My first custom build...

gillmanjr

gillmanjr

Member
My first custom build...help please

Hello all. I recently decided to build my first custom computer as my old Dell Dimension 520 is fully upgraded and is getting old. Plus I am a huge Sim City fan and my Dell will not run the new Sim City on full graphics which I want. I spent a few hours on NewEgg yesterday and put together a wishlist for my new (and first) build. I wanted to run the components by you guys to see what you think. Keep in mind that I am not a hardcore gamer or overclocker and did not want to spend more than $800 as I didn't think it was necessary. I also wanted a system that would last a long time and be easily upgradable in the future, I think the components I chose will fit the bill. Also, I already have an OCZ 550W power supply, an 80 GB Intel SSD, a copy of Win 7 64 bit, and a blu-ray/DVD drive (all in my current Dell), therefore I only need the following for my new build....

Rosewill Challenger ATX Mid Tower

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD4H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155

MSI R7770-2PMD1GD5/OC Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600

Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD5000HHTZ 500GB 10000 RPM (for game and application storage)


Please let me know what you think about this build and if you think I will be able to run new games at full graphics. At the moment I am really only concerned with the new Sim City, I am fairly certain that it will easily run full graphics on this system. But do you think I will be able to run more intense games (like FPS) on this system or will that require a quad core?
 
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Here's what I recommend:

Spend less on your board and get a UD3H or even a Z77X-D3H. Not need for a UD3H especially with an i3 which can't overclock.

Spend more on your GPU first (try to get a 7850), then spend more on your CPU and try to get an i5 3570K. Though the i3 will be fine with a 7850. I personally wouldn't go for a 5800K over an i3 - if you want to look at AMD consider the FX-4300 or the 6300 and get a decent AM3+ board.

Now for the hard drive: I think you should just a Seagate 1TB or something, 7200 RPM, over the VelociRaptor. Will be cheaper probably and 7200 RPM is plenty fast enough. That means you can put more money in what really matters the most, your graphics card and CPU.

RAM looks OK, as does everything else.
 
No, the A10 is by no means a better processor. The i3 will own it gaming with a dedicated card.

That aside (@op), you did a great build there. Only thing I see wrong is teh raptor HDD. You can get teh same basic performance out of a 7200RPM drive or an SSD for the same money.
 
wolfeking said:
No, the A10 is by no means a better processor. The i3 will own it gaming with a dedicated card.

That aside (@op), you did a great build there. Only thing I see wrong is teh raptor HDD. You can get teh same basic performance out of a 7200RPM drive or an SSD for the same money.
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Well you not correct. Look at the head to head I posted in this forum. A10-5800K beats i3 3220 in just about every category overclocked and pretty much equal at stock:
http://www.computerforum.com/220656-amd-a10-5800k-vs-intel-core-i3-3220-head-head.html


Although he does not overclock, the options are available: the upgrade path is there and if he wants to save $ he can crossfire the on die 7660D with a 6670 Radeon for a decent gaming rig and save about $100.
 
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I honestly would not get a 5800K over a 3220. I'd go FX-4300 if I wanted something like the i3 but from AMD.

I don't get how being stuck on an FM2 motherboard provides you with a 'good upgrade path' when the higher-end AMD chips like the FX-4300 and FX-6300 are all on AM3+. At least if you bought an i3 3220 or an FX-4300, you could upgrade to something better in the future without having to change your board.
 
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I agree with Spirit. Yes the A10 is a decent chip but since the OP is getting a dedicated GPU anyway there is no reason to limit your upgrade path with an APU. Get the i3, i5 (if you have the budget) or go with one of the AM3+ chips.
 
salvage-this said:
I agree with Spirit. Yes the A10 is a decent chip but since the OP is getting a dedicated GPU anyway there is no reason to limit your upgrade path with an APU. Get the i3, i5 (if you have the budget) or go with one of the AM3+ chips.
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Who says your going to limit your upgrade path? In case he ever has a dedicated problem, the 7660D on die GPU will get him through any issue where as the intel 2500 plain sucks...., the potential for overclocking is there on A10-5800K. He is limited with no upgrade path with a i3, no overclocking and the trinity out performs in multi threaded apps with the new pile driver cores. I have to say it. I own core i7 3930, core i7 3770K, Trinity A10-5800K and FX-8350. I have hands on with em all. I take 3770K over FX-8350 and take A10-5800K over i3 3220. Do you own both? I will entertain you don't so.... hands on benchmarking with both, A10-5800K wins. FYI, I am an Intel fan boy too BTW. He could make the decision with the information we have here.

