FX8350, FX8320, or FX6somethingor other

humbug · 3 Dec 2014 at 00:12

Nothing wrong with the Corsair Carbide 300R

MSE_Elite · 3 Dec 2014 at 18:37

Right then,

So my build looks as follows - any improvements for little or no cost, or cost reductions, greatly received. The one bit I'm really unsure about is what cables and Fans I'll need. Also, will the stock cooler from my new PCU fit my old one for selling my old PC to a friend (non-gamer, general browser and watcher or, ahem, ladies!) :

Sapphire Dual-X Radeon R9 270X OC 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card with Boost £129.95

AMD FX-8320E Black Edition £109.99

Corsair Carbide Series 300R - £59.98

Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 Motherboard £61.92

SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99 (will this be enough power?)

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £24.97

Total cost (without extra case fans) = £386.81

Sell my old PC for £150 - Total cost = £236.81

Any good? Any revisions?

ALXAndy · 3 Dec 2014 at 18:42

Looks great to me. I would want a better graphics card but hey, that's just me.

And yes, 550w from a good PSU is enough power.

MSE_Elite · 4 Dec 2014 at 21:31

Any advice on the Fans - I see the Carbide can take 5?

Are there good and bad ones? The only criteria I have is that they don't bloody flash neon lights haha!

MSE_Elite · 5 Feb 2015 at 23:08

So here we go.

I've managed to source a few deals so my build is now as follows:

I have
ASROCK 990FX EXTREME9 MOTHERBOARD
SAPPHIRE AMD R9 290 TRI-X OC 4gb GRAPHICS CARD
Corsair Carbide 300r case
AMD FX8350 CPU
HyperEvo212 cooler

I'm looking for advice given the above on PSU, Fans, SSD, HDD, DVDRw (do I really need bluray? Have PS3 and PS4) but most importantly RAM.

With RAM I have NO idea. Do I get 2 x 8gb, 4 x 4gb, 1 x 16gb, or what?! And what speed do I go? Will I see the benefit of 1866 over say 1300?

All help is really appreciated.

Thanks

MSE.

gpuerrilla · 5 Feb 2015 at 23:39

8Gb should be ample, there is no need for 16Gb in most scenarios. 1866 will be fine.

Scurburg · 6 Feb 2015 at 12:27

If you already have 16gb DDR3 1333, its worth trying that first as you will more than likely be able to clock it to 1600 or 1866 (may just have to slacken the timing). Ram speed really doesnt have that much impact on performance for most peoples use. For example, if I run my samsung green at the rated 1333 its supposed to be, I only lose something like 20-30 points in cinebench R15 compared to the 2133 (with fairly tight timing of 10-10-10-27) I currently run them at. Other benchmarks show similar and even a preference to tighter timings rather than all out speed.

If you have to buy new RAM, I don't think you can go far wrong with any 8GB 1600+ (2x4) stuff available on OCUK. Also the fx only officially supports something like 1866 anyway. You want to avoid filling all slots too as you might find it harder to OC if you ever try.

I think these seem like a nice price with good timing too:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-124-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Although it says designed to be compatible with Intel chipsets I really dont think it makes any difference for AMD. I could be wrong though.

MSE_Elite · 7 Feb 2015 at 00:21

Scurburg said:
If you already have 16gb DDR3 1333, its worth trying that first as you will more than likely be able to clock it to 1600 or 1866 (may just have to slacken the timing). Ram speed really doesnt have that much impact on performance for most peoples use. For example, if I run my samsung green at the rated 1333 its supposed to be, I only lose something like 20-30 points in cinebench R15 compared to the 2133 (with fairly tight timing of 10-10-10-27) I currently run them at. Other benchmarks show similar and even a preference to tighter timings rather than all out speed.

If you have to buy new RAM, I don't think you can go far wrong with any 8GB 1600+ (2x4) stuff available on OCUK. Also the fx only officially supports something like 1866 anyway. You want to avoid filling all slots too as you might find it harder to OC if you ever try.

I think these seem like a nice price with good timing too:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-124-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Although it says designed to be compatible with Intel chipsets I really dont think it makes any difference for AMD. I could be wrong though.

Many thanks for your detailed response. I'll give my current RAM an go first and see how that performs. If not, I'll look into further suggestions.

MSE_Elite · 7 Feb 2015 at 00:21

Another question if I may. I'm looking for a power supply but now with having bigger GPU, and potentially getting another one, what kind of power will I need?

