First Build [AMD] help please...

J_V_C

Howdi, well after years of tinkering with laptops I've finally decided to try building my own pc.
I'm solid on three components (CPU, MB, ram) but I'm struggling to tie it all together (PSU, case, cooling, graphics, SSD).
Perhaps one of you good folks could offer opinions on where to go from here.
This is what I've got so far:

Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z
Kingston HyperX Predator 8GB
AMD FX8350



1. What is your budget? 400-600 Euro (what remains of my budget after above)

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? movies, games, bitcoin mining, F@H, CS6, video, Eclipse

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes, Win 7

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Kingston 128GB v2

5. Do you need a monitor? Not yet, I'm using a Panasonic Viera

5. If yes, what size do you need. Someday I'll get somthing good

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? wi-fi card

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yep.

8. How can you pay? Credit card, Paypal, Skrill etc.

9. When are you purchasing? ASAP

The core components of the system will hopefully have me covered for the next couple of years, however picking a power supply is tricky as I know very little about the subject, I just figured, lots of headroom so I went for <this>. If you guys think otherwise, let me know.

The pc will probably run hot so cooling (and possibly sound) will be an issue, I am not averse to using the stock cooler until I can upgrade to water, whaddya reckon?

Well that's it,
Thanks again for reading

segasega

The guys here will help you out, but two things I'd point out. PSU is overkill I'd thing, Corsair are a great brand for PSUs though.
Dont get a Wi-fi card, go with plugs. I got a wi-fi card, then switched to plugs, work so much better.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/trendnet-powerline-500-av-nano-adapter-kit-8KC8.html

BloodBath

What's your total budget not including the parts you selected or have you bought those already? I think the xeon E3 1230v2 is a better choice than the 8350. It can't be overclocked but it's faster than an overclocked 8350 and uses about half the power.

The price is about the same when you factor in the extra board and psu costs with the 8350. Not to mention you will save €30-60+ a year depending on how much you use it.

The board and ram you selected are total overkill anyway. Assuming a total budget of around 800-1000 this is what you could get.

There's enough left there to grab a copy of windows. You could get a W7 activation key on Amazon for €41 if you wanted to save a bit. You would need to download the W7 90 day trial though and activate it with the key.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Home-Premium-License/dp/B00ADKZHEG/ref=sr_1_7?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1375886022&sr=1-7#productDescription

Item|Price
Intel Xeon E3-1230v2, boxed, LGA1155|€201.67
Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€17.78
ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP, Sockel 1155, ATX|€72.44
2 x 8GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€104.82
ASUS GTX660 Ti-DC2O-2GD5, GeForce GTX 660 Ti, 2048MB DDR5|€204.68
2 x WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€113.38
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 500W - bulk -|€53.88
Samsung SH-224DB schwarz|€17.37
ASUS PCE-N15|€14.90
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Black, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€94.13
LogiLink SATA Anschlusskabel mit Sicherungslasche, 0.5m|€1.39
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€918.75

J_V_C

segasega wrote: »

The guys here will help you out, but two things I'd point out. PSU is overkill I'd thing, Corsair are a great brand for PSUs though.
Dont get a Wi-fi card, go with plugs. I got a wi-fi card, then switched to plugs, work so much better.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/trendnet-powerline-500-av-nano-adapter-kit-8KC8.html

Yeh, 1000 is overkill, but I'd figured lots of headroom and I can't go wrong. But ok if you reckon it's too much, what should I go for?
I would like the PSU to be something that I could reuse on my next build (say 4 years from now).

J_V_C

BloodBath wrote: »

What's your total budget not including the parts you selected or have you bought those already?

Hey Bloodbath,
I havn't bought the MB, CPU or ram yet, I selected the 8350 because in a couple of years I might possibly be able to OC it. Also I've never used an AMD chip/MB before (Im curious). Finally the price for these components is much more reasonable compared to Intel.

I think the xeon E3 1230v2 is a better choice than the 8350. It can't be overclocked but it's faster than an overclocked 8350 and uses about half the power.

