Mid Range budget build questions

[Nikkel]

Hey guys!

Got a few questions or just your opinion to justify on what I’ve bought so this might or at least it will be a bit of a long read! And it might not be to the Intel fan boy’s tastes lol! But I had to carefully work with a tight budget as the wife wanted a home makeover as well that worked out bloody expensive but at least she’s sorted and I get to spoil myself with the change lol!

So I’ve sold off my trusty old Core2Quad Q9400 setup and decided to go AMD route... I’ve started with some upgrades earlier in the year and the bug sort of bit to go the “whole nine yards” because the C2Q served me very well for over 5yrs!

1st two upgrades was a Thermaltake A31 Chaser mid tower and Gigabyte Powerock W600 PSU and I filled all the fan slots... So it’s 3 120mm: front 2 intake and bottom intake, 1x120mm rear exhaust and top 2x140mm exhaust

What’s sitting in the cupboard at the moment is...

AMD FX 8350
4 x 2 GB Samsung 1333 ddr3
OCZ Vertex 2 100gb SSD for the Win 64bit OS
2 x 1tb Seagate 7200rpm (storage)
MSI N250GTS 512MB 256bit DDR3 (yep old and needs an asthma pump at times but not quite cold yet!) <upgrading the GPU in December but will still have to use for now as there&#8217;s no onboard display/graphics with the new goodies.

The motherboard should be arriving by latest on Monday and is an Asus M5A99FX Pro R2.0 (I know some of you might question is it necessary for this board but just keep that thought in mind for a bit...)

I mainly just use the PC for gaming, watching HD movies, converting movies for my kids&#8217; USB DVD player which doesn&#8217;t play all formats lol! And surfing the net and the occasional typing out of a CV... So not really any heavy single core performance work like I&#8217;ve read up about Intel&#8217;s CPU&#8217;s being superior in that aspect, but way to pricey for me!

So December I&#8217;m looking to get me a R9 270X and I&#8217;ll only have a R3k budget for a new GPU and no it can&#8217;t be stretched at all! Plus AMD&#8217;s Mantle sound exciting!!!

I use a 40&#8221; Sony Bravia LCD as my monitor and TV with cheapie Genius cordless mouse n keyboard setup with a wireless Microsoft Xbox controller

Questions:
1. Would the cooling be good enough with above said fans and stock cooler on the fx8350? I&#8217;m not planning on overclocking it soon and will run it normal until next year...

2. Would 2xR9 270X GPU&#8217;s be good enough in crossfire? the 2nd R9 270X has to wait until Feb-Mar I&#8217;m happy with 1080p gaming but would like to see what the future holds if I decide get a proper Gaming monitor at a later stage...

3. Should I be looking into a better PSU when going the crossfire route or will the W600 do?

4. With all the case fans I added will aftermarket air cooling like a CM Hyper 212 do?


Sorry for the long read but I&#8217;m really looking forward to your opinions guys!

Oh I&#8217;ve posted the exact same thread on My Gaming cos i&#8217;ve noticed that the 2 forums have more of a different age group that frequent them and would love everyone&#8217;s input so please don&#8217;t slate me for doing this, if so I&#8217;ll ask admin to remove it.

I&#8217;ll post progress pics of the build once I start with it next week.

 

[Wasabee!]

The paragraphs being one line make my eyes strain. Sorry moving on to next thread.

 

[roger m]

FX-8350 is my dream cpu at the moment

 

[gox1201]

hey Nikkel,

Nice! Upgrading pc's is an exciting time, and good for you for making the missus happy first.

First off - Excellent choice on the FX 8350 as a budget CPU, it has lovely OC potential, and the only better you could have done would have been the Fx 8320 (as its the same cpu!)

For your cooling question, I would seriously suggest getting a Hyper 212+ / 212evo etc.
The AMD chips run really hot, and even just a mild overclock will really push the temps. So my thought would be to really really really get the cooler - Just make absolutely sure you have space in your midtower, the air coolers are quite big.

You have more than enough fans in the case.

Your PSU is not great, not the W the brand... But I'll leave it at that. Suffice to say, it wouldn't have been my choice. Its ok for single GPU play, but I would never go for a cheap PSU, if it goes you have a lot of potential damage. Ask the resident PSU guru, but you have bought it already, so there you go.

R3k for a GPU. Thats a decent budget! As for SLI, yes its an option, no I wouldn't go there. Few reasons, 1 good card, always less hassle than 2 cards in SLI. Also 2 cards = more power use = more money/month, also more heat.

Are you only in the game for a new card? or considering second hand as well? Reason is i've seen quite a few 6990's (which are BEASTLY cards) on carbonite for <3k now. Two in the last week in fact.

If you are looking into new cards, I would seriously suggest you save up for christmas, and perhaps buy early new year? If you are looking at 270x times 2, you look at R6k spent on GPU, my option would be to buy a 270x now, play with it till Feb, resell it on carbonite then for say R500 less, and then buy a single better GPU (currently it looks like it will be a 290 non x, for around R5k?). Otherwise, you can do what [MENTION=22181]roligov[/MENTION] was planning, and get dual 280x's.