A friend has offered a Corsair AX750 with only 3 months use (6 odd years left on warranty) - Is this a good enough PSU? I was thinking with the 290X in Crossfire I may need 300W each on those so do I need to go up to 850W?

Many thanks for all the help I've received.

gpuerrilla · 7 Feb 2015 at 09:26

Corsair went a bit weak IMO in the last couple of years however for value they are pretty good.

Seasonic or Superflower would be the current choice. If you want to crossfire two 290x's an 850w should be ample.

ALXAndy · 7 Feb 2015 at 12:01

Holy crap dude, Asrock X9! Those are clocking demons. How much did you pay for it? Last time I saw one of those it was three hundred notes!

MSE_Elite · 7 Feb 2015 at 13:50

ALXAndy said:
Holy crap dude, Asrock X9! Those are clocking demons. How much did you pay for it? Last time I saw one of those it was three hundred notes!

Hi mate. I paid £45 notes for it. And £100 for the GPU. No warranties obviously!

MSE_Elite · 7 Feb 2015 at 13:52

Th0nt said:
Corsair went a bit weak IMO in the last couple of years however for value they are pretty good.

Seasonic or Superflower would be the current choice. If you want to crossfire two 290x's an 850w should be ample.

Thanks for the information. I'll go for the AX860 then that's £80 - seems a really solid choice.

MSE_Elite · 7 Feb 2015 at 14:10

Can anyone recommend a cooler for this? I was going to go with the Hyper212 but looking around I see many people using a block like a H100i etc.

My case can take two fans at the top so was wondering if I should go for the block type removing the need for two fans (£18 each) + hper (£22) I can basically get a h100i for the same price. Is one better or the other? I have never water cooled! Does it need maintenance?

Davedree · 7 Feb 2015 at 15:05

If you go for a liquid cooler, then it still helps to have a 100-120 mm fan over the vrm/phase and socket area.

As you say the 212 is a good budget cooler, but with the spec of the mboard you have to get the best cooler you can afford otherwise it defeats the object of getting such a high spec board, especially if someone like me with skills could gain higher overclocks with a £38 budget board, all because your cooler is lacking in ability.

I'd say a h100 minimum, but now your in position where you would have been better investing into Intel especially with this added cost .

MSE_Elite · 7 Feb 2015 at 15:18

Davedree said:
If you go for a liquid cooler, then it still helps to have a 100-120 mm fan over the vrm/phase and socket area.

As you say the 212 is a good budget cooler, but with the spec of the mboard you have to get the best cooler you can afford otherwise it defeats the object of getting such a high spec board, especially if someone like me with skills could gain higher overclocks with a £38 budget board, all because your cooler is lacking in ability.

I'd say a h100 minimum, but now your in position where you would have been better investing into Intel especially with this added cost .

If I would've paid the price for the board at RRP, yes, but I paid £45 for the board!

If you say the h100i is the minimum, what's the recommended then? I can't really drop more than £100 on cooling.

Scurburg · 7 Feb 2015 at 15:23

Agree with above, h100i is good. Alternative is the one I use (in sig), which is supposed to perform similar and a bit cheaper. It can also be purchased without fans so you can choose your own.

You will also not have a problem with ram height going wc.

MSE_Elite · 7 Feb 2015 at 15:30

Scurburg said:
Agree with above, h100i is good. Alternative is the one I use (in sig), which is supposed to perform similar and a bit cheaper. It can also be purchased without fans so you can choose your own.

You will also not have a problem with ram height going wc.

Could you link me to this where it's available without the fans? This really interests me as I may have to mount the fans on the outside of the case because of the mobo and Ram in my Carbide 300r - this looks a good solution. And I don't have to add any silly dye

Davedree · 7 Feb 2015 at 15:41

MSE_Elite said:
If I would've paid the price for the board at RRP, yes, but I paid £45 for the board!

If you say the h100i is the minimum, what's the recommended then? I can't really drop more than £100 on cooling.

Good find, but either way the board is far too good to be held back by a 212.
I'd say h100 or the cheaper cooler Scurburg mentions. But you must hit 4.9-5ghz for this investment in cooler to be worth it.

MSE_Elite · 7 Feb 2015 at 15:52

Davedree said:
Good find, but either way the board is far too good to be held back by a 212.
I'd say h100 or the cheaper cooler Scurburg mentions. But you must hit 4.9-5ghz for this investment in cooler to be worth it.

OK - If I can fit it in, I'll go with the cheaper one I think. Means I can get two nice Noctua fans to sit on the rad or outside on top of case. I take it I do one push one pull?