Spirit says FX-4100 which is a terrible chip. it is Bulldozer cores which suck. Trinity will perform better with pile driver cores.
 
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True you can overclock the 5800K and it may work out a bit cheaper in the end than an i3 and an FX because the boards are cheaper, but let's not forget it's on FM2 and thus there is no real upgrade path for a better CPU without upgrading your motherboard, which means more time and money down the line.

Honestly, I'd just get the i3, or the FX-4300, which incidentally can be overclocked and is a decent performer at a good cost.
 
spirit said:
True you can overclock the 5800K and it may work out a bit cheaper in the end than an i3 and an FX because the boards are cheaper, but let's not forget it's on FM2 and thus there is no real upgrade path for a better CPU without upgrading your motherboard, which means more time and money down the line.

Honestly, I'd just get the i3, or the FX-4300, which incidentally can be overclocked and is a decent performer at a good cost.
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OK last time. A10-5800K overall out performs i3 3220. Look at benchies...... who says no upgrade path?
 
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AMD_FusionFuture_689_zpsfcf10bd3.jpg
 
It's true. I can't afford 7 systems to test out everything I have ever wanted. But I would venture to guess that the other members here would vouch for me that I do not just sign on bs on the forum.

He would have a limited upgrade path because the A10 is the top of the line APU for socket FM2. Which means that if he wants to have a better CPU then he would have to upgrade his motherboard and CPU. If the OP was not getting a dedicated GPU I would be more in favor of the A10 since it has a better onboard graphics chip onboard. But since the GPU is not going to be able to do any hybrid crossfire, it will not be used at all. So it would be a bad choice to get that setup. Both 1155 and AM3+ have better upgrade paths because at a later point can upgrade to an i5,i7 or FX 6300/8320/8350. Far better gaming chips when compared to the A10.

And to your note about overclocking. With a 7770 there is little chance that he will be running settings necessary to bottleneck an i3. Not to mention that the i3's architecture is faster anyway. So you have less of a chance of a CPU bottleneck with an i3 than you do with either the A10 or FX 4300.

edit: *Pic*

That's future with no details. Bulldozer was a bust. There is concrete performance on the current chips that are out. Also there is no guaranteed update for the BIOS of the motherbard to support newer chips.
 
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Drdeath said:
Well you not correct. Look at the head to head I posted in this forum. A10-5800K beats i3 3220 in just about every category overclocked and pretty much equal at stock:
http://www.computerforum.com/220656-amd-a10-5800k-vs-intel-core-i3-3220-head-head.html


Although he does not overclock, the options are available: the upgrade path is there and if he wants to save $ he can crossfire the on die 7660D with a 6670 Radeon for a decent gaming rig and save about $100.
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You are missing the point there and are obviously not that intelligent. You are seriously going to say that a A10 is a better processor? It makes no sense. Get a FX4300 and a 990FX board. Much better performance.

The A series is not meant to game. It is meant for people that need decent graphics at a low price.

and your little thread there is fine, but if you look at it, overclocked it is about equal to the i3 @ stock.
 
salvage-this said:
It's true. I can't afford 7 systems to test out everything I have ever wanted. But I would venture to guess that the other members here would vouch for me that I do not just sign on bs on the forum.

He would have a limited upgrade path because the A10 is the top of the line APU for socket FM2. Which means that if he wants to have a better CPU then he would have to upgrade his motherboard and CPU. If the OP was not getting a dedicated GPU I would be more in favor of the A10 since it has a better onboard graphics chip onboard. But since the GPU is not going to be able to do any hybrid crossfire, it will not be used at all. So it would be a bad choice to get that setup. Both 1155 and AM3+ have better upgrade paths because at a later point can upgrade to an i5,i7 or FX 6300/8320/8350. Far better gaming chips when compared to the A10.

