. The larger new phantom is decent also. I stay away from the Haf x even though everyone goes threw one in there building life just to realize that it has to much aggressive childish whatever on it. Stick with the cleaner looking stuff. cosmos SE, 750d whatever you want. Go to frys and check them all out.

5- Gonna say this once. Stay away from AIO units. Seriously. They live for a year and die. The pumps can't hang if you want a WC unit then go custom. I can link some stuff if your interested, but beware of the AIos.

Either custom or air.

Air units that are nice- http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835709011 Best out for air right now. Beware this is a beast along with the d14 and silver arrow.

Practical and best looking air cooler

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835242008 Comes in black but newegg doesn't have it atm. check frozencpu.com etc. Pair with some decent fans and you'll be happy.

Total: 804 give or take 200 for the heatsink and case.

About $1,000

Partitions are nice, but since he has the money to have seperate drives, why not? I just like having seperate drives for everything, keeps the wear and tear down and is more neat (imho)

 

His CPU is fine, no need to really spend money changing to Intel.

 

Also the low end boards you're talking about (970 chipset?) do a fine job for the most part.

 

Overclocking RAM is pointless.

 

The Black drives aren't THAT great to be honest. They're more of a gimmick since he will not notice a difference. Its the same between SSDs (well I mean, they're gonna have different controllers and that'll change performance, but for the average Joe, they're all going to be fast. Same can be said for HDDs)

 

Also, the best bang for your buck CPU cooler is the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ Evo. But since you have the money, you get to choose between all of the top tier stuff, like the D14, the beast the person I quoted linked to, and the Silver Arrow. I would personally choose the D14, but thats just me. (Yes it looks hidious but no one will see the inside of your case anyways)

Edited December 2, 2013 by Hoodrow Thrillson

[BranHorse]

Partitions are nice, but since he has the money to have seperate drives, why not? I just like having seperate drives for everything, keeps the wear and tear down and is more neat (imho)

 

His CPU is fine, no need to really spend money changing to Intel.

 

Also the low end boards you're talking about (970 chipset?) do a fine job for the most part.

 

Overclocking RAM is pointless.

 

The Black drives aren't THAT great to be honest. They're more of a gimmick since he will not notice a difference. Its the same between SSDs (well I mean, they're gonna have different controllers and that'll change performance, but for the average Joe, they're all going to be fast. Same can be said for HDDs)

 

Also, the best bang for your buck CPU cooler is the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ Evo. But since you have the money, you get to choose between all of the top tier stuff, like the D14, the beast the person I quoted linked to, and the Silver Arrow. I would personally choose the D14, but thats just me. (Yes it looks hidious but no one will see the inside of your case anyways)

1. So by this logic I should have 6 drives. One for my revit files, one for games, one for windows os, one for music and one for school? For performance? Sata cable explosion in my pc is fun.

He does not need one ssd for the os and one for games...its ridiculous. He needs to get one large one for both and a reg hdd for storage. There is no performance loss or gain. Just adds cables and drive folders.

I would much rather have a 5tb ssd to run everything on one drive to save time telling programs were to put my shit in, but I am not made of money (ENIGMA GIMMIE ONE)

2. Low end MSI and Asus boards in particular are known for blowing caps when pushed to hard.

3. Never said anything about his cpu haha.

4. Ram overclocking is pointless, but most cpus can become more or less stable at certain clocks with certain ram. Overclocking a cpu is very much dependent on the ram speeds and timings that you have. For example, I can boot a pc 24 hours stable at 4.5ghz on what ever chip at ram speeds of 1333mhz which is slower than rated speeds. But if I up them to 1600mhz and it wont even boot, I consider the ram to be at fault because...it is. Timings are the most important factor with amd chips in my experience. Long story short, the better the ram. the easier the cpu overclocks

5. There is a decent amount of difference between a black drive and a a blue or whatever. First of all it spins at 7200 and it is the same price/speed/specs as the one you listed. The only difference is that the seagate you listed is known to fail. Not saying anything against seagate, but the last few batches of barracudas have had issues (just read reviews). There is a reason why it is on sale. I am sure it will be fixed, but for the time being i'd stay away. After a second look it is also 3tb. furthering my suspicion of it being on sale due to its lemon rate (look at newegg reviews).

[T_Yamamoto]

1. So by this logic I should have 6 drives. One for my revit files, one for games, one for windows os, one for music and one for school? For performance? Sata cable explosion in my pc is fun.

He does not need one ssd for the os and one for games...its ridiculous. He needs to get one large one for both and a reg hdd for storage. There is no performance loss or gain. Just adds cables and drive folders.

I would much rather have a 5tb ssd to run everything on one drive to save time telling programs were to put my shit in, but I am not made of money (ENIGMA GIMMIE ONE)

2. Low end MSI and Asus boards in particular are known for blowing caps when pushed to hard.

3. Never said anything about his cpu haha.

4. Ram overclocking is pointless, but most cpus can become more or less stable at certain clocks with certain ram. Overclocking a cpu is very much dependent on the ram speeds and timings that you have. For example, I can boot a pc 24 hours stable at 4.5ghz on what ever chip at ram speeds of 1333mhz which is slower than rated speeds. But if I up them to 1600mhz and it wont even boot, I consider the ram to be at fault because...it is. Timings are the most important factor with amd chips in my experience. Long story short, the better the ram. the easier the cpu overclocks

5. There is a decent amount of difference between a black drive and a a blue or whatever. First of all it spins at 7200 and it is the same price/speed/specs as the one you listed. The only difference is that the seagate you listed is known to fail. Not saying anything against seagate, but the last few batches of barracudas have had issues (just read reviews). There is a reason why it is on sale. I am sure it will be fixed, but for the time being i'd stay away. After a second look it is also 3tb. furthering my suspicion of it being on sale due to its lemon rate (look at newegg reviews).

 

1) Haha, this was more of personal preference.

 

2) Well low end boards aren't meant for overclocking. (That's why AMD has the 990 series and Intel has the Zxx series)

 

3) Oh! I'm sorry, I misread GPU as CPU. Still, his GPU is fine for what he does.

 

4) This guy isn't going to push his to 5ghz, probably a mild 4.2-4.5, so I don't really think its that important. However, 1600mhz is the way to go (this could be different for AMD, since thats what it is for Intel)

 

5) Blue and Blacks both spin at 7200 RPM, the "Green" drives spin at 5400 (or maybe 5900, forgot) RPM. Also every HDD has their DOAs, never read NE reviews since 86% of the time, its people who have gotten DOAs (only reason they post is because they wanna bitch, almost no one rights a review about how well its working). Just because its on sale doesnt make it bad. I picked up a 1 TB External hard drive for 48 dollars. 48 DOLLARS! You seriously can't beat that price.

[enigma#]

So first question, why in the bloody hell would you cheap out his ram lol