Thanks anyway Bloodbath but I'm going to stick with the 8350, I've used Xeon before, don't like. The model you mentioned has a stock of 3.3 and is more expensive.

Yes, but I'd like to try overclocking at some point on this build, so I'm going to stick with the 8350.

The price is about the same when you factor in the extra board and psu costs with the 8350. Not to mention you will save €30-60+ a year depending on how much you use it.

I chose the formula z and the 8350 after reading loads of reviews on this combo.

The board and ram you selected are total overkill anyway. Assuming a total budget of around 800-1000 this is what you could get.

I chose the ram 'cause I would like to try overclock my CPU, ram and GPU eventually. I'm reluctant to change the board or the CPU but if you think the ram needs to be changed then I'll certainly check out your suggestions.

There's enough left there to grab a copy of windows. You could get a W7 activation key on Amazon for €41 if you wanted to save a bit. You would need to download the W7 90 day trial though and activate it with the key.

OK, that sounds perfect (it's a pity pcfritz.de isn't selling if for 19.99 anymore ). I'm off to research these parts. Thanks again Bloodbath

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Home-Premium-License/dp/B00ADKZHEG/ref=sr_1_7?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1375886022&sr=1-7#productDescription

Item|Price
Intel Xeon E3-1230v2, boxed, LGA1155|€201.67
Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€17.78
ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP, Sockel 1155, ATX|€72.44
2 x 8GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€104.82
ASUS GTX660 Ti-DC2O-2GD5, GeForce GTX 660 Ti, 2048MB DDR5|€204.68
2 x WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€113.38
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 500W - bulk -|€53.88
Samsung SH-224DB schwarz|€17.37
ASUS PCE-N15|€14.90
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Black, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€94.13
LogiLink SATA Anschlusskabel mit Sicherungslasche, 0.5m|€1.39
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€918.75

J_V_C

Incidentally, which is better for price/service/warranty HWVS, Amazon, Dabs, Komplett, oc.co.uk?

blades.ofglory

J_V_C wrote: »

Incidentally, which is better for price/service/warranty HWVS, Amazon, Dabs, Komplett, oc.co.uk?

Personally I only ever use Scan, great service, V fast delivery, they also offer discounts to Microsoft staff, HWVS can be cheaper alright but not all the time, I find they lack communication skills.

OC is also a great company.

J_V_C

blades.ofglory wrote: »

Personally I only ever use Scan, great service, V fast delivery, they also offer discounts to Microsoft staff, HWVS can be cheaper alright but not all the time, I find they lack communication skills.

OC is also a great company.

Cool, usually I shop Amazon (their service is great and they're usually good with returns). Their prices on the components I've chosen so far have been very good (better than HWVS by a good margin).
Unfortunately I havn't worked for MS for a long time so no staff discount
I might get my graphics card from Oc.co.uk 'cause they're doing a promotion atm (four free games).

Sarz91

J_V_C wrote: »

Cool, usually I shop Amazon (their service is great and they're usually good with returns). Their prices on the components I've chosen so far have been very good (better than HWVS by a good margin).
Unfortunately I havn't worked for MS for a long time so no staff discount
I might get my grapghics card from Oc.co.uk 'cause they're doing a promotion atm (four free games).

You also get a packet of Haribo with your graphics card.

blades.ofglory

J_V_C wrote: »

Cool, usually I shop Amazon (their service is great and they're usually good with returns). Their prices on the components I've chosen so far have been very good (better than HWVS by a good margin).
Unfortunately I havn't worked for MS for a long time so no staff discount
I might get my grapghics card from Oc.co.uk 'cause they're doing a promotion atm (four free games).

Just had a quick look at Amazon some very good prices on GpUs I'm very surprised. If I couldn't claim back my VAT i would definitely be ordering from there abit more often.

J_V_C

Sarz91 wrote: »

You also get a packet of Haribo with your graphics card.

blades.ofglory wrote: »

Just had a quick look at Amazon some very good prices on GpUs I'm very surprised. If I couldn't claim back my VAT i would definitely be ordering from there abit more often.

