Build opinions? :)

HI all!

I'm building my first rig, and I could definitely use opinions from the more experienced builders.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/beardofsocrates/saved/3c9l

My budget was originally set at around $900, but it went a little over, not including the peripherals. Any recommendations to make it a little less? The idea of this build is to play games like ARMA 3 at high settings, along with being, mostly, future proof. Thanks for the help!

My friends made this when I was looking for a Rig.
Find whats suitable and a good price
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amcshfpwvl9ZdG9LSmNEeWdERENCWURmOW5mNlM1MGc

Seems fine to me considering the budget

My friends made this when I was looking for a Rig.

Find whats suitable and a good price

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amcshfpwvl9ZdG9LSmNEeWdERENCWURmOW5mNlM1MGc

Thanks a lot for that list! I'll review some of the options after the Holidays.

Seems fine to me considering the budget

Good to hear. With the parts, would I be able to add extra parts from my last configuration?

Seagate barracuda 7200 80gb HDD

EVGA Geforce 8600 GtS video card (can it be paired with the gtx 760)

DDR2 RAM 1gb DIM 5-5-5 (x4)

The only think you can add its the HDD

The 8600gts cant be paired with gtx 760 and even if it could i doubt it would provide any real benefit considering is a really really low end card nowdays

DDR2 nowdays are obsolete and you can only use DDR3 on any new system

The only think you can add its the HDD

The 8600gts cant be paired with gtx 760 and even if it could i doubt it would provide any real benefit considering is a really really low end card nowdays

DDR2 nowdays are obsolete and you can only use DDR3 on any new system

Shoot, off to the recycle bin with those parts. :(

Will it be a problem that I have windows vista still installed on the HDD?

If you arent gonna use it as your primary HD then no problem otherwise you will need to format it ( after of course you save what you need from it )

@adamosmaki:

Sorry, I'm still a little new to internal hardware. All I need to do is transfer the files I want to keep, to a laptop or USB drive, then delete all the data?

Sorry I have never used it, but couldn't you technically use the 8600 for physx? I forgot what my friend used when he had his set up, but it was some old card. Now I know the benefits of Physx are minimal at best, but it can sitll technically be used (better than a recycling bin).

When he means primary drive, you can't use the windows install you had on the old hard drive, its incompatible in a sense, but you can still access it from another install of windows and be able to get whatever data you want off of it. Personally I think it its much easier to just backup what you want to keep and then format it as it will give you more space then all the crap that you don't want that you installed/downloaded on your last computer.

Or you could always have two computers (I kept my old one and it will be repurposed).

I pretty much have almost the same build you're going for. I would recommend going with Asus mobo along with FX CPU.

I have changed it a bit: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2pCN1

Downgraded PSU to 500, because you don't need more than that; Downgraded the MOBO was just ridiculous for 100$????

Upgraded RAM to 1600Mhz from 1333.

For GPU I recommend this BEAST http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202047&Tpk=270x%20toxic it's not included somewhat the site couldn't find it.

It's equal to the 760 but saves you 20$ so... or you could just save the 760 it's excellent GPU as well from MSI

Overall saved you 80$ unless you decide to go with the TOXIC GPU and it'll be 100$ save =)

I pretty much have almost the same build you're going for. I would recommend going with Asus mobo along with FX CPU.

I'm think about going for the ASUS M5A97 LE R2. Seems pretty good for the price ($75) Any experience with this particular one?

I have changed it a bit: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2pCN1

Downgraded PSU to 500, because you don't need more than that; Downgraded the MOBO was just ridiculous for 100$????

Upgraded RAM to 1600Mhz from 1333.

For GPU I recommend this BEAST http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202047&Tpk=270x%20toxic it's not included somewhat the site couldn't find it.

It's equal to the 760 but saves you 20$ so... or you could just save the 760 it's excellent GPU as well from MSI

Overall saved you 80$ unless you decide to go with the TOXIC GPU and it'll be 100$ save =)

If 500 is more than sufficient enough, I'm all for downgrading the PSU! Thanks a lot for the GPU recommendation, but I'll likely stay with this new build:http://pcpartpicker.com/user/beardofsocrates/saved/3fHm

I've decided to switch over to the EVGA superclocked GPU, however, you're tempting me with that Radeon Sapphire card. =P You might have also noticed that I removed the cooling fan. I don't think I'll be gaming enough to overheat the CPU, so will it be alright to stick with the default fan?

You might have also saved me a little more money than you think. The CPU just went down to $130! :D

What is it with people wanting to cheap out on motherboards. The board OP chose is fine.

What is it with people wanting to cheap out on motherboards. The board OP chose is fine.

Well the one selected is definitely a lot better than the clunker in my current decade old build. Got a recommendation for a mobo that has good quality for the price?

I was browsing these earlier:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a97ler20

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-970ag46

Second one is ok, but I don't understand why I/O space is wasted with a serial port.

Well, other than those two, my options are a little limited.

What's your take on these?

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970ad3p

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a97r20

Not really a big fan of that card. $230 and clocked at 1150mhz and yet its still 5-8% slower than a GTX 760 at 980mhz (which is only like $10-20 more and actually includes games).

The GTX 760 ACX is usually $250 and at least one of the third party models is usually always on sale (for example the Asus GTX 760 DirectU is currently $240 after promo code and includes two free games).

Two free games + better performance + not being a whole lot more ($10-20 more) makes the third party 270x pretty much pointless (to be fair its kinda AMD"s fault, they re-badged a $150-170 7870ghz and then tried to resell it for $200+ which is a joke, especially since there upper level cards are priced well).

It's not always about the speed clocks, but you try to get the fastest for you money.

You say it's 5-8% slower, well it may be overall but it may be based on games that are more optimized for Nvidia GPUs.

Not sure where you found 7870 for 150-170$ they're sold at the same price

7870 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121649

270X http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121802

same company.

The 7870 is sold 20$ cheaper after rebate but basically they're sold at same price.

That's the mobo that I have, I like it a lot. It's great for overclocking, easy to use.

Speed clocks are important, especially when comparing cards that have similar overclocking limits (270x can't even beat a card that's almost 200mhz slower).

The results where based on 17 popular game results. If the NVidia games where more optimized than that's AMD's fault (it shouldn't be discredited just because the other card has more games that are optimized, that's part of the luck in buying a card since you never know which brand has the most optimized games).

My point was from February of this year till the release of the 270x (late fall), the 7870ghz was a $150-160 card and it wasn't rare to see it drop under $150 (AMD re-released the card for $200+ which is a joke, you can't sell a card at $50-70 cheaper for almost the entire year and then up the price which is a joke).

That's the mobo that I have, I like it a lot. It's great for overclocking, easy to use.

Doubt I'll be overclocking, but if it's easy to use, and good quality, I've found my motherboard. Thanks a lot for the help! :)

Without even turning the voltage up (which won't kill your CPU in few years) you can easily overclock it to 4.2GHz. Get this mobo, can't go wrong with this board in this price range.