So in summary
1. Get a non reference cooler for the CPU
2. OC it!, even if just a little bit. You KNOW you want it - come on!
3. I don't think 2x 270x will cut it for 1440p gaming. Remember they keep the same ram. So 2gb. Already the 1440p games are running over that (Battlefield for example).
4. So for your possible upgrade future, I wouldn't suggest 270x, I would go for 280x or realistically wait for non reference 290.
5. I don't like your PSU, but i'm biased.
6. Hope I didn't forget anything

So wish I was you, getting to build a new pc (I just built mine and it got stolen on the first week!), and love the fact you went AMD.

Wishing you much joy,
Me

 

[roligov]

Yeah that back fired Sapphire Toxics are not even in the country yet. I've moved on to getting a Sapphire R9-290 with an Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme III.

 

[gox1201]

[MENTION=22181]roligov[/MENTION] Heh just watch the warranty gets voided if you change the cooler.
Why the love of sapphire btw?

Sorry for derailing [MENTION=26159]Nikkel[/MENTION]

 

[roligov]

Sapphire and Asus are the only cards without Warranty void if removed stickers, but I'm getting it from Amazon so dilligaf

 

[Nikkel]

hey Nikkel,

Nice! Upgrading pc's is an exciting time, and good for you for making the missus happy first.

First off - Excellent choice on the FX 8350 as a budget CPU, it has lovely OC potential, and the only better you could have done would have been the Fx 8320 (as its the same cpu!)

For your cooling question, I would seriously suggest getting a Hyper 212+ / 212evo etc.
The AMD chips run really hot, and even just a mild overclock will really push the temps. So my thought would be to really really really get the cooler - Just make absolutely sure you have space in your midtower, the air coolers are quite big.

You have more than enough fans in the case.

Your PSU is not great, not the W the brand... But I'll leave it at that. Suffice to say, it wouldn't have been my choice. Its ok for single GPU play, but I would never go for a cheap PSU, if it goes you have a lot of potential damage. Ask the resident PSU guru, but you have bought it already, so there you go.

R3k for a GPU. Thats a decent budget! As for SLI, yes its an option, no I wouldn't go there. Few reasons, 1 good card, always less hassle than 2 cards in SLI. Also 2 cards = more power use = more money/month, also more heat.

Are you only in the game for a new card? or considering second hand as well? Reason is i've seen quite a few 6990's (which are BEASTLY cards) on carbonite for <3k now. Two in the last week in fact.

If you are looking into new cards, I would seriously suggest you save up for christmas, and perhaps buy early new year? If you are looking at 270x times 2, you look at R6k spent on GPU, my option would be to buy a 270x now, play with it till Feb, resell it on carbonite then for say R500 less, and then buy a single better GPU (currently it looks like it will be a 290 non x, for around R5k?). Otherwise, you can do what [MENTION=22181]roligov[/MENTION] was planning, and get dual 280x's.

So in summary
1. Get a non reference cooler for the CPU
2. OC it!, even if just a little bit. You KNOW you want it - come on!
3. I don't think 2x 270x will cut it for 1440p gaming. Remember they keep the same ram. So 2gb. Already the 1440p games are running over that (Battlefield for example).
4. So for your possible upgrade future, I wouldn't suggest 270x, I would go for 280x or realistically wait for non reference 290.
5. I don't like your PSU, but i'm biased.
6. Hope I didn't forget anything

So wish I was you, getting to build a new pc (I just built mine and it got stolen on the first week!), and love the fact you went AMD.

Wishing you much joy,
Me

Thanks man!

For now I'll only have R3k max to spend in December for a new gpu and i think i'm settled on the R9 270x cos i cant ask anymore of my old N250GTS anymore lol!

Remember i'm using a 40" lcd Sony Bravia as my monitor and i'm very much ok with 1080p.

I'll only be able to get a better psu, cooler and proper monitor plus a 2nd gpu (I really wana give crossfire at least one go )at around Mar-Apr next year.

Thanks for the help all you guys!

 

[Nikkel]

So FINALLY I could put everything together last night and damn does she run sweet! Just installed Win 8 pro, Asus mobo and Nvidea display drivers thus far and was getting too late to continue 12:05am lol! (still had to come to work today *sigh*)

Question: Why does the Samsung 4x2gb 1333 mhz ram run at 667mhz in Asus CpuZ?

Didn&#8217;t have enough time to play around with the AI tweaker last night but will have a look see tonight...

Some pics...







Still some wiring/routing I need to sort out lol!

Next on the list is...
Gigabyte R9 270x (ordering 1st week in December...)

Scored a great deal on a used Corsair H100 closed loop cooler and getting it on Tuesday from a friend of mine so ripping the case apart again next week lol!

Will update with some more pics as soon as the other parts starts rolling in!

 

[Nikkel]

double post

 

[Macethy]

Scored a great deal on a used Corsair H100

What is it with people and these things? Are they like the next big thing like SSDs were 6 months ago?

 

[Nikkel]

What is it with people and these things? Are they like the next big thing like SSDs were 6 months ago?

Lol! I wasnt planning on water cooling, actually had my sight set on a CM Hyper 212 cooler just to OC cpu a little and then a friend of mine needed cash urgently...

Just a noob trying his hand at something new lol!