If you have to return a purchase they provide a free returns facility which has saved me money in the past.

That said I'm still going to compare all the prices before I go with Amazon (better safe than sorry).

marco_polo

blades.ofglory wrote: »

Just had a quick look at Amazon some very good prices on GpUs I'm very surprised. If I couldn't claim back my VAT i would definitely be ordering from there abit more often.

FYI: You can register a business VAT no on amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201238180

BloodBath

As I pointed out already the xeon at it's stock speed will still beat a highly overclocked 8350 and uses less than half the power. An overclocked 8350 alone can use 200w of power. That means you need a much higher quality board, cpu cooler and power supply which pushes the price even or above the xeon combo. It also means you will be costing yourself a lot more in electricity bills every year especially if you are using it for things like bitcoin mining and F@H.

Here's some benchmarks comparing a stock speed 3770k and an 8350. A stock speed 3770k is identical to the xeon only 100mhz faster.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/551?vs=697

J_V_C

BloodBath wrote: »

As I pointed out already the xeon at it's stock speed will still beat a highly overclocked 8350 and uses less than half the power.

OK, power consumption is an issue but I'd rather have an 8350 overclocked to a stable 4.3GHz over a stock i7 3770K @ 3.5GHz (surely the 8350's performance would be preferable).

Also will I be able to learn about overclocking with a Xeon?

An overclocked 8350 alone can use 200w of power. That means you need a much higher quality board, cpu cooler and power supply

I know, I figure the Formula-z board is high enough quality for me to 'grow into' overclocking over the next few years.

Here's some benchmarks comparing a stock speed 3770k and an 8350. A stock speed 3770k is identical to the xeon only 100mhz faster.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/551?vs=697[/QUOTE]

Interesting, the 8350 was slower for games but faster for photoshop.

BloodBath

The 3770k is faster for practically everything including photoshop. The photoshop score is "lower is better".

It's a lot to pay to learn about overclocking. You should just get a 3770k or 4770k if you really want to do that. It's still not going to cost much more than you are spending on those parts and will wipe the floor with the 8350 and the extra cost will be recovered in the lower energy costs within a year or 2.

The amount of extras you are getting with the xeon build makes more sense no? 2 x 1tb drives, 16gb of ram. Higher speed ram will make no difference. Having more ram will. Likewise with HDD's. I don't know how much CS6 you intend on using or whether you need the 16gb of ram or 2 hdd's but if you don't you could just go with a single hdd and 8gb of ram and use the money saved to get a 4770k build.

Gumbi

A Xeon with stock performance I would prefer to an 8350 at 4.3ghz. Cheaper, requires a lot less power. Better performance in games (a lot better in some, equivalent or slightly better in others). Maybe the 8350 edges it out in heavily multi-threaded applications, but not by much, and not enough to justify it IMO.

BloodBath

Another €25 saved towards a 3770k/4770k build if you want.

I didn't see this cheaper 660ti.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=64931&agid=2270

J_V_C

Gumbi wrote: »

A Xeon with stock performance I would prefer to an 8350 at 4.3ghz. Cheaper, requires a lot less power. Better performance in games (a lot better in some, equivalent or slightly better in others). Maybe the 8350 edges it out in heavily multi-threaded applications, but not by much, and not enough to justify it IMO.

Hmmm, call me old fashioned but that higher clock speed just keeps on nagging at me, anyhoo, I'm still researching the Xeon.

BloodBath wrote: »

Another €25 saved towards a 3770k/4770k build if you want.

Those two processors are too expensive, a 3570K is closer to my bracket (if I was to follow your advice and go Intel not AMD).

You mentioned in your build an Alpenföhn CPU cooler, would a 212 evo not be better?

BloodBath

Considering the combined cost of the mainboard, cpu and ram you were looking at which was around €410 + needing a psu with at least 100w of extra power (€15-20 more) then a 3770k or 4770k build wouldn't cost much more.

€15-20 more get's you a 4770k build. That Asus board supports overclocking with a BIOS update. You could pay €10-15 more for a z87 board that has it out of the box.