And to your note about overclocking. With a 7770 there is little chance that he will be running settings necessary to bottleneck an i3. Not to mention that the i3's architecture is faster anyway. So you have less of a chance of a CPU bottleneck with an i3 than you do with either the A10 or FX 4300.
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Point taken, the i3's architecture is NOT faster. Look at the benchmarks I posted. The 2 trade blows at stock and piledriver does better with multithreading. AMD is making FM2(A55,75,85) upgradable through through 2014. By the time he upgrades, socket 1155 will be dead anyhow. Haswell is due out mid 2013. 2014 he will not find a socket 1155 CPU in any retail operation. Intel protects their partners and makes sure inventory levels are low before they realese new stuff.

I don't understand why you guys are talking about upgrading to an old platform anyhow. 2014, Intel will have Haswell and next gen out.
 
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That is the nature of PCs. Hardware gets old fast. If I wanted to I can still find AMD Athlon x2, core 2s, Phenom 2s. Who knows, maybe DDR4 will be standard by the time that he wants to upgrade. The point is I would rather buy into the series that I can see the performance of now rather than one that has a roadmap. However promising that might look.
 
salvage-this said:
That is the nature of PCs. Hardware gets old fast. If I wanted to I can still find AMD Athlon x2, core 2s, Phenom 2s. Who knows, maybe DDR4 will be standard by the time that he wants to upgrade. The point is I would rather buy into the series that I can see the performance of now rather than one that has a roadmap. However promising that might look.
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The nature of AMD is A85 chipset will still be usable in 2014 with nest 2 offerings. Intel won't. Good debate though
 
My motherboard point is still valid. You can say that a certain chipset will have compatibility with the newer processors but it is up to the motherboard manufacturers to release the BIOS update. So ven though you should have compatibility with the new tech. It's not guaranteed. Something to keep in mind.

Along with that. If you are gong to argue that the dead socket chips are going to be way outdated take a look at the clarkdale chips. They will not hit the same speeds as the newer chips but they still have more than enough performance to be used in current high end systems.
 
Hey everyone, thanks for all the great responses and info.

@DrDeath, I appreciate the comparo you did there, but honestly I know nothing about AMD and would not consider it for any reason, regardless of cost or performance. I have had amazing luck with Intel products throughout my entire life, quite frankly I've never had any problems whatsoever with any of their hardware. I am willing to pay far more for Intel hardware, as a matter of fact I was looking for an Intel MOBO but all I could find was micro and mini ATX, not sure why...? Anyway AMD is out of the question for me.

I am really more interested in having a computer that is going to last a LONG time. I bought a computer in 2000 and USED it for 10 years! Slowly upgrading along the way. I'm not the kind of guy who is always looking to have the best of the best as soon as it comes out. I figure in 2 or 3 years I will pick up an i5 or i7 once they drop to 100 bucks, throw another 8 or 16 GB RAM in there, and upgrade to 2 or 4 GB graphics. As long as the MOBO lasts I see myself using this computer for at least 6 years, minimum.


Also, someone asked if my PSU was 80+ certified, what does that mean and where would I find out?

edit: my PSU is 80 plus certified, I just looked in up on Newegg. It is the OCZ Fatality modular 550w.
 
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I'd go with the socket 1155 as there's tons of CPUs that work on it, Celeron, Pentium, i3, i5, and i7. I built my system a few months ago starting with a Celeron G540 and that was a decent performer. Month by month I've been upgrading my system and I'm almost done. I grabbed an i3-2105 while on sale at Newegg and that was a fantastic performer. I'm quite satisfied with the speed though I'm not a hardcore gamer but I think it can handle it.

I'd suggest a Seagate Constellation 1 TB HDD though as it's made for a server, very reliable and quiet. 5 years warranty sweeten the deal. I bought one as one of my upgrades because I used my old WD Green 500 GB HDD from my old AMD X2 system.

I like your list, it looks good but have you checked on the Corsair Vengeance memory? It's quite popular with the builders. I had Gskill 2x2 and I upgraded to 2x4 of the Corsairs.
 
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