Building Custom Desktop, budget under $1500

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ezelisko

New Member
ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD
Motherboard

VisionTek Radeon 7850 2GB DDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card
(900505)

Cooler Master Silent Pro M - 1000W 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply
with Modular Cables (RSA00-AMBAJ3-US)

AMD FX-8350 FX-Series Eight-Core
Processor Edition, Black AM3 FD8350FRHKBOX

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10)

Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case with SuperSpeed USB 3.0
(RC-932-KKN5-GP)

Asus 24xDVD-RW Serial ATA Internal OEM Drive DRW-24B1ST
(Black)

Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache
Internal Desktop Hard Drive Bulk/OEM - WD1002FAEX

Logitech Wireless Wave
Combo Mk550 With Keyboard and Laser Mouse (920-002555)

Intel 520 Series
Solid-State Drive 240 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch - SSDSC2CW240A3K5
(Reseller Kit)

Does this sound like a good computer, or am I really far off? I spoke to a man who builds computers as his job. He said I needed to talk to him before I go off on building this. However, I am in Afghanistan, so that is a bit difficult right now. I will be arriving soon, which means I want to have this all set up when I get back. Feedback on improvement as well as if I am going overboard on anything would be outstanding. Thank you very much.
 
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byteninja2

banned
Overkill on a lot of stuff. The FX 8350 is quite a bit worse then the i5, the 8350 doesn't even have real 8 cores, and the board is just dumb on $1500 budget. Cooler Master doesn't make the best PSUs at all, and 750w is overkill, much less a 1000W, go Corsair, Seasonic, or OCZ. 16 GB isn't needed, I would go 8 GB and buy more later. Overpaying on HDD, get a Seagate Barracuda. VisionTek isn't too good, go with sapphire, gigabyte, or MSI. And with the saved money buy a 7870.

Go with
SeaSonic M12II 750
I5 3570K
Gigabyte UD3H z77
Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Corsair Vengeance 2x4 GB
MSI 7870 Hawk
 
wolfeking

wolfeking

banned
byteninja2 said:
Overkill on a lot of stuff. The FX 8350 is quite a bit worse then the i5, the 8350 doesn't even have real 8 cores,
Click to expand...
With the exception that the 8350 and 8320 is cheaper, and OCs quite well, putting it ahead of the 3570k. But go ahead and keep insisting on intel.

@OP: The 8320 is a bit cheaper, and will OC to match and beat the 8350. No since in paying more for the same silicon.

and the board is just dumb on $1500 budget.
Click to expand...
How? Anti asus hate is probably going to be your reason.

@OP: Good choice. One of the best on the AMD side. The only one even close to being better is the 990FXA-UD7. Either is just fine for a gaming build.


Cooler Master doesn't make the best PSUs at all, and 750w is overkill, much less a 1000W, go Corsair, Seasonic, or OCZ.
Click to expand...
Byte, be specific. You have just listed brands, some of which make supplies much below the quality of the one he listed. CoolerMaster is not all that bad, if you get the right supply from them.

OP: The supply listed is fine, but there are better ones out there. Look at:
OCZ ZT/ZX supplies in the 650+ watt range
Seasonic M12II/X series in 650+ watts
Silverstone Strider/st**-f series in 650+ watts
Corsair HX/TX series 650+ watts
Thermaltake Toughpower 650+ watts
Antec in 650+ watts
EVGA Supernova 650+ watts
Fractal Design Tesla in 650+ watts (just a guess, as they are new, but seems well built)
NZXT Hale 82/90 Series 650+ watts
PC Power and Cooling, Silencer MKII/MKIII series 650+ watts
XFX Pro Series 650+ watts


16 GB isn't needed, I would go 8 GB and buy more later.
Click to expand...
Here I agree to a point. 8GB is fine for games now. However in a generation or 2 (1-3 years) it will be bare bottom, like 4GB is now. With the price of RAM, get 1866 at a bare minimum, 2133 if you want some headroom. Its the same price 1600 was 6 months ago. I personally prefer Kingston HyperX, Patriot Gamer, and Samsung low profile. The Samsung OCs like no tomorrow, often reaching 2400+ MHz on 1650mV.
More specifically recommending:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104370
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220692
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096 (again, OCs well. YOu can probably clock beyond the first 2 for cheaper prices, but the other 2 kits have guaranteed 2133/1866 speeds, where these are only guaranteed at 1600 speeds, but you will definitely get near or beyond the other 2)

Overpaying on HDD, get a Seagate Barracuda.
Click to expand...
Personal preference. The performance of the drive is higher on average with westerndigital, and they are built a little better.