Item|Price
Intel Core i7-4770K Box, LGA1150|€301.17
ASUS B85-PLUS (C2)|€83.73
8GB-Kit G.Skill Sniper PC3-14900U CL9-10-9-28|€59.84
Total|€444.74

You mentioned in your build an Alpenföhn CPU cooler, would a 212 evo not be better?

That was for the xeon. Just enough to keep it cooler and quieter than the stock cooler.

Since it can't be overclocked there is no point spending more on better cooling.

J_V_C

BloodBath wrote: »

Considering the combined cost of the mainboard, cpu and ram you were looking at which was around €410 + needing a psu with at least 100w of extra power (€15-20 more) then a 3770k or 4770k build wouldn't cost much more.

€15-20 more get's you a 4770k build. That Asus board supports overclocking with a BIOS update. You could pay €10-15 more for a z87 board that has it out of the box.

Item|Price
Intel Core i7-4770K Box, LGA1150|€301.17
ASUS B85-PLUS (C2)|€83.73
8GB-Kit G.Skill Sniper PC3-14900U CL9-10-9-28|€59.84
Total|€444.74




That was for the xeon. Just enough to keep it cooler and quieter than the stock cooler.

Since it can't be overclocked there is no point spending more on better cooling.

I see what you mean...
OK, I'll be back ( as the robot said).

J_V_C

BloodBath wrote: »

Considering the combined cost of the mainboard, cpu and ram you were looking at which was around €410 + needing a psu with at least 100w of extra power (€15-20 more) then a 3770k or 4770k build wouldn't cost much more.

€15-20 more get's you a 4770k build. That Asus board supports overclocking with a BIOS update. You could pay €10-15 more for a z87 board that has it out of the box.

Item|Price
Intel Core i7-4770K Box, LGA1150|€301.17
ASUS B85-PLUS (C2)|€83.73
8GB-Kit G.Skill Sniper PC3-14900U CL9-10-9-28|€59.84
Total|€444.74




That was for the xeon. Just enough to keep it cooler and quieter than the stock cooler.

Since it can't be overclocked there is no point spending more on better cooling.

Alrighty, and off I go...

J_V_C

How about a 3570k instead of the 4770k, it's similiar in price to the 8350 plus I can o/c it.

BloodBath

It depends on the main uses of your pc. If it's for gaming then yes although I'd go for the 4670k with that Asus board.

That will only cost €10 more than the 3570k.

They enabled overclocking with a BIOS update. That newer revision may have the overclocking BIOS already on it.

http://rog.asus.com/251652013/news/asus-bios-update-enables-h87-and-b85-overclocking-motherboards/

An overclocked 8350 would probably beat it in heavily multi threaded programs though but not by much.

J_V_C

BloodBath wrote: »

It depends on the main uses of your pc. If it's for gaming then yes although I'd go for the 4670k with that Asus board.

That will only cost €10 more than the 3570k.

They enabled overclocking with a BIOS update. That newer revision may have the overclocking BIOS already on it.

http://rog.asus.com/251652013/news/asus-bios-update-enables-h87-and-b85-overclocking-motherboards/

An overclocked 8350 would probably beat it in heavily multi threaded programs though but not by much.

Thanks for the suggestions Bloodbath but these boards are mATX, I'm interested in ATX or AM3+.

BloodBath

They are atx boards. The original Asus board I recommended was an atx one as well.

J_V_C

BloodBath wrote: »

They are atx boards. The original Asus board I recommended was an atx one as well.

My bad.
I'll check them out.

J_V_C

Don't get up, just me - still checking out this board (ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP, Sockel 1155, ATX) I'm leaning towards the 3570k because it has onboard graphics (I'm not going to buy the GPU until I've assembled this build).

BloodBath

You need a Z77 board if you want to overclock the 3570k. The 4670k also has (better) onboard graphics.

J_V_C

BloodBath wrote: »

You need a Z77 board if you want to overclock the 3570k. The 4670k also has (better) onboard graphics.

More reading. Thanks Bloodbath.