Build Review

me227 · 17 Jan 2015 at 16:19

Hi,

It's finally time to upgrade my system since it's approaching near 8 years old now. Mainly used for gaming and hoping it'll play GTA V smooth enough.

I've already got RAM, SSD, PSU, mouse, keyboard, OS and monitor. I plan to upgrade my existing RAM in a month or two.

What's everybody think of the following build? Any suggestions?

Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £161.99

AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8370 Black Edition 4.00GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail - £155.99

Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard - £104.99

BitFenix Neos ATX Tower Black/Black - £29.99

Total: £466.45

Thanks.

stulid · 17 Jan 2015 at 16:56

looks to me like you can afford to go intel,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £185.99
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280 Dual-X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £155.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x Raijintek Aidos Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black £14.99
Total : £432.46 (includes shipping : £11.25).

Add the case.

This gfx card comes with free games.

What psu and ssd do you have.

me227 · 17 Jan 2015 at 17:46

I've got a 256Gb Samsung 840 Evo and an OcUK Battle 650W, which I'm hoping will be fine. I'll check out the processor, it's been a while since I've had an Intel.

TheSkateyBird · 17 Jan 2015 at 20:37

Would probably be worth looking into a new psu for the peace of mind with your shiny new components.

ShivP · 17 Jan 2015 at 21:28

One of these or something different?

me227 · 18 Jan 2015 at 13:53

TheSkateyBird said:
Would probably be worth looking into a new psu for the peace of mind with your shiny new components.

You might be right. Best to be safe, another thing to up the budget.

Shivy011 - Those PSUs have horrible reviews! :eek:

ShivP · 18 Jan 2015 at 13:53

me227 said:
You might be right. Best to be safe, another thing to up the budget.

Shivy011 - Those PSUs have horrible reviews!

I meant is that the one you have?

stulid · 18 Jan 2015 at 13:54

me227 said:
You might be right. Best to be safe, another thing to up the budget.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-202-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088

That is what you will need for that spec.

me227 · 18 Jan 2015 at 14:08

Shivy011 said:
I meant is that the one you have?

No I don't have that one. I've just had a double check inside my PC, I was wrong about it being an OcUK battle one. Must've put that one in a different build.

The one I have is a Powercool 650W PSU. I can't find any non-competitor links but if you have a search for "Powercool Modular 650W 80+ Single 12V V2.2 High Efficiency PSU" it'll show up as a rainforest link on Google.

ShivP · 18 Jan 2015 at 14:10

Yeah I'd swap that out anyhow - the antec truepower 550W or SuperFlower HX 550W would be good options for single GPU PCs

stulid · 18 Jan 2015 at 14:10

Looks cheap for a 650W PSU which rings alarm bells.

me227 · 18 Jan 2015 at 14:16

stulid said:
Looks cheap for a 650W PSU which rings alarm bells.

I'll get a new PSU when I get my parts. Don't want to risk a disaster. I'm going to stick with AMD though. If anyone has any different suggestions compared to the motherboard I mentioned in my first post.

Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0

Appreciate all the help so far. Thanks.

stulid · 18 Jan 2015 at 14:16

Go Intel.

Unless you already have the CPU?

me227 · 18 Jan 2015 at 14:20

stulid said:
Go Intel.

Unless you already have the CPU?

I don't have it already. I've been out of the loop the past few years, is Intel that much better than AMD now?

stulid · 18 Jan 2015 at 14:21

Intel is faster at the top end which you are looking at.

4690K vs FX9590 (best AMD have) - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1261?vs=1289

me227 · 18 Jan 2015 at 14:25

Wow, that's a big difference. You've convinced me.

me227 · 18 Jan 2015 at 15:26

One final question before I get ordering! If i'm getting everything else then I may as well get new RAM. How's this RAM, any better suggestions?

TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - £59.99

ShivP · 18 Jan 2015 at 15:27

What RAM do you have currently?

stulid · 18 Jan 2015 at 15:27

me227 said:
One final question before I get ordering! If i'm getting everything else then I may as well get new RAM. How's this RAM, any better suggestions?

TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - £59.99

Its only rated at 1600Mhz, the Z97+CPU will like faster RAM.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-061-TG&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=2429
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-046-AR&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1392

me227 · 18 Jan 2015 at 17:07

Ordered.

I'm now £573 lighter. I went with the gold RAM you suggested stulid.

This was my existing RAM, with an extra 2 sticks of some other borrowed RAM to make 8Gb.

Thanks for the help everyone.

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