VisionTek isn't too good, go with sapphire, gigabyte, or MSI. And with the saved money buy a 7870.
Click to expand...
VisionTek is a perfectly fine company. They build at the same quality as pretty much any reference brand.
I would not recommend anything other than reference anyway. The design is good, and the performance is there. If you go away from reference boards, you are out on a limb. AMD does good work, as does sapphire (reference board, non reference cooler), Gigabyte (same), and MSI does a non reference board, that is okay in most scenarios.
 
Okedokey

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
byteninja2 said:
Overkill on a lot of stuff. The FX 8350 is quite a bit worse then the i5, the 8350 doesn't even have real 8 cores, and the board is just dumb on $1500 budget. Cooler Master doesn't make the best PSUs at all, and 750w is overkill, much less a 1000W, go Corsair, Seasonic, or OCZ. 16 GB isn't needed, I would go 8 GB and buy more later. Overpaying on HDD, get a Seagate Barracuda. VisionTek isn't too good, go with sapphire, gigabyte, or MSI. And with the saved money buy a 7870.

Go with
SeaSonic M12II 750
I5 3570K
Gigabyte UD3H z77
Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Corsair Vengeance 2x4 GB
MSI 7870 Hawk
Click to expand...

Good setup and will pants anything else suggested.
 
E

ezelisko

New Member
Thanks for all the advice. I am just starting to get back into building comps. The Marines kept me busy so I wasn't able to really keep up with technology. I will agree that intel's products are normally better, but the prices for some of them are crazy retarded. I don't want to pay $300+ for an i7. But the AMD/Intel hate fest is somthing I am trying to stay away from, as I really don't want to get attached to one company or another. This computer is going to be strictly used for gaming, so I want to get it as cheap as possible, as I have a laptop that I will be using for surfing the internet and work/school stuff.
 
spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
The AMD will be fine for gaming, get the 8320 though.

You don't need a 1000W PSU at all. A Corsair TX 650 V2 will be perfect for you.

Try to get a better graphics card. The 7850 is great, but try for a 7870 or even a 7950 if you can.

Get 8GB of RAM now and put the money towards the graphics card.

The 520 is an expensive drive. Go for a Vertex 4 or Crucial M4 or a Samsung 840, one of those would probably be cheaper and certainly no slower. They're all very fast drives.
 
E

ezelisko

New Member
CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($154.95 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($79.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($36.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($184.95 @ B&H)
Video Card: VisionTek Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($305.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Blue ATX Full Tower Case ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.89 @ Outlet PC)

Total: $1265.72

Any critiques? This is the new one I have come up with, based on suggestions. Thanks for all the help from everyone, by the way.
 
spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
I'd only bother with a sound card if you have very expensive speakers or headphones to match and you really need the best audio quality possible.
 
B

byteninja2

banned
Like I said, way overkill on motherboard. And wolfeking, the big reason I am saying that is price, and the warranty and support is worse then gigabyte.
 
Okedokey

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
I think you're making a mistake with the platform. The 8320 performs up to 50% less in games due to the core IRC>

My point is you can get a 2500K which is the same price, will perform significantly better in gaming and general computing and will have a much better upgrade path.
 
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wolfeking

wolfeking

banned
sure bigfella. Better upgrade. You have 3 upgrades from a 2500k. THose are a 3770k, a 26(7)00K, or a 3570k. After that you need a new board, as the newer processors are in 1150 design and 2011 design.

AM3+ has at least 1 more generation on it.
 
Okedokey

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
wolfeking said:
sure bigfella. Better upgrade. You have 3 upgrades from a 2500k. THose are a 3770k, a 26(7)00K, or a 3570k. After that you need a new board, as the newer processors are in 1150 design and 2011 design.

AM3+ has at least 1 more generation on it.
Click to expand...

All which will still pants anything AMD has for years. (waiting for the calls of AMD fanboiz of "but what about synthetic benchmarks?") pfft.

as such, if the AMD offering you're suggesting is worse in perfromance than spending the same $220 on the 2500K, with a platform that will take CPUs nearly in order of magnitude faster.

Yeah bad idea